But the names which the Lord gives to such stars we may plainly learn from the prophecy of Esaias, which says, “I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine118    Is. xliii. 1..” So that if a man makes himself God’s possession, his act becomes his name. But be this as the reader pleases. Eunomius, however, adds to his previous statement that the beginnings of creation testify to the fact, that names were given by God to the things which He created; but I think that it would be superfluous to repeat what I have already sufficiently set forth as the result of my investigations; and he may put his own arbitrary interpretation on the word Adam, which, the Apostle tells us, points prophetically to Christ119    Rom. xvi. 25.—On Eunomius’ knowledge of Scripture, see Socrates iv. 7. “He had a very slender knowledge of the letter of Scripture: he was wholly unable to enter into the spirit of it. Yet he abounded in words, and was accustomed to repeat the same thoughts in different terms without ever arriving at a clear explanation of what he had proposed to himself. Of this his seven books on the Apostle’s Epistle to the Romans, on which he expended a quantity of vain labour, is a remarkable proof.” But see c. Eunom. II. p. 107.. For no one can be so infatuated, when Paul, by the power of the Spirit, has revealed to us the hidden mysteries, as to count Eunomius a more trustworthy interpreter of Divine things—a man who openly impugns the words of the inspired testimony, and who by his false interpretation of the word would fain prove that the various kinds of animals were not named by Adam. We shall do well, also, to pass over his insolent expressions, and tasteless vulgarity, and foul and disgusting tongue, with its accustomed fluency going on about our Master as “a sower of tares,” and about “a deceptive show120    πρόσοψιν, the reading of Oehler’s mss.: also of Pithœus’ ms., which John the Franciscan changed into the vox nihili προσῆψιν (putredinem), which appears in the Paris Editt. of 1638. of grain, and the blight of Valentinus, and his grain piled in our Master’s mind”: and we will veil in silence the rest of his unsavoury talk as we veil putrefying corpses in the ground, that the stench may not prove injurious to many. Rather let us proceed to what remains for us to say. For once more he adduces a dictum of our Master121    These words are in S. Basil’s first Book against Eunomius., to this effect. “We call God indestructible and ungenerate, applying these words from different points of view. For when we look to the ages that are past, finding the life of God transcending all limitation, we call Him ungenerate. But when we turn our thoughts to the ages that are yet to come, Him Who is infinite, illimitable, and without end, we call indestructible. As, then, that which has no end of life is indestructible, so that which has no beginning we call ungenerate, representing things so by the faculty of conception.”

ὀνόματα δέ, οἷα τοῖς τοιούτοις ἄστροις ἐπιβάλλει ὁ κύριος, σαφῶς παρὰ τῆς Ἠσαΐου προφητείας ἐμάθομεν ἥ φησιν Ἐκάλεσά σε τὸ ὄνομά σου, ἐμὸς εἶ σύ: ὥστε εἴ τις ἑαυτὸν κτῆμα ποιεῖ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὄνομα τούτῳ τὸ ἔργον γίνεται. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐχέτω, ὅπως ἂν ἔχειν δόξῃ τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν. ὃ δὲ προστίθησι τοῖς εἰρημένοις, τὰ πρῶτα τῆς κοσμογενείας εἰς μαρτυρίαν τοῦ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῖς οὖσι τὰς φωνὰς κεῖσθαι, ὧνπερ ἐν τοῖς κατόπιν ἱκανῶς ἐξητασμένων περιττὴν κρίνω τὴν ἐπανάληψιν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ φωνήν, ἣν προφητικῶς εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν γεγενῆσθαί φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἑρμηνευέτω κατ' ἐξουσίαν οὗτος ὡς βούλεται. οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὕτως ἠλίθιος ὡς Παύλου τὰ κεκρυμμένα τῶν μυστηρίων ἐν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ πνεύματος ἡμῖν ἐκκαλύπτοντος ἀξιοπιστότερον ἑρμηνέα τῶν θείων ποιήσασθαι τὸν Εὐνόμιον τὸν φανερῶς ταῖς φωναῖς τῆς θεοπνεύστου μαρτυρίας ἀντιμαχόμενον καὶ τὸ μὴ κατωνομάσθαι παρὰ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ τῶν ἀλόγων τὰ εἴδη διὰ τῆς παρεξηγήσεως τοῦ ῥητοῦ τούτου κατασκευάζειν ἐκβιαζόμενον. παρείσθω καὶ τὰ τῆς ὕβρεως αὐτοῦ ῥήματα καὶ ἡ ἄχαρις ἀμουσία ἐκείνη καὶ ἡ κοπρώδης αὐτοῦ καὶ βεβολβιτωμένη φωνὴ διεξιοῦσα μετὰ τῆς συνήθους εὐστομίας ταῦτα κατὰ τοῦ διδασκάλου ἡμῶν: « τὸν σπορέα τῶν ζιζανίων » καὶ « τὴν τοῦ καρποῦ † πρόσοψιν » καὶ « Οὐαλεντίνου παραφθορὰν » καὶ « τὸν παρ' ἐκείνου καρπόν, ὃν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ » λέγει « σεσωρεῦσθαι » τοῦ διδασκάλου, καὶ ἡ λοιπὴ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀηδία συγκαλυφθήτω τῇ σιωπῇ, καθάπερ καὶ τὰ μεμυδηκότα τῶν σωμάτων τῇ γῇ κατακρύπτομεν, ὡς μὴ πολλοῖς δι' ὄχλου τὴν δυσωδίαν γίνεσθαι.
Πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῶν εἰρημένων μετενεκτέον τὸν λόγον. πάλιν γὰρ ἐκτίθεταί τινα ῥῆσιν τοῦ διδασκάλου ἔχουσαν οὕτως: „ἄφθαρτον γὰρ καὶ ἀγέννητον τὸν θεὸν τῶν ὅλων λέγομεν, κατὰ διαφόρους ἐπιβολὰς τοῖς ὀνόμασι τούτοις χρώμενοι: ὅταν μὲν γὰρ εἰς τοὺς κατόπιν αἰῶνας ἀποβλέψωμεν, ὑπερεκπίπτουσαν πάσης περιγραφῆς εὑρίσκοντες τὴν ζωὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀγέννητον αὐτὸν λέγομεν: ὅταν δὲ τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις αἰῶσι τὸν νοῦν ἐπιβάλωμεν, τὸ ἀόριστον καὶ ἄπειρον καὶ οὐδενὶ τέλει καταληπτὸν προσηγορεύσαμεν ἄφθαρτον. ὡς οὖν τὸ ἀτελεύτητον τῆς ζωῆς ἄφθαρτον, οὕτω τὸ ἄναρχον αὐτῆς ἀγέννητον ὠνομάσθη, τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ ἡμῶν ἐπιθεωρούντων ταῦτα.”