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to produce. For when we hear "Father," we immediately understand the cause of being for all things, who, if he had some other higher cause, would not properly be named Father, since the proper title of Father would go back to the prior cause. But if he himself is the cause of all things and from him are all things, as the apostle says, it is clear that nothing can be conceived of as prior to his existence. And this is what it means to be believed to be unbegottenly. 1.1.549 But he does not concede that these things are correct, he who does not even deem the truth more plausible than himself, but legislates against it and speaks against it and mocks the argument. Or do you wish that we should also examine the inescapable syllogisms and the various refutations of sophisms, through which he thinks he refutes the 1.1.550 argument? But I fear lest the pettiness and meanness of his statements might in some way discredit the argument that refutes them. For to engage with youths who challenge one to a contest brings more blame upon men from being contentious with such people than praise from seeming to have won. But nevertheless, such is his statement. For the things said with insolence, along with that customary fine voice of his, as if they were fitting for him to say and were set before us as an exercise in long-suffering, we consider worthy of silence and forgetfulness; for I do not think it is proper, by sowing the laughable parts of what he has said among our serious arguments, to dissolve our zeal for the truth in disorderly and vulgar laughter. 1.1.551 For it is not possible to remain un-laughing while listening to these things, if we should hear him speaking from that lofty and magniloquent eloquence of his; 20for to him for whom an addition of words ends in an addition of blasphemy, for this one to be silent is half lighter than to speak. But20 let these things be laughed at by those who know what is worthy of acceptance, and what of laughter; but let us examine the sharpness of the syllogisms with which he tears down our argument. 1.1.552 20For if the Father20, he says, 20is the same as the unbegotten in power, and names having the same power are by nature also to signify the same thing in every way, and unbegotten according to them signifies that God is from nothing, then of necessity Father also signifies that God is from nothing, and not that he has begotten the Son20. From what necessity, tell me, is "to have begotten the Son" no longer signified by the word "Father," if the same appellation also represents to us through itself the Father's being without beginning? 1.1.553 For if the one were destructive of the other according to the nature of opposites, necessarily the positing of the one would establish the negation of the other. But if there is nothing to prevent the same one from being both Father and unbegotten, if through the title of Father we also understand, in some sense, "unbegotten," what is the necessity that the relation to the Son should no longer be known through the word "Father"? 1.1.554 For neither is it so with other names which have a mutual communion and correspond in all their meanings, since we call the king both sovereign and masterless, and the same one leader of his subjects, and it is not false to say of him that the word "king" also signifies "masterless," nor do we say it is necessary, if the self-ruling and un-ruled nature were signified by this word, that the dominion over his subjects should no longer be signified by "kingship"; for the name of kingship, being between both assumptions, on the one hand indicates the masterless state, 1.1.555 and on the other the rule over those set under him. And so here too, if there is some other father of the Father of the Lord conceived of before him, let those who boast of their secret wisdom show it, and then we will agree that the concept of the unbegotten cannot be represented by the appellation of Father. 1.1.556 But if the first Father does not have a cause of his own existence that is higher than himself, and with the Father the hypostasis of the only-begotten is in every way co-understood, why do they try to frighten us with these artful entanglements of sophisms, to persuade us, rather

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ἐμποιεῖν. πατέρα γὰρ ἀκούσαντες τὸν αἴτιον τοῦ εἶναι τοῖς πᾶσιν εὐθὺς ἐνοήσαμεν, ὃς εἴπερ ἄλλην τινὰ ὑπερκειμένην αἰτίαν εἶχεν, οὐκ ἂν κυρίως πατὴρ ὠνομάσθη, ἐπὶ τὴν προνοηθεῖσαν αἰτίαν τῆς κυρίας τοῦ πατρὸς κλήσεως ἐπαν ιούσης. εἰ δὲ αὐτὸς πάντων αἴτιος καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὰ πάντα, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, δηλονότι τῆς ἐκείνου ὑπάρξεως οὐδὲν προεπινοηθῆναι δύναται. τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ ἀγεννήτως εἶναι πιστεύεσθαι. 1.1.549 Ἀλλ' οὐ συγχωρεῖ ταῦτα καλῶς ἔχειν ὁ μηδὲ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἑαυτοῦ πιθανωτέραν εἶναι δοκεῖν ἀξιῶν, ἀλλ' ἀντινομοθετεῖ καὶ ἀντιφθέγγεται καὶ διαχλευάζει τὸν λόγον. ἢ βούλει καὶ τοὺς ἀφύκτους συλλογισμοὺς καὶ τὰς ποικίλας τῶν σοφισμάτων ἀναστροφάς, δι' ὧν ἐλέγχειν οἴεται τὸν 1.1.550 λόγον, ἐπισκεψώμεθα; ἀλλὰ δέδοικα μὴ τὸ μικροπρεπές τε καὶ γλίσχρον τῶν εἰρημένων τρόπον τινὰ συνδιαβάλῃ καὶ τὸν εὐθύνοντα λόγον. τὸ γὰρ μειρακίοις εἰς ἅμιλλαν προκαλουμένοις συμπλέκεσθαι πλέονα ψόγον ἐκ τοῦ προσ φιλονικεῖν τοῖς τοιούτοις ἤπερ ἐκ τοῦ νενικηκέναι δοκεῖν φέρει τοῖς ἀνδράσι τὸν ἔπαινον. πλὴν ἀλλὰ τοιοῦτον τὸ εἰρη μένον ἐστί. τὰ γὰρ ἐφ' ὕβρει ῥηθέντα μετὰ τῆς συνήθους καλλιφωνίας ἐκείνης ὡς αὐτῷ τε λέγειν προσήκοντα καὶ ἡμῖν εἰς γυμνάσιον μακροθυμίας προκείμενα σιωπῆς ἄξια καὶ λήθης ποιούμεθα· οὐ γὰρ εὐπρεπὲς οἶμαι τὰ καταγέ λαστα τῶν εἰρημένων αὐτῷ τοῖς παρ' ἡμῶν σπουδαζομένοις ἐνσπείροντας εἰς ἀκόσμους τε καὶ δημώδεις γέλωτας τὴν 1.1.551 ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας διαλύειν σπουδήν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐν τῇ ἀκροάσει τούτων διαμεῖναι ἀγέλαστον, ἐὰν ἀκούσωμεν λέγοντος ἐκ τῆς ὑψηλῆς ἐκείνης καὶ μεγαλοφυοῦς εὐγλωτ τίας· 20ᾧ γὰρ ἡ προσθήκη τῶν λόγων εἰς προσ θήκην τελεῖ βλασφημίας, τούτῳ τὸ σιγᾶν ἡμίσει μέρει τοῦ λαλεῖν ἐστι κουφότερον. ἀλλὰ20 ταῦτα μὲν γελάσθω παρὰ τῶν ἐπισταμένων, ὅ τι μὲν ἀπο δοχῆς ἐστιν ἄξιον, ὅ τι δὲ γέλωτος· ἡμεῖς δὲ τὸ δριμὺ τῶν συλλογισμῶν, οἷς τὸν ἡμέτερον περισύρει λόγον, σκοπήσωμεν. 1.1.552 20Εἰ γὰρ ὁ πατήρ20, φησί, 20τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ ταὐτὸν κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν, τὰ δὲ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχοντα δύ ναμιν τῶν ὀνομάτων ταὐτὸν πάντως καὶ ση μαίνειν πέφυκε, σημαίνει δὲ τὸ ἀγέννητον κατ' αὐτοὺς τὸ ἐξ οὐδενὸς εἶναι τὸν θεόν, ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ τὸ πατὴρ σημαίνει τὸ ἐξ οὐδενὸς εἶναι τὸν θεόν, οὐχὶ δὲ τὸ γεγεννηκέναι τὸν υἱόν20. ἐκ ποίας ἀνάγκης, εἰπέ, τὸ γεγεννηκέναι τὸν υἱὸν διὰ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς φωνῆς οὐκέτι σημαίνεται, ἐὰν ἡ αὐτὴ προσηγορία καὶ τὸ ἄναρχον ἡμῖν τοῦ πατρὸς δι' ἑαυτῆς 1.1.553 παραστήσῃ; εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἀναιρετικὸν ἦν τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸ ἕτε ρον κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἀντικειμένων φύσιν, ἀναγκαίως ἡ τοῦ ἑνὸς θέσις τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ λοιποῦ κατεσκεύαζεν. εἰ δὲ τὸ κωλύον ἐστὶν οὐδὲν τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ πατέρα εἶναι καὶ ἀγέννητον, ἐὰν διὰ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς κλήσεως κατά τινα διά νοιαν καὶ τὸ ἀγέννητον ἐννοήσωμεν, τίς ἡ ἀνάγκη τὴν πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν σχέσιν διὰ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς φωνῆς μηκέτι γνωρί 1.1.554 ζεσθαι; οὐδὲ γὰρ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων, ὅσα τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα κοινωνίαν ἔχει καὶ διὰ πάντων ταῖς ἐννοίαις συμ φέρεται, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτοκράτορα καὶ ἀδέσποτον τὸν βασιλέα καλοῦμεν καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν τῶν ὑποχειρίων ἡγούμενον, καὶ οὔτε ψεῦδός ἐστι περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγειν, ὅτι ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως φωνὴ σημαίνει καὶ τὸ ἀδέσποτον, οὔτε ἐπάναγκες εἶναί φαμεν, εἰ τὸ αὐτοκρατές τε καὶ ἄναρχον διὰ ταύτης τῆς φωνῆς σημανθείη, μηκέτι τὸ κατὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων κράτος διὰ τῆς βασιλείας σημαίνεσθαι· μέσον γὰρ ἑκατέρων τῶν ὑπολήψεων ὂν τῆς βασιλείας τὸ ὄνομα πῆ μὲν τὸ ἀδέσποτον, 1.1.555 πῆ δὲ τὸ ἀρχικὸν τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων ἐνδείκνυται. καὶ ἐνταῦθα τοίνυν, εἰ μὲν ἔστι τις τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ κυρίου πατὴρ προεπινοούμενος ἕτερος, δειξάτωσαν οἱ τὴν ἀπόρρητον αὐχοῦντες σοφίαν, καὶ τότε συνθησόμεθα μὴ δύνασθαι τοῦ ἀγεννήτου τὴν ἔννοιαν ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς προσηγορίας 1.1.556 παρίστασθαι. εἰ δὲ ὁ πρῶτος πατὴρ αἰτίαν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ συστάσεως ὑπερκειμένην οὐκ ἔχει, τῷ δὲ πατρὶ συνυπα κούεται πάντως καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἡ ὑπόστασις, τί μορμο λύττονται ἡμᾶς ταῖς τεχνικαῖς ταύταις τῶν σοφισμάτων διαπλοκαῖς πείθειν, μᾶλλον