Tertullian, Prescription against Heretics 30

Where was Marcion then, the Pontic shipowner and Stoic enthusiast? Where was Valentinus, the Platonist disciple? The record shows they were not around even earlier, back under Antoninus; at first they actually believed the catholic teaching in the Roman church, under Bishop Eleutherius. But their restless curiosity — the kind that made even fellow Christians avoid them — got them thrown out once, then twice. Finally Marcion was cut off for good, taking his two hundred sestertii with him, and the pair scattered the poison of their doctrines. Later Marcion confessed repentance and tried to meet the condition set for his return: he would be readmitted only if he brought back to the church the others he had schooled for destruction. Death beat him to it. Heresies had to exist, yes; but that does not make heresies good, as if evil were not also necessary. The Lord had to be betrayed; still, woe to the betrayer — lest anyone use that as a defense of heresy. Even Apelles' pedigree needs examining: he is no more ancient than Marcion, his founder and forerunner. He fell for a woman, abandoned Marcionite continence, and slipped away from the eyes of the most holy teacher Alexander to Alexandria. Years later he came back no better, except that he was no longer a Marcionite; he stumbled into another woman, the virgin Philumene (mentioned above), who later became a monstrous prostitute. Deceived by her power, he wrote down the revelations he learned from her. People still alive remember them — their own disciples and successors — so they cannot deny being later arrivals. Though they are also refuted by their own works, as the Lord said. If Marcion split the New Testament from the Old, he comes after what he split; he could not split what was not already united. United first, then separated — that proves the splitter is later. Valentinus, explaining differently and 'correcting,' only shows that whatever he corrects was previously flawed. These are the most notorious and frequent adulterers of the truth. And what about Nigidius, whoever he is, and Hermogenes, and the rest still walking around perverting God's ways? Let them show me their authorization. If they preach another God, how do they use that God's own things, letters, and names against the God they preach? If they preach the same God, how do they do it differently? Let them prove they are new apostles: let them say Christ descended again, taught again, was crucified again, died again, rose again — because that is how apostles operate, receiving power to work the same signs he did. I want to see their powers produced; unless I acknowledge their greatest power, by which they perversely imitate the apostles: the apostles made the dead live; these men make the living dead.