The next passage referred to by Tischendorf is one quoted by Epiphanius: "And therefore he said, Cast not ye pearls before swine, neither give that which is holy unto dogs."[41] "It is introduced in the section of the work of Epiphanius directed against the Basilideans. As in dealing with all these heresies there is continual interchange of reference to the head and later followers, there is no certainty who is referred to in these quotations, and in this instance nothing to indicate that the passage is ascribed to Basilides himself. His name is mentioned in the first line of the first chapter, but not again until the fifth chapter" (p. 50).
I remark, it was the founder of the sect and not the followers who wrote the book, and those who opposed the heresy would, although they alluded to the sect, have regard to the founder when they referred to the doctrines held, and quoted the written opinions which distinguished the party on gospel matters. To make the matter as plain as I can, I will suppose a case as an illustration of the point. Supposing that in Pliny's letter to Trajan there were found these words referring to the Christians: "They say, the rule which should be observed in regard to an enemy is, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which persecute you"--would it be right to assert that the quotation is no proof that Christ so taught, but His disciples, long afterwards? This is something like what our author's objection, referring to the pronouns "he" and "they" in Hippolytus, amounts to. "They" does not mean "he" when thus used; and "he," when actually used in the first line of the first chapter, and afterwards means, "they;" that is, "He (Basilides) says," means "They (his followers at a later date) say."
The plural pronoun is used, indicating the sect, Basilides and his followers. Therefore our author says there is uncertainty as to who he is when used in the same sentence. He says "Hippolytus is giving an epitome of the views of the school with nothing more definite than a subjectless φησἱ (he says) to indicate who is referred to. None of the quotations which we have considered are directly referred to Basilides himself, but they are introduced by the utterly vague expression, 'He says' (φησἱ), without any subject accompanying the verb."