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this of necessity must proceed in the same way, if three unbegotten things were granted. For concerning these I would ask whether they are separated from each other, or again whether each is united to its neighbor. 7.22.5 For if someone should wish to say they are united, he will hear the same argument as the first; but if again that they are separated, he will not escape the necessary hypostasis of that which separates them. 7.22.6 But if someone should then say there is a third argument which is fitting to be said concerning the unbegotten things, that is, that God is not separated from matter, nor again united to it as a part, but that God is in matter as in a place, or matter in God, let him hear the consequence: that if we say matter is the place of God, we must of necessity say He is contained and circumscribed by matter. 7.22.7 And further, it is necessary that He be borne along disorderly in the same way as matter, and not stand or remain by Himself, since that in which He is is borne now in one way, now in another. And in addition to this, it is necessary to say that God has been in worse conditions. For if matter was once without order, and He ordered it, choosing to turn it to the better, there was 7.22.8 a time when God was in unordered things. And rightly would I ask this argument: whether God filled matter, or was in some part of matter. If, then, someone should wish to say God was in some part of matter, he says He is very much smaller than matter, if indeed a part of it contained Him entirely. But if he should say He was in all of matter, let him explain how He created it. For it is necessary either to speak of some contraction of God, by which, having occurred, He created that from which He had withdrawn, or to say that He also creates Himself along with matter, 7.22.9 having no place of withdrawal. But if someone should say matter is in God, one must likewise examine whether it is as though He distances Himself from Himself and, just as there are kinds of living beings in the air, He is divided and portioned out for the reception of the things that come to be in Him, or as in a place, that is, as 7.22.10 water in the earth. For if we should say as in the air, it is necessary to say God is divisible. But if as water in the earth, and matter was disordered and without form, and in addition to this containing evils, it is necessary to say God is the place of disordered things and of evils. This seems to me to be not auspicious, but rather dangerous. For you want there to be matter, so that you may not call God the maker of evils, and choosing to flee this, 7.22.11 you say that He is the receptacle of evils. If, then, you were saying that matter is to be supposed unbegotten from the things that have subsisted as generated, I would have made a long argument concerning it to prove that it is impossible for it to be unbegotten. But since you said that the origin of evils is the cause of such a supposition, for this reason I think I should come to the examination of these things. For when the argument has been made clear in what way evils exist, and that it is not possible to call God not the cause of evils by positing matter for Him, 7.22.12 it seems to me that such a supposition is refuted. You say, then, that a qualityless matter coexists with God, from which He created the genesis of this world. So it seems to me. 7.22.13 Therefore, if matter was without quality, but the world came to be from God, and in the world are the qualities, God has become the maker of the qualities. It is so. 7.22.14 And since I heard you say before that it is impossible for something to come to be from non-beings, answer my question: Does it seem to you that the qualities of the world have not come to be from underlying qualities? It seems so. And that they exist as something other than the substances? It is so. 7.22.15 If, therefore, God created the qualities neither from underlying qualities nor from the substances, since they are not substances themselves, it is necessary to say that they have been made by God from non-beings. Whence it seemed to me you were saying superfluously that it is impossible 7.22.16 to hold that something has come to be from non-beings by God. But let the argument concerning this be as follows. For even among us we observe men making certain things from non-beings, even if they seem especially to make something in something, as for example in the case of architects the

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τοῦτον ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὁμοίως προχωρεῖν, εἰ τὰ ἀγένητα δοθείη τρία. καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτων ἐροίμην ἂν εἰ κεχώρισται ἀλλήλων ἢ αὖ πάλιν ἕκαστον ἥνωται τῷ πλησίον. 7.22.5 εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἡνῶσθαί τις εἰπεῖν ἐθέλοι, τὸν αὐτὸν ἀκούσει τῷ πρώτῳ λόγον· εἰ δ' αὖ πάλιν κεχωρίσθαι, οὐ φεύξεται τὴν ἐξ ἀνάγκης τοῦ χωρίζοντος ὑπόστα 7.22.6 σιν. ἂν δὲ ἄρα τις καὶ τρίτον εἶναι λέξῃ λόγον ὡς ἁρμόζοντα περὶ τῶν ἀγενήτων λέγεσθαι, τουτέστι τὸ μὴ κεχωρίσθαι τῆς ὕλης τὸν θεὸν μήτ' αὖ πάλιν ὡς μέρει ἡνῶσθαι, εἶναι δὲ καθάπερ ἐν τόπῳ τῇ ὕλῃ τὸν θεὸν ἢ καὶ τὴν ὕλην ἐν τῷ θεῷ, τὸ συνέχον ἀκουέτω, ὅτι ἐὰν τόπον τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ὕλην εἴπωμεν, ἐξ ἀνάγκης αὐτὸν καὶ χωρητὸν λέγειν δεῖ καὶ πρὸς τῆς ὕλης περιγραφόμενον. 7.22.7 ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ὁμοίως αὐτὸν τῇ ὕλῃ ἀτάκτως φέρεσθαι, μὴ ἵστασθαί τε μηδὲ μένειν αὐτὸν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ ἀνάγκη, τοῦ ἐν ᾧ ἐστὶν ἄλλοτ' ἄλλως φερομένου. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ ἐν χείροσι γεγονέναι τὸν θεὸν εἰπεῖν ἀνάγκη. εἰ γὰρ ἦν ποτε ἄκοσμος ἡ ὕλη, ἐκόσμησε δὲ αὐτὴν εἰς τὸ κρεῖττον τρέψαι προαιρούμενος, ἦν 7.22.8 ποτε ὅτε ἐν ἀκοσμήτοις ἦν ὁ θεός. δικαίως δ' ἂν καὶ τοῦτον ἐροίμην τὸν λόγον, πότερον ἐπλήρου τὴν ὕλην ὁ θεὸς ἢ ἐν μέρει τινὶ τῆς ὕλης ἦν. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐν μέρει τινὶ τῆς ὕλης εἰπεῖν τις ἐθέλοι τὸν θεόν, πλεῖστον ὅσον μικρότερον τῆς ὕλης λέγει, εἰ δὴ μέρος αὐτῆς ὅλον ἐχώρησεν αὐτόν· εἰ δ' ἐν πάσῃ εἶναι λέγοι τῇ ὕλῃ, πῶς ταύτην ἐδημιούργει φρασάτω. ἀνάγκη γὰρ ἢ συστολήν τινα τοῦ θεοῦ λέγειν, ἧς γενομένης ἐδημιούργει ἐκεῖνο ἀφ' οὗ ὑπεχώρησεν, ἢ καὶ ἑαυτὸν 7.22.9 τῇ ὕλῃ συνδημιουργεῖν, οὐκ ἔχοντα ὑποχωρήσεως τόπον. εἰ δὲ τὴν ὕλην ἐν τῷ θεῷ εἶναί τις λέξει, ὁμοίως ἐξετάζειν δεῖ πότερον ὡς διισταμένου αὐτοῦ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ καί, ὥσπερ ἐν ἀέρι ζῴων ὑπάρχει γένη, διαιρουμένου καὶ μεριζομένου αὐτοῦ εἰς ὑποδοχὴν τῶν γινομένων ἐν αὐτῷ, ἢ ὡς ἐν τόπῳ, τουτέστιν ὥσπερ 7.22.10 ἐν γῇ ὕδωρ. εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἴποιμεν ὡς ἐν ἀέρι, μεριστὸν ἀνάγκη τὸν θεὸν εἰπεῖν· εἰ δ' ὥσπερ ἐν γῇ τὸ ὕδωρ, ἦν δὲ ἄτακτος ἡ ὕλη καὶ ἀκόσμητος, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἔχουσα καὶ κακά, τὸν θεὸν λέγειν ἀνάγκη τόπον εἶναι τῶν ἀκοσμήτων καὶ τῶν κακῶν. ὅπερ οὐκ εὔφημον εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ, ἐπισφαλὲς δὲ μᾶλλον. ὕλην γὰρ εἶναι θέλεις, ἵνα μὴ τῶν κακῶν ποιητὴν εἴπῃς τὸν θεόν, καὶ τοῦτο 7.22.11 φεύγειν προαιρούμενος δοχεῖον αὐτὸν τῶν κακῶν εἶναι λέγεις. εἰ μὲν οὖν τὴν ὕλην ἐκ τῶν ὑποστάντων γενητῶν ὑπονοεῖν ἀγένητον ὑπάρχειν ἔλεγες, πολὺν ἂν περὶ αὐτῆς ἐποιησάμην λόγον εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ ὅτι ἀδύνατον ὑπάρχειν αὐτὴν ἀγένητον· ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν τῶν κακῶν γένεσιν αἰτίαν ἔφησθα εἶναι τῆς τοιαύτης ὑπονοίας, διὰ τοῦτ' ἐπὶ τὴν ἐξέτασιν τούτων ἔρχεσθαί μοι δοκῶ. φανεροῦ γὰρ γενομένου τοῦ λόγου καθ' ὃν τρόπον ἐστὶ τὰ κακὰ καὶ ὅτι οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστιν ἀναίτιον τῶν κακῶν εἰπεῖν τὸν θεὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὕλην αὐτῷ ὑποτιθέναι, 7.22.12 τὴν τοιαύτην ὑπόνοιαν ἀναιρεῖσθαί μοι δοκεῖ. φῂς τοίνυν ἄποιον ὕλην συνυπάρχειν τῷ θεῷ, ἐξ ἧς τὴν τοῦδε τοῦ κόσμου γένεσιν ἐδημιούργησεν. Οὕτω μοι δοκεῖ. 7.22.13 Οὐκοῦν εἰ ἄποιος ἐτύγχανεν ἡ ὕλη, γέγονε δὲ κόσμος πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐν δὲ τῷ κόσμῳ αἱ ποιότητες, τῶν ποιοτήτων ποιητὴς γέγονεν ὁ θεός. Οὕτως ἔχει. 7.22.14 Ἐπεὶ δέ σου καὶ λέγοντος ἔμπροσθεν ἤκουον ὡς ἀδύνατον ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων γίνεσθαί τι, πρὸς τὴν ἐρώτησιν ἀπόκριναι τὴν ἐμήν· δοκεῖ σοι τὰς τοῦ κόσμου ποιότητας μὴ ἐξ ὑποκειμένων ποιοτήτων γεγονέναι; ∆οκεῖ. Ἕτερον δέ τι παρὰ τὰς οὐσίας ὑπάρχειν αὐτάς; Οὕτως ἔχει. 7.22.15 Εἰ οὖν μὴ ἐξ ὑποκειμένων ποιοτήτων τὰς ποιότητας ἐδημιούργησεν ὁ θεὸς μήτε ἐκ τῶν οὐσιῶν, τῷ μηδὲ οὐσίας αὐτὰς εἶναι, ἐκ μὴ ὄντων αὐτὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγονέναι εἰπεῖν ἀναγκαῖον. ὅθεν περιττῶς ἐδόκεις μοι λέγειν ἀδύνατον 7.22.16 εἶναι δοξάζειν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων γεγονέναι τι πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν περὶ τούτου λόγος ὧδε ἐχέτω. καὶ γὰρ παρ' ἡμῖν θεωροῦμεν ἀνθρώπους ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ποιοῦντάς τινα, εἰ καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα δοκοῦσι ποιεῖν ἔν τινι, οἷον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρχιτεκτόνων τὸ