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he is equal to those with whom he is left behind. What worse, then, than this blasphemy could the Jews say? What can one hear the gentiles saying? And do they not blush, those who feign to revere the Word of God, while proposing doctrines dear and agreeable 29.572 to Jews and Greeks? For if He is not compared to God the Father, just as neither angels, nor heaven, nor sun, nor earth, nor any of the animals and plants in it; how will he have a difference from his own creatures? and whence his kinship with the one who begot him? I, he says, and the Father are one. For let us again recall the same. Is not this saying, tell me, of one comparing himself? Why do I say comparing? Nay rather, of one uniting himself, so to speak, and thereby showing the unchangeableness of his nature. But he declares God to be incomparable. And while the goodness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ leads men, insofar as we are capable, through the study and practice of good works to the likeness of the God of all, in what he says: Be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect; this man deprives the Only-begotten, as far as it is in his power, of the kinship to the one who begot him that belongs to him by nature. And yet, even so his argument will be turned back against him. For if the Father is incomparable, from where will he get and furnish the proofs of the Son's unlikeness? For if, by comparing their substances to each other, he should say he has found the unlikeness, how is such a one incomparable? but if he is not compared at all in the first place, how was he able to recognize the difference? Thus it seems that evil is opposed not only to the good, but also to itself. 29.573 AGAINST EUNOMIUS, BOOK II. 20CONCERNING THE SON.20 Therefore, having laid a foundation in his discourses concerning the God of all, as much as he could, for his blasphemies against the Son of God, he then unleashed his tongue against the Only-begotten God himself. For what does he say? {EUN.} And one Son. For Only-begotten, concerning whom it was possible, by citing the sayings of the saints, through which they proclaim him Son and offspring and thing made, having shown by the differences in the names also the variation of substance, to be freed from cares and troubles; but on account of those who suppose the generation to be corporeal, and who stumble at the homonyms, it is perhaps necessary to speak briefly about these things also. {BAS.} This is what Eunomius says. But I, if one must think of his entire discourse as a fiction of the sort proposed to youths in the schools of vanity for practice in making falsehood persuasive (since in a similar way to those, everything resembles shadow-boxing; a fight against accusers who do not exist; and a defense against an accusation not previously stated; and a speech to judges who are nowhere to be seen); if one must listen to these things in this way, I myself abandon the examination, and I advise everyone to investigate none of the things said; but if the profession is greater, and a suspicion has arisen in many that he has some concern for the truth, it is altogether necessary to examine each of the things said to the best of our ability. What way of examination, then, could be more just than by comparing his argument with the teachings given to us by the Spirit, to accept whatever we find to be in agreement with them, but to disbelieve what is contrary and to shun it as an enemy? First, then, let him show this: which of the saints 29.576 have called Christ offspring and thing made? What sayings from the Scriptures does he have for proof? For if by the saying of the blessed Peter in the Acts of the Apostles

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ἴσος ἐκείνοις ἐστὶ μεθ' ὧν ἀπολείπεται. Τί οὖν τῆς βλασφημίας ταύτης χεῖρον εἴποιεν ἂν Ἰουδαῖοι; τί δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν λεγόντων ἐστὶν ἀκούειν; Καὶ οὐκ ἐρυθριῶσιν οἱ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον πρεσβεύειν σχη ματιζόμενοι, Ἰουδαίοις καὶ Ἕλλησι φίλα καὶ προσ 29.572 ήγορα διδάγματα προτεινόμενοι. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ συγκρίνεται τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ, ὥσπερ οὔτε ἄγγελοι, οὔτε οὐρανὸς, οὔτε ἥλιος, οὔτε γῆ, οὔτε τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ ζώων τε καὶ φυτῶν ἕκαστον· πῶς μὲν τὴν διαφορὰν ἕξει πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα κτίσματα; πόθεν δὲ αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν γεννήσαντα ἡ οἰκειότης; Ἐγὼ, φησὶ, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν. Πάλιν γὰρ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μνημονεύσωμεν. Τοῦτο, εἰπέ μοι, οὐχὶ συγκρί νοντος ἑαυτόν ἐστι τὸ ῥῆμα; Τί λέγω συγκρίνοντος; ἑνοῦντος μὲν οὖν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, καὶ τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἀπαράλλακτον παριστῶντος ἐντεῦθεν. Ὁ δὲ ἀσύγκριτον εἶναι τὸν Θεὸν ἀποφαίνεται. Καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀγαθότης τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χρι στοῦ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καθόσον ἐσμὲν χωρητι κοὶ, διὰ τῆς μελέτης καὶ τῆς ἀσκήσεως τῶν ἀγα θῶν ἔργων τῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τῶν ὅλων ὁμοιώσει προσάγει ἐν οἷς φησι· Γίνεσθε τέλειοι καθὼς καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειός ἐστιν· οὗτος δὲ τὸν Μονογενῆ τὴν ἐκ φύσεως αὐτῷ ὑπάρχουσαν πρὸς τὸν γεννήσαντα οἰκειότητα, τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν ἧκον, ἀποστερεῖ. Καίτοι καὶ οὕτως αὐτῷ εἰς τὸ ἐναντίον ὁ λόγος περιτραπήσεται. Εἰ γὰρ ἀσύγκρι τος ὁ Πατὴρ, πόθεν λαβὼν τῆς ἀνομοιότητος τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὰς ἀποδείξεις παρέξεται; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ, ἀντι παρεξετάζων τὰς οὐσίας ἀλλήλαις, εὑρηκέναι φήσει τὸ ἀνόμοιον, πῶς ἀσύγκριτος ὁ τοιοῦτος; εἰ δὲ οὐδὲ συγκρίνεται τὴν ἀρχὴν, πῶς ἐπιγνῶναι τὸ διάφορον ἠδυνήθη; Οὕτως ἔοικε τὸ κακὸν οὐ τῷ ἀγαθῷ ἐναντιοῦσθαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸ ἑαυτῷ. 29.573 ΠΡΟΣ ΕΥΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΛΟΓΟΣ Βʹ. 20ΠΕΡΙ ΥΙΟΥ.20 Ἐν τοίνυν τοῖς περὶ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων λόγοις ὑποκατασκευάσας ὅσον ἐδύνατο τὰς εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ βλασφημίας, αὐτῷ λοιπὸν ἐπαφῆκε τῷ Μονογε νεῖ Θεῷ τὴν γλῶσσαν. Τί γάρ φησι; {ΕΥΝ.} Καὶ εἷς Υἱός. Μονογενὴς γὰρ, περὶ οὗ ἐνῆν μὲν τὰς τῶν ἁγίων φωνὰς παραθέμενον, δι' ὧν Υἱὸν καὶ γέννημα καὶ ποίημα καταγγέλλουσι, ταῖς τῶν ὀνομάτων διαφοραῖς καὶ τὴν τῆς οὐσίας παραλλα γὴν ἐμφανίσαντας, ἀπηλλάχθαι φροντίδων καὶ πρα γμάτων· διὰ δὲ τοὺς σωματικὴν τὴν γέννησιν ὑπο λαμβάνοντας, καὶ ταῖς ὁμωνυμίαις προσπταίον τας, ἀναγκαῖον ἴσως καὶ περὶ τούτων διὰ βραχέων εἰπεῖν. {ΒΑΣ.} Ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Εὐνόμιος. Ἐγὼ δὲ, εἰ μὲν οὕτω χρὴ διανοεῖσθαι περὶ τοῦ λόγου παντὸς, ὡς πλάσματος οἷα ἐν τοῖς διδασκαλείοις τῆς ματαιότητος εἰς μελέτην τοῦ ἐν τῷ ψεύσματι πιθανοῦ τοῖς μειρα κίοις προβάλλεται (ἐπειδὴ καὶ παραπλησίως ἐκείνοις πάντα σκιαμαχίᾳ προσέοικε· πρὸς κατηγόρους τε μάχη μὴ ὑφεστῶτας· καὶ ἀπολογία πρὸς κατηγορίαν οὐ προῤῥηθεῖσαν· καὶ λόγος πρὸς δικαστὰς τοὺς οὐδαμοῦ φαινομένους)· εἰ οὕτω χρὴ καὶ τούτων ἀκούειν, αὐτός τε ἀφίημι τὴν ἐξέτασιν, καὶ παντὶ παραινῶ μηδὲν τῶν εἰρημένων περιεργάζεσθαι· εἰ δὲ μεῖζόν ἐστι τὸ ἐπάγγελμα, καὶ πολλοῖς γέγονεν ὑπόνοια, εἶναί τινα παρ' αὐτῷ τῆς ἀληθείας φροντίδα, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα τῶν εἰρημένων ἕκαστον διευ θύνειν εἰς δύναμιν. Τίς ἂν οὖν τρόπος τῆς ἐξετάσεως δικαιότερος γένοιτο, ἢ τοῖς διδάγμασι τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἡμῖν δεδομένοις τὸν λόγον συγκρίνον τας, ὃ μὲν ἂν ἐκείνοις συμφωνοῦν εὕρωμεν καταδέ χεσθαι, τῷ δὲ ἐναντίως ἔχοντι ἀπιστεῖν καὶ ὡς ἐχθρὸν ἀποφεύγειν; Πρῶτον τοίνυν ἐκεῖνο δεικνύτω, τίνες τῶν ἁγίων 29.576 γέννημα καὶ ποίημα τὸν Χριστὸν προσειρήκασι; ποίας ἔχει φωνὰς τῶν Γραφῶν εἰς ἀπόδειξιν; Εἰ γὰρ τῇ τοῦ μακαρίου Πέτρου φωνῇ τῇ ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ἀπο στόλων