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Since it is necessary to willingly die with him who died, it is fitting for them to devise for themselves a death by choice; for imitation of the voluntary is not accomplished through that which is 3,1.227 compelled. Since, therefore, 3,1.227 the death imposed by nature upon each person happens in every way and altogether, whether we wish it or not, and since one would not reckon that which happens altogether as voluntary, for this reason we die with him who willingly died in another way, being buried in the mystical water through baptism; For we were buried with him, he says, through baptism into death, so that the imitation of his death might be followed also by the imitation of his resurrection.

But let us turn to the next point of the argument: How, he says, does God become man without being changed from being God, unless mind was established in man? Has he understood what he has uttered? He says the divine is unchangeable, and in this he speaks well; for that which is always the same has no nature to become something other than what it is; but it comes to be in another, it does not become another. What then is that mind, as Apollinaris says, that came to be in man? Did it remain in the majesty of its unchangeable nature, or did it make the transition to what is lowly, circumscribing itself within the smallness of the human, and becoming only as great as the human is? Therefore, the human mind is equal to the Godhead, if, as Apollinaris says, the divine nature became the mind of a man. For if human nature receives in like manner either our mind or, in place of the mind, God, these would be of equal size and equal weight with one another, if the Godhead could be contained in that in which the mind is contained; just as if someone were to measure out wheat or some other kind of grain into an empty vessel, one would not say that what is measured by the same measure differs in quantity from the other; for wheat is equal to spelt, when one thing refills the medimnus after those other grains have been emptied out. Therefore if 3,1.228 the Godhead takes the place of the mind, one could not say that the Godhead exceeds the mind, if it is likewise contained by nature as the mind is. Either, then, the mind is equal to the Godhead, as Apollinaris wishes, and in passing from the one to the other it was not altered; or if the mind is inferior to the divine, that which became this from that was altered toward the more base. But who does not know that everything conceived in creation is equally inferior to the unapproachable and inaccessible nature, so that the change is equal, whether one says the divine was changed into a creature or into a mind? So that if Apollinaris thinks that becoming in a mind is not a change, neither does being mingled with man without a mind attest the unalterable character of what was mingled. But if he was not altered when he became flesh, much more did he remain in an unchangeable state when he made the union with a mind; but if he alleges change in becoming in a mind, then the appropriation to the flesh in no way escapes the accusation of alteration.

Again he says (for I pass over what is in between): If after the resurrection he has become God and is no longer man, how will the Son of Man send his angels? And how shall we see the Son of Man coming on the clouds? And how, even before being united and deified, does he say: I and the Father are one? He goes through these things, constructing from what has been said the argument that the nature of the body was not changed at all into something more divine, but still about him are the hairs, the nails, the form, the shape, the contour of his bulk and the rest, clearly all that is visible and all that is hidden of the parts of the body. But I think it superfluous to establish by argument that one must not 3,1.229 have such groveling and earthbound thoughts about God, since the very argument of our opponents proclaims its own absurdity. But lest he should think that the divine oracles cooperate with him toward his myth-making, I will briefly touch upon each of the things that have been said. Since, he says, at the consummation of all things he who sends the angels is called Son of Man, on account of

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ἀποθανόντι συναποθνήσκειν χρὴ θέλοντας, προσήκει τὸν ἐκ προαιρέσεως αὑτοῖς ἐπινοῆσαι θάνατον· οὐ γάρ ἐστι διὰ τοῦ 3,1.227 κατηναγκασμένου ἡ πρὸς τὸ ἑκούσιον μίμησις. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν 3,1.227 ὁ ἐκ φύσεως ἐπικείμενος ἑκάστῳ θάνατος πάντῃ καὶ πάντως γίνεται καὶ βουλομένων καὶ μή, οὐκ ἂν δέ τις τὸ πάντως γινόμενον τῷ ἑκουσίῳ λογίσαιτο, διὰ τοῦτο ἕτερον τρόπον τῷ ἑκουσίως ἀποθανόντι συναποθνήσκομεν, τῷ μυστικῷ ὕδατι διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐνθαπτόμενοι· Συνετάφημεν γὰρ αὐτῷ, φησί, διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εἰς τὸν θάνατον, ἵνα τῇ μιμήσει τοῦ θανάτου ἀκολουθήσῃ καὶ ἡ τῆς ἀναστάσεως μίμησις.

Πρὸς δὲ τὸ ἐφεξῆς τοῦ λόγου μετέλθωμεν· Πῶς, φησί, θεὸς ἄνθρωπος γίνεται μὴ μεταβληθεὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ εἶναι θεός, εἰ μὴ νοῦς ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ κατέστη; ἆρα συνῆκεν ἅπερ ἐφθέγξατο; ἀμετάβλητον λέγει τὸ θεῖον καὶ καλῶς τοῦτο λέγει· τὸ γὰρ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχον ἕτερόν τι παρ' ὅ ἐστι γίνεσθαι φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει· ἀλλ' ἐν ἑτέρῳ μὲν γί νεται, ἕτερον δὲ οὐ γίνεται. τί οὖν ὁ νοῦς ἐκεῖνος, καθὼς ὁ Ἀπολινάριος λέγει, ὁ ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ γενόμενος; ἆρα ἐν τῷ μεγαλείῳ τῆς ἀμεταβλήτου διέμεινε φύσεως, ἢ πρὸς τὸ ταπεινὸν πεποίηται τὴν μετάστασιν τῇ τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου βραχύτητι ἑαυτὸν ἐμπεριγράψας καί, ὅσος οὗτός ἐστι, τοσοῦτος κἀκεῖνος γενόμενος; οὐκοῦν ἴσος ὁ ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς ἐστι τῇ θεότητι, εἴπερ, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπολινάριος, νοῦς ἀνθρώ που ἡ θεία φύσις ἐγένετο. εἰ γὰρ ὁμοίως ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη δέχεται φύσις ἢ τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἡμέτερον ἢ ἀντὶ τοῦ νοῦ τὸν θεόν, ἰσομεγέθη ταῦτα ἂν εἴη ἀλλήλοις καὶ ἰσοστάσια, εἴπερ ἐν ᾧ χωρεῖται ὁ νοῦς, ἐν τούτῳ καὶ ἡ θεότης περιλαμβάνοιτο· ὡς εἴ τις ἀγγείῳ τινὶ κενῷ σῖτον ἢ ἕτερόν τι τῶν σπερμάτων ἀπομετροίη, οὐκ ἄν τις εἴποι τὸ τῷ αὐτῷ μέτρῳ ἰσούμενον κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν διαφέρειν τοῦ ἄλλου· ἴσος γάρ ἐστι πυρὸς ταῖς ὀλύραις, ὅταν ἀποκενωθέντων τοῦ μεδίμνου τῶν σπερ μάτων ἐκείνων ἀντιπληρώσῃ τὸ ἕτερον ἔργον. οὐκοῦν εἰ 3,1.228 ἀντὶ τοῦ νοῦ ἡ θεότης γίνεται, οὐκ ἄν τις ὑπερβάλλειν εἴποι παρὰ τὸν νοῦν τὴν θεότητα, εἴπερ ὁμοίως ἐκείνῳ χωρεῖται καὶ αὐτὴ ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως. ἢ οὖν ἴσος ἐστὶν ὁ νοῦς τῇ θεότητι, καθὼς ὁ Ἀπολινάριος βούλεται, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου πρὸς ἐκεῖνο μεταστὰς οὐκ ἠλλοιώθη· ἢ εἰ καταδεέστερον ὁ νοῦς παρὰ τὸ θεῖον ὁ τοῦτο ἐξ ἐκείνου γενόμενος πρὸς τὸ εὐτελέστερον ἠλλοιώθη. ἀλλὰ τίς οὐκ οἶδεν, ὅτι κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ὑποβέβηκε τῇ ἀπροσίτῳ τε καὶ ἀπροσπελάστῳ φύσει πᾶν τὸ ἐν τῇ κτίσει νοούμενον, ὡς ἴσην εἶναι τὴν τροπήν, κἂν εἰς κτίσμα κἂν εἰς νοῦν τις λέγοι μεταβεβλῆσθαι τὸ θεῖον; ὥστε εἰ τὸ ἐν νῷ γενέσθαι τροπὴν ὁ Ἀπολινάριος <οὐκ> οἴεται, οὐδὲ τὸ δίχα διανοίας καταμιχθῆναι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ προσμαρτυρεῖ τῷ ἀνακραθέντι τὸ ἀναλλοίωτον. ἀλλ' εἴπερ οὐκ ἠλλοιώθη σὰρξ γενόμενος, πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐν τῷ ἀτρέπτῳ διέμεινε καὶ πρὸς τὸν νοῦν ποιησάμενος τὴν ἀνάκρασιν· εἰ δὲ τῷ ἐν νῷ γενέσθαι κατηγορεῖ τὴν τροπήν, καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν σάρκα οἰκείω σις οὐκ ἐκφεύγει πάντως τὴν κατηγορίαν τῆς ἀλλοιώσεως.

Ἔτι φησὶ (τὰ γὰρ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ παρίημι)· Εἰ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν θεὸς γέγονε καὶ οὐκέτι ἐστὶν ἄνθρω πος, πῶς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀποστελεῖ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ; καὶ πῶς ὀψόμεθα τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν; πῶς δὲ καὶ πρὶν ἑνωθῆναι καὶ ἀποθεωθῆναι λέγει· Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν; ταῦτα διέξεισιν ἐκεῖνος διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων κατασκευάζων, ὅτι οὐδὲν πρὸς τὸ θειό τερον ἡ τοῦ σώματος φύσις μετεποιήθη, ἀλλ' ἔτι περὶ αὐτὸν αἱ τρίχες, οἱ ὄνυχες, ἡ μορφή, τὸ σχῆμα, ἡ τοῦ ὄγκου περι γραφὴ καὶ τὰ λοιπά, δηλονότι ὅσα τε φαινόμενα καὶ ὅσα [τε] κρύφια τῶν μερῶν τῶν τοῦ σώματος. ἐγὼ δὲ τὸ μὲν μὴ 3,1.229 δεῖν οὕτω χαμαιριφῆ καὶ χαμαίζηλα περὶ τὸν θεὸν ἐννοεῖν περιττὸν ἡγοῦμαι λόγῳ κατασκευάζεσθαι, αὐτοῦ τοῦ τῶν ἐναντίων λόγου καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἀτοπίαν κηρύσσοντος. ὡς δ' ἂν μὴ τὰ θεῖα λόγια συνεργεῖν αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν μυθο ποιΐαν λογίζοιτο, διὰ βραχέων ἕκαστον τῶν εἰρημένων ἐπι δραμοῦμαι. ἐπειδή, φησίν, ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ τοῦ παντὸς ὁ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ἀποστέλλων υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου λέγεται, διὰ