Contents of Book IX.

§1. The ninth book declares that Eunomius’ account of the Nature of God is, up to a certain point, well stated. Then in succession he mixes up with his own argument, on account of its affinity, the expression from Philo’s writings, “God is before all other things, which are generated,” adding also the expression, “He has dominion over His own power.” Detesting the excessive absurdity, Gregory strikingly confutes it

§2. He then ingeniously shows that the generation of the Son is not according to the phrase of Eunomius, “The Father begat Him at that time when He chose, and not before:” but that the Son, being the fulness of all that is good and excellent, is always contemplated in the Father; using for this demonstration the support of Eunomius’ own arguments.

§3. He further shows that the pretemporal generation of the Son is not the subject of influences drawn from ordinary and carnal generation, but is without beginning and without end, and not according to the fabrications constructed by Eunomius, in ignorance of His power, from the statements of Plato concerning the soul and from the sabbath rest of the Hebrews.

§4. Then, having shown that Eunomius’ calumny against the great Basil, that he called the Only-begotten “Ungenerate,” is false, and having again with much ingenuity discussed the eternity, being, and endlessness of the Only-begotten, and the creation of light and of darkness, he concludes the book.

αʹ. Ὁ θʹ λόγος τὴν Εὐνομίου θεολογίαν μέχρι μέν τινος καλῶς ῥηθεῖσαν λέγει. εἶτ' ἐφεξῆς ἐκ τῶν Φίλωνος λόγων τὸ Ὁ θεὸς πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα γεννητά, διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν τοῦ φρονήματος μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων ἀναμίξας λόγων, προσθεὶς δὲ καὶ τὸ Τῆς ἰδίας κατακρατεῖ δυνάμεως, τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀτοπίας μυσαχθεὶς θαυμαστῶς ἐξελέγχει.
βʹ. Εἶτα τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ γέννησιν οὐ κατὰ τὴν Εὐνομίου φωνὴν Τότε ἐγέννησε λέγοντος, ὅτε ἠθέλησεν ὁ πατήρ, καὶ οὐ πρότερον, ἀλλὰ πάντων ἀγαθῶν καὶ καλῶν πλήρωμα τὸν υἱὸν ὄντα ἀεὶ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ θεωρεῖσθαι πανσόφως ὑπέδειξεν, « ἀπ' » αὐτῶν τῶν Εὐνομίου λόγων συνηγορίαν ποιησάμενος τῆς τοιαύτης ἀποδείξεως.
γʹ. Καὶ ὅτι οὐ κατὰ τὴν κοινὴν καὶ σαρκώδη γέννησιν ἡ προαιώνιος τοῦ μονογενοῦς τεκμαίρεται, ἀλλ' ἄναρχός ἐστι καὶ ἀτελεύτητος, καὶ οὐ καθὼς Εὐνόμιος ἀπὸ τῶν Πλάτωνι περὶ ψυχῆς ῥηθέντων καὶ τῆς παρ' Ἑβραίοις τοῦ σαββάτου ἀναπαύσεως ἀνοήτως ἀναπλάττει, μὴ εἰδὼς τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῶν.
δʹ. Εἶτα τὴν κατὰ τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου παρὰ τοῦ Εὐνομίου συκοφαντίαν ὡς ἀγέννητον τὸν μονογενῆ καλοῦντος ψευδῆ ἀποδείξας πάλιν περὶ τὸ ἀΐδιον καὶ ὂν καὶ ἀτελεύτητον τοῦ μονογενοῦς, δημιουργίας τε καὶ φωτὸς καὶ σκότους πανσόφως διεξελθὼν τὸν λόγον πληροῖ.