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the Word proceeding from the Father, thus defiles the pure doctrine with these shameful and stinking thoughts, saying, "does he not in begetting divide the substance?" O the abomination of these shameful and filthy thoughts. How does he who says such things not understand that even God, appearing through the flesh, did not accept the passion of human nature for the constitution of his own body, but even a child was born for us from the power of the Holy Spirit, and neither did the virgin suffer, nor was the Spirit diminished, nor 57 was the power of the most High divided? For the Spirit is whole and the power of the Most High remained undiminished and the child was born whole and did not harm the mother's incorruption. Then, if flesh was born from flesh without passion, does Eunomius not want the effulgence of glory to be from glory itself, since glory, 58 in begetting the light, is neither diminished nor divided? And if the human word is begotten indivisibly from the mind, can the divine Word not be begotten from the Father unless the Father's substance is divided? Is anyone so foolish as not to comprehend the irrationality of the dogma? "Not in begetting," he says, "dividing his own substance." For whose own substance is divided 59 in begetting? For substance in the case of humans is human nature, and in the case of irrational beings it is generally irrational nature, but specifically in the case of oxen and of sheep and of all irrational beings, it is that which is considered according to the differences of their properties. Which of these, then, divides its own substance through giving birth? Does not nature always remain intact 60 in each of the animals through the succession of offspring? Then, a man begetting a man from himself does not divide nature, but it is whole both in the one who begot and in the one who was begotten, not being torn off from this one and transferred to that one, nor being mutilated in this one when it becomes complete in that one, but being entirely in this one and being found entirely in that one; for even before begetting the one from himself, man was a rational, mortal animal, receptive of intellect and knowledge, and also when he begot such a man; so that in that one all the properties of nature were shown, as he did not lose his being as a man by begetting a man from himself, but what he was before this, he also remained after this, diminishing nothing of his own nature 61 through the coming into being of the man from himself; and a man is begotten from a man and the nature of the begetter is not divided, yet Eunomius does not accept that the only-begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father is truly from the Father, fearing lest he mutilate the pure nature of the Father through the hypostasis of the only-begotten, but having said that "not dividing the substance in begetting," he added, "or the same being the begetter and the begotten, or the same becoming father and son," and he thinks through these incoherent sayings to corrupt the true account of piety or to provide some strength for his impiety, not knowing that through the very means by which he attempts to establish his absurdity, he is found to be an advocate of the 62 truth. For we too say that he who has all the things of his own Father is another than him, except for being the Father, and he who has all the things of the Son shows the whole Son in himself, except for becoming the Son; so that the establishment of the absurdity, which Eunomius is now establishing, becomes an alliance for the truth, with the meaning being more clearly distinguished by us according to the guidance of the evangelical word. For if he who has seen the Son sees the Father, the Father has begotten another self, neither departing from himself and appearing whole in that other, so that through these things what seems to have been said against piety is shown to be an alliance for the sound doctrine. 63 "But," he says, "neither dividing his own substance in begetting, and the same being the begetter and the begotten, or the same becoming father and son; for he is incorruptible." O the necessity of the conclusion. What are you saying, O most wise one?

Because he is incorruptible, he does not divide his own substance in begetting the Son, nor does he beget himself and is he begotten by himself, nor does he at the same time become his own father and son,

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λόγον ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐξελθόντα οὕτω καταρρυπαίνει τὸ ἀκήρατον δόγμα τοῖς αἰσχροῖς τούτοις καὶ ὀδωδόσι νοήμασι λέγων οὐκ ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν τὴν οὐσίαν μερίζει; ὢ τῆς βδελυρίας τῶν αἰσχρῶν τούτων καὶ ῥυπαρῶν νοημάτων. πῶς οὐ συνίησιν ὁ τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγων, ὅτι οὐδὲ διὰ σαρκὸς ὁ θεὸς φανερούμενος τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως πάθος πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος σύστασιν παρεδέξατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου δυνάμεως καὶ οὔτε ἡ παρθένος ἔπαθεν οὔτε τὸ πνεῦμα ἐμειώθη οὔτε 57 ἡ δύναμις τοῦ ὑψίστου ἀπεμερίσθη; καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα ὅλον ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ τοῦ ὑψίστου δύναμις ἀμείωτος ἔμεινε καὶ τὸ παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ὅλον καὶ τὴν τῆς μητρὸς ἀφθορίαν οὐκ ἐλυμήνατο. εἶτα σὰρξ μὲν ἀπὸ σαρκὸς ἐγεννήθη δίχα πάθους, τὸ δὲ τῆς δόξης ἀπαύγασμα οὐ βούλεται ἀπ' αὐτῆς εἶναι ὁ Εὐνόμιος τῆς δόξης, ἐπειδὴ οὔτε μειοῦται 58 γεννῶσα τὸ φῶς ἡ δόξα οὔτε μερίζεται; καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀν θρώπινος λόγος ἀμερίστως ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ γεννᾶται, ὁ δὲ θεὸς λόγος, ἐὰν μὴ μερισθῇ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡ οὐσία, ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς γεννηθῆναι οὐ δύναται; ἆρά τις οὕτως ἐστὶν ἠλίθιος, ὡς μὴ συνεῖναι τὴν ἀλογίαν τοῦ δόγ ματος; οὐκ ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν, φησί, τὴν ἰδίαν οὐσίαν μερίζων. τίνος γὰρ ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν ἡ ἰδία οὐσία μερί 59 ζεται; οὐσία γὰρ ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀλόγων γενικῶς μὲν ἡ ἄλογος, ἰδικῶς δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν βοῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν προβάτων καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων τῶν ἀλόγων ἡ κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἰδιωμάτων διαφορὰς θεωρουμένη. τί τοίνυν ἐκ τούτων μερίζει τὴν ἰδίαν οὐσίαν διὰ τοῦ τόκου; οὐκ ἀεὶ μένει διὰ τῆς διαδοχῆς τῶν ἐπιγινομένων ἐφ' ἑκά 60 στου τῶν ζῴων ἀκεραία ἡ φύσις; εἶτα ἄνθρωπος μὲν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ τίκτων ἄνθρωπον οὐ μερίζει τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ γεννήσαντι καὶ ἐν τῷ γεννηθέντι ὅλη ἐστίν, οὐκ ἐκ τούτου πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀποσχιζομένη καὶ μεθισταμένη οὐδὲ ἐν τούτῳ κολοβουμένη, ὅταν ἐν ἐκείνῳ τελεία γένηται, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσα ἐν τούτῳ οὖσα καὶ πᾶσα ἐν ἐκείνῳ εὑρισκομένη· καὶ γὰρ καὶ πρὶν γεννῆσαι τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ζῷον ἦν λογικὸν θνητὸν νοῦ καὶ ἐπιστήμης δεκτικόν, καὶ ὅτε ἐγέννησε τὸν τοιοῦτον ἄνθρωπον· ὥστε ἐν ἐκείνῳ δειχθῆναι πάντα τὰ ἰδιώματα τῆς φύσεως, ὡς οὐκ ἀπώλεσε τὸ εἶναι ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ γεννήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλ' ὃ ἦν πρὸ τούτου, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο διέμεινεν, οὐδὲν διὰ τοῦ γενέ σθαι τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἄνθρωπον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως ἐλατ 61 τώσας· καὶ ἄνθρωπος μὲν ἐξ ἀνθρώπου γεννᾶται καὶ ἡ τοῦ γεννῶντος οὐ μερίζεται φύσις, τὸν δὲ μονογενῆ θεὸν τὸν ὄντα ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ πατρὸς οὐ δέχεται ὁ Εὐνό μιος ἀληθῶς ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς εἶναι, δεδοικὼς μὴ ἀκρωτη ριάσῃ τὴν ἀκήρατον τοῦ πατρὸς φύσιν διὰ τῆς τοῦ μονο γενοῦς ὑποστάσεως, ἀλλ' εἰπὼν ὅτι οὐ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν μερίζων, προσέθηκεν ἢ ὁ αὐτὸς γεν νῶν καὶ γεννώμενος ἢ ὁ αὐτὸς πατὴρ γινό μενος καὶ υἱός, καὶ οἴεται διὰ τῶν ἀσυναρτήτων τού των ῥημάτων σαθροποιεῖν τὸν ἀληθῆ τῆς εὐσεβείας λόγον ἢ ἰσχύν τινα πορίζειν τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ, οὐκ εἰδὼς ὅτι δι' ὧν ἐπινοεῖ κατασκευάζειν τὸ ἄτοπον, διὰ τούτων συνήγορος τῆς 62 ἀληθείας εὑρίσκεται. φαμὲν γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὅτι ὁ πάντα τὰ τοῦ ἰδίου πατρὸς ἔχων ἄλλος ἐκεῖνός ἐστι πλὴν τοῦ πατὴρ εἶναι, καὶ ὁ πάντα τὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἔχων ὅλον τὸν υἱὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ δείκνυσι πλὴν τοῦ υἱὸς γενέσθαι· ὥστε ἡ τοῦ ἀτόπου κατασκευή, ἣν κατασκευάζει νῦν ὁ Εὐνόμιος, συμμαχία τῆς ἀληθείας γίνεται, πρὸς τὸ σαφέστερον διαστα λέντος παρ' ἡμῶν τοῦ νοήματος κατὰ τὴν τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ λόγου ὑφήγησιν. εἰ γὰρ ὁ ἑωρακὼς τὸν υἱὸν ὁρᾷ τὸν πατέρα, ἄλλον ἑαυτὸν ἐγέννησεν ὁ πατήρ, οὔτε ἑαυτοῦ ἐξιστάμενος καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῳ ὅλος φαινόμενος, ὡς διὰ τούτων τὸ δοκοῦν κατὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας εἰρῆσθαι συμμαχίαν ἀπο δειχθῆναι τοῦ ὑγιαίνοντος δόγματος. 63 Ἀλλ' οὔτε τὴν ἰδίαν οὐσίαν, φησίν, ἐν τῷ γεννᾶν μερίζων καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς γεννῶν καὶ γεν νώμενος ἢ ὁ αὐτὸς πατὴρ γινόμενος καὶ υἱός· ἔστι γὰρ ἄφθαρτος. ὢ τῆς ἀνάγκης τοῦ συμπερά σματος. τί λέγεις, ὦ σοφώτατε;

∆ιότι ἄφθαρτός ἐστιν, οὐ μερίζει τὴν ἰδίαν οὐσίαν γεννῶν τὸν υἱὸν οὐδὲ ἑαυτὸν γεννᾷ καὶ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ γεννᾶται οὔτε πατὴρ ἅμα γίνεται ἑαυτοῦ καὶ υἱός,