§8. Arians date the Son’s beginning earlier than Marcellus, &c.

8. Eusebius and his fellows, that is, the Ario-maniacs, ascribing a beginning of being to the Son, yet pretend not to wish Him to have a beginning of kingship1495    Euseb. c. Marcell. pp. 6, 32, 49, &c. &c.. But this is ridiculous; for he who ascribes to the Son a beginning of being, very plainly ascribes to Him also a beginning of reigning; so blind are they, confessing what they deny. Again, those who say that the Son is only a name, and that the Son of God, that is, the Word of the Father, is unessential and non-subsistent, pretend to be angry with those who say, ‘Once He was not.’ This is ridiculous also; for they who give Him no being at all, are angry with those who at least grant Him to be in time. Thus these also confess what they deny, in the act of censuring the others. And again Eusebius and his fellows, confessing a Son, deny that He is the Word by nature, and would have the Son called Word notionally; and the others confessing Him to be Word, deny Him to be Son, and would have the Word called Son notionally, equally void of footing.

8 Οἱ περὶ Εὐσέβιον οἱ Ἀρειομανῖται ἀρχὴν τοῦ εἶναι τῷ υἱῷ διδόντες προσποιοῦνται μὴ βούλεσθαι ἀρχὴν αὐτὸν ἔχειν βα σιλείας. Ἔστι δὲ γελοῖον. Ὁ γὰρ ἀρχὴν τοῦ εἶναι διδοὺς τῷ υἱῷ πρόδηλον, ὅτι καὶ τοῦ βασιλεύειν ἀρχὴν δίδωσιν αὐτῷ. ὥστε ὁμολογοῦντες, ὃ ἀρνοῦνται, τυφλώττουσιν. Καὶ πάλιν οἱ λέγοντες μόνον ὄνομα εἶναι υἱοῦ, ἀνούσιον δὲ καὶ ἀνυπόστατον εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, τουτέστι τὸν λόγον τοῦ πατρός, προσποιοῦνται ἀγα νακτεῖν κατὰ τῶν λεγόντων· «ἦν ποτε, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν». Ἔστι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο γελοῖον. Οἱ γὰρ ὅλως τὸ εἶναι αὐτῷ μὴ διδόντες ἀγανακ τοῦσι κατὰ τῶν κἂν χρόνῳ διδόντων. Καὶ οὗτοι οὖν, ὅπερ ἀρνοῦνται, διὰ τοῦ ἐπιτιμᾷν τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμολογοῦσιν. Πάλιν τε οἱ περὶ Εὐ σέβιον υἱὸν ὁμολογοῦντες ἀρνοῦνται αὐτὸν εἶναι φύσει λόγον, καὶ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν λόγον λέγεσθαι τὸν υἱὸν βούλονται· οἱ δὲ ἕτεροι λόγον ὁμολογοῦντες ἀρνοῦνται αὐτὸν εἶναι υἱόν, καὶ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν υἱὸν λέγεσθαι τὸν λόγον βούλονται, ἐξ ἴσου κενεμβατοῦντες.