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sufficient faith. Since, then, the weakness of our reasonings is so great, come, let us from the Scriptures take up the battle against our opponents. From where, then, should we begin our discourse? From wherever you wish, whether from the New or from the Old; for it is not only in the evangelical and apostolic words, but also in the prophetic and in the entire Old Testament that one can see the glory of the Only-Begotten shining forth with great abundance; for this reason it seems good to me to skirmish with them from this ground. For by making our arguments from this source, we shall be able to overthrow not only these heretics, but also many others: Marcion, Manichaeus, Valentinus, and all the systems of the Jews. For just as in David's time Goliath fell and the whole army fled, and the death was of one body, and the blow was to one head, but the flight and cowardice were common to the whole army; so also now with us, when one heresy is struck and falls, the flight will be common to all those enumerated. 48.798 For the Manichaeans and those who suffer from the same disease as they, seem to accept the Christ who is preached, but they dishonor the prophets and patriarchs who preached him. The Jews, on the other hand, do the opposite: they seem to accept and attend to those who preached him, I mean the prophets and their lawgiver, but they dishonor him who was preached by them. When, therefore, by the grace of God, we show the great glory of the Only-Begotten proclaimed beforehand in the Old Testament, we shall be able to put to shame all these mouths that fight against God, and to silence these blasphemous tongues. For when the Old Testament is seen to preach Christ, what defense will there be for the Manichaeans and those like them who dishonor that which proclaimed beforehand the common Lord of all? And what pardon or excuse for the Jews who do not accept him who was announced by the prophets?

2. Since, then, the abundance of our victory is so great, let us bring our discourse to the more ancient books, and of those ancient books to the most ancient of all, to Genesis, I say, and let us ascend to the very summit of Genesis itself. For that Moses says many things about Christ? hear Christ himself saying: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me." But where did he write about him? This I will now try to show. For when all of creation was completed, and the heaven was crowned with a varied chorus of stars, and the earth below shone back at it with all kinds of flowers, and the peaks of the mountains were full, and the plains and valleys too, and simply the whole surface of the earth consisted of plants and trees and herbs, and flocks were leaping, and herds were leaping, and the chorus of songbirds, displaying its own nature, filled all the air with music, and the seas were full of marine animals, and the lakes and springs and rivers were full of all the things born in them, and nothing was incomplete, but all was finished, the body sought its head, the city its ruler, creation its king, I mean, man. God, therefore, being about to form him, says: "Let us make man in our image and likeness." To whom is he speaking? It is clear that it is to his Only-Begotten. And he did not say, "Make," lest you think what was said was a slavish command, but, "Let us make," so that through the consultative form of the words he might reveal their equal honor. For sometimes God is said to have a counsellor, and sometimes not to have one, not because Scripture contradicts itself, but because it reveals to us ineffable dogmas through both of these. For when it wishes to represent his self-sufficiency, it says he has no counsellor; but when it wishes to show the equal honor of the Only-Begotten, it calls the Son of God a counsellor. And that you may learn both these things, that the prophets call the Son a counsellor, not as if the Father needed counsel, but that we may learn the honor of the Only-Begotten, and that again he does not need

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πίστιν ἱκανήν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοσαύτη τῶν λογισμῶν ἡ ἀσθένεια, φέρε ἀπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἐναντίους ἁψώμεθα μάχης. Πόθεν οὖν ἡμῖν ἀρκτέον τοῦ λόγου; Ὅθεν ἂν βούλησθε, εἴτε ἀπὸ Καινῆς, εἴτε ἀπὸ Παλαιᾶς· οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελικοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς ῥήμασιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς προφητικοῖς καὶ πάσῃ τῇ Παλαιᾷ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς περιουσίας διαλάμπουσαν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τὴν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς δόξαν· διὸ καὶ ἐντεῦθέν μοι δοκεῖ πρὸς ἐκείνους ἀκροβολίσασθαι. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνους τούτους ἐντεῦθεν ποιούμενοι τοὺς λόγους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέρους πλείονας αἱρετικοὺς δυνησόμεθα καταβαλεῖν, Μαρκίωνα, Μανιχαῖον, Οὐαλεντῖνον, τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἅπαντα τὰ συστήματα. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ὁ μὲν Γολιὰθ κατέπεσε, τὸ δὲ στρατόπεδον ἅπαν ἐδραπέτευσε, καὶ ὁ μὲν θάνατος ἑνὸς γέγονε σώματος, καὶ μιᾶς ἡ πληγὴ κεφαλῆς, ἡ δὲ φυγὴ καὶ ἡ δειλία κοινὴ τοῦ στρατοπέδου παντός· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν νῦν μιᾶς αἱρέσεως πληγείσης καὶ καταπεσούσης, κοινὴ τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων ἁπάντων ἔσται φυγή. 48.798 Μανιχαῖοι μὲν γὰρ καὶ οἱ τὰ αὐτὰ νοσοῦντες ἐκείνοις τὸν μὲν κηρυττόμενον δοκοῦσι δέχεσθαι Χριστὸν, τοὺς δὲ κηρύττοντας αὐτὸν ἀτιμάζουσι προφήτας καὶ πατριάρχας· Ἰουδαῖοι δὲ πάλιν ἀπεναντίας τοὺς μὲν κηρύττοντας αὐτὸν δοκοῦσι δέχεσθαι καὶ θεραπεύειν, προφήτας λέγω καὶ τὸν νομοθέτην αὐτῶν, τὸν δὲ κηρυττόμενον ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἀτιμάζουσιν. Ὅταν οὖν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι δείξωμεν πολλὴν ἐν τῇ Παλαιᾷ προαναφωνουμένην τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τὴν δόξαν, πάντα ταῦτα δυνησόμεθα τὰ θεομάχα καταισχῦναι στόματα, καὶ τὰς βλασφήμους ἐπιστομίσαι γλώττας. Ὅταν γὰρ φαίνηται κηρύττουσα τὸν Χριστὸν ἡ Παλαιὰ ∆ιαθήκη, τίς ἔσται Μανιχαίοις καὶ τοῖς κατ' ἐκείνους ἀπολογία ἀτιμάζουσι τὴν προαναφωνοῦσαν τὸν κοινὸν πάντων ∆εσπότην; τίς δὲ συγγνώμη καὶ παραίτησις τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν καταγγελλόμενον μὴ δεχομένοις;

βʹ. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοσαύτη τῆς νίκης ἡ περιουσία, ἐπὶ τὰ παλαιότερα βιβλία τὸν λόγον ἀγάγωμεν, καὶ τῶν παλαιῶν αὐτῶν τὸ ἀρχαιότερον πάντων, ἐπὶ τὴν Γένεσιν λέγω, καὶ τῆς Γενέσεως αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τὴν κορυφὴν ἀναβῶμεν. Ὅτι γὰρ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ πολλά φησιν ὁ Μωϋσῆς; ἄκουσον αὐτοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος· Εἰ ἐπιστεύετε Μωϋσῇ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί· περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψε. Ποῦ δὲ ἔγραψεν ἐκεῖνος περὶ αὐτοῦ; Τοῦτο ἤδη δεῖξαι πειράσομαι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ κτίσις ἀπήρτιστο πᾶσα, καὶ ποικίλῳ μὲν ὁ οὐρανὸς ἐστεφάνωτο ἄστρων χορῷ, παντοδαποῖς δὲ ἄνθεσιν ἀντέλαμπεν αὐτῷ κάτωθεν ἡ γῆ, καὶ πλήρεις μὲν ὀρέων κορυφαὶ, πλήρη δὲ καὶ πεδία καὶ φάραγγες, καὶ ἁπλῶς πᾶσα ἡ τῆς γῆς ἐπιφάνεια φυτῶν καὶ δένδρων καὶ βοτανῶν ἦν, καὶ ἐσκίρτα μὲν ποίμνια, ἐσκίρτα δὲ βουκόλια, τῶν δὲ ᾠδικῶν ὀρνίθων ὁ χορὸς, τὴν ἰδίαν φύσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενος, μουσικῆς τὸν ἀέρα πάντα ἐπλήρου, καὶ μεστὰ πελάγη τῶν ἐναλίων ζώων ἦν, πλήρεις δὲ λίμναι καὶ πηγαὶ καὶ ποταμοὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς τικτομένων ἁπάντων, καὶ οὐδὲν ἦν ἀτέλεστον, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἀπήρτιστο, ἐζήτει τὸ σῶμα τὴν κεφαλὴν, ἡ πόλις τὸν ἄρχοντα, ἡ κτίσις τὸν βασιλέα, λέγω δὴ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Μέλλων οὖν αὐτὸν διαπλάττειν ὁ Θεός φησιν· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ ὁμοίωσιν. Πρὸς τίνα διαλέγεται; Εὔδηλον ὅτι πρὸς τὸν Μονογενῆ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε, Ποίησον, ἵνα μὴ νομίσῃς δουλικὸν εἶναι ἐπίταγμα τὸ λεγόμενον, ἀλλὰ, Ποιήσωμεν, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ σχήματος τῆς συμβουλῆς τῶν ῥημάτων τὸ ὁμότιμον ἐκκαλύψῃ. Ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ λέγεται σύμβουλον ἔχειν ὁ Θεὸς, ποτὲ δὲ μὴ ἔχειν, οὐ τῆς Γραφῆς ἑαυτῇ μαχομένης, ἀλλ' ἀπόῤῥητα δόγματα ἐκκαλυπτούσης ἡμῖν δι' ἀμφοτέρων τούτων. Ὅταν μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἀνενδεὲς αὐτοῦ παραστῆσαι βούληται, φησὶν οὐκ ἔχειν αὐτὸν σύμβουλον· ὅταν δὲ τὸ ὁμότιμον τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, σύμβουλον καλεῖ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ταῦτα ἀμφότερα, ὅτι τε σύμβουλον τὸν Υἱὸν καλοῦσιν οἱ προφῆται, οὐχ ὡς τοῦ Πατρὸς δεομένου συμβουλῆς, ἀλλ' ἵνα τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τὴν τιμὴν μάθωμεν, καὶ ὅτι πάλιν οὐ δεῖται