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But God, both of those silent and of those speaking, and of things that have come to be and before things 2.1.160 came to be, both was and is unbegotten20. Let us learn, therefore, what commonality a conception of verbs or a positing of names has with the actual things which we signify by the sound of such names and verbs, so that if God exists unbegottenly before the human constitution, we should judge invalid the utterance that expresses such a supposition as being confounded with the sound, if it should happen to be named by a human 2.1.161 conception. For to be is not the same as to be spoken of. But God is by nature what he is, and he is spoken of by us, as it may be possible to declare, on account of the poverty of our nature, which has the dispositions in the soul unmanifest unless they are revealed through voice and speech. Therefore, having understood that he is not from a cause, by a certain conception we express this 2.1.162 thought through the term 'unbegotten'. What harm is it then for the one who truly is to be named by us as he is? For his existing unbegottenly is not from his being called unbegotten, but his being called so is added from his being so. But the one of subtle intellect did not perceive this, nor did he clearly understand the things posited by him. For he would have ceased maligning those who coin the name 20unbegottenness20 by 2.1.163 conception. For consider what he says: 20Things said according to conception are dissolved with the sounds, but God, both of things that have come to be and before things came to be, both was and is unbegotten20. You see that he has his being, what he is, before the existence of all things, and whether people are silent or speak he is neither more nor less what he is, but the use of verbs and names became known after the creation of humans, 2.1.164 those honored with the rational faculty by God. If, then, creation is later than the maker, and man is the last of all creation, and speech is proper to man, and parts of speech are verbs and names, and 20unbegottenness20 is a name, how does he not understand that he is fighting against the very things he constructs? For we say that the identifying names for existing things were devised by human thought, and he admits that those who use reason were revealed later than the divine life, and that the divine nature is, as it both is now 2.1.165 and always was, unbegottenly. If, therefore, he admits that the blessed life pre-exists humanity (for I will return and use the same argument), and we do not deny that humans came to be later in time, but we say that we have used verbs and names since we were constituted and received from the maker the faculty of being rational, and 20unbegottenness20 is a name expressive of its proper meaning, and every name is a part of human speech, then he who admits that the divine nature pre-exists humanity agrees that the appellation devised for that nature is later in time 2.1.166. For it was not likely that the use of reason would be active before the creation of those who use it, just as agriculture was not before farmers, nor navigation before sailors, nor anything else that is practiced in life before the constitution of human life. Why then does he contend with us, not knowing how to follow his own arguments? God was, he says, what he is before man came to be. This we also do not deny. For whatever is conceived concerning God, this was before the 2.1.167 constitution of the world. But we say he is named after the one who names him came to be. For if we use names for this reason, so that instruction concerning things may come to us from them; and only the ignorant is in need of a teacher, but the divine nature, because it comprehends all knowledge, is superior to all instruction, it is shown through these things that the names have been conceived not for God's sake but for ours, 2.1.168 for the manifestation of what is. For the name of unbegottenness was not applied to his nature so that he might learn of himself. For he who knows all things and himself before all syllables and verbs, to learn how he is in nature and worth does not

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ὁ δὲ θεὸς καὶ σιωπώντων καὶ φθεγγομέ νων καὶ γεγονότων καὶ πρὸ τοῦ γεγονέναι τὰ 2.1.160 ὄντα ἦν τε καὶ ἔστιν ἀγέννητος20. μάθωμεν τοίνυν τί κοινὸν ἔχει ῥημάτων ἐπίνοια ἢ ὀνομάτων θέσις πρὸς αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα, ἃ διὰ τῆς ποιᾶς τῶν ὀνομάτων τε καὶ ῥημάτων φωνῆς σημειούμεθα, ὥστε εἰ ἀγεννήτως ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς πρὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης συστάσεως, τὴν ἐμφαντικὴν τῆς τοιαύτης ὑπολήψεως φωνὴν ὡς τῷ φθόγγῳ συνδιαχεομένην ἄκυρον κρίνειν, εἰ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν ἀνθρωπίνην ὀνομασθεῖσα 2.1.161 τύχοι. οὐ γὰρ ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ εἶναι τὸ λέγεσθαι. ἀλλ' ἐστὶ μὲν τῇ φύσει ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ θεός, λέγεται δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν, ὡς ἂν ᾖ δυνατὸν ἐξαγγεῖλαι διὰ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν πτωχείαν, ἣ τὰς ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ διαθέσεις ἀδήλους ἔχει μὴ διὰ φωνῆς ἐκκαλυπτομένας καὶ λόγου. οὐκοῦν τὸ μὴ ἐξ αἰτίας αὐτὸν εἶναι νοήσαντες ἐπινοίᾳ τινὶ τὴν νόησιν 2.1.162 ταύτην διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀγεννήτου φωνῆς ἐξαγγέλλομεν. τίς οὖν ἡ βλάβη τῷ ὄντως ὄντι τὸ ὡς ἔστι παρ' ἡμῶν ὀνομά ζεσθαι; οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ῥηθῆναι ἀγέννητον καὶ τὸ ὑπάρ χειν ἀγεννήτως ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ εἶναι καὶ τὸ ῥηθῆναι προσγίνεται. τοῦτο δὲ οὐ συνεῖδεν ὁ λεπτὸς τὴν διάνοιαν οὐδὲ τὰ παρ' αὐτοῦ τεθέντα σαφῶς κατενόησεν. ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἐπαύσατο τοὺς δι' ἐπινοίας τὴν 20ἀγεννησίαν20 ὀνοματο 2.1.163 ποιοῦντας κακίζων. σκοπεῖτε γὰρ ὅ φησι· 20τὰ κατ' ἐπί νοιαν λεγόμενα ταῖς φωναῖς συνδιαλύεται, ὁ δὲ θεὸς καὶ γεγενημένων καὶ πρὸ τοῦ γενέ σθαι τὰ ὄντα καὶ ἦν καὶ ἔστιν ἀγέννητος20. ὁρᾷς ὅτι τὸ μὲν εἶναι ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἔχει πρὸ τῆς τῶν πάντων ὑπάρξεως, καὶ σιωπώντων καὶ φθεγγομένων οὔτε μᾶλλον οὔτε ἧττον ὢν ὅ ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ τῶν ῥημάτων τε καὶ ὀνομάτων χρῆσις μετὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατασκευὴν ἐγνωρίσθη 2.1.164 τῶν τῇ λογικῇ δυνάμει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τιμηθέντων. εἰ οὖν ὑστέρα μὲν τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἡ κτίσις, τῆς κτίσεως δὲ πάσης ἔσχατος ὁ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν, ἴδιον δὲ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁ λόγος, λόγου δὲ μέρη ῥήματά τε καὶ ὀνόματα, ὄνομα δὲ ἡ 20ἀγεννησία20, πῶς οὐ συνίησιν οἷς κατασκευάζει, τούτοις μαχόμενος; ἡμεῖς τε γάρ φαμεν ἐφευρῆσθαι τοῖς οὖσι τὰ γνωριστικὰ τῶν ὄντων ὀνόματα διὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐννοίας, κἀκεῖνος ὑστέρους ὁμολογεῖ τοὺς κεχρημένους τῷ λόγῳ τῆς θείας ἀναδειχθῆναι ζωῆς, εἶναι δὲ τὴν θείαν φύσιν, ὡς νῦν 2.1.165 τε ἔστι καὶ ἀεὶ ἦν, ἀγεννήτως. εἰ οὖν ἐκεῖνός τε προϋπ άρχειν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁμολογεῖ τὴν μακαρίαν ζωήν (πάλιν γὰρ ἐπαναστρέψας τῷ αὐτῷ χρήσομαι λόγῳ) ἡμεῖς τε τὸ χρόνοις ὕστερον φῦναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οὐκ ἀντιλέγομεν, ῥήμασι δὲ κεχρῆσθαί φαμεν καὶ ὀνόμασιν, ἀφ' οὗ τε συνέ στημεν καὶ τὸ λογικοὶ εἶναι παρὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἐσχή καμεν, ἡ δὲ 20ἀγεννησία20 ὄνομά ἐστιν ἐμφαντικὸν τοῦ ἰδίου νοήματος, πᾶν δὲ ὄνομα τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου λόγου μέρος ἐστίν, ἄρα ὁ προϋφεστάναι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν θείαν φύσιν ὁμο λογῶν μεταγενεστέραν εἶναι τὴν ἐφευρεθεῖσαν τῇ φύσει 2.1.166 κλῆσιν συντίθεται. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν εἰκὸς τοῦ λόγου τὴν χρῆσιν πρὸ τῆς τῶν κεχρημένων κατασκευῆς ἐνεργεῖσθαι, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ γεωργίαν πρὸ τῶν γεωργούντων οὐδὲ ναυτιλίαν πρὸ τῶν ναυτιλλομένων οὐδὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐνεργουμένων πρὸ τοῦ συστῆναι τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον. τί οὖν ἡμῖν διαμάχεται ὁ τοῖς ἰδίοις αὐτοῦ λόγοις ἀκολουθεῖν οὐ γινώσκων; Ἦν, φησίν, ὁ θεὸς ὅπερ ἐστὶ πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον. τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα. πᾶν γὰρ ὅτιπέρ ἐστι περὶ τὸν θεὸν νοούμενον, τοῦτο πρὸ τῆς 2.1.167 τοῦ κόσμου συστάσεως ἦν. ἀλλ' ὀνομάζεσθαι τοῦτόν φαμεν μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι τὸν ὀνομάζοντα. εἰ γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο χρώ μεθα τοῖς ὀνόμασιν, ὥστε διδασκαλίαν· ἡμῖν ἐκεῖθεν τῶν πραγμάτων γίνεσθαι, μόνον δὲ τὸ ἀγνοοῦν ἐπιδεές ἐστι τοῦ διδάσκοντος, ἡ δὲ θεία φύσις διὰ τὸ πᾶσαν ἐμπεριειληφέναι τὴν γνῶσιν κρείττων πάσης διδασκαλίας ἐστί, δείκνυται διὰ τούτων ὅτι οὐ τοῦ θεοῦ χάριν ἀλλ' ἡμῶν ἕνεκα τὰ ὀνόματα 2.1.168 πρὸς δήλωσιν τοῦ ὄντος ἐπινενόηται. οὐ γὰρ ὅπως ἂν ἐκεῖνος ἑαυτὸν μάθοι, τὸ τῆς ἀγεννησίας ὄνομα τῇ φύσει ἐφήρμοσεν. ὁ γὰρ εἰδὼς τὰ πάντα καὶ ἑαυτὸν πρὸ πάντων συλλαβῶν καὶ ῥημάτων πρὸς τὸ μαθεῖν ὡς ἔχει φύσεως καὶ ἀξίας οὐκ