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by this being purified. But let us dare to say this much, that if it is a great thing for the Father to have His origin from nowhere, it is no less a thing for the Son to be from such a Father. For he would share in the glory of the Uncaused, because he is from the Uncaused, and in addition there is the fact of His generation, a thing so great and so venerable to those who are not in every way groveling and material in their thought.

12 But if the Son, they say, is the same as the Father in substance, and the Father is unbegotten, the Son will be this also. Very well, if the substance of God is "the unbegotten," so that there would be some new mixture, a "begotten-unbegotten." But if the difference is about the substance, why do you say this as if it were a strong argument? Or are you also the father of your father, so that you may be inferior to your father in nothing, since you are the same in substance? Or is it clear that, while the property remains unchanged, we shall seek the substance of God, whatever it may be, if indeed we are to seek it? But that "unbegotten" and "God" are not the same, you may learn from this. If they were the same, it would be absolutely necessary, since God is the God of some, that "the unbegotten" also be of some; or since "the unbegotten" is of none, that God also should not be of any. For things that are entirely the same are also spoken of in the same way. But surely "the unbegotten" is not of some, for of what? And God is the God of some, for of all. How then could "God" and "unbegotten" be the same? And again, since "the unbegotten" and "the begotten" are opposed to each other, as possession and privation, it is necessary also that substances opposed to each other be introduced. which is not granted; or since, again, possessions are prior to privations, and privations are destructive of possessions, not only would the substance of the Son be older than that of the Father, but also it would be destroyed by the Father, so far as your hypotheses go.

13 What argument is left to them that is inescapable? Perhaps they might take refuge in this last resort; that if God has not ceased from begetting, the generation is imperfect, and will sometime cease; but if He has ceased, He also surely began. Again the carnal men with their carnal ideas. But as for me, whether His begetting is eternal or not, I do not yet say, until I have accurately examined "Before all the hills He begets me." But I do not see what the necessity of the argument is. For if, according to them, that which will cease has begun, it is not at all the case that what will not cease has begun. What then will they declare concerning the soul, or the angelic nature? If it has begun, it will also cease; but if it will not cease, it is clear that according to them it has not begun either. But in fact it both has begun, and will not cease. Therefore, according to them, that which will cease has not begun. Now our argument is this: just as of a horse, and of an ox, and of a man, and of each of the things under the same species, there is one definition, and whatever partakes of the definition, this is also properly so called, but whatever does not partake, this is either not so called, or not properly so called. So also of God there is one substance, and nature, and appellation, even if the names are also divided along with certain divided conceptions; and whatever is properly so called, this is also God; and whatever is according to nature, this is also truly named; if indeed truth for us is not in names, but in things. But they, as if afraid not to move everything against the truth, confess that the Son is God, when they are forced by reason and by the testimonies, but equivocally so and sharing only in the title.

14 But when we object to them: What then? Is the Son not properly God, just as a painted thing is not an animal? How then is He God, if not properly God? For what prevents, they say, these things from being homonymous, and both from being spoken of properly? And they will bring forward to us the dog, the terrestrial and the marine, which are both homonymous, and properly so called, -for there is also such a kind among homonyms,- and if anything else uses the same appellation, and shares in it equally, while being distinct in nature. But in that case, my good sir, by placing two natures under the same appellation, you do not introduce one as any better than the other, nor one as prior and the other later, nor one as more and the other less that which it is called. For there is no connection that imposes this necessity upon them. For one is not more a dog, and the other less than the other

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τούτῳ καθαιρομένοις. ἡμεῖς δὲ τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν θαρρήσωμεν, ὅτι εἰ καὶ μέγα τῷ πατρὶ τὸ μηδα μόθεν ὡρμῆσθαι, οὐκ ἔλαττον τῷ υἱῷ τὸ ἐκ τοιούτου πατρός. τῆς τε γὰρ τοῦ ἀναιτίου δόξης μετέχοι ἄν, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἀναιτίου, καὶ πρόσεστι τὸ τῆς γεννήσεως, πρᾶγμα τοσοῦτον καὶ οὕτω σεβάσμιον τοῖς μὴ πάντῃ χαμαιπετέσι καὶ ὑλικοῖς τὴν διάνοιαν.

12 Ἀλλ' εἰ ταὐτὸν τῷ πατρί, φασιν, ὁ υἱὸς κατ' οὐσίαν, ἀγέν νητος δὲ ὁ πατήρ, ἔσται τοῦτο καὶ ὁ υἱός. καλῶς, εἴπερ οὐσία θεοῦ τὸ ἀγέννητον, ἵν' ᾖ τις καινὴ μίξις, γεννητοαγέννητον. εἰ δὲ περὶ οὐσίαν ἡ διαφορά, τί τοῦτο ὡς ἰσχυρὸν λέγεις; ἢ καὶ σὺ πατὴρ τοῦ πατρός, ἵνα μηδενὶ λείπῃ τοῦ σοῦ πατρός, ἐπειδὴ ταὐτὸν εἶ κατ' οὐσίαν; ἢ δῆλον ὅτι, τῆς ἰδιότητος ἀκινήτου μενούσης, ζητήσομεν οὐσίαν θεοῦ, ἥ τις ποτέ ἐστιν, εἴπερ ζητήσομεν; ὅτι δὲ οὐ ταὐτὸν ἀγέννητον καὶ θεός, ὧδε ἂν μάθοις. εἰ ταὐτὸν ἦν, ἔδει πάντως, ἐπειδὴ τινῶν θεὸς ὁ θεός, τινῶν εἶναι καὶ τὸ ἀγέννητον· ἢ ἐπεὶ μηδενὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον, μηδὲ τὸν θεὸν εἶναι τινῶν. τὰ γὰρ πάντῃ ταὐτὰ καὶ ὁμοίως ἐκφέρεται. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐ τινῶν τὸ ἀγέννητον, τίνων γάρ; καὶ τινῶν θεὸς ὁ θεός, πάντων γάρ. πῶς οὖν ἂν εἴη ταὐτὸν θεὸς καὶ ἀγέννητον; καὶ πάλιν, ἐπειδὴ τὸ ἀγέννητον καὶ τὸ γεννητὸν ἀντίκειται ἀλλήλοις, ὡς ἕξις καὶ στέρησις, ἀνάγκη καὶ οὐσίας εἰσαχθῆναι ἀντικειμένας ἀλλήλαις. ὅπερ οὐ δέδοται· ἢ ἐπειδὴ πάλιν αἱ ἕξεις τῶν στερήσεων πρότεραι, καὶ ἀναιρετικαὶ τῶν ἕξεων αἱ στερήσεις, μὴ μόνον πρεσβυτέραν εἶναι τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίας τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀναιρουμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός, ὅσον ἐπὶ ταῖς σαῖς ὑποθέσεσι.

13 Τίς ἔτι λόγος αὐτοῖς τῶν ἀφύκτων; τάχα ἂν ἐπ' ἐκεῖνο κατα φύγοιεν τελευταῖον· ὡς εἰ μὲν οὐ πέπαυται τοῦ γεννᾷν ὁ θεός, ἀτελὴς ἡ γέννησις, καί ποτε παύσεται· εἰ πέπαυται δέ, πάντως καὶ ἤρξατο. πάλιν οἱ σωματικοὶ τὰ σωματικά. ἐγὼ δὲ εἰ μὲν ἀίδιον αὐτῷ τὸ γεννᾶσθαι, ἢ μή, οὔπω λέγω, ἕως ἂν τὸ Πρὸ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με ἀκριβῶς ἐπισκέψωμαι. οὐχ ὁρῶ δὲ τίς ἡ ἀνάγκη τοῦ λόγου. εἰ γὰρ ἦρκται κατ' αὐτοὺς τὸ παυσόμενον, οὐκ ἦρκται πάντως τὸ μὴ παυσόμενον. τί τοίνυν ἀποφανοῦνται περὶ ψυχῆς, ἢ τῆς ἀγγελικῆς φύσεως; εἰ μὲν ἦρκται, καὶ παύσεται· εἰ δὲ οὐ παύ σεται, δῆλον ὅτι κατ' αὐτοὺς οὐδὲ ἦρκται. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἦρκται, καὶ οὐ παύσεται. οὐκ ἄρα ἦρκται κατ' αὐτοὺς τὸ παυσόμενον. ὁ μὲν οὖν ἡμέτερος λόγος· ὥσπερ ἵππου, καὶ βοός, καὶ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ἑκάστου τῶν ὑπὸ τὸ αὐτὸ εἶδος, εἷς λόγος ἐστί, καὶ ὃ μὲν ἂν μετέχῃ τοῦ λόγου, τοῦτο καὶ κυρίως λέγεσθαι, ὃ δ' ἂν μὴ μετέχῃ, τοῦτο ἢ μὴ λέγεσθαι, ἢ μὴ κυρίως λέγεσθαι. οὕτω δὲ καὶ θεοῦ μίαν οὐσίαν εἶναι, καὶ φύσιν. καὶ κλῆσιν, κἂν ἐπινοίαις τισὶ διαι ρουμέναις συνδιαιρῆται καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα· καὶ ὃ μὲν ἂν κυρίως λέγηται, τοῦτο καὶ εἶναι θεόν· ὃ δ' ἂν ᾖ κατὰ φύσιν, τοῦτο καὶ ἀληθῶς ὀνομάζεσθαι· εἴπερ μὴ ἐν ὀνόμασιν, ἀλλ' ἐν πράγμασίν ἐστιν ἡμῖν ἡ ἀλήθεια. οἱ δέ, ὥσπερ δεδοικότες μὴ πάντα κινεῖν κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας, θεὸν μὲν εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν ὁμολογοῦσιν, ὅταν βιασθῶσι τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ταῖς μαρτυρίαις, ὁμώνυμον δὲ καὶ μόνης κοινωνοῦντα τῆς κλήσεως.

14 Ὅταν δὲ ἀνθυποφέρωμεν αὐτοῖς· τί οὖν; οὐ κυρίως θεὸς ὁ υἱός, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ζῷον τὸ γεγραμμένον; πῶς οὖν θεός, εἰ μὴ κυρίως θεός; τί γὰρ κωλύει, φασί, καὶ ὁμώνυμα ταῦτα εἶναι, καὶ κυρίως ἀμφότερα λέγεσθαι; καὶ προσοίσουσιν ἡμῖν τὸν κύνα, τὸν χερσαῖον, καὶ τὸν θαλάττιον, ὁμώνυμά τε ὄντα, καὶ κυρίως λεγόμενα, -ἔστι γάρ τι καὶ τοιοῦτον εἶδος ἐν τοῖς ὁμωνύμοις, -καὶ εἴτε τι ἄλλο τῇ αὐτῇ προσχρῆται προσηγορίᾳ, καὶ μετέχει ταύτης ἐπ' ἴσης, τῇ φύσει διεστηκός. ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ μέν, ὦ βέλτιστε, δύο φύσεις τιθεὶς ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτὴν προσηγορίαν, οὐδὲν ἀμείνω τὴν ἑτέραν τῆς ἑτέρας εἰσά γεις, οὐδὲ τὴν μὲν πρότερον, τὴν δὲ ὕστερον, οὐδὲ τὴν μὲν μᾶλλον, τὴν δὲ ἧττον οὖσαν τοῦθ' ὅπερ λέγεται. οὐδὲ γάρ τι συνέζευκται τὸ ταύτην παρέχον αὐταῖς τὴν ἀνάγκην. οὐ γὰρ ὁ μὲν μᾶλλον κύων, ὁ δὲ ἧττον τοῦ ἑτέρου