6o6 MANICHAEAN LITERATURE
They bound the watchers with an eternal chain
and thrust them in a prison of the darkened ones,
and they obliterated their children from the earth.
Again the abortions descended in the watch
of Adamas, and they conceived Adam and Eve.
Because of that great betrayal and the mystery
of evil, Jesus was sent the prayer of the five sons.^29He seized them, those abortions,
and he fastened them under the mind of Adam.
Because of the earthquake in the three earths,
and because the paths were blocked, and springs
of wind and water and fire were stopped,
Jesus came down to the world. He seized Eve,
and he straightened the tracks of the wind,
the water, and the fire. He opened the springs
for them and established the way of their ascent.Again, since the earth below Atlas was loosened
from the fastenings, because of this too,
Jesus went down, seizing Eve until he reached that place.
Then he came to his rest.THE LIGHT MIND HUMBLES THE BODY
Look at all these vigils of the zones
where great gods are masters watching over them.
Uprisings have happened and treachery.
From time to time there is a great humiliation
until they humble the powers of enmity.
So also is this body.^30 Though small, here a great power lives.
The old man also inhabits it.
He is cruel and moves with great cunning
until the light mind finds how to humble
and control this body as it sees proper.- See the discussion of the place of Jesus within Manichaean thought in the introduction to
Part Five. Also note the role of young Jesus, just above. - Mani now compares the cosmic struggle between light and darkness to the struggle be-
tween the light mind and the old man in human life.