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saying it is unbegotten, cries out: alone, only-begotten, and unmoved, and unbegotten. And Plutarch of Chaeronea, writing about the 'E' in Delphi, said thus: "What then is that which is eternal and unbegotten and incorruptible, to which no time brings change?" If, then, we say that there is something unbegotten and uncaused—according to 2.109 Parmenides, the cosmos, but according to Plato and Timaeus of Locri and Plutarch and we ourselves, the creator of all things—it is much more plausible than this to say that from that unbegotten one came forth the Word and the all-holy Spirit, the one, as Word, being begotten from the Mind, and the other, as Spirit, proceeding forth; for the Spirit comes forth with the Word, not co-begotten, 2.110 but co-existing and accompanying and proceeding forth. But we say neither that the Spirit is some breath of a mouth—for the divine is uncompounded and unformed—nor that the Word is this which is poured into the air, but an essential Word and a subsistent Spirit, both contemplated in the Father and believed in in themselves, both joined together and divided, united by the sameness of nature, but divided by the difference of their properties and conceived of in themselves. 2.111 But it is not possible for one who has not encountered the divine oracles and received the light of knowledge from divine grace to learn these things accurately. 2.112 One must read not only the teachings of the holy apostles, but also the decrees of the divine prophets; for thus someone, seeing the harmony of the old and the new theology, will marvel at the truth and will flee the atheism of Diagoras of Miletus and of Theodorus of Cyrene and of Euhemerus of Tegea; for Plutarch said that these men believed in no 2.113 god; and he will also flee the unseemly opinion of the Stoics concerning the divine; for they said that God is corporeal; and he will abominate the doubtful and faithless words of Protagoras concerning God; for the following are his words: "Concerning the gods, then, I do not know, neither if they exist, nor if they do not exist, nor of what sort they are in 2.114 form." And he will escape the error of the other mythologists; but as for Plato and those like him, whatever they have stolen from the divine oracles, he will both find and admire, but whatever falsehood they have mixed in, he will scrape off and cast away like refuse and drive it from the regions of his soul, and seeing the stolen goods, he will trust the Pythagorean Numenius when he says: "For what 2.115 is Plato but Moses speaking Attic?" For through these words Numenius showed openly that whatever Plato has piously said, he has plundered from the theology of Moses. 2.116 It is time then, O men, to trace the very root of truth; and just as those who mine gold-bearing and silver-bearing earth, when they find small nuggets, following them they search out all the veins and do not stop digging until they find the mass of gold from which the nuggets were scattered, so you must, having heard the words of Anaxagoras and Pythagoras and Plato, and indeed of Numenius and Plutarch and Plotinus and the others, seek for the source, from which these men, having drawn up some few drops of the divine streams, adorned their 2.117 own discourses, and leaving their poverty behind, take hold of the abyss of wisdom and learn accurately from it what is creator and what is creation, and what is the worth of the invisible creations, and what is the use of the visible ones. For having learned this, you will no longer divide the divine worship into many parts, but you will worship the one who always is and truly is and who granted being to existing things through goodness alone, and instead of enemies and foes you will become kindred and friends, and you will enjoy great freedom of speech, as familiars; and you who at present need guides will guide others who are wandering to the truth.

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ἀγέννητον εἶναι λέγων βοᾷ· μοῦνον μουνογενές τε καὶ ἀτρεμὲς ἠδ' ἀγένητον. Καὶ Πλούταρχος δὲ ὁ Χαιρωνεὺς περὶ τοῦ ˉεˉι τοῦ ἐν ∆ελφοῖς γράφων, οὕτως ἔφη· "Τί οὖν ἐστι τὸ ἀΐδιον καὶ ἀγέννητον καὶ ἄφθαρτον, ᾧ χρόνος οὐδεὶς μεταβολὴν ἐπάγει;" Εἰ τοίνυν φαμὲν εἶναί τι ἀγέννητον καὶ ἀναίτιον, κατὰ μὲν τὸν 2.109 Παρμενίδην τὸν κόσμον, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Πλάτωνα καὶ Τίμαιον τὸν Λοκρὸν καὶ Πλούταρχον καὶ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων δημιουργόν, πολλῷ τούτου πιθανώτερον τὸ φάναι, ἐξ ἐκείνου γε τοῦ ἀγεννήτου φῦναι τὸν Λόγον καὶ τὸ πανάγιον Πνεῦμα, τὸν μέν, ὡς λόγον, ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ γεννώμενον, τὸ δέ, ὡς πνεῦμα, ἐκπο ρευόμενον· ξυμπρόεισι γὰρ τῷ Λόγῳ τὸ Πνεῦμα, οὐ ξυγγεννώ 2.110 μενον, ἀλλὰ ξυνὸν καὶ παρομαρτοῦν καὶ ἐκπορευόμενον. Ἀλλ' οὔτε τὸ Πνεῦμα πνοήν τινα στόματος εἶναί φαμεν-ἀξύνθετον γὰρ τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον-οὔτε τὸν Λόγον τοῦτον τὸν εἰς ἀέρα χεόμενον, ἀλλ' ἐνούσιον Λόγον καὶ ἐνυπόστατον Πνεῦμα, καὶ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ θεωρούμενα καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὰ πιστευόμενα, καὶ ξυνημμένα καὶ διῃρημένα, τῷ μὲν ταὐτῷ τῆς φύσεως ἡνωμένα, τῇ δὲ τῶν ἰδιοτήτων διαφορᾷ διῃρημένα καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὰ νοούμενα. 2.111 Ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἔνεστι μαθεῖν ἀκριβῶς τὸν μὴ τοῖς θείοις ἐντε τυχηκότα λογίοις καὶ τὸ τῆς γνώσεως φῶς παρὰ τῆς θείας ἐκδε ξάμενον χάριτος. 2.112 Ἀναγνωστέον δὲ οὐ μόνον τὰ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων μαθήματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τῶν θείων προφητῶν θεσπίσματα· οὕτω γάρ τις καὶ τῆς παλαιᾶς καὶ τῆς καινῆς θεολογίας τὴν ξυμφωνίαν ὁρῶν, θαυμάσεται τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ φεύξεται μὲν ∆ιαγόρου τοῦ Μιλη σίου καὶ τοῦ Κυρηναϊκοῦ Θεοδώρου καὶ Εὐημέρου τοῦ Τεγεάτου τὸ ἄθεον· τούτους γὰρ ὁ Πλούταρχος ἔφησε μηδένα νενομικέναι 2.113 θεόν· φεύξεται δὲ καὶ τῶν Στωϊκῶν τὴν ἀπρεπῆ περὶ τοῦ θείου δόξαν· σωματοειδῆ γὰρ οὗτοι τὸν θεὸν ἔφασαν εἶναι· βδελύξεται δὲ καὶ Πρωταγόρου τοὺς ἀμφιβόλους περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἀπίστους λόγους· ἐκείνου γάρ ἐστι τὰ τοιάδε· "Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν θεῶν οὐκ οἶδα, οὔτε εἰ εἰσίν, οὔθ' ὡς οὐκ εἰσίν, οὐθ' ὁποῖοί τινες τὴν 2.114 ἰδέαν εἰσίν." Ἀποδράσει δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μυθολόγων τὸν πλά νον· Πλάτωνος δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐκείνῳ παραπλησίων, ὅσα μὲν ἐκ τῶν θείων λογίων κεκλόφασιν, εὑρήσει τε καὶ θαυμάσεται, ὅσα δὲ τοῦ ψεύδους ἀνέμιξαν, ἀποξύσει καὶ καθάπερ φορυτὸν ἀπορρίψει καὶ τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπελάσει χωρίων, καὶ ὁρῶν τῆς κλοπῆς τὰ φώρια, τῷ Πυθαγορικῷ Νουμηνίῳ πιστεύσει λέγοντι· "Τί γάρ 2.115 ἐστι Πλάτων ἢ Μωϋσῆς Ἀττικίζων;" ∆ιὰ γὰρ δὴ τούτων ἀναφανδὸν ἔδειξεν ὁ Νουμήνιος, ὡς ὁπόσα Πλάτων εὐσεβῶς εἴρηκεν, ἐκ τῆς Μωϋσοῦ θεολογίας σεσύληκεν. 2.116 Ὥρα δὴ οὖν, ὦ ἄνδρες, αὐτὴν ἀνιχνεῦσαι τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν ῥίζαν· καὶ καθάπερ οἱ τὴν χρυσῖτιν καὶ ἀργυρῖτιν μεταλλεύοντες γῆν, ὅταν μικρὰ ψήγματα εὕρωσιν, ἐκείνοις ἑπόμενοι πάσας διερευνῶσι τὰς φλέβας καὶ οὐ πρότερον παύονται διορύττοντες, ἕως ἂν εὕρωσι τοῦ χρυσοῦ τὸ πλῆθος, ἐξ οὗ διεσπάρη τὰ ψήγ ματα, οὕτως ὑμᾶς δεῖ τῶν Ἀναξαγόρου καὶ Πυθαγόρου καὶ Πλάτωνος, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Νουμηνίου καὶ Πλουτάρχου καὶ Πλω τίνου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπακούσαντας λόγων, ἐπιζητῆσαι τὴν πηγήν, ἐξ ἧς ὀλίγα ἄττα τῶν θείων ναμάτων ἀνιμησάμενοι οὗτοι τοὺς 2.117 οἰκείους διεκόσμησαν λόγους, καὶ τὴν τούτων πενίαν καταλιπόν τας ἀντιλαβεῖν τῆς σοφίας τὴν ἄβυσσον καὶ μαθεῖν ἀκριβῶς παρ' ἐκείνης, τί μὲν ποιητής, τί δὲ ποίημα, καὶ τίς μὲν ἡ τῶν ἀορά των δημιουργημάτων ἀξία, τίς δὲ τῶν ὁρωμένων ἡ χρεία. Τοῦτο γὰρ μεμαθηκότες, οὐκέτι τὸ θεῖον εἰς πολλὰ μερίσετε σέβας, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀεὶ ὄντα καὶ ἀληθῶς ὄντα καὶ τοῖς οὖσι τὸ εἶναι διὰ μόνην ἀγαθότητα δωρησάμενον προσκυνήσετε, καὶ ἀντὶ πολεμίων καὶ δυσμενῶν οἰκεῖοι καὶ φίλοι γενήσεσθε, καὶ πολλῆς, ὡς ξυνή θεις, ἀπολαύσεσθε παρρησίας· καὶ οἱ ποδηγῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος δεόμενοι ἄλλους τῶν πλανωμένων πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ξεναγήσετε.