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of the one in the horses that of the one in the chariot? For if someone were to accept these things in the proper way, through these very accounts he will be shown for the reception of the mystery, seeing a certain typical prophecy concerning the Lord's incarnation prefigured in the narrative through the things that happened. For just as fire, being by nature upward-tending, becomes earthly by divine power, and Elijah, being encompassed by the heavenly fire which again runs back to its natural motion, is himself also lifted up with it, so a certain immaterial and invisible power of the Most High, taking up the form of a servant which subsisted through the virgin, led it up to its own height, trans-elementing it into the divine and undefiled nature; so that he who is disbelieving toward this would not even agree with the miracle-working concerning Elijah; but he who has learned beforehand in that event the truth sketched out would not even hold a contrary position to the truth itself. Then he turns his abuse upon us, who do not accept his refashioned myth, and says: "But those who in the guise of faith are faithless are ashamed of the God born of a woman and crucified by the Jews, just as they were." Now, to use curses against opponents, who does not know that this is characteristic of those who are weak in what they are zealous about? But we say this much, that with two chasms lying before us, on the one hand that according to Apollinarius, and on the other the fall according to Arius, the destruction is equal for those who fall into either; however, in a choice of evils, the fracture according to Arius seems lighter.

]For both drag down the undefiled nature of the only-begotten to what is lower; but Arius assimilates the master of the angels to the incorporeal nature of the angels, declaring that he and they are equally diminished from the uncreated nature and exist through creation; but this one intensifies the absurdity so much as to judge him to be of equal honor with man, who is made lower than the angels, and to define his nature as being fleshly. And inasmuch as the incorporeal nature is better than bodies, by so much is the impiety according to Arius more preferable than the error of Apollinarius. Who then, in the guise of faith, is faithless in interpreting the mystery from the virgin? For I will set forth for the public both our faith, which is ridiculed by the writer, and his own supposition. For we say that being God in essence, immaterial and invisible and incorporeal, by a certain philanthropic economy toward the end of the completion of the universe, when wickedness had already grown to its height, then for the destruction of sin he is mingled with human nature, like a sun taking up residence in a gloomy cave and by its light making the darkness disappear at its presence. For having taken our filth upon himself, he himself is not defiled by the pollution, but in himself he cleanses the filth; "For the light," it says, "shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." Just as also happens in the case of medicine; for when the cure is brought to the disease, the sickness passes into disappearance, it is not transferred to the medical art. This is our account. But he says that God was incarnate from the beginning, and so in the last days that which was born, that visible and tangible body, which grew by gradual additions through human food, that this was he who was before all things that exist, who also made men and all creation visible and invisible, who also feels weariness and in anguish undergoes the experience of death. I do not know how the wise man, while attesting no weariness to the creator when the heavens and the earth and all the wonders in creation were being established, yet says that he was weary in order to pass from Judea to Galilee; and that he turned the rock into pools of water for the Israelites, but he himself asked for a drink from a Samaritan woman; and that for forty years he did not grow weary pouring out the heavenly food for so many myriads, but he himself ran to the fig tree in the hope of food that was not there. Such being from

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τοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἵπποις τὸ ἐν τῷ ἅρματι; εἰ γὰρ ταῦτά τις δέξαιτο καθ' ὃν δεῖ τρόπον, δι' αὐτῶν δὴ τούτων 3,1.170 τῶν λόγων πρὸς τὴν τοῦ μυστηρίου παραδοχὴν ἀναδειχθή σεται τυπικήν τινα προφητείαν περὶ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου ἐνανθρω πήσεως ἐν τῷ διηγήματι βλέπων διὰ τῶν γεγονότων προ τυπουμένην. ὡς γὰρ ἀνωφερὲς ὂν τῇ φύσει τὸ πῦρ θείᾳ δυ νάμει πρόσγειον γίνεται, ὁ δὲ Ἠλίας περισχεθεὶς τῷ οὐρανίῳ πυρὶ πάλιν πρὸς τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ἐπανατρέχοντι κίνησιν καὶ αὐτὸς συνεπαίρεται, οὕτως ἄϋλός τις οὖσα καὶ ἀειδὴς ἡ τοῦ ὑψίστου δύναμις τὴν δουλικὴν μορφὴν τὴν διὰ τῆς παρθένου ὑποστᾶσαν διαλαβοῦσα πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον ὕψος ἀνήγαγεν εἰς τὴν θείαν τε καὶ ἀκήρατον μεταστοιχειώσασα φύσιν· ὥστε ὁ πρὸς τοῦτο δυσπειθῶς ἔχων οὐδ' ἂν τῇ κατὰ τὸν Ἠλίαν θαυματοποιΐᾳ προσθοῖτο· ὁ δὲ ἐν ἐκείνῳ προ καταμαθὼν σκιαγραφηθεῖσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν οὐδ' ἂν πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀντιτύπως ἔχοι. Εἶτα ἐφ' ἡμᾶς στρέφει τὴν λοιδορίαν τοὺς μὴ παραδε χομένους αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀναπλασθέντα μῦθον καί φησιν· Οἱ δὲ ἐν σχήματι πίστεως ἄπιστοι τῷ ἐκ γυναικὸς τεχθέντι θεῷ καὶ σταυρωθέντι πρὸς Ἰουδαίων ὁμοίως ἐκείνοις ἐπαισχύνονται. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀραῖς κατὰ τῶν ὑπεναντίων κεχρῆσθαι, τίς οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι τῶν ἀτονούντων ἐστὶ περὶ ἃ σπουδάζουσιν ἴδιον; ἡμεῖς δὲ το σοῦτόν φαμεν, ὅτι δύο προκειμένων βαράθρων, ἔνθεν μὲν τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἀπολινάριον, ἑτέρωθεν δὲ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἄρειον πτώματος, ἴσον μὲν καθ' ἑκάτερον τοῖς καταπίπτουσίν ἐστι τὸ σύντριμμα· πλὴν ἐν κακῶν ἐκλογῇ κουφότερον δοκεῖ τὸ κατὰ τὸν Ἄρειον κλάσμα.

]Αμφότεροι μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὸ ταπεινότερον τὴν ἀκήρατον τοῦ μονογενοῦς φύσιν καθέλ κουσιν· ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Ἄρειος τῇ ἀσωμάτῳ τῶν ἀγγέλων φύσει 3,1.171 προσοικειοῖ τὸν τῶν ἀγγέλων δεσπότην κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ἠλαττῶσθαι τῆς τοῦ ἀκτίστου φύσεως καὶ τοῦτον κἀκείνους διὰ κτίσεως εἶναι ἀποφηνάμενος· οὗτος δὲ τοσοῦτον ἐπιτείνει τὴν ἀτοπίαν, ὥστε καὶ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ παρ' ἀγγέλους ἠλαττω μένῳ κρίνειν ὁμότιμον καὶ σαρκώδη εἶναι τὴν φύσιν αὐτοῦ διορίζεσθαι. ὅσῳ δὲ κρείττων τῶν σωμάτων ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις, τοσοῦτον ἡ κατὰ Ἄρειον ἀσέβεια τῆς Ἀπολιναρίου πλάνης αἱρετωτέρα. τίς οὖν ἐν σχήματι πίστεως ἄπιστος ἑρμηνεύων τὸ ἐκ τῆς παρθένου μυστήριον; προθήσω γὰρ τῷ κοινῷ τήν τε κωμῳδουμένην ἡμῶν παρὰ τοῦ λογογράφου πίστιν καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου ὑπόληψιν. ἡμεῖς γάρ φαμεν, ὅτι ἄϋλός τε καὶ ἀειδὴς καὶ ἀσώματος κατ' οὐσίαν θεὸς ὢν οἰκονομίᾳ τινὶ φιλανθρώπῳ πρὸς τῷ τέλει τῆς τοῦ παντὸς συμπληρώσεως ἤδη τῆς κακίας εἰς τὸ ἀκρότατον αὐξηθείσης, τότε ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ κατακιρνᾶται φύσει, οἷόν τις ἥλιος ἐν γνοφώδει σπηλαίῳ εἰσοικιζόμενος καὶ διὰ τοῦ φωτὸς ἐξαφανίζων τῇ παρουσίᾳ τὸ σκότος. τὸν γὰρ ἡμέτερον ῥύπον εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλαβὼν οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐμμολύνεται τῷ μιάσματι, ἀλλ' ἐν ἑαυτῷ καθαρίζει τὸν ῥύπον· Τὸ γὰρ φῶς, φησίν, ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἔλαμψεν· ἡ δὲ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν. ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἰατρείας γί νεται· ἐπαχθείσης γὰρ τῷ νοσήματι τῆς ἰάσεως εἰς ἀφανισμὸν μεταχωρεῖ τὸ ἀρρώστημα, οὐκ εἰς τὴν ἰατρικὴν τέχνην ἀντιμεθίσταται. οὗτος ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος. ὁ δέ φησιν ἔν σαρκον εἶναι τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς τὸν θεὸν καὶ οὕτως ἐπ' ἐσχάτων ἡμερῶν τὸ τεχθὲν ἐκεῖνο τὸ ὁρατὸν καὶ ψηλαφητὸν σῶμα, τὸ διὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης τροφῆς ταῖς κατ' ὀλίγον προσθήκαις αὐξανόμε νον, ἐκεῖνο εἶναι ὃ πρὸ τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων ἦν, 3,1.172 ὃ καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐποίησε καὶ πᾶσαν κτίσιν ὁρατήν τε καὶ ἀόρατον, ὃ καὶ τοῦ κόπου αἰσθά νεται καὶ ἐν ἀδημονίᾳ θανάτου δέχεται πεῖραν. οὐκ οἶδα πῶς ὁ σοφός, ὅτε μὲν οἱ οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν τῇ κτίσει συνίστατο θαύματα, κόπον οὐδένα προσ μαρτυρῶν τῷ ποιήσαντι, ἵνα δὲ διέλθῃ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἐπὶ τὴν Γαλιλαίαν, ἐν κόπῳ αὐτὸν γεγενῆσθαι λέγων· καὶ τοῖς μὲν Ἰσραηλίταις στρέφειν τὴν πέτραν εἰς λίμνας ὑδάτων, αὐτὸν δὲ πιεῖν αἰτεῖν παρὰ γυναικὸς Σαμαρείτιδος· καὶ ἐν τεσσαράκοντα ἔτεσι μὴ κάμνειν τοσαύταις μυριάσι τὴν οὐρανίαν τροφὴν ἐπιχέοντα, αὐτὸν δὲ πρὸς τὴν συκῆν δραμεῖν ἐλπίδι βρώσεως τῆς μὴ οὔσης. τοιαύτης οὔσης παρ'