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represented the faith, blended within itself, as one and the same. And he who mentioned the Spirit alone has included in this confession also Him whose the Spirit is. And since the Spirit is of Christ, and from God, as Paul says; just as with a chain one who has grasped one end has also pulled the other end along, so he who has drawn the Spirit, as the prophet says, has through Him also drawn the Son and the Father along with Him. And if one should truly receive the Son, he will have Him accompanied on one side by His own Father, and on the other by His own Spirit. For He who is always in the Father can neither be cut off from the Father, nor will He who works all things in the Spirit ever be separated from His own Spirit. Likewise also, he who has received the Father has in power also received the Son and the Spirit with Him. For it is not possible to conceive of a severance or division in any way, such that the Son could be conceived without the Father or the Spirit be separated from the Son, but a certain ineffable and incomprehensible communion and distinction is apprehended in these, with neither the difference of the hypostases breaking apart the continuity of the nature, nor the community in essence confounding the particularity of their distinctive marks. But do not wonder if we say that the same thing is both united and distinct and we conceive, as in a riddle, a new and paradoxical distinction that is united and a union that is distinct. For if one does not listen to the argument contentiously and with malice, it is possible to find such a thing even in sensible things. 38.5 And receive my argument as an example and a shadow of the truth, not as the very truth of things. For it is not possible for what is observed in the examples to be applied in all respects to those things for which the need for examples is taken up. From where, then, do we say we can draw an analogy for that which is distinct and at the same time conjoined from the things that appear to us through the senses? Have you ever, in the spring, seen the radiance of the bow in the cloud, I mean that bow which common speech is accustomed to call the iris, which those who are expert in these things say is formed when a certain moisture is mixed with the air, as the force of the winds squeezes into rain the moist and thick substance in the vapors, which has already become cloudy. And they say it is formed in this way. Whenever the sun's ray, having run beneath the dense and overcast cloudiness at an angle, then directly impresses its own circle upon a certain cloud, a kind of bending and return of the light to itself occurs, with the ray being reflected in the opposite direction from the moist and gleaming surface. For it is the nature of fiery flashes, if they should strike something smooth, to be reflected back to themselves again, and this circular shape being formed by the ray in the moist and smooth part of the air, necessarily, according to the shape of the solar circle, the air adjacent to the cloud is also delineated by the reflecting gleam. This gleam, therefore, is both continuous with itself and divided. For being of many colors and many forms, it imperceptibly blends the various hues of its dye into itself, secretly stealing from our sight the meeting point of the different colors with each other, so that the intermediate space that both mixes through itself and separates the difference of the colors cannot be discerned, from the blue-green to the fiery-red, or from the fiery-red to the purple, or from that to the amber. For the rays of all of them, being seen at the same time, are both far-shining and, by stealing away the marks of their union with one another, escape scrutiny, so that it is impossible to discover to what point the fiery or the emerald quality of the radiance extends, and from what point it begins to be no longer such as it is seen in its brightness. Just as, therefore, in the example we both clearly distinguish the differences of the colors and it is not possible to perceive with the senses the interval from one to the other, so reckon for me that it is possible also concerning the divine doctrines

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ταὐτὸν συγκεκραμένην ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν πίστιν ἀνετυπώσατο. Καὶ ὁ τὸ Πνεῦμα μόνον εἰπὼν συμπεριέλαβε τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ τὸν οὗ ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστι τὸ Πνεῦμα, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθώς φησιν ὁ Παῦλος· ὥσπερ ἐξ ἁλύσεως ὁ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄκρου ἁψάμενος καὶ τὸ ἕτερον ἄκρον συνεπεσ πάσατο, οὕτως ὁ τὸ Πνεῦμα ἑλκύσας, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ τὸν Πατέρα συν εφειλκύσατο, Καὶ εἰ τὸν Υἱὸν ἀληθινῶς τις λάβοι, ἕξει αὐτὸν ἑκατέρωθεν, πῆ μὲν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Πατέρα, πῆ δὲ τὸ ἴδιον Πνεῦμα συνεπαγόμενον. Οὔτε γὰρ τοῦ Πατρὸς ὁ ἀεὶ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ ὢν ἀποτμηθῆναι δυνήσεται, οὔτε τοῦ Πνεύματός ποτε διαζευχθήσεται τοῦ ἰδίου ὁ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ ἐνεργῶν. Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ὁ τὸν Πατέρα δεξάμενος καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα συμπαρεδέξατο τῇ δυνάμει. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐπινοῆσαι τομὴν ἢ διαίρεσιν κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον, ὡς ἢ Υἱὸν χωρὶς Πατρὸς νοηθῆναι ἢ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Υἱοῦ διαζευχθῆναι, ἀλλά τις ἄρρητος καὶ ἀκατανόητος ἐν τούτοις καταλαμβάνεται καὶ ἡ κοινωνία καὶ ἡ διάκρισις, οὔτε τῆς τῶν ὑποστάσεων διαφορᾶς τὸ τῆς φύσεως συνεχὲς διασπώσης οὔτε τῆς κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν κοινότητος τὸ ἰδιάζον τῶν γνωρισμάτων ἀναχεούσης. Μὴ θαυμάσῃς δὲ εἰ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ συνημμένον καὶ διακεκριμένον εἶναί φαμεν καί τινα ἐπινοοῦμεν, ὥσπερ ἐν αἰνίγματι, καινὴν καὶ παράδοξον διάκρισίν τε συνημμένην καὶ διακεκριμένην συνάφειαν. Εἰ γὰρ μή τις ἐριστικῶς καὶ πρὸς ἐπήρειαν ἀκούοι τοῦ λόγου, καὶ ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς δυνατόν ἐστι τὸ τοιοῦτον εὑρεῖν. 38.5 Καί μου δέξασθε τὸν λόγον ὡς ὑπόδειγμα καὶ σκιὰν ἀληθείας, οὐχ ὡς αὐτὴν τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἀλήθειαν. Οὐ γὰρ δυνατόν ἐστι διὰ πάντων ἐφαρμοσθῆναι τὸ ἐν τοῖς ὑποδείγμασι θεωρούμενον τοῖς πρὸς ἃ ἡ τῶν ὑποδειγμά των χρεία παραλαμβάνεται. Πόθεν οὖν φαμεν τὸ διακεκρι μένον ἅμα καὶ συμφυὲς ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν ἡμῖν προφαινομένων ἀναλογίζεσθαι; Ἤδη ποτὲ τοῦ ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ τόξου τὴν λαμπηδόνα κατὰ τὸ ἔαρ τεθέασαι, ἐκεῖνο λέγω τὸ τόξον ὅπερ ὁ κοινὸς λόγος ἴριν εἴωθεν ἐπονομάζειν, ὅ φασιν οἱ περὶ ταῦτα δεινοὶ τότε συνίστασ θαι ὅταν ἀνακεκραμένη τις ᾖ πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα νοτίς, τῆς τῶν πνευμάτων βίας τὸ ἐν τοῖς ἀτμοῖς ὑγρὸν καὶ παχὺ νεφῶδες ἤδη γενόμενον εἰς ὑετὸν ἀποθλιβούσης. Συνίστασ θαι δὲ λέγουσιν οὕτως. Ἐπειδὰν ἡ τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτὶς κατὰ τὸ πλάγιον ὑποδραμοῦσα τὸ πυκνόν τε καὶ συνηρεφὲς τῆς νεφώσεως, εἶτα κατὰ τὸ εὐθὺ νέφει τινὶ τὸν ἴδιον κύκλον ἐναπερείσηται, οἷόν τις καμπὴ καὶ ἐπάνοδος τοῦ φωτὸς πρὸς ἑαυτὸ γίνεται, τῆς αὐγῆς πρὸς τὸ ἔμπαλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑγροῦ τε καὶ στίλβοντος ἀναλυούσης. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ φύσις ἐστὶ ταῖς φλογώδεσι μαρμαρυγαῖς, εἴ τινι λείῳ προσπέ σοιεν, πρὸς ἑαυτὰς πάλιν ἐπανακλᾶσθαι, κυκλοτερὲς δὲ τοῦτο τὸ σχῆμα διὰ τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἐν τῷ ὑγρῷ τε καὶ λείῳ τοῦ ἀέρος γινόμενον, ἐξ ἀνάγκης κατὰ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ κύκλου καὶ ὁ παρακείμενος τῷ νέφει ἀὴρ διὰ τῆς ἀποστιλβούσης αὐγῆς περιγράφεται. Αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ αὐγὴ καὶ συνεχής ἐστι πρὸς ἑαυτὴν καὶ διῄρηται. Πολύχρωμος γάρ τις οὖσα καὶ πολυειδής, ἀφανῶς τοῖς ποικίλοις ἄνθεσι τῆς βαφῆς πρὸς ἑαυτὴν κατακιρνᾶται, τῶν ἑτεροχροούν των τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα συμβολὴν ἐκ τῶν ὄψεων ἡμῶν κατὰ τὸ λεληθὸς ὑποκλέπτουσα, ὡς μὴ ἂν ἐπιγνωσθῆναι τοῦ γλαυκοῦ πρὸς τὸ πυραυγὲς τὸν διὰ μέσου τόπον τὸν μιγνύοντα δι' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ χωρίζοντα τὴν τῶν χροῶν ἑτερό τητα, ἢ τοῦ πυραυγοῦς πρὸς τὸ πορφύρεον ἢ ἐκείνου πρὸς τὸ ἠλέκτρινον. Πάντων γὰρ αἱ αὐγαὶ κατὰ ταὐτὸν ὁρώμε ναι καὶ τηλαυγεῖς εἰσι καὶ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλας συναφείας τὰ σημεῖα κλέπτουσαι τοὺς ἐλέγχους ἐκφεύγουσιν, ὡς ἀμήχανον ἐξευρεῖν μέχρι τίνος ἕστηκε τὸ πυρῶδες ἢ τὸ σμαραγδίζον τῆς αἴγλης καὶ ἀπὸ τίνος ἄρχεται μηκέτι τοιοῦτον εἶναι οἷον ἐν τῷ τηλαυγεῖ καθορᾶται. Ὥσπερ τοίνυν ἐν τῷ ὑποδείγματι καὶ τὰς τῶν χρωμάτων διαφορὰς φανερῶς διαγινώσκομεν καὶ διάστασιν ἑτέρου πρὸς τὸ ἕτερον οὐκ ἔστι τῇ αἰσθήσει καταλαβεῖν, οὕτω μοι λόγισαι δυνατὸν εἶναι καὶ περὶ τῶν θείων δογμάτων