But let us hear how, “in the way most needed, and the form that preceded” (for with such rhymes he again gives us a taste of the flowers of style), let us hear, I say, how by such means he proposes to refute the opinion formed of him, and to keep in the dark the ignorance of those whom he has deluded. For I will use our dithyrambist’s own verbal inflections and phraseology. When, says he, we assert that words by which thought is expressed die as soon as they are uttered, we add that whether words are uttered or not, whether they are yet in existence or not, God was and is ungenerate. Let us learn, then, what connection there is between the conception or the formation of words, and the things which we signify by this or that mode of utterance. Accordingly, if God is ungenerate before the creation of man, we must esteem as of no account the words which indicate that thought, inasmuch as they are dispersed along with the sounds that express them, if such thought happen to be named after human notion. For to be, and to be called, are not convertible terms. But God is by His nature what He is, but He is called by us by such names as the poverty of our nature will allow us to make use of, which is incapable of enunciating thought except by means of voice and words. Accordingly, understanding Him to be without origin, we enunciate that thought by the term ungenerate. And what harm is it to Him Who indeed is, that He should be named by us as we conceive Him to be? For His ungenerate existence is not the result of His being called ungenerate, but the name is the result of the existence. But this our acute friend fails to see, nor does he take a clear view of his own positions. For if he did, he would certainly have left off reviling those who framed the word ungeneracy to express the idea in their minds. For look at what he says, “Words so spoken perish as soon as they are spoken; but God both is and was ungenerate, both after the words were spoken and before. You see that the Supreme Being is what He is, before the creation of all things, whether silent or not, being what He is neither in greater nor in less degree; while the use of words and names was not devised till after the creation of man, endowed by God with the faculty of reason and speech.”

Ἀλλ' ἀκούσωμεν πῶς κατὰ « τὸν ἐπιβάλλοντα τῇ χρείᾳ τρόπον καὶ τὸν προλαβόντα τύπον » (οὕτω γὰρ τοῖς ἰσοτύποις τῶν ὀνομάτων πάλιν ἡμῖν ἐνωραΐζεται) πῶς διὰ τούτων « διαλύειν μέν » φησι « τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ γενομένην ὑπόνοιαν, περιστέλλειν δὲ τὴν τῶν ἠπατημένων ἄγνοιαν ». αὐταῖς γὰρ χρήσομαι τοῦ διθυραμβιστοῦ ταῖς ὁμοιοκαταλήκτοις φωναῖς. « εἰπόντες », φησίν, « ὅτι τὰ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν λεγόμενα ταῖς φωναῖς συνδιαλύεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἐπηγάγομεν τούτοις: ὁ δὲ θεὸς καὶ σιωπώντων καὶ φθεγγομένων καὶ γεγονότων καὶ πρὸ τοῦ γεγονέναι τὰ ὄντα ἦν τε καὶ ἔστιν ἀγέννητος ». μάθωμεν τοίνυν τί κοινὸν ἔχει ῥημάτων ἐπίνοια ἢ ὀνομάτων θέσις πρὸς αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα, ἃ διὰ τῆς ποιᾶς τῶν ὀνομάτων τε καὶ ῥημάτων φωνῆς σημειούμεθα, ὥστε εἰ ἀγεννήτως ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς πρὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης συστάσεως, τὴν ἐμφαντικὴν τῆς τοιαύτης ὑπολήψεως φωνὴν ὡς τῷ φθόγγῳ συνδιαχεομένην ἄκυρον κρίνειν, εἰ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν ἀνθρωπίνην ὀνομασθεῖσα τύχοι. οὐ γὰρ ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ εἶναι τὸ λέγεσθαι. ἀλλ' ἐστὶ μὲν τῇ φύσει ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ θεός, λέγεται δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν, ὡς ἂν ᾖ δυνατὸν ἐξαγγεῖλαι διὰ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν πτωχείαν, ἣ τὰς ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ διαθέσεις ἀδήλους ἔχει μὴ διὰ φωνῆς ἐκκαλυπτομένας καὶ λόγου. οὐκοῦν τὸ μὴ ἐξ αἰτίας αὐτὸν εἶναι νοήσαντες ἐπινοίᾳ τινὶ τὴν νόησιν ταύτην διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀγεννήτου φωνῆς ἐξαγγέλλομεν. τίς οὖν ἡ βλάβη τῷ ὄντως ὄντι τὸ ὡς ἔστι παρ' ἡμῶν ὀνομάζεσθαι; οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ῥηθῆναι ἀγέννητον καὶ τὸ ὑπάρχειν ἀγεννήτως ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ εἶναι καὶ τὸ ῥηθῆναι προσγίνεται. τοῦτο δὲ οὐ συνεῖδεν ὁ λεπτὸς τὴν διάνοιαν οὐδὲ τὰ παρ' αὐτοῦ τεθέντα σαφῶς κατενόησεν. ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἐπαύσατο τοὺς δι' ἐπινοίας τὴν « ἀγεννησίαν » ὀνοματοποιοῦντας κακίζων. σκοπεῖτε γὰρ ὅ φησι: « τὰ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν λεγόμενα ταῖς φωναῖς συνδιαλύεται, ὁ δὲ θεὸς καὶ γεγενημένων καὶ πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι τὰ ὄντα καὶ ἦν καὶ ἔστιν ἀγέννητος ». ὁρᾷς ὅτι τὸ μὲν εἶναι ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἔχει πρὸ τῆς τῶν πάντων ὑπάρξεως, καὶ σιωπώντων καὶ φθεγγομένων οὔτε μᾶλλον οὔτε ἧττον ὢν ὅ ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ τῶν ῥημάτων τε καὶ ὀνομάτων χρῆσις μετὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατασκευὴν ἐγνωρίσθη τῶν τῇ λογικῇ δυνάμει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τιμηθέντων.