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below, of a confusion darkening the mind; and what things of the age to come, and of the freedom from thence; so that we may for the time being love some things, and by others be purified as those who will later be perfected and will attain our desire? Shall we not distinguish among ourselves what things are not to be investigated at all, and for what things moderately, and what things are to be conceded and left to the contentious, however they may hold them, as in no way harming our doctrine? And what things are to be given to faith alone, and what also to reasonings? And for what things must we fight zealously—with reason, but not with arms? For to lift hands against another is entirely outside our court, and to be cast away to those who hate us.

XII. Shall we not consider this one definition of piety: to worship the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the one Godhead and power in the three, neither reverencing them too much nor too little (that I myself too may imitate a little the wise men in these matters; for the one is impossible, the other impious), nor breaking up the one greatness by novelties of names? For nothing is greater or less than itself. When this, at least, is defined, we shall agree on other things as well, at least we who are of the same Trinity, and of nearly the same doctrine and body; and the superfluous and useless offshoots and digressions of the present inquiries, as if some common disease, we shall cut off and destroy. Or was it not enough for me (for I omit to speak of things yet more ancient) the evil spirit of Montanus against the Holy Spirit, and the audacity of Novatus, or, if you will, 35.1145 his unclean purity, which beguiles the many by the fair-sounding name; and the still present madness of the Phrygians, initiating and being initiated in rites almost like the ancient ones; and the folly of the Galatians, abounding in many names of impiety, and the contraction of Sabellius, and the division of Arius, and the subdivision from thence of the present-day sophists, differing as much as a talkative tongue from a slower one? But even we are almost at variance with ourselves, we who are sound in the main point, and are at strife for the same things and against the same people.

XIII. I mean the fraternal strife over a yoke that has recently risen up among us, from which both God is dishonored, and man. The one, not born for us at all, nor nailed to the cross; and it is clear that He was neither buried nor rose again, as it has seemed to some of the ill-disposed lovers of Christ; but is honored only here, where the honor has become a dishonor, and for this reason is cut into, or compounded into, two sons; while the other is not completely assumed, or honored, but is cast aside and alienated in what is greatest, if indeed the greatest thing in human nature is that which is according to the image, and the power of the mind. For it was necessary, since Godhead was united, for manhood to be divided, and for those wise in other things to be foolish concerning the mind; and that I should not be wholly saved, who had wholly sinned and been condemned by the disobedience of the first-formed man, and the theft of the adversary; so that grace is diminished for God, and salvation for us. And not only this, but also that we who have been saved by God have a war on behalf of men, and our seditious spirit is so great that we have used this also for the ambitions of others, and we take up our own enmities on behalf of others' thrones; sinning in two of the greatest ways concerning one thing, both kindling their love of rule, and taking this as a prop for our own passion, just as those who are thrown from a cliff grasp the nearby rocks, or the stronger of the bushes. 35.1148

XIV. We ought to make them weaker by our own quietness. For thus we would gratify them more than by fighting for them. But now some form alliances and are allied with very pitiably, as it seems to me at least; so that the world has already been separated into two rival portions, and this with great toil, gathered together little by little, and with much blood. And whatever is peaceful and in the middle suffers ill from both sides, either being despised or even warred against. Of whom we also are

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κάτω συγχύσεως ἐπισκοτούσης τῇ διανοίᾳ· τίνα δὲ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ἐλευθερίας· ἵνα τὰ μὲν στέργωμεν τέως, τοῖς δὲ καθαιρώμεθα ὡς ὕστερον τελεσθησόμενοι καὶ στησόμενοι τῆς ἐφέσεως; Οὐ διαιρήσομεν ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς, τίνα μὲν οὐδὲ ζητητέον παντάπασι, τίνα δ' ὑπὲρ ὧν μετρίως, τίνα δὲ συγχωρητέον καὶ παρετέον τοῖς φιλέρι σιν, ὅπως ἂν ἔχῃ, ὡς οὐδὲν τὸν λόγον ἡμῶν πα ραβλάπτοντα; Καὶ τίνα μὲν τῇ πίστει δοτέον μόνῃ, τίνα δὲ καὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς; Ὑπὲρ δὲ τίνων καὶ πο λεμητέον ἐκθύμως. λογικῶς, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁπλιτικῶς; Τὸ γὰρ καὶ χεῖρας ἀνταίρειν, παντελῶς ἔξω τῆς ἡμε τέρας αὐλῆς, καὶ τοῖς μισοῦσιν ἡμᾶς ἀποῤῥιπτέον.

ΙΒʹ. Οὐχ ἕνα μὲν ὅρον εὐσεβείας ἡγησόμεθα, προσκυνεῖν Πατέρα, καὶ Υἱὸν, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, τὴν μίαν ἐν τοῖς τρισὶ θεότητά τε καὶ δύναμιν, μηδὲν ὑπερσέβοντες, μηδὲ ὑποσέβοντες (ἵνα μικρόν τι καὶ αὐτὸς μιμήσωμαι τοὺς περὶ ταῦτα σοφούς· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀδύνατον, τὸ δὲ ἀσεβὲς), μηδὲ μέγεθος ἓν ὀνομάτων καινότησι διακόπτοντες; Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἑαυτοῦ μεῖζον, ἢ ἔλαττον. Τούτου γοῦν ὡρισμένου, καὶ τἄλλα ὁμονοήσομεν, οἱ γοῦν τῆς αὐ τῆς Τριάδος, καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ σχεδὸν δόγματός τε καὶ σώματος· τάς τε περιττὰς καὶ ἀχρήστους παραφυά δας καὶ παρεξόδους τῶν νῦν ζητημάτων, ὥσπερ τι νόσημα κοινὸν, ἐκκόψομέν τε καὶ ἀναιρήσομεν. Ἢ οὐκ ἤρκει μοι (τὰ γὰρ ἔτι πόῤῥωθεν ἐῶ λέ γειν) τὸ Μοντανοῦ πονηρὸν πνεῦμα κατὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, καὶ ἡ Νοβάτου θρασύτης, εἴτ' 35.1145 οὖν ἀκάθαρτος καθαρότης, τῇ τοῦ ῥήματος εὐ πρεπείᾳ τοὺς πολλοὺς δελεάζουσα· καὶ ἡ Φρυγῶν εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν μανία, τελούντων τε καὶ τελουμένων μικροῦ τοῖς παλαιοῖς παραπλήσια· καὶ ἡ Γαλατῶν ἄνοια πλουτούντων ἐν πολλοῖς τῆς ἀσεβείας ὀνόμασι, καὶ ἡ Σαβελλίου συναίρεσις, καὶ ἡ Ἀρείου διαίρεσις, καὶ ἡ τῶν νῦν σοφιστῶν ἐντεῦθεν ὑποδιαίρεσις, τοσοῦτον διαφερόντων, ὅσον γλῶσσα λάλος τῆς ἀργοτέρας; Ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ ἡμεῖς πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς σχεδόν τι διαφερόμεθα, οἱ περὶ τὸ κε φάλαιον ὑγιαίνοντες, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ πρὸς τοὺς αὐτοὺς στασιάζοντες.

ΙΓʹ. Λέγω δὴ τὴν ἔναγχος ἡμῖν ἐπαναστᾶσαν ζυ γομαχίαν ἀδελφικὴν, ἐξ ἧς καὶ Θεὸς ἀτιμάζε ται, καὶ ἄνθρωπος. Ὁ μὲν οὐδὲ γεννηθεὶς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὅλως, οὐδὲ τῷ σταυρῷ προσηλωθείς· δῆλον δὲ, ὅτι οὔτε ταφεὶς, οὔτε ἀναστὰς, ὅ τισιν ἔδοξε τῶν κακῶς φιλοχρίστων· ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα μόνον τι μώμενος, οὗ τὸ τῆς τιμῆς ἀτιμία καθέστηκε, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἰς δύο υἱοὺς τεμνόμενος, ἢ συντιθέ μενος· ὁ δὲ οὐ τελέως προσλαμβανόμενος, ἢ τιμώ μενος, ἀλλὰ τῷ μεγίστῳ παραῤῥιπτούμενος καὶ ἀποξενούμενος, εἴπερ μέγιστον ἐν ἀνθρώπου φύσει τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα, καὶ ἡ τοῦ νοῦ δύναμις. Ἐχρῆν γὰρ, ἐπειδὴ θεότης ἥνωται, διαιρεῖσθαι τὴν ἀνθρω πότητα, καὶ περὶ τὸν νοῦν ἀνοηταίνειν τοὺς τἄλλα σοφούς· καὶ μὴ ὅλον με σώζεσθαι, ὅλον πταίσαντα καὶ κατακριθέντα ἐκ τῆς τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου παρακοῆς, καὶ κλοπῆς τοῦ ἀντικειμένου· ὡς ἐλατ τοῦσθαι τῷ μὲν Θεῷ τὴν χάριν, ἡμῖν δὲ τὴν σωτη ρίαν. Οὐ μόνον δὲ, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων ἡμῖν ὁ πόλεμος τοῖς παρὰ Θεοῦ σεσωσμένοις, καὶ τοσοῦτον τὸ περιὸν ἡμῖν τοῦ στασιώδους, ὥστε καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἄλλων φιλοτιμίαις τοῦτο ἐχρήσαμεν, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀλλοτρίων θρόνων ἰδίας ἔχθρας ἀναιρούμεθα· δύο τὰ μέγιστα περὶ ἓν ἐξαμαρτάνοντες, ἐκείνων τε τὸ φίλ αρχον ὑπεκκαίοντες, καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῦ οἰκείου πάθους ἔρεισμα τοῦτο λαμβάνοντες, καθάπερ οἱ κρημνιζό μενοι τὰς πλησίον πέτρας, ἢ τῶν θάμνων τὰς στεῤ ῥοτέρας. 35.1148

Ι∆ʹ. ∆έον κἀκείνους ποιεῖν διὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀπρα γμοσύνης ἀσθενεστέρους. Οὕτω γὰρ ἂν μᾶλλον αὐ τοῖς, ἢ πολεμοῦντες ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐχαριζόμεθα. Νῦν δὲ οἱ μὲν συμμαχοῦσι καὶ συμμαχοῦνται λίαν ἐλεεινῶς, ὡς γοῦν ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ· ὥστε καὶ εἰς δύο μοίρας ἀντιπάλους ἤδη τὸν κόσμον ἀποκριθῆναι, καὶ τοῦτο σὺν πόνῳ μόγις, καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν συναχθέντα, καὶ πολλῶν αἵμασιν. Ὅσον δὲ εἰρηνικόν τε καὶ μέσον, ὑπ' ἀμφοτέρων πάσχει κακῶς, ἢ καταφρονούμενον, ἢ καὶ πολεμούμενον. Ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς