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to fall into the condemnation of the devil; but let us now come to the very refutations of his impiety. He first sets forth a creed composed of simple and indefinite words, which some of the Fathers also used, not applying it to the underlying questions, but simply discoursing by themselves in simplicity of heart. And if Arius, as they say, in trying to outwit Alexander, proposed this to him (for they do say this), yet he puts this forward as agreeing with his own opinion for two reasons: one, so as to escape the suspicion of innovation, by accepting the creed of the Fathers as correct; another, so that all, having trusted in the simplicity of these words, might fall unawares into the traps of his sophisms. At the same time he also understood that it would be possible for him to introduce his own opinion speciously, ostensibly expounding the Fathers', and especially to escape notice being impious; but if he should be caught, to seem blameless, as saying nothing from his own home or from himself, but becoming an interpreter of another's thought. In which, indeed, he suffered a most ridiculous thing without noticing it. For having praised it much and greatly, a little further on he again covers it with the most shameful reproaches. But that what I am saying may become clearer, I shall divide the argument into parts and examine it. And first let us learn the creed which he proposes, setting down his very own words. {EUN.} The pious tradition, he says, which has prevailed from of old from the Fathers, having set it forth as a kind of standard and rule, let us use this as a precise criterion for the judgment of what is said. 29.512 {BAS.} To these he adds the creed, which runs thus. {EUN.} We believe in one God, Father Almighty, from whom are all things; and in one only-begotten Son of God, God the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things; and in one Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. {BAS.} Then he immediately adds. {EUN.} This, then, to speak summarily and in passing, is the simpler creed and the one common to all for whom it is a concern to seem or to be Christians. {BAS.} Now concerning the contradiction in what he has said and the shameless conflict of his statements with each other, we will speak a little later. But let us first remind ourselves that this is the one who in the preceding arguments very solemnly promised us to set forth the truth naked of every covering. Is it written anywhere here, then: We believe that unbegottenness is the essence of the God of all, or, we believe that the Only-begotten is unlike the Father in essence? For he would have written these things if, as he promised, he were not concealing his own opinion with some deceitful veil. But, I think, using all his words treacherously, he keeps silent about his own contributions, so that by not assaulting untrained ears he might not make himself implausible and difficult to accept; but he puts forward the creed of the Fathers, which, on account of the neutrality of the words in it, was not going to present any opposition to his entire argument's structure, and would easily follow him as he transposed the argument in the form of an exegesis to what he intended. And that these things are true is clear from the man himself. For having set it forth, he immediately jumps to the exegesis, using as a pretext, among other things, that it is not sufficient for the refutation of the charge. For what reason, then, did you put it forward, and not come immediately to those arguments which both possessed precision and were going to acquit you of the charges? But now it is proposed as a safe criterion, and again it is corrected as having nothing sound in it. And this is known to everyone, that, like a fish-hook drawing to death, he clothes his own opinion 29.513 with the simplicity of the creed as with a kind of bait, so that the more inexperienced, rushing to what is apparent, might unguardedly be ensnared by the evil of impiety. And so that he might not seem to undertake the correction of the creed without necessity, which he himself had extolled with excesses of praise, this creed, as if forgetting his own words,

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κρῖμα ἐμπίπτειν τοῦ διαβόλου· ἐπ' αὐτοὺς δὲ λοιπὸν τοὺς ἐλέγχους τῆς ἀσεβείας ἔλθωμεν. Πίστιν ἐκτίθεται πρῶτον ἐξ ἁπλῶν καὶ ἀδι ορίστων λέξεων συγκειμένην, ᾗ ἐχρήσαντο καί τι νες τῶν Πατέρων, οὐχὶ πρὸς ζητήσεις ὑποκει μένας ἀποτεινόμενοι, ἀλλ' ἁπλῶς οὕτως ἐφ' ἑαυ τῶν ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίας διαλεγόμενοι. Εἴ τε καὶ Ἄρειος, ὥς φασι, σοφιζόμενος τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, ταύτην αὐτῷ προετείνατο (καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο λέγουσιν), ἀλλ' ὁμοῦ μὲν ταύτην ὡς ὁμολογοῦσαν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ γνώμῃ προΐσχεται διὰ δύο προφάσεις· μίαν μὲν, ὥστε τὴν τῆς καινοτομίας ὑπόνοιαν ἐκφυγεῖν, ἐν τῷ τὴν τῶν Πατέρων πίστιν ὡς ὀρθῶς ἔχουσαν ἀποδέχεσθαι· ἑτέραν δὲ, τοῦ πάντας ἀπροοράτως ταῖς πάγαις αὐτοῦ τῶν σοφισμάτων περιπεσεῖν τῇ ἁπλότητι τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων καταπιστεύσαντας. Ὁμοῦ δὲ κἀκεῖνο συνεῖδεν, ὅτι καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γνώμην εὐπροσώπως αὐτῷ παρεισαγαγεῖν ὑπάρξει, ἐξηγουμένῳ δῆθεν τὰ τῶν Πατέρων, καὶ μάλιστα μὲν λήσασθαι ἀσεβῶν· εἰ δ' ἄρα καὶ φωραθείη, ἀναίτιος εἶναι δόξειν, ὡς οὐδὲν οἴκοθεν οὐδὲ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ τι λέγων, ἀλλ' ἀλλοτρίας γενόμενος διανοίας ἐξηγητής. Ἐν ᾧ δὴ καὶ γελοιότατόν τι παθὼν οὐκ ἐπῄσθετο. Ἐπαινέσας γὰρ αὐτὴν πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα, μικρὸν ὑποβὰς, τοῖς αἰσχίστοις πάλιν ὀνεί δεσι περιβάλλει. Ἀλλ' ἵνα σαφέστερον ὃ λέγω γέ νηται, κατὰ μέρη τὸν λόγον διελόμενος ἐξετάσω. Καὶ πρῶτόν γε τὴν πίστιν ἢν προτείνεται καταμά θωμεν, αὐτὰς τὰς ἐκείνου φωνὰς παραθέμενοι. {ΕΥΝ.} Τὴν δὲ κρατοῦσαν, φησὶν, ἄνωθεν παρὰ τῶν Πατέρων εὐσεβῆ παράδοσιν, ὥσπερ τινὰ γνώ μονα καὶ κανόνα προεκθέμενοι, ἀκριβεῖ τούτῳ χρη σώμεθα κριτηρίῳ πρὸς τὴν τῶν λεγομένων ἐπί κρισιν. 29.512 {ΒΑΣ.} Τούτοις ἐπάγει τὴν πίστιν ἔχουσαν οὕ τως. {ΕΥΝ.} Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν Πατέρα παντοκρά τορα, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα· καὶ εἰς ἕνα μονογενῆ Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, Θεὸν Λόγον, τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα· καὶ εἰς ἓν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, τὸ παράκλητον. {ΒΑΣ.} Εἶτα εὐθὺς ἐπισυνάπτει. {ΕΥΝ.} Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἁπλουστέρα πίστις καὶ κοι νὴ πάντων, ὅσοις τὸ δοκεῖν ἢ τὸ εἶναι Χριστιανοῖς ἐπιμελὲς, ὡς ἐν ἐπιδρομῇ κεφαλαιωδέστερον εἰπεῖν, αὕτη. {ΒΑΣ.} Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς ἐν οἷς εἶπεν ἐναντιότητος καὶ τῆς ἀναισχύντου μάχης τῶν εἰρημένων πρὸς ἄλ ληλα μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ πρό τερον ἑαυτοὺς ὑπομνήσωμεν, ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἐν τοῖς ἄνω λόγοις πάνυ σοβαρῶς ἡμῖν ἐπαγγελλόμενος γυ μνὴν παντὸς προκαλύμματος ἐκθήσεσθαι τὴν ἀλή θειαν. Ἐνταῦθα τοίνυν που γέγραπται· Πιστεύο μεν τὴν ἀγεννησίαν οὐσίαν εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων, ἢ, πιστεύομεν ἀνόμοιον κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν εἶναι τὸν Μονογενῆ τῷ Πατρί. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἔγραψεν ἂν, εἴπερ, ὡς ὑπέσχετο, μηδενὶ παραπετάσματι δολερῷ τὸ ἑαυ τοῦ φρόνημα συνεσκίαζεν. Ἀλλ', οἶμαι, πᾶσιν ἐπι βούλως τοῖς λόγοις χρώμενος, τὰ μὲν παρ' ἑαυτοῦ σιωπᾷ, ἵνα μὴ ἀγυμνάστοις ταῖς ἀκοαῖς προσβάλλων ἀπίθανον ἑαυτὸν καὶ δυσπαράδεκτον καταστήσῃ· τὴν δὲ τῶν Πατέρων πίστιν προβάλλεται, ἣ διὰ τὴν μεσότητα τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ ῥημάτων οὔτε τι ἐναντίω μα πρὸς τὴν ὅλην τοῦ λόγου αὐτῷ κατα σκευὴν παρέξειν ἔμελλε, καὶ ἀκολουθήσειν ῥᾳδίως ἐν ἐξηγήσεως εἴδει μετάγοντι τὸν λόγον ἐφ' ἃ προῄρη ται. Ὡς δὲ ἀληθῆ ταῦτα, δῆλον αὐτόθεν. Ἐκθέμενος γὰρ αὐτὴν, εὐθὺς ἐπιπηδᾷ τῇ ἐξηγήσει, προ φάσει χρώμενος ἄλλῃ τέ τινι, καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἐξαρκεῖ πρὸς τὴν διάλυσιν τοῦ ἐγκλήματος. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν αὐτὴν προεβάλου, ἀλλ' οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐπ' ἐκείνους ἦλθες τοὺς λόγους, οἳ καὶ τὸ ἀκριβὲς εἶχον, καὶ ἐξαιρεῖσθαί σε τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἔμελλον; Νῦν δὲ προτείνεται μὲν ὡς ἀσφαλὲς κριτήριον, διορθοῦται δὲ πάλιν, ὡς οὐδὲν ὑγιὲς ἔχουσαν. Τοῦτο δὲ παντὶ γνώριμον, ὅτι, ὥσπερ ἀγκίστρῳ πρὸς θάνατον ἕλκοντι, τῷ ἑαυτοῦ φρονή 29.513 ματι τὸ ἁπλοῦν τῆς πίστεως, οἷόν τι δέλεαρ, περιβάλλει, ἵνα τῷ φαινομένῳ ἐπιδραμόντες οἱ ἀπειρό τεροι, ἀφυλάκτως τῷ κακῷ τῆς ἀσεβείας περιπαρῶ σιν. Ὡς ἂν δὲ μὴ δόξειεν ἄνευ ἀνάγκης τῇ ἐπιδιορθώσει τῆς πίστεως ἐγχειρεῖν, ἢν αὐτὸς ἀπεσέμνυνε ταῖς ὑπερβολαῖς τῶν ἐπαίνων, ταύτην, ὥσπερ ἐπιλα θόμενος τῶν ἑαυτοῦ λόγων,