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it requires time and circumstances and external cooperation to come into being, but the 1.1.93 inclination of speech has the power to err. And the proof of what is being said is this very argument of Eunomius in our hands, which anyone who considers it not superficially will find the downward slope of the error in its words, which is certainly very easy to imitate, even if someone is completely unpracticed in the experience of blaspheming. For why must one labor to coin insults, when it is possible to use against the insulter the very things he has said? For in this part of his argument he has stitched together all things false and blasphemous, concocted alongside his examples, and there is nothing 1.1.94 absurd that is not written in it. 20clever20, he says, 20contentious, an enemy of truth, a sophist, a deceiver, opposing the opinions and memories of the many, not being ashamed of refutation from facts, not cautious of fear from the laws, nor blame from men, not knowing how to distinguish truth from cleverness20; to these he adds also 20shamelessness and a readiness for reviling20; then he says it is 20out of tune20 and 20full of conflicting suspicions and fitting the argument together from ill-fitting parts and conflicting with its own words and uttering 1.1.95 contradictions20. And wishing to say many evil things about him, then being unable to sate the bitterness of his soul with the novelty of his insults, since he does not have anything to say, he often returns to the same things and having said it once he repeats it again, and a third and a fourth time and more, as if retracing a double-course in his speech through the same insults and nonsensical revilings, going up and down through the same things; so that one no longer is vexed at the shamelessness of his insults, one's anger being weakened by the surfeit of what is 1.1.96 said. For one would rather feel disgust than become angry; so slavish and devoid of grace and from the crossroads are his jests, in no way different from some old woman jeering and muttering under her breath. 1.1.97 What then? Must one go through each point and laboriously make a defense concerning all the things said for insult, that he was not such a man against whom these things have been concocted? But in this way we would seem to be joining in insulting the one who shone forth for his generation like a luminary, by being content to prove through our words that he was not a criminal and condemned. 1.1.98 But I remember that divine voice, how it uttered prophetically from the prophecy concerning him, where it compares him to shameless women, who bring their own reproaches against the chaste. For what enemy of the truth do his words proclaim? Who opposes the opinions of the many? Who asks those who read his writing not to look to the multitude of witnesses nor to regard antiquity nor to incline their 1.1.99 opinions toward the trustworthiness of those who are esteemed for what is better? Is it the part of the same man both to write these things and to bring forward those other things, and on the one hand to seek for his hearers to follow his own innovations, and on the other to disparage others as opposing the common opinions? And as for 20not being ashamed of refutation from facts20 and 20human blame20 and whatever such things he recounts in the same way, I leave it to the judgment of the hearers to consider about whom it is true to say, whether it is of the one who legislates self-control and propriety and all purity of both soul and body through the most exact continence, for himself and for those near him alike, or of the one who orders not to give trouble to nature as it proceeds toward what it wishes through the body's appetites, nor to resist pleasures nor to be scrupulous about such diligence in life? For there is not any harm to the soul that arises from such things, but the heretical 1.1.100 faith alone is sufficient for a person for perfection. But if he denies that their teachings are thus, I for my part, and each of those who are right-minded, would pray that he is speaking the truth in

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χρόνου καὶ πραγμάτων καὶ τῆς ἔξωθεν συνεργίας εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι προσδέεται, ἡ δὲ τοῦ 1.1.93 λόγου πρόσφυσις κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἔχει τὸ πλημμελεῖν. ἀπό δειξις δὲ τῶν λεγομένων αὐτὸς ὁ ἐν χερσὶν ἡμῶν τοῦ Εὐνο μίου λόγος, ὃν ὁ μὴ παρέργως κατανοήσας εὑρήσει τὸ κάτ αντες τῆς ἐν τοῖς ῥήμασιν ἁμαρτίας, ἣν μιμεῖσθαι πάντως τῶν εὐπορωτάτων ἐστί, κἂν παντελῶς τις ἀμελετήτως ἔχῃ τῆς τοῦ βλασφημεῖν ἐμπειρίας. τί γὰρ δεῖ κάμνειν ὀνοματο ποιοῦντα τὰς ὕβρεις, ἐξὸν τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τὸν ὑβρί σαντα χρήσασθαι; πάντα γὰρ ἐν τῷ μέρει τούτῳ τοῦ λόγου ψευδῆ καὶ βλάσφημα πρὸς τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ παραδείγματα συμ πεπλασμένα διερραψῴδησε, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι οὐκ ἐγγέ 1.1.94 γραπται τῶν ἀτόπων. 20δεινός20, φησίν, 20ἐριστικός, ἀλη θείας ἐχθρός, σοφιστής, ἀπατεών, ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν δόξαις καὶ μνήμαις ἀντιταττόμενος, τὸν ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων οὐκ αἰσχυνόμενος ἔλεγχον, οὐ φόβον ἐκ τῶν νόμων, οὐ ψόγον ἐξ ἀνθρώπων διευλαβούμενος, ἀλήθειαν δεινότητος διακρί νειν οὐκ ἐπιστάμενος20· προστίθησι τούτοις καὶ 20ἀν αίδειαν καὶ πρὸς τὸ λοιδορεῖν ἑτοιμότητα20· εἶτα 20ἐκμελῆ20 φησι 20καὶ μαχομένων ὑπονοιῶν πλήρη καὶ ἐξ ἀναρμόστων τὸν λόγον ἁρμόζοντα καὶ ταῖς ἰδίαις φωναῖς μαχόμενον καὶ τὰ ἐναντία 1.1.95 φθεγγόμενον20. καὶ πολλὰ εἰπεῖν περὶ αὐτοῦ κακὰ θέ λων, εἶτα τὴν πικρίαν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐμπλῆσαι ἐν τῇ καινό τητι τῶν ὕβρεων οὐ δυνάμενος, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἔχει ὅ τι καὶ εἴπῃ, πολλάκις ἐπὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἐπανέρχεται καὶ ἅπαξ εἰπὼν ἐπανακυκλοῖ πάλιν καὶ ἐκ τρίτου τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ἐκ τετάρτου καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦτο, ὥσπερ τινὰ δίαυλον ἀνακάμπτων τῷ λόγῳ διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ὕβρεων καὶ τῆς λοιδορίας ληρημάτων, ἄνω καὶ κάτω διὰ τῶν ὁμοίων περιχωρῶν· ὥστε μηκέτι χαλεπαί νειν αὐτοῦ τῇ ἀναισχυντίᾳ τῶν ὕβρεων, ἐν τῷ προσκορεῖ τῶν 1.1.96 λεγομένων τὸν θυμὸν ὑπεκλύοντα. βδελύξαιτο γὰρ ἄν τις μᾶλλον ἢ εἰς ὀργὴν ἔλθοι· οὕτως ἀνδραποδώδη καὶ χαρίτων ἄμοιρα καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς τριόδου τὰ σκώμματα, γραός τινος δια κωθωνιζομένης καὶ ὑπ' ὀδόντα γρυζούσης οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν διαφέ ροντα. 1.1.97 Τί οὖν; ἆρα ἐπεξελθεῖν δεῖ τοῖς καθ' ἕκαστον καὶ περὶ πάντων τῶν ἐφ' ὕβρει ῥηθέντων φιλοπόνως ἀπολογήσασθαι, ὅτι οὐκ ἦν τοιοῦτος καθ' οὗ ταῦτα συμπέπλασται; ἀλλ' οὕτω γ' ἂν καὶ ἡμεῖς συγκαθυβρίζειν δοκοίημεν τὸν ἀντὶ φωστῆρος τῇ γενεᾷ διαλάμψαντα, ἀγαπητῶς τὸ μὴ κακοῦργον καὶ κατεγνωσμένον εἶναι διὰ τῶν λόγων ἀποδεικνύοντες. 1.1.98 ἀλλὰ μέμνημαι τῆς θείας ἐκείνης φωνῆς, ὡς προφητικῶς περὶ αὐτοῦ τὰ ἐκ τῆς προφητείας ἐφθέγξατο, ὅπου ταῖς ἀναισχύντοις αὐτὸν τῶν γυναικῶν παρεικάζει, αἳ τὰ ἴδια ὀνείδη ταῖς σωφρονούσαις προφέρουσι. τίνα γὰρ ἐχθρὸν τῆς ἀληθείας οἱ λόγοι κηρύσσουσι; τίνα ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν δόξαις ἀντιτασσόμενον; τίς αἰτεῖται παρὰ τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων αὐτοῦ τῷ συγγράμματι μὴ πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν μαρτυρούντων ὁρᾶν μηδὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀρχαιότητα βλέπειν μηδὲ πρὸς τὸ ἀξιόπιστον τῶν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ὑπειλημμένων ῥέπειν ταῖς 1.1.99 γνώμαις; ἆρα τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐστι καὶ ταῦτα γράφειν καὶ ἐκεῖνα προφέρειν, καὶ ταῖς μὲν ἑαυτοῦ καινοτομίαις ζητεῖν τοὺς ἀκούοντας ἕπεσθαι, φαυλίζειν δὲ πάλιν ἑτέρους ὡς ταῖς κοιναῖς ὑπολήψεσιν ἀντιβαίνοντας; τὸ δὲ 20μὴ αἰσχύνε σθαι τὸν ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων ἔλεγχον20 καὶ 20τὸν ἀνθρώπινον ψόγον20 καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα κατὰ ταὐτὸ διεξ έρχεται, ταῖς τῶν ἀκουόντων γνώμαις καταλείπω σκοπεῖν ἐπὶ τίνος ἀληθές ἐστι λέγειν, ἆρα τοῦ σωφροσύνην καὶ κοσμιότητα καὶ πᾶσαν καθαρότητα ψυχῆς τε καὶ σώματος διὰ τῆς ἀκριβεστάτης ἐγκρατείας νομοθετοῦντος ὁμοίως ἑαυτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς πλησιάζουσιν, ἢ τοῦ κελεύοντος μὴ παρέ χειν πράγματα τῇ φύσει πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν διὰ τῶν τοῦ σώ ματος ὀρέξεων προϊούσῃ μηδὲ ἀντιβαίνειν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς μηδὲ ἀκριβολογεῖσθαι περὶ τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ βίου σπουδήν; οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶναί τινα βλάβην ψυχῆς διὰ τῶν τοιούτων συνι σταμένην, ἀλλὰ μόνην ἀρκεῖν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὴν αἱρετικὴν 1.1.100 πίστιν πρὸς τελειότητα. εἰ δὲ ἀρνεῖται τὸ μὴ οὕτως ἔχειν αὐτοῖς τὰ διδάγματα, εὐξαίμην ἂν ἔγωγε καὶ τῶν εὖ φρο νούντων ἕκαστος ἀληθεύειν αὐτὸν ἐν