7
the animals and plants of creation, not existing before their own birth, so also is the Lord [and similarly of the generation of frogs; alas for the blasphemy].
Cap.11.5 5. And again Eunomius calls him Lord and God and Creator of all intelligible and sensible creation [having received from the Father the power of creation and the commission, just as an artisan is entrusted with the work by the one who hires him] having received the power as something acquired and external to creation from the power allotted to him according to the qualities of the conjunctions and distances of the stars, with fate spinning out for those who are born the allotments of their lives.
and running past many things from what was written by him, he refutes the blasphemy, that the maker of all things came to be in the same way as the earth and angels and that the hypostasis of the only-begotten is in no way inconsistent with the generation of all things;
persuaded neither by divine mystery nor custom * nor by any of the teachers of piety for the discovery of godliness, except by Manichaeus, Colluthus, Arius, Aetius and those like them, considering all the things of the Christians as nonsense * and the customs of the church and venerable mysteries a plaything, differing in nothing from the Greeks, who supposed a great god excelling the others from our dogma.
So then this new idolater likewise preaches that baptism is into a creator and a creature, not fearing the curse of those who make addition or subtraction in the divine scriptures; and proving him to be an antichrist, he completes the argument.
Cap.12.1 1. This twelfth discourse wonderfully interprets the saying spoken by the Lord to Mary, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended."
Cap.12.2 2. Then, after setting forth the blasphemy of Eunomius, refuted by the great Basil, who assigned the only-begotten God to the portion of darkness, and the apology of Eunomius, that is, the analysis of the blasphemy spoken by him, he shows his current blasphemy from the apology to be greater than the former one; in which he also has most wisely discoursed concerning the unapproachable and true light
Cap.12.3 3. In addition to these things, the evangelical saying, "In the beginning was the Word" and "the life" and "the light" and "The Word was made flesh," which were wrongly understood by Eunomius, he has marvelously interpreted and refuted the blasphemy, and he shows that the economy of the Son happened through love for humanity, not weakness, and with the cooperation of the Father.
Cap.12.4 4. In addition to these things, again, he refutes Eunomius for having learned unbegottenness from hieroglyphic writings and the mythology and idolatry of the Egyptians, introducing Anubis and Osiris and Isis into the dogma of the Christians, and that man has no gratitude to the only-begotten [since he received the passions by necessity and not by will, just as fire does not will its heat, nor water its flow] as one who refers what has happened not to authoritative power, but to a necessity of nature.
Cap.12.5 5. Then again, having discoursed on the true and unapproachable light, of Father and Son, of property and communion [and] of essence, and concerning begotten and unbegotten, as having no contrariety in meaning, but having shown a certain antithesis and unmediated distinction, he completes the argument.
It was not, as it seems, the desire to benefit all and to offer one's grace indiscriminately to the men one meets a thing in all respects good and free from the accusation of the many, nor to further waste the preparation of medicines on those who are incurably sick with a view to benefit, does it bring anything worthy of zeal, either to those receiving the profit or to those who ambitiously seek praise.
On the contrary, indeed, such a thing often becomes 1.1.2 an occasion for what is worse; for the sickly and those already ready for death are easily also destroyed by the more powerful medicines, and the beastly and irrational, as somewhere it says
7
κτίσεως ζῷά τε καὶ φυτά εἰσι πρὸ τῆς ἰδίας γεννήσεως μὴ ὄντα, τοῦτο καὶ τὸν κύριον εἶναι [καὶ ὁμοίως τῆς τῶν βατράχων γενέσεως· φεῦ τῆς βλασφημίας].Cap.11.5 εʹ. Πάλιν τε κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ θεὸν καὶ δημιουργὸν πάσης τε νοητῆς καὶ αἰσθητῆς κτίσεως ὁ Εὐνόμιος καλεῖ [παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν δύναμιν τῆς δημιουργίας καὶ τὴν ἐπι τροπὴν εἰληφότα, καθάπερ χειροτέχνης παρὰ τοῦ μισθου μένου τὴν δημιουργίαν ἐπιτραπείς] ἐπίκτητόν τε καὶ ἔξωθεν τῆς δημιουργίας τὴν δύναμιν εἰληφότα ἐκ τῆς ἀποκληρω θείσης αὐτῷ δυνάμεως κατὰ τὰς ποιὰς τῶν ἀστέρων ἐπι πλοκάς τε καὶ ἀποστάσεις, τῆς εἱμαρμένης ἐπικλωθούσης τοῖς τικτομένοις τὰς ἀποκληρώσεις τῶν βίων. καὶ τὰ πολλὰ παρατρέχων ἐκ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένων τὴν βλασφη μίαν ἐλέγχει, γῇ καὶ ἀγγέλοις ὁμοίως γεγονότα τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ἁπάντων καὶ μηδὲν τῆς πάντων γενέσεως τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἀπᾴδειν ὑπόστασιν· μήτε θεῖον μυστήριον μήτε ἔθος * μήτε τινὶ τῶν τῆς θεοσεβείας διδασκάλων πειθό μενον πρὸς τὴν τῆς εὐσεβείας εὕρεσιν, εἰ μὴ Μανιχαῖον Κό λουθον Ἄρειον Ἀέτιον καὶ τοὺς κατ' αὐτούς, λῆρον πάντα τὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν * καὶ παίγνιον τὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἔθη καὶ σεβάσμια ἡγούμενον μυστήρια, μηδὲν τῶν Ἑλλήνων διαφέ ροντα, οἳ μέγαν θεὸν ὑπερέχοντα τῶν ἄλλων ἐκ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὑπέλαβον δόγματος. οὕτως οὖν καὶ ὁ νέος οὗτος εἰδω λολάτρης ὁμοίως κηρύσσει καὶ εἰς δημιουργὸν καὶ κτίστην τὸ βάπτισμα γίνεσθαι, μὴ δεδιὼς τὴν ἀρὰν τῶν προσθήκην ἢ ἔλλειψιν ἐν ταῖς θείαις ποιουμένων γραφαῖς· ἀντίχριστόν τε τοῦτον ἀποδεικνὺς τὸν λόγον πληροῖ. Cap.12.1 αʹ. Οὗτος δὲ ὁ ιβʹ λόγος τὸν πρὸς τὴν Μαρίαν παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου ῥηθέντα λόγον Μή μου ἅπτου, οὔπω γὰρ ἀναβέ βηκα, θαυμαστῶς ἑρμηνεύει. Cap.12.2 βʹ. Εἶτα τὴν παρὰ τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου ἐλεγχθεῖσαν βλασφημίαν τοῦ Εὐνομίου εἰς τὴν τοῦ σκότους μοῖραν τὸν μονογενῆ ἀφορίσαντος θεὸν καὶ τὴν τοῦ Εὐνομίου ἀπολογίαν ἤτοι ἀνάλυσιν τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ ῥηθείσης βλασφημίας ἐκθέ μενος, πλείονα ἀπὸ τῆς ἀπολογίας τὴν αὐτοῦ νῦν βλασφη μίαν τῆς προτέρας ἀποδείκνυσιν· ἐν ᾧ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀπροσ ίτου καὶ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς πανσόφως διελήλυθενCap.12.3 γʹ. Πρὸς τούτοις τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν ῥῆσιν τὴν Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὸ φῶς καὶ τὸ Ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, κακῶς παρὰ Εὐνομίου νοηθέντα, παραδόξως ἡρμή νευσεν καὶ τὴν βλασφημίαν ἀνεσκεύασεν τήν τε οἰκονομίαν τοῦ υἱοῦ διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν, οὐκ ἀδυναμίαν, πατρός τε συνεργίᾳ γεγενημένην δείκνυσι.Cap.12.4 δʹ. Πρὸς τούτοις δὲ πάλιν τὸν Εὐνόμιον τὴν ἀγεννη σίαν ἐκ τῶν ἱερογλυφικῶν γραφῶν καὶ τῆς Αἰγυπτίων μυθο ποιΐας καὶ εἰδωλολατρείας μεμαθηκέναι διελέγχει, Ἄνουβιν καὶ Ὄσιριν καὶ Ἶσιν τῷ τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐπεισάγοντα δόγ-ματι, καὶ μὴ χάριν τῷ μονογενεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔχειν [ὡς κατ' ἀνάγκην τὰ πάθη δεξάμενον καὶ μὴ βουλόμενον ὡς οὐδὲ τὸ πῦρ τῆς θερμότητος οὔτε τῆς ῥοῆς τὸ ὕδωρ] ὡς οὐκ εἰς δύναμιν ἐξουσιαστικήν, ἀλλ' εἰς φύσεως ἀνάγκην τὸ γεγονὸς ἀναφέροντα. Cap.12.5εʹ. Εἶτα πάλιν περὶ ἀληθινοῦ καὶ ἀπροσίτου φωτός, πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ, ἰδιότητός τε καὶ κοινότητος [καὶ] οὐσίας διεξελθών, περί τε γεννητοῦ καὶ ἀγεννήτου, ὡς μηδεμίαν ἐναντιότητα κατὰ τὸ σημαινόμενον ἔχοντος, ἀλλ' ἀντίθεσίν τινα καὶ ἀντιδιαστολὴν ἀμεσίτευτον ἀποδείξας τὸν λόγον πληροῖ. Οὐκ ἦν, ὡς ἔοικε, τὸ πάντας ἐθέλειν εὐεργετεῖν καὶ τοῖς ἐπιτυχοῦσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν παρ' ἑαυτοῦ χάριν ἀνεξε τάστως προΐεσθαι κατὰ πάντα καλὸν καὶ τῆς τῶν πολλῶν κατηγορίας ἐλεύθερον, οὐδὲ τὸ τοῖς ἀνίατα νοσοῦσι τὴν τῶν φαρμάκων προσαπολλύειν παρασκευὴν ἐπὶ τῷ τῆς ὠφελείας σκοπῷ φέρει τι τῆς σπουδῆς ἄξιον, ἢ τοῖς δεχομένοις τὸ κέρδος ἢ τοῖς φιλοτιμουμένοις τὸν ἔπαινον. τοὐναντίον μὲν οὖν καὶ τοῦ χείρονος πολλάκις ἀφορμὴ τὸ τοιοῦτον καθί 1.1.2 σταται· οἵ τε γὰρ νοσώδεις καὶ ἤδη πρὸς θάνατον ἕτοι μοι τοῖς δραστικωτέροις τῶν φαρμάκων εὐκόλως προσδια φθείρονται, καὶ οἱ θηριώδεις καὶ ἄλογοι, καθώς φησί που τὸ