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is proposed, having silenced [us] through the device of dilemmas, it is necessary for us not to accept in silence the war against the dogma, but to the best of our ability to fight alongside the argument and to show this fearsome and two-edged sword, which he has sharpened against the truth, to be weaker than things appearing in shadows. 1.1.479 By double concepts he slanders the community of substance, and says either that we name two unbegotten principles, brought forth in opposition to each other, the one Father, the other Son, saying that the one who is has been begotten from the one who is, or that each of them in part partakes of the one and same substance conceived of, and being Father and becoming Son, it is brought forth from 1.1.480 itself through generation. These things I write in my own words, not misinterpreting his meaning, but correcting the bombastic and packed style of his expression, so that his intention might become easily seen by all, being revealed through clarity in wording. 1.1.481 For he who derides our ignorance and alleges that we have come to the argument without sufficient preparation, so luxuriates in the splendor of expression in his own speech, so 20polishes his nails,20 as he himself calls it, 20on the words,20 adorning his writing in this excessive elegance of speech, as to immediately captivate the hearer with the pleasure of the language; of which sort, among many others, are the things just now read. And if it seems good, I will read it again: 20Wherefore you have also contrived the reproach for these things against yourselves like some inescapable trap, since justice, as is likely, votes with your own things against you.20 1.1.482 See the flowers of ancient Attica, how the smoothness and polished quality of the language flashes upon the composition of the speech, how elegantly and variously it is wreathed with the beauty of the speech. But let these things be as anyone may think, but for us let the course turn again to the meaning of what has been said, and let us come, if it seems good, through the very 1.1.483 words of the writer. 20For either supposing these substances to be separated from each other without beginning, and bringing the one of these into the rank of Son through generation, and maintaining that he who is without beginning has been begotten by him who is.20 These things are sufficient. He says we hold to two unbegotten substances, 1.1.484 How can he say this, who accuses us of jumbling and confusing all things by confessing one substance? For if our argument also maintained two natures, alien to each other in their being, just like those who dogmatize the "1unlike,"2 it would have been well for the division of the nature to be thought to lead to the suspicion of two principles. But if one nature is confessed by us in different hypostases and Father is believed in and Son is glorified, how is such a dogma slandered by our opponents 1.1.485 as holding to two principles? Then he says that of these two principles, one is brought down by us to the rank of Son and that the one who is has been begotten by the one who is. Let him show the champion of this argument, and we will be silent, whether he convicts some person who uttered these things or simply knows that this argument is current in the churches. For who is so deranged in his reasonings and out of his mind, as to speak of Father and Son and again to suppose two unbegotten beings and again to think that the one has been begotten from the one? And what necessity drives the dogma to such suspicions? From what arguments of his was this constructed, 1.1.486 so that this absurdity necessarily arises? For if he had brought forward something that is confessed by us, and then through this had advanced such a slander, whether sophistically or by some demonstrative power, he would perhaps have had an opportunity to bring forward such things for the slander of the dogma. But if there neither is nor could be such an argument in the church, and neither is the one who said it convicted, nor is the one who heard it pointed out, nor is any necessity found that establishes this absurdity through some consequence, what this shadow-boxing means to him, I do not see. 1.1.487 just as if someone, delirious from frenzy, might think he is wrestling with someone when no one is there

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στο μώσας διὰ τῆς τῶν διλημμάτων ἐπινοίας προτείνεται, ἀνάγκη καὶ ἡμᾶς μὴ σιωπῇ δέξασθαι τὸν κατὰ τοῦ δόγματος πόλεμον, ἀλλ' ὡς ἔχομεν δυνάμεως συμμαχῆσαι τῷ λόγῳ καὶ δεῖξαι τὴν φοβερὰν ταύτην καὶ ἀμφίστομον μάχαιραν, ἣν κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐθήξατο, τῶν ἐν ταῖς σκιαγραφίαις φαινομένων ἀδρανεστέραν. 1.1.479 ∆ιπλαῖς ἐννοίαις διαβάλλει τὸ κοινὸν τῆς οὐσίας καί φησιν ἢ δύο ἀγεννήτους ἀρχὰς ἀντιπαρεξαγομένας ἀλλήλαις τὴν μὲν πατέρα, τὴν δὲ υἱὸν ἡμᾶς ὀνομάζειν, τὸν ὄντα παρὰ τοῦ ὄντος γεγενῆσθαι λέγοντας ἢ μίαν νοουμένην καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν οὐσίαν ἑκάτερον ἐν μέρει μεταλαμβάνειν τῶν ὀνομάτων, καὶ πατέρα οὖσαν καὶ υἱὸν γινομένην αὐτὴν παρ' 1.1.480 ἑαυτῆς διὰ γεννήσεως παραγομένην. ταῦτα διὰ τῆς ἐμαυ τοῦ λέξεως γράφω, οὐ παρερμηνεύων αὐτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν, ἀλλὰ τὸ στομφῶδες καὶ κατεστοιβασμένον τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἐπανορθούμενος, ὡς ἂν εὐσύνοπτον αὐτοῦ πᾶσι τὸ βούλημα γένοιτο, διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν λέξιν σαφηνείας ἐκκαλυπτόμενον. 1.1.481 ὁ γὰρ τὴν ἀμαθίαν ἡμῶν διασύρων καὶ τὸ μὴ ἐξ ἀρκούσης παρασκευῆς ἐπὶ τὸν λόγον ἐληλυθέναι προφέρων, οὕτως ἁβρύνει τῇ λαμπρότητι τῆς ἑρμηνείας τὸν ἴδιον λόγον, οὕτως 20ἐξονυχίζει20, καθὼς αὐτὸς ὀνομάζει, 20τὰ ῥή ματα20, ἐν τῇ περιττῇ ταύτῃ καλλιεπείᾳ τὴν συγγραφὴν ἀγλαΐζων, ὡς αὐτόθεν αἱρεῖν τῇ τῆς λέξεως ἡδονῇ τὸν ἀκούοντα· οἷα μετὰ πολλῶν ἄλλων καὶ τὰ νῦν ὑπανεγνω σμένα ἐστί. καὶ εἰ δοκεῖ, πάλιν ὑπαναγνώσομαι· 20διὸ καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις λοιδορίαν ὥσπερ τινὰ πάγην ἄφυκτον καθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐτεκτήνασθε, τῆς δίκης ὡς εἰκὸς τοῖς ὑμετέροις καθ' ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιψηφιζούσης20. 1.1.482 Ὅρα τὰ ἄνθη τῆς ἀρχαίας Ἀτθίδος, ὡς ἐπαστράπτει τῇ συντάξει τοῦ λόγου τὸ λεῖον καὶ κατεστιλβωμένον τῆς λέξεως, ὡς γλαφυρῶς καὶ ποικίλως τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ λόγου περιανθίζεται. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐχέτω, ὡς ἄν τῳ δόξῃ, ἡμῖν δὲ πρὸς τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν εἰρημένων τρεπέσθω πάλιν ὁ δρόμος, καὶ δι' αὐτῶν, εἰ δοκεῖ, γενώμεθα τοῦ λογο 1.1.483 γράφου τῶν λέξεων. 20ἤτοι γὰρ ἀνάρχως ἀλλήλων κεχωρίσθαι τὰς οὐσίας ταύτας ὑπολαμβάνον τες, τούτων δὲ τὴν ἑτέραν εἰς υἱοῦ τάξιν διὰ γεννήσεως ἄγοντες καὶ τὸν ἀνάρχως ὄντα ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄντος γεγενῆσθαι διατεινόμενοι20. ἀρκεῖ ταῦτα. δύο φησὶν ἡμᾶς ἀγεννήτους οὐσίας πρεσβεύειν, 1.1.484 πῶς τοῦτο λέγων ὁ φύρειν τὰ πάντα καὶ συγχεῖν αἰτιώ μενος διὰ τοῦ μίαν ὁμολογεῖν τὴν οὐσίαν; εἰ μὲν γὰρ δύο φύσεις ἀλλοτρίως κατὰ τὸ εἶναι πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἐχούσας καὶ ὁ ἡμέτερος ἐπρέσβευε λόγος κατὰ τὸ ἴσον τῶν τὸ "1ἀνό μοιον"2 δογματιζόντων, καλῶς εἶχε τὸ διῃρημένον τῆς φύ σεως εἰς δύο τινῶν ἀρχῶν ὑπονοίας ἐκφέρειν νομίζεσθαι. εἰ δὲ μία φύσις ὁμολογεῖται παρ' ἡμῶν ἐν διαφόροις ταῖς ὑποστάσεσι καὶ πατὴρ πιστεύεται καὶ υἱὸς δοξάζεται, πῶς δύο πρεσβεύειν ἀρχὰς τὸ τοιοῦτον δόγμα παρὰ τῶν ἐναν 1.1.485 τίων συκοφαντεῖται; εἶτα ἐκ τῶν δύο τούτων ἀρχῶν τὴν μίαν λέγει παρ' ἡμῶν εἰς υἱοῦ τάξιν κατάγεσθαι καὶ τὸν ὄντα ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄντος γεγενῆσθαι. δειξάτω τὸν προστάτην τοῦ λόγου τούτου, καὶ ἡμεῖς σιωπήσομεν, εἴτε τι πρόσωπον διελέγχει τὸ ταῦτα παραφθεγξάμενον εἴτε καὶ ἁπλῶς τὸν λόγον τοῦτον ἐν ἐκκλησίαις οἶδε φερόμενον. τίς γὰρ οὕτως παράφορος τοῖς λογισμοῖς καὶ ἐξεστηκὼς τὴν διάνοιαν, ὡς πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν λέγειν καὶ δύο πάλιν ἀγέννητα οἴεσθαι καὶ τὸ ἓν αὖθις παρὰ τοῦ ἑνὸς γεγενῆσθαι νομίζειν; τίς δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀνάγκη ἡ πρὸς τὰς τοιαύτας ὑπονοίας ἐξωθοῦσα τὸ δόγμα; ἐκ ποίων παρ' αὐτοῦ λόγων τοῦτο κατεσκευάσθη, 1.1.486 ὡς ἀναγκαίως ταύτην ἀνακύψαι τὴν ἀτοπίαν; εἰ μὲν γάρ τι τῶν παρ' ἡμῶν ὁμολογουμένων προέφερεν, εἶτα διὰ τού του προῆγεν εἴτε σοφιστικῶς εἴτε κατά τινα δύναμιν ἀπο δεικτικὴν τὴν τοιαύτην συκοφαντίαν, εἶχεν ἴσως καιρὸν ἐπὶ διαβολῇ τοῦ δόγματος τὰ τοιαῦτα προφέρειν. εἰ δὲ οὔτε ἔστιν οὔτε μὴ γένηται λόγος ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ τοιοῦτος οὔτε ὁ εἰπὼν ἐλέγχεται οὔτε ὁ ἀκηκοὼς ἐπιδείκνυται οὔτε ἀνάγκη τις εὑρίσκεται διά τινος ἀκολούθου τὴν ἀτοπίαν ταύτην κατασκευάζουσα, τί βούλεται αὐτῷ ἡ σκιαμαχία, οὐ συνορῶ. 1.1.487 ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις ὑπὸ φρενίτιδος παραπαίων συμπεπλέχθαι νομίζοι τινὶ μηδενὸς