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sophism? He compares it to itself, so that what he says might seem tolerable to all, not saying that it did not exist before the ages, nor simply that it did not exist, but before its own constitution. But the substance of the Father, tell me, do you say is older than its own constitution? For if he does not subject the substance of the Son to times, nor conceives of a "before" in this argument, then his argument is vain and idle, and therefore not even worthy of a response. Nevertheless, even in the case of the God of all, it will be possible for those who wish to transfer this vanity. For to say that God did not exist before His own constitution, and to say that He existed before Himself, is of the same foolishness. But if he accepts a temporal "before" in the case of the substance of the Son, he will say that His substance 29.593 was begotten from non-being, or rather the Son Himself; for it makes no difference to the thought itself to say it this way or that. first, he makes secondary in time [of times], or if you will, even of the ages, the maker of the ages; then, indeed, following his own blasphemies, he will also say of the Father, that He was not Father from the beginning, but became so later. And yet if it is good and fitting for the blessedness of God to be Father, how was what is fitting not present to Him from the beginning? For they will surely account for the deficiency either by ignorance of what is better, or by inability; by ignorance, if He later discovered what is better, but by inability, if knowing and understanding, He failed to attain the best. But if (which is not lawful to say) it is not good for Him to be Father, for what reason did He, by a change, choose the worse? But may the blasphemy be turned against its authors; for the God of all is Father from eternity, not having at some point begun to be Father. For He was neither hindered by a lack of power for the fulfillment of His will, nor did he await some period of ages, so that, as in the case of men and other living creatures, after the completion of an age when the power to beget came to Him, what He desired might come to be (for it is of madmen to think and to utter these things), but co-extensive with His own eternity He has His (so to name it) Fatherhood. Therefore the Son also, being before the age, and always being, never began to be, but from when the Father is, the Son also is, and immediately with the concept of the Father, that of the Son is introduced. For the Father is obviously Father of the Son. Therefore, the Father has no beginning, but the beginning of the Son is the Father; and there is nothing between them. How then was He not from the beginning (for this is what is meant by "before his own constitution," as said in sophisms by these men) who has nothing conceived of before Himself, except Him from whom He has His being, not surpassing Him by an interval, but set before Him by cause? If, therefore, the Son's fellowship with God the Father has been revealed as eternal, with our thought proceeding from the Son to the Father through no void, but joining the Son to the Father without interval, He who is defined by no intermediary, what room for intrusion does He yet leave for the wicked blasphemy of those who say that He was brought into being from non-being? Then, indeed, it is worthy to marvel at their folly, 29.596 for not understanding that, by saying the Son is from non-being, they declare Him to be younger not only than the Father, but also than that by which they separate the Only-Begotten from the Father. For it is necessary, if there were anything between the Father and the Son, for this to be older than the existence of the Son. What then might this be? What else but certainly an age or time? For he who conceives the life of the Father to be longer than that of the Only-Begotten, by measuring it with what else, would say he had found the excess, if not by an interval of some ages or times? If this is true, false is the Scripture which says the ages were made through Him, and which teaches that all things were made through Him; with the ages, obviously, being included in the "all things." But if they say they do not deny that the Son was begotten before the ages, let them not be unaware that what they concede in word, they take away in reality. For let us ask those who derive the substance of the Only-Begotten from non-being: When He was not,

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σόφισμα; Αὐτὴν ἑαυτῇ συγκρίνει, ἵνα πᾶσι δὴ ἀνεκτὰ δόξῃ λέγειν, οὐχὶ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων λέγων αὐ τὴν μὴ εἶναι, οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς μὴ εἶναι, ἀλλὰ πρὸ τῆς ἰδίας συστάσεως. Τὴν δὲ τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐσίαν, εἰπέ μοι, πρεσβυτέραν εἶναι σὺ φῂς τῆς ἰδίας συστάσεως; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ οὐχ ὑποβάλλει χρόνοις τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὴν οὐ σίαν, οὐδὲ τὸ πρότερον κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἐπι νοεῖ, μάταιος μὲν αὐτῷ καὶ ἀργὸς ὁ λόγος, διό περ οὐδὲ ἀποκρίσεως ἄξιος. Οὐχ ἧττον μέντοι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ὑπάρξει τοῖς βουλομένοις με τακομίζειν τὴν ματαιότητα. Τό τε γὰρ οὐκ εἶναι λέ γειν τὸν Θεὸν πρὸ τῆς ἰδίας συστάσεως, καὶ τὸ εἶναι λέγειν πρὸ ἑαυτοῦ, τῆς αὐτῆς ἐστιν ἀφροσύνης. Εἰ δὲ χρονικῶς ἐπὶ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὸ πρότερον δέχεται, καὶ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων φήσει τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ 29.593 γεγεννῆσθαι, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν Υἱόν· οὐδὲν γὰρ διαφέρει πρός γε αὐτὴν τὴν διάνοιαν οὕτως ἢ οὕτω λέγειν· πρῶτον μὲν χρόνον [χρόνων] δεύτερον τίθεται, εἰ δὲ βούλει, καὶ αἰώνων, τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν αἰώνων· ἔπειτα μέντοι ἀκολουθῶν ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ βλασφημίαις, καὶ τὸν Πατέρα φήσει, οὐκ ὄντα Πατέρα τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, εἶτα ὕστερον γεγονέναι. Καίτοι εἰ μὲν καλὸν καὶ πρέπον τῇ μακαριό τητι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ εἶναι Πατέρα, πῶς οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸ πρέπον αὐτῷ παρῆν; Ἢ γὰρ ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ βελτίονος, ἢ ἀδυναμίᾳ πάντως λογιοῦνται τὴν ἔλλειψιν· ἀγνοίᾳ μὲν, εἴπερ ὕστερον ἐξεῦρε τὸ βέλτιον, ἀδυναμίᾳ δὲ, εἴπερ εἰδὼς καὶ συνιεὶς ἀπετύγχανε τοῦ καλλίστου. Εἰ δὲ (ὃ μὴ θέμις εἰπεῖν) οὐ καλὸν αὐτῷ τὸ εἶναι Πατέρα, τίνος ἕνεκεν ἐκ μεταβολῆς τὸ χεῖρον προ είλετο; Ἀλλὰ τρέποιτο μὲν εἰς τοὺς αἰτίους ἡ βλασφημία· ὁ δὲ Θεὸς τῶν ὅλων ἐξ ἀπείρου ἐστὶ Πατὴρ, οὐκ ἀρξάμενός ποτε τοῦ εἶναι Πατήρ. Οὔτε γὰρ τῇ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐνδείᾳ πρὸς τὴν ἐκπλήρωσιν τοῦ θελήματος ἐκωλύετο, οὔτε αἰώνων τινῶν περίοδος ἀνέμενεν, ἵνα, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ζώων, μετὰ τὴν τῆς ἡλικίας συμπλήρωσιν τῆς εἰς τὸ γεννᾷν αὐτῷ δυνάμεως προσελθούσης, τὸ σπουδαζόμενον περιγένηται (μαινομένων γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ ἐννοῆσαι καὶ φθέγξασθαι), ἀλλὰ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἀϊδιότητι συμπαρεκτεινομένην ἔχει τὴν (ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω) πατρότητα. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς, πρὸ αἰῶνος ὢν, καὶ ἀεὶ ὢν, οὐκ ἤρξατο τοῦ εἶναί ποτε, ἀλλ' ἀφ' οὗ Πατὴρ, καὶ Υἱὸς, καὶ εὐθὺς τῇ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐννοίᾳ ἡ τοῦ Υἱοῦ συνεισέρχεται. Ὁ γὰρ Πατὴρ Υἱοῦ Πατὴρ δηλονότι. Ἀρχὴ μὲν οὖν Πατρὸς οὐδεμία, ἀρχὴ δὲ τοῦ Υἱοῦ ὁ Πατήρ· μέσον δὲ τούτων οὐδέν. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἦν τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς (τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ, πρὸ τῆς ἰδίας συστάσεως, ἐν σοφίσμασι λεγό μενον παρὰ τούτων) ὁ μηδὲν ἔχων προεπινοούμενον ἑαυτοῦ, εἰ μὴ τὸν ἐξ οὗ ἔχει τὸ εἶναι, οὐ διαστήματι ὑπερέχοντα, ἀλλὰ τῇ αἰτίᾳ προτεταγμένον; Εἰ τοίνυν ἀΐδιος ἡ τοῦ Υἱοῦ κοινωνία πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα ἀναπέφανται, τῆς διανοίας ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ Υἱοῦ δι' οὐδενὸς κενοῦ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα χωρούσης, ἀλλ' ἀδιαστάτως τὸν Υἱὸν τῷ Πατρὶ συναπτούσης, ὁ μηδενὶ μέσῳ διοριζόμενος τίνα ἔτι παρείσδυσιν κατα λείπει τῇ πονηρᾷ βλασφημίᾳ τῶν λεγόντων, ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρῆχθαι; Ἔπειτα μέντοι καὶ τῆς ἀνοίας αὐτοὺς θαυμά 29.596 σαι ἄξιον, οὐ συνιέντας, ὅτι, ἐκ μὴ ὄντων λέγοντες τὸν Υἱὸν, οὐ τοῦ Πατρὸς μόνον νεώτερον ἀποφαίνου σιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ, ᾧ τὸν Μονογενῆ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πα τρὸς διορίζουσιν. Ἀνάγκη γὰρ, εἴπερ τι εἴη με ταξὺ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ, πρεσβύτερον εἶναι τοῦτο τῆς ὑπάρξεως τοῦ Υἱοῦ. Τί οὖν ἂν εἴη τοῦτο; Τί ἄλλο γε ἢ αἰὼν πάντως ἢ χρόνος; Ὁ γάρ τοι περισ σοτέραν τὴν τοῦ Πατρὸς ζωὴν τῆς τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐννοῶν, τίνι γε ἄλλῳ παραμετρῶν, εὑρηκέναι ἂν εἴποι τὸ περισσὸν, ἢ οὐχὶ αἰώνων ἢ χρόνων τινῶν διαστήματι; Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἀληθὲς, ψευδὴς ἡ λέ γουσα Γραφὴ τοὺς αἰῶνας δι' αὐτοῦ γεγενῆσθαι, καὶ ἡ διδάσκουσα, ὅτι πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο· τοῖς πᾶσι, δηλονότι, ἐμπεριειλημμένων καὶ τῶν αἰώνων. Εἰ δὲ φήσουσι μὴ ἀπαρνεῖσθαι πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων τὸν Υἱὸν γεγεννῆσθαι, μὴ λανθανέτωσαν, ὃ τῷ λόγῳ συγχωροῦσι, κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἀφαιρούμενοι. Ἐρωτή σωμεν γὰρ αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἐκ μὴ ὄντων παράγον τας τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τὴν οὐσίαν· Ὅτε οὐκ ἦν,