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preserving the sequence inviolable by relation, it is surely fitting for those making their examination according to the order connatural to the things not to force everything together and confuse them, but, if any dispute should arise concerning the essences, to make the proof of what is being demonstrated and the resolution of what is doubted from the primary operations immediately belonging to the essences, and to resolve the doubt concerning the operations 1.1.407 from the essences20. I for my part think that the very words of the impiety are sufficient to prove the absurdity of what was said. For just as one who describes in words a face disfigured by disease would better demonstrate the sickness by stripping it of its coverings, so that those who see what is apparent have no need to learn of it by word, so I believe this foul and mutilated thing of the heretical dogma is sufficiently manifest to those who are discerning in soul and is uncovered 1.1.408 by reading alone. But since it is necessary, by bringing the demonstrative argument like a finger to the unsound parts of the dogma, to make the inherent blemish in the dogma clearer to the many, I will take up what was said again in order. 1.1.409 20And so20, he says, 20these things being so20. What does the dreamer say? Which things, and how are they so? That the essence of the Father is 20alone sovereign and supreme20, and that the one next in order is consequently altogether without authority, and the 1.1.410 third even less authoritative? For this is what he legislated by what he said. Or that a certain operation follows the first essence, of which the only-begotten Son is the result and 20work20, being bound by the measure of the operation that gave him substance? Or that the essences are conceived as lesser and greater because they are somehow contained in one another and the lesser is encompassed by the more spacious, as happens with buckets placed inside one another, whereby he discerns as greater and lesser the 1.1.411 essences that are comprehended by no limit or boundary? Or that the differences in created things also indicate the otherness of their creators, since it is impossible for different creations to come from similar operations? Is there anyone, then, whose soul's senses are so seized by slumber, that upon hearing such dogmas he would immediately agree with the one who affirms that 20these things being so, and in relation to one another preserving the sequence 1.1.412 inviolable20? For I think it is of the same madness both to say such things and to listen to those who say them without examination, that things rent from one another by unlikeness in nature are governed by a certain sequence through their relation to one another. For either they are united through essence, according to our account, and thus 20in their relation to one another will preserve the sequence inviolable20, or they are separate from one another through alienness of nature, as he thinks. And what 20sequential relation20 will be found in things that are alien to one another, 20which preserves the inviolable20? And what is 20the connatural order of things20, according to which he legislates that the 1.1.413 examination be made? For if he were looking to the dogma of truth and considered the difference only by the order, according to the sequence of the things believed in the Holy Trinity, this 20connatural20, as he says, 20order20 making the distinction of the hypostases unconfused, so that he thought them to have communion in essence and to be divided according to the principle of hypostasis, he would not have been ranked in every way among the opponents, saying these things which we also champion. 1.1.414 But as it is, his whole argument looks to the contrary and makes the comprehension of the order he has conceived here impossible. For there is surely the greatest difference between things that are from deliberation and those that are spontaneous, 1.1.415 the outcome of which results from some natural necessity. Connatural to fire is heat, and brightness to a ray, and flowing to water, and downward motion to a stone, and many such things can be said. But if someone has built a house or pursued an office or dispatched merchandise or anything else from deliberation and preparation

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σχέσει τὸν εἱρμὸν ἀπαράβατον διατη ρούντων, προσήκει δήπου τοὺς κατὰ τὴν συμ φυῆ τοῖς πράγμασι τάξιν τὴν ἐξέτασιν ποιου μένους καὶ μὴ φύρειν ὁμοῦ πάντα καὶ συγχεῖν βιαζομένους, εἰ μὲν περὶ ταῖς οὐσίαις κινοῖτό τις ἀμφισβήτησις, ἐκ τῶν πρώτων καὶ προσε χῶν ταῖς οὐσίαις ἐνεργειῶν ποιεῖσθαι τῶν δεικνυμένων τὴν πίστιν καὶ τῶν ἀμφιβαλλο μένων τὴν διάλυσιν, τὴν δὲ ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐνεργείαις 1.1.407 ἀμφιβολίαν διαλύειν ἐκ τῶν οὐσιῶν20. ἐγὼ τοίνυν ἀρκεῖν ἡγοῦμαι πρὸς ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἀτοπίας τῶν εἰρημένων αὐτὰ τὰ ῥήματα τῆς ἀσεβείας. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ τὸ λελωβη μένον ἐκ πάθους πρόσωπον ὑπογράφων τῷ λόγῳ μᾶλλον ἂν ἐπιδείξειεν ἀπογυμνώσας τῶν προκαλυμμάτων τὴν νόσον, ὡς μηδὲν δεῖσθαι λόγῳ μαθεῖν τοὺς τὸ φαινόμενον βλέ ποντας, οὕτως ἡγοῦμαι τὸ εἰδεχθὲς τοῦτο καὶ περικεκομ μένον τοῦ αἱρετικοῦ δόγματος ἱκανῶς φανεροῦσθαι τοῖς διορατικοῖς τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ διὰ μόνης τῆς ἀναγνώσεως ἐκ 1.1.408 καλυπτόμενον. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ χρὴ καθάπερ τινὰ δάκτυλον ἐπὶ τὰ σαθρὰ τοῦ δόγματος τὸν δεικτικὸν λόγον ἐπάγοντα φανερωτέραν τοῖς πολλοῖς καταστῆσαι τὴν ἐγκειμένην λώ βην τῷ δόγματι, πάλιν ἐφεξῆς τὸ ῥηθὲν ἀναλήψομαι. 1.1.409 20Οὕτω δέ20, φησί, 20τούτων ἐχόντων20. τί λέγει ὁ ἐν υπνιαστής; ποίων τούτων καὶ πῶς ἐχόντων; ὅτι 20μόνη κυρία καὶ ἀνωτάτω20 τοῦ πατρὸς ἡ οὐσία, ἄκυρος δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον πάντως ἡ ἐφεξῆς καὶ ἀκυροτέρα ἡ 1.1.410 τρίτη; ταῦτα γὰρ οἷς εἶπεν ἐνομοθέτησεν. ἢ ὅτι παρε πομένης τῇ οὐσίᾳ τῇ πρώτῃ ἐνεργείας τινός, ἧς ἀποτέ λεσμα καὶ 20ἔργον20 ὁ μονογενής ἐστιν υἱός, τῷ μέτρῳ τῆς ὑποστησαμένης αὐτὸν ἐνεργείας ἐνδεδεμένος; ἢ ὅτι ἐλάτ τους τε καὶ μείζους αἱ οὐσίαι νοοῦνται διὰ τὸ ἐγκεῖσθαί πως ἀλλήλαις καὶ περιέχεσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς εὐρυχωροτέρας τὴν ἥσσονα, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν κάδων συμβαίνει τῶν ἀλλήλοις ἐντιθεμένων, καθ' ὃ μείζους τε καὶ ἐλάττους ἐνορᾷ τὰς 1.1.411 οὐσίας τὰς οὐδενὶ πέρατι καὶ ὅρῳ περιειλημμένας; ἢ ὅτι τῶν δημιουργημάτων αἱ διαφοραὶ καὶ τὴν τῶν δημιουργῶν ἑτερότητα συνεμφαίνουσιν, ὡς ἀμήχανον ἐκ τῶν ὁμοίων ἐνεργειῶν διαφόρους τὰς δημιουργίας συνίστασθαι; ἆρ' οὖν ἔστι τις τοσούτῳ κώματι κατεχόμενος τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αἰσθη τήρια, ὥστε ἀκούσας τῶν τοιούτων δογμάτων εὐθὺς συν θέσθαι τῷ διαβεβαιουμένῳ ὅτι 20οὕτω δὲ τούτων ἐχόν των καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσει τὸν εἱρμὸν 1.1.412 ἀπαράβατον διατηρούντων20; τῆς γὰρ αὐτῆς οἶμαι παραπληξίας εἶναι λέγειν τε τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ λεγόντων ἀκούειν ἀνεξετάστως, ὅτι εἱρμῷ τινι διὰ τῆς πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσεως εὐθύνεται τὰ διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἀνομοιότητος ἀπ' ἀλλήλων διεσχισμένα. ἢ γὰρ ἥνωται διὰ τῆς οὐσίας κατὰ τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον καὶ οὕτως 20ἐν τῇ πρὸς ἄλ ληλα σχέσει τὸν εἱρμὸν ἀπαράβατον διατη ρήσει20, ἢ ἀφέστηκεν ἀλλήλων διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἀλ λοτριότητος, καθὼς ἐκεῖνος οἴεται. καὶ τίς εὑρεθήσεται 20καθ' εἱρμὸν σχέσις20 ἐν τοῖς ἀλλοτρίως ἔχουσιν 20ἡ συντηροῦσα τὸ ἀπαράβατον20; τίς δὲ 20ἡ συμφυὴς τῶν πραγμάτων τάξις20, καθ' ἣν ποιεῖσθαι νομοθετεῖ 1.1.413 τὴν ἐξέτασιν; εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸ δόγμα τῆς ἀληθείας ἑώρα καὶ μόνῃ τῇ τάξει κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον τῶν ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ τριάδι πεπιστευμένων πραγμάτων τὴν διαφορὰν ἐλογίζετο, 20τῆς συμφυοῦς20 ταύτης, ὥς φησι, 20τάξεως20 ἀσύγχυτον ποιουμένης τὴν τῶν ὑποστάσεων κρίσιν, ὥστε καὶ κοινωνεῖν κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν καὶ διῃρῆσθαι κατὰ τὸν τῆς ὑποστάσεως λόγον οἴεσθαι, οὐκ ἂν πάντως ἐν τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις ἐτέτακτο, ταῦτα λέγων, ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς προϊστάμεθα. 1.1.414 Νυνὶ δὲ ἅπας ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον βλέ πων ἄπορον εἶναι κατασκευάζει τῆς ἐνταῦθα νοηθείσης αὐτῷ τάξεως τὴν κατανόησιν. πλεῖστον γὰρ δήπου διενή νοχε τῶν τε ἐκ προβουλεύσεως καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸ αὐτόματον 1.1.415 ἐκ φυσικῆς τινος ἀνάγκης ἀποβαινόντων τὸ πέρας. συμ φυής ἐστι τῷ πυρὶ ἡ θερμότης καὶ ἡ λαμπηδὼν τῇ ἀκτῖνι καὶ τὸ ῥέειν τῷ ὕδατι καὶ τῷ λίθῳ ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω φορὰ καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. εἰ δέ τις οἰκίαν ἐδομή σατο ἢ μετῆλθεν ἀρχὴν ἢ ἐμπορίαν ἐστείλατο ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἐκ προβουλεύσεως καὶ παρασκευῆς