the most ancient branch of the Gnostics, who were so called from Menander their chief, said by some, though without sufficient foundation, to have been a disciple of Simon Magus, and himself a reputed magician. He taught, that no person could be saved, unless he were baptised in his name; and that he conferred a peculiar sort of baptism, which would render those who received it immortal in the next world; exhibiting himself to the world with the frenzy of a lunatic rather than as the founder of a sect, or as a promised saviour. It appears by the testimonies of Irenæus, Justin, and Tertullian, that he pretended to be one of the aeons sent from the pleroma, or ecclesiastical regions, to succour the souls which lay groaning under bodily oppression and servitude, and to maintain them against the violence and stratagems of the demons who hold the reins of empire in this sublunary world. As this doctrine was placed upon the same foundation with that of Simon Magus, the ancient writers looked upon that personage as the instructor of Menander.