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argument, then let us approach the interval in between which the vain conceit of those who dogmatize these things supposes, of those who reckon that there is something between the Son and the Father, if we should arrive at that extreme point by which they delimit the interval between, there we find the life of the God of the universe also stopping at its upper limit, so that it is necessarily constructed that before that point not even the ever-existing God is believed to exist. 1.1.351 But if you still doubt, let us again understand the argument through examples. for just as in the case of two rods, when one is shorter and the other is longer, having made the bases of both equal, we discern the excess at the tops (for having placed the end of the shorter one beside it, from that point we knew the remainder of the longer one, and how much the shorter one lacks, we found by equalizing through some measure the deficiency to the end of the greater, whether it is a cubit or any amount whatsoever, 1.1.352 by how much the greater is distant from the lesser) so if there is, according to the argument of our opponents, an excess of the Father's life in relation to the life of the Son, it is certainly in some expressible interval, but they will not necessarily agree that this is an excess into what follows. For that each is alike immortal even the enemies of the truth confess, but they conceive this difference in the upward direction, not making the Son's life equal to the Father's, but over-extending the concept of 1.1.353 the Father by the interval of life. Since, therefore, every interval is certainly delimited by two ends, it is absolutely necessary that the two points that mark the ends of the interval conceived by them also be apprehended. Just as, therefore, according to them, one part has its beginning from the generation of the only-begotten, so also the other extremity will certainly terminate together at some other end, with which the interval, being completed, delimits itself. What then is this end? Let them themselves say, if indeed they are not ashamed to follow their own arguments. 1.1.354 But the argument holds no doubt, that they will find no other end for the other part of the interval fabricated by them, unless they were to suppose some beginning for the unbegotten <life> from which they distinguish in their argument the intervening space with respect to the generation of the Son. 1.1.355 This then is what we are saying, that he who says the Son is subsequent in some measured extension of the Father's life will also give to the Father a definite beginning of existence, being co-circumscribed by the interval conceived in between; and thus it will be found for them that the much-vaunted "1unbegottenness"2 of the Father, through such a construction, is stolen away by the very champions of "1unbegottenness"2, so that they say the unbegotten God does not always exist, but construct it that He has had the beginning of His being 1.1.356 from some definite beginning. For he who has a beginning of being is not without beginning. But if it is fitting in every way that the Father's being without beginning be confessed, let no definite point of the Son's life be meddlesomely investigated, from which, having begun to be, He is cut off from the life beyond that point; but it is sufficient according to the principle of cause alone to conceive of the Father before the Son, and not that the Father's life was ever separated and existing on its own before the generation of the Son, so that there does not enter into this supposition any concept of interval before the manifestation of the Son, measured alongside the life of the one who begot, from which will necessarily follow the supposing of some beginning of life for the Father also, at which the interval fabricated before the Son, proceeding upwards, will stop, co-circumscribing with itself the beginning of the Father's life which was conceived of beforehand. 1.1.357 But <it is necessary> for those confessing "1from Him"2, even if it seems something bold, not to deny also "1with Him"2, being led to this concept by the Scripture in the testaments. 1.1.358 for having heard from Wisdom of a radiance of eternal light, we contemplate the radiance together with the eternity of the original light, and conceiving the cause of the radiance, we do not admit that it is 20older20;

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λόγος, ἔπειτα προσβῶμεν τῷ διὰ μέσου διαστήματι ὅπερ ἡ ματαία τῶν ταῦτα δογματιζόντων οἴησις ὑποτίθεται τῶν μεταξὺ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς εἶναί τι λογιζομένων, ἐὰν εἰς τὸ ἄκρον ἐκεῖνο σημεῖον φθάσωμεν, ᾧ τὸ διάστημα τὸ μεταξὺ περιγράφουσιν, ἐκεῖ καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἱσταμένην ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω τὴν ζωὴν εὑρίσκομεν, ὡς ἐξ ἀνάγκης κατασκευάζεσθαι τὸ πρὸ ἐκείνου μηδὲ τὸν ἀεὶ ὄντα θεὸν πιστεύειν εἶναι. 1.1.351 Εἰ δὲ ἀμφιβάλλεις ἔτι, πάλιν τὸν λόγον δι' ὑποδειγμά των κατανοήσωμεν. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ δύο κανόνων, ὅταν ὁ μὲν ἐλάττων ὁ δὲ ὑπερέχων ᾖ, τὰς βάσεις ἀμφοτέρων ἰσώ σαντες ἐν ταῖς κορυφαῖς τὸ πλεονάζον ἐπιγινώσκομεν (παρα θέντες γὰρ τὸ τοῦ ἐλάττονος πέρας ἀπ' ἐκείνου τὸ περισσὸν τοῦ ὑπερέχοντος ἔγνωμεν, καὶ ὅσον ἐνδεῖ τῷ βραχυτέρῳ, διά τινος μέτρου τὸ λεῖπον πρὸς τὸ πέρας τοῦ μείζονος παρισώσαντες εὕρομεν, εἴτε πῆχυς εἴτε ὁποσονοῦν ἐστιν, 1.1.352 ὅσον τοῦ ἐλάττονος τὸ μεῖζον ἀφέστηκεν) οὕτως εἴ τίς ἐστι κατὰ τὸν τῶν ὑπεναντίων λόγον τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ζωῆς ὡς πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ πλεονασμός, ἔν τινι ῥητῷ διαστή ματι πάντως ἐστί, τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ εἰς τὸ ἐφεξῆς περισσεύειν ἀναγκαίως συνθήσονται. ἀθάνατον γὰρ ὁμοίως ἑκάτερον εἶναι καὶ οἱ ἐχθροὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁμολογοῦσιν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ ἄνω τὴν διαφορὰν ταύτην ἐπινοοῦσιν, οὐκ ἰσοῦντες πρὸς τὸν πατέρα τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν ζωήν, ἀλλ' ὑπερεκτείνοντες τὴν περὶ 1.1.353 τοῦ πατρὸς ἔννοιαν τῷ τῆς ζωῆς διαστήματι. ἐπεὶ οὖν πᾶν διάστημα διπλοῖς πέρασι περιγράφεται πάντως, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ τοῦ ἐπινοηθέντος παρ' αὐτῶν διαστήματος τὰ δύο σημεῖα τὰ γνωριστικὰ τῶν περάτων καταληφθῆναι. ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ ἓν μέρος κατ' αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς γεννήσεως τοῦ μονο γενοῦς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχει, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἕτερον ἄκρον ἑτέρῳ τινὶ πέρατι πάντως συναπολήξει, ᾧ συναπαρτιζόμενον τὸ διάστημα ἑαυτὸ περιγράφει. τί οὖν ἐστι τοῦτο τὸ πέρας, αὐτοὶ εἰπάτωσαν, εἴπερ τοῖς ἰδίοις λόγοις ἀκολουθεῖν οὐκ αἰσχύνονται. 1.1.354 Ἀλλ' οὐδεμίαν ἀμφιβολίαν ὁ λόγος ἔχει, ὅτι οὐδὲν εὑρήσουσι τὸ ἕτερον πέρας ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον μέρος τοῦ ἀνα πλασθέντος παρ' αὐτῶν διαστήματος, εἰ μή τινα πάντως ἀρχὴν ὑποθοῖντο τῆς τοῦ ἀγεννήτου <ζωῆς> ἀφ' ἧς τὸ μέσον ὡς πρὸς τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ γέννησιν τῷ λόγῳ διαλαμβά 1.1.355 νουσι. τοῦτο οὖν ἐστιν ὃ λέγομεν, ὅτι ὁ μεταγενέστερον τὸν υἱὸν ἔν τινι διαστηματικῇ παρατάσει τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ζωῆς λέγων ὡρισμένην δώσει καὶ τῷ πατρὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ὑπάρξεως, τῷ ἐπινοηθέντι κατὰ τὸ μέσον διαστήματι συμ περιγραφομένην· καὶ οὕτως αὐτοῖς εὑρεθήσεται ἡ πολυ θρύλλητος τοῦ πατρὸς "1ἀγεννησία"2 διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης κατα σκευῆς ὑπ' αὐτῶν τῶν προμάχων τῆς "1ἀγεννησίας"2 ἐκ κλεπτομένη, ὡς τὸν ἀγέννητον θεὸν μὴ ἀεὶ εἶναι λέγειν, ἀλλ' ἀπό τινος ὡρισμένης ἀρχῆς τοῦ εἶναι τὴν ἀρχὴν 1.1.356 ἐσχηκέναι κατασκευάζειν. ὁ γὰρ ἀρχὴν τοῦ εἶναι ἔχων ἄναρχος οὐκ ἔστιν. εἰ δὲ παντὶ τρόπῳ τὸ ἄναρχον τοῦ πατρὸς ὁμολογεῖσθαι προσήκει, μηδὲ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ ζωῆς ὡρισμένον τι πολυπραγμονείσθω σημεῖον, ἀφ' οὗ τοῦ εἶναι ἀρξάμενος τῆς εἰς τὸ ἐπέκεινα τοῦ σημείου ζωῆς ἀποτέ μνεται· ἀλλ' ἀρκεῖ κατὰ μόνον τὸν τῆς αἰτίας λόγον προ επινοεῖν τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸν πατέρα, καὶ μὴ κεχωρισμένην καὶ ἰδιάζουσάν ποτε τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν ζωὴν πρὸ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ γεννήσεως, ἵνα μὴ συνεισέλθῃ τῇ ὑπολήψει ταύτῃ διαστη ματικόν τι νόημα πρὸ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ ἀναδείξεως τῇ ζωῇ τοῦ γεγεννηκότος παραμετρούμενον, ᾧ κατ' ἀνάγκην ἀκολου θήσει τὸ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀρχήν τινα τῆς ζωῆς ὑποθέσθαι, καθ' ἣν τὸ ἀναπλασθὲν πρὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ διάστημα προϊὸν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω στήσεται, συμπεριγράφον αὑτῷ τῆς προεπινοη 1.1.357 θείσης τοῦ πατρὸς ζωῆς τὴν ἀρχήν. ἀλλὰ <δεῖ> τὸ "1ἐξ αὐτοῦ"2 ὁμολογοῦντας, κἂν τολμηρόν τι φαίνηται, καὶ τὸ "1σὺν αὐτῷ"2 μὴ ἀρνεῖσθαι, ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν ταῖς ὑποθήκαις 1.1.358 γραφῆς πρὸς τὴν ἔννοιαν ταύτην ὁδηγουμένους· ἀπαύγασμα γὰρ ἀϊδίου φωτὸς παρὰ τῆς σοφίας ἀκούσαντες συνεπιθεω ροῦμεν τῇ ἀϊδιότητι τοῦ πρωτοτύπου φωτὸς τὸ ἀπαύγασμα, καὶ τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος ἐννοοῦντες καὶ τὸ 20πρε σβύτερον20 οὐ δεχόμενοι·