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to those who are inferior in the participation of honor, without the equality of worth accompanying the title, so that, having learned all things concerning the Son, as many as are of lofty meaning, they think that the honor in the words is attested to him in name only, but that he is without a share of 20equality of portion20 according to the artifice in the things that have been said. 2.1.333 But by busying myself with foolish things I seem to be unwittingly gratifying my opponents. For by setting the truth against the vain things that have been said, I seem to wear out those who are conversing with the argument before the battle ὑπὲρ of more critical matters. Therefore, these things, however they may be, must be left to the more attentive of my hearers, and we must transfer the argument to the matters before us. 2.1.334 And let that which is immediately adjacent to what has been examined be passed over in silence, that: 20these things, however, have been arranged in this manner, not with the conception of men having been allotted the authority of names20—for who says this, that what is not contemplated according to its own hypostasis is in the authority of any thing? For it is only of those things governed by a certain choice of their own that to do anything according to authority exists, but conception is an activity of our mind and has depended on the choice of those speaking, not subsisting in itself, but having its hypostasis in the impulse of 2.1.335 those who are conversing—20but of him20, he says, 20God who created all things, who according to the measures and laws of relation and activity and analogy, fittingly to each of the things named, harmonizes the appellations20. But these things either have no sense at all or are contrary to what was set forth before. For if he now testifies that names are fittingly harmonized by God to their subjects, how in the preceding passages does he make out God to grant the higher names to the dishonored, without also imparting the dignity signified by the meaning of the names, and again to insult great things by nature with dishonored words, the nature not being transposed along with the lowliness of the expressions? 2.1.336 But perhaps we do wrong to this unintelligible composition of his expressions by subjecting it to such accusations. For these things are altogether foreign to all thought, I do not mean only to right thought for piety, but are found in no way partaking of any reasoning by those who know how to examine accurately. 2.1.337 Since, therefore, in the likeness of sea-lungs the appearance seems to have a certain bulk, but the bulk is a phlegm, loathsome to see, but more loathsome to take in hand, for this reason, judging silence most fitting for vain things, I will pass over in silence what has been said. For by what law are activity and analogy and relation governed, and who is it that legislates for God the laws and ways of analogy and relation, it would be better to remain unexamined than, through the study of these things, to both cause nausea in the hearers and to lead the argument away from more serious matters. 2.1.338 But I fear lest all the things set before us from the treatise of Eunomius are equally some phlegm and sea-lungs; so that of necessity our discourse terminates in what has been said, finding no material from what has been written for elaboration. For just as some smoke or mist deepens and muddies the air, in which it may take its consistency, and hinders sight from its natural activity, but it is not so condensed in itself that one who wishes could grasp and enclose it in his palms and resist the one who strikes it, so too someone saying such a thing about this solemn treatise would not miss the true 2.1.339 likeness. Much is the nonsense labored in a swollen and turgid speech, and to the soul that is not very discerning, like a mist to one seeing from afar, it seems to have some substance and appearance; but if one were to get into it and touch upon what was said with an examining mind, the thoughts, like smoke, flow away ὑπὸ the grasp and are scattered into non-being and do not receive the striking argument through any solidity and 2.1.340 resistance. What then must be done, is a difficult question;

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τοῖς ὑποβεβηκόσι τὴν τῆς τιμῆς μετουσίαν, μὴ συνακολουθούσης τῇ κλήσει τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἰσότητος, ὥστε πάντα περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ μαθόντας, ὅσα τῆς ὑψηλῆς ἐστι σημασίας, μέχρις ὀνόματος οἴεσθαι τὴν ἐν ταῖς φωναῖς τιμὴν προσμαρτυρεῖσθαι αὐτῷ, τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν 20ἰσομοιρίας20 ἀμέτοχον εἶναι κατὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις τεχνολογίαν. 2.1.333 Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐνσχολάζων τοῖς ἀνοήτοις ἔοικά τι κατὰ τὸ λεληθὸς τοῖς ἐναντίοις χαρίζεσθαι. πρὸς γὰρ τὰ μάταια τῶν εἰρημένων ἀντιτιθεὶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀποκναίειν μοι δοκῶ τοὺς καθομιλοῦντας τῷ λόγῳ πρὸ τῆς <ὑπὲρ> τῶν καιριω τέρων μάχης. οὐκοῦν ταῦτα μέν, ὅπως ἂν ἔχῃ, τοῖς ἐπι στατικωτέροις τῶν ἀκροατῶν ἐατέον, ἡμῖν δὲ πρὸς τὰ προ 2.1.334 κείμενα μετενεκτέον τὸν λόγον. σιγάσθω δὲ καὶ τὸ προσ εχῶς τοῖς ἐξητασμένοις προσκείμενον ὅτι· 20ταῦτα μέντοι τοῦτον διατέτακται τὸν τρόπον, οὐ τῆς ἐπι νοίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαχούσης τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῶν ὀνομάτων20-τίς γὰρ τοῦτό φησι, τὸ μὴ κατ' ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν θεωρούμενον ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ πράγματος εἶναί τινος; μόνων γὰρ τῶν οἰκείᾳ τινὶ προαιρέσει διοικουμένων τὸ κατ' ἐξουσίαν τι πράττειν ἐστίν, ἡ δὲ ἐπίνοια τῆς ἡμε τέρας διανοίας ἐστὶν ἐνέργεια καὶ τῆς τῶν φθεγγομένων ἤρτηται προαιρέσεως, οὐ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ὑφεστῶσα, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ 2.1.335 τῶν διαλεγομένων ὁρμῇ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχουσα-20ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ20, φησί, 20τοῦ τὰ πάντα δημιουργήσαντος θεοῦ σχέσεως τε καὶ ἐνεργείας καὶ ἀναλογίας μέτροις καὶ νόμοις προσφυῶς ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὀνο μαζομένων τὰς προσηγορίας συναρμόζοντος20. ταῦτα δὲ ἢ καθόλου νοῦν οὐκ ἔχει ἢ ὑπεναντίως τοῖς προ εκτεθεῖσιν ἔχει. εἰ γὰρ προσφυῶς ἁρμόζειν τοῖς ὑποκει μένοις μαρτυρεῖ νῦν τῷ θεῷ τὰ ὀνόματα, πῶς ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέροις κατασκευάζει τὸν θεὸν τοῖς ἀτίμοις τὰ ὑψηλότερα τῶν ὀνομάτων χαρίζεσθαι, μὴ συμμεταδιδόντα τῆς ἐμφαι νομένης τῇ σημασίᾳ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἀξίας, καὶ πάλιν τὰ μεγάλα κατὰ τὴν φύσιν καθυβρίζειν ταῖς ἀτίμοις φωναῖς, τῇ ταπεινότητι τῶν ῥημάτων οὐ συμμετατιθεμένης τῆς φύ 2.1.336 σεως; ἀλλ' ἀδικοῦμεν τάχα τὴν ἀδιανόητον αὐτοῦ ταύτην τῶν ῥημάτων συνθήκην ταῖς τοιαύταις κατηγορίαις ὑπά γοντες. ταῦτα γὰρ καθόλου πάσης ἐστὶ διανοίας ἀλλότρια, οὐ μόνον τῆς ὀρθῆς λέγω τῆς εἰς εὐσέβειαν, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὁπωσοῦν μετέχοντά τινος λογισμοῦ τοῖς ἐξετάζειν ἀκριβῶς 2.1.337 ἐπισταμένοις εὑρίσκεται. ἐπεὶ οὖν καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν θα λασσίων πνευμόνων ὄγκον μέν τινα τὸ φαινόμενον ἔχειν δοκεῖ, ὁ δὲ ὄγκος φλέγμα ἐστὶ βδελυκτὸν μὲν ἰδεῖν, βδε λυκτότερον δὲ εἰς χεῖρας λαβεῖν, διὰ τοῦτο πρεπωδεστάτην πρὸς τὰ μάταια τὴν σιωπὴν κρίνων παραδραμοῦμαι τὰ εἰρημένα σιγῇ. τίνι γὰρ διοικεῖται νόμῳ ἐνέργειά τε καὶ ἀναλογία καὶ σχέσις καὶ τίς ὁ νομοθετῶν τῷ θεῷ τοὺς τῆς ἀναλογίας καὶ σχέσεως νόμους καὶ τρόπους, κρεῖττον ἂν εἴη μένειν ἀνεξέταστον ἢ διὰ τῆς περὶ ταῦτα σπουδῆς ναυτίαν τε ποιεῖν τοῖς ἀκούουσι καὶ ἀπάγειν τῶν σπουδαι οτέρων τὸν λόγον. 2.1.338 Ἀλλὰ δέδοικα μὴ πάντα ἡμῖν ἐπίσης τὰ ἐκ τῆς λογο γραφίας τοῦ Εὐνομίου προκείμενα φλέγματά τινα ᾖ καὶ θαλάσσιοι πνεύμονες· ὥστε κατ' ἀνάγκην ἡμῖν τὸν λόγον τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐναπολῆξαι, μηδεμίαν ἐκ τῶν γεγραμμένων ὕλην εἰς ἐργασίαν εὑρίσκοντα. ὡς γάρ τις καπνὸς ἢ ὀμίχλη βαθύνει μὲν καὶ ἀναθολοῖ τὸν ἀέρα, ἐν ᾧπερ ἂν τὴν σύ στασιν λάβῃ, καὶ πρὸς τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ἐνέργειαν κωλύει τὴν ὅρασιν, οὐ μὴν οὕτω καταπυκνοῦται πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ὡς καὶ δράξασθαι τὸν βουλόμενον καὶ περισχεῖν ταῖς παλάμαις καὶ ἀντιτυπῆσαι τῷ πλήττοντι, τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ περὶ τῆς σεμνῆς ταύτης λογογραφίας εἰπών τις οὐκ ἂν τῆς ἀληθοῦς 2.1.339 εἰκασίας ἁμάρτοι. πολὺς ὁ ὕθλος ἐν ὀγκώδει καὶ φλεγμαί νοντι λόγῳ πεπονημένος καὶ τῷ μὴ λίαν διορατικῷ τὴν ψυχὴν ὥσπερ ἀχλὺς τῷ πόρρωθεν βλέποντι σύστασιν ἔχειν τινὰ καὶ φαντασίαν δοκεῖ· εἰ δέ τις κατ' αὐτὸν γένοιτο καὶ τῇ ἐξεταστικῇ διανοίᾳ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐφάπτοιτο, καπνοῦ δίκην διαρρεῖ <ὑπὸ> τῆς λαβῆς τὰ νοήματα καὶ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν διασκίδναται καὶ οὐ δέχεται διά τινος στερρότητος καὶ 2.1.340 ἀντιτυπίας τὸν πλήττοντα λόγον. τί οὖν χρὴ πράττειν, ἄπορον·