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striving to construct the species of irrational things through the misinterpretation of this saying. 2.1.445 Let his insolent words also be passed over, and that charmless lack of culture, and his dung-like and befouled voice, which with its usual fine speech goes through these things against our teacher: 20the sower of the tares20 and 20the † appearance of the fruit20 and 20a corruption of Valentinus20 and 20the fruit from him, which he says 'has been heaped up'20 in the soul of our teacher. And let the rest of the unpleasantness of his words be covered over in silence, just as we hide in the earth the decaying parts of bodies, so that the stench does not become a nuisance to many. 2.1.446 But the discourse must be moved on to the sequence of what has been said. For he again sets forth a certain saying of the teacher, which goes like this: "1For we say that the God of all is incorruptible and unbegotten, using these names according to different conceptions; for when we look back to the ages that are past, finding the life of God to fall outside all description, we call him unbegotten; but when we apply our mind to the ages to come, we have designated as incorruptible that which is indefinite and infinite and comprehended by no end. 2.1.447 As, therefore, the endlessness of his life is incorruptible, so its beginninglessness has been named unbegotten, as our thought contemplates these things."2 So then, the invective which he has made a prelude to the consideration of these words, we will again pass over, 20a certain exchange of seed20 and 20a guide of sowing20 and 20the illogical character of the censure20 and whatever else he, prattling on, goes through with his insatiable tongue; but to the point where he attempts to slander the 2.1.448 argument with calumnies, we too shall turn. He professes to refute us as saying that the divine is not incorruptible by nature. But we alienate from nature only those things which become acquired by some and can be lost; but for those things without which the subject cannot be conceived to have a nature, how could anyone be accused of separating nature itself from itself? If, then, our argument maintained that incorruptibility was an accessory to God, as though at some point it did not exist for him or as though it would at some point not exist, there would be occasion to say these things in slander against 2.1.449 us. But if our argument defines the divine as always being the same and always being what it is now, and that nothing is added to it by any augmentation or addition of things not present, but that it always exists in everything conceived and spoken of according to the good, how are we slandered for not testifying that incorruptibility belongs to it by nature? 2.1.450 But he pretends to have taken the pretexts for such a slander of the argument from the saying of the teacher which was read out, as if we were procuring incorruptibility for God from the comparison of the ages. Now, if our saying had been brought forward by us, the argument for our defense would perhaps have been suspect, as if we were now correcting it and changing the culpable phrases to something blameless; but since our words are spoken by the enemy, what stronger proof of the truth could there be than the very testimony of those who 2.1.451 oppose us? How then does our argument stand, which Eunomius brings forth for slander against us? "1When," he says, "we apply our mind to the ages to come, we have designated as incorruptible that which is indefinite and infinite and comprehended by no end."2 Does Eunomius think that 'to procure' is the same as 'to designate'? And who is so outside the established order as to be ignorant of the particular meanings of these 2.1.452 words? For one 'procures' who has acquired what was not his, but one 'designates' who names what exists in a meaningful way. How then is this guardian of the truth not ashamed to conclude his slander with such manifest calumny? And just as those who from some affliction do not see, behave unseemly in the sight of those who do see, thinking that what is not seen by them is also unknown by the healthy, so has this sharp-sighted and quick-witted man suffered a kind of maiming of his own mind with respect to the truth 2.1.453 and in the

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τῶν ἀλόγων τὰ εἴδη διὰ τῆς παρεξηγήσεως τοῦ ῥητοῦ τούτου κατασκευάζειν ἐκβιαζόμενον. 2.1.445 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· 20τὸν σπορέα τῶν ζιζανίων20 καὶ 20τὴν τοῦ καρποῦ † πρόσοψιν20 καὶ 20Οὐαλεν τίνου παραφθορὰν20 καὶ 20τὸν παρ' ἐκείνου καρ πόν, ὃν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ20 λέγει 20σεσωρεῦσθαι20 τοῦ δι δασκάλου, καὶ ἡ λοιπὴ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀηδία συγκαλυ φθήτω τῇ σιωπῇ, καθάπερ καὶ τὰ μεμυδηκότα τῶν σωμά των τῇ γῇ κατακρύπτομεν, ὡς μὴ πολλοῖς δι' ὄχλου τὴν δυσωδίαν γίνεσθαι. 2.1.446 Πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῶν εἰρημένων μετενεκτέον τὸν λόγον. πάλιν γὰρ ἐκτίθεταί τινα ῥῆσιν τοῦ διδασκάλου ἔχουσαν οὕτως· "1ἄφθαρτον 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 εὑρίσκον τες τὴν ζωὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀγέννητον αὐτὸν λέγομεν· ὅταν δὲ τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις αἰῶσι τὸν νοῦν ἐπιβάλωμεν, τὸ ἀόριστον καὶ ἄπειρον καὶ οὐδενὶ τέλει καταληπτὸν προσηγορεύσαμεν 2.1.447 ἄφθαρτον. ὡς οὖν τὸ ἀτελεύτητον τῆς ζωῆς ἄφθαρτον, οὕτω τὸ ἄναρχον αὐτῆς ἀγέννητον ὠνομάσθη, τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ ἡμῶν ἐπιθεωρούντων ταῦτα."2 τὴν μὲν οὖν λοιδορίαν, ἣν προοίμιον τῆς τῶν εἰρημένων θεωρίας πεποίηται, πάλιν παρήσομεν, 20σπέρματός τινος ὑπαλλαγὴν20 καὶ 20σπορᾶς καθηγητὴν20 καὶ 20τὸ τῆς μέμψεως ἀσυλ λόγιστον20 καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τῇ ἀκορήτῳ γλώσσῃ κενεμβατῶν διεξέρχεται· ἐφ' ᾧ δὲ διαβάλλειν ἐπιχειρεῖ συκοφαντῶν τὸν 2.1.448 λόγον, πρὸς τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς τραπησόμεθα. ἐλέγχειν ἡμᾶς ἐπαγγέλλεται ὡς μὴ φύσει λέγοντας ἄφθαρτον εἶναι τὸ θεῖον. ἡμεῖς δὲ μόνα τῆς φύσεως ἀλλοτριοῦμεν ἐκεῖνα ὅσα ἐπίκτητα γίνεταί τισι καὶ ἀπόκτητα· ὧν δὲ ἄνευ τὸ ὑποκείμενον νοηθῆναι φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει, πῶς ἄν τις ἐν αἰτίᾳ γένοιτο ὡς αὐτὴν ἑαυτῆς διαχωρίζων τὴν φύσιν; εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐπιγεννηματικὴν τῷ θεῷ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος ἐπρέσβευεν ὥς ποτε περὶ αὐτὸν μὴ οὖσαν ἢ ὡς οὐκ ἐσομένην ποτέ, καιρὸν ἂν εἶχε ταῦτα ἐπὶ διαβολῇ καθ' 2.1.449 ἡμῶν λέγειν. εἰ δὲ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχειν καὶ ὃ νῦν ἐστι πάν τοτε εἶναι τὸ θεῖον ὁ ἡμέτερος διορίζεται λόγος καὶ οὐδὲν ἐκ παραυξήσεως αὐτῷ τινος καὶ προσθήκης τῶν μὴ προσ όντων προσγίνεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐν παντὶ τῷ κατὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν νοουμένῳ καὶ λεγομένῳ πάντοτε εἶναι, πῶς μὴ κατὰ φύσιν αὐτῷ προσμαρτυρεῖν τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν διαβαλλόμεθα; 2.1.450 Ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς ὑπαναγνωσθείσης τῷ διδασκάλῳ ῥή σεως τῆς τοιαύτης τοῦ λόγου διαβολῆς εἰληφέναι τὰς ἀφορμὰς σχηματίζεται, ὡς ἐκ τῆς παραθέσεως τῶν αἰώνων τῷ θεῷ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ἡμῶν ποριζόντων. εἰ μὲν οὖν παρ' ἡμῶν τὸ ἡμέτερον ῥητὸν προεφέρετο, ὕποπτος ἂν ἦν ἴσως εἰς ἀπολογίαν ὁ λόγος, ὡς νῦν ἡμῶν ἐπιδιορθουμένων καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀνεύθυνον μετατιθέντων τὰς ὑπαιτίους φωνάς· ἐπεὶ δὲ παρὰ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τὰ ἡμέτερα λέγεται, τίς ἂν ἰσχυροτέρα γένοιτο τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπόδειξις αὐτῆς τῆς τῶν 2.1.451 ἀντιδικούντων ἡμῖν μαρτυρίας; πῶς τοίνυν ὁ παρ' ἡμῶν ἔχει λόγος ὃν ἐπὶ διαβολῇ προχειρίζεται καθ' ἡμῶν ὁ Εὐνόμιος; "1ὅταν, φησί, τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις αἰῶσι τὸν νοῦν ἐπιβάλωμεν, τὸ ἀόριστον καὶ ἄπειρον καὶ οὐδενὶ τέλει κατα ληπτὸν προσηγορεύσαμεν ἄφθαρτον."2 ἆρα τῷ πορίσαι τὸ προσαγορεῦσαι ταὐτὸν ὁ Εὐνόμιος οἴεται; καὶ τίς οὕτως ἔξω τοῦ καθεστηκότος ἐστίν, ὡς τὰς ἰδιαζούσας τῶν ῥη 2.1.452 μάτων τούτων ἀγνοεῖν ἐμφάσεις; πορίζει μὲν γὰρ ὁ τὸ μὴ προσὸν αὐτῷ κτησάμενος, προσαγορεύει δὲ ὁ τὸ ὂν σημαν τικῶς ὀνομάζων. πῶς οὖν ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας φροντιστὴς οὐκ αἰσχύνεται ἐν προδήλῳ τῇ συκοφαντίᾳ τὴν διαβολὴν συμπεραίνων; καὶ καθάπερ οἱ ἔκ τινος πάθους μὴ βλέποντες ἐν ὄψεσι τῶν βλεπόντων ἀσχημονοῦσι τὸ παρ' αὐτῶν μὴ ὁρώμενον καὶ παρὰ τῶν ὑγιαινόντων ἀγνοεῖσθαι νομίζοντες, τοιοῦτόν τι πέπονθεν ὁ ὀξυδερκὴς οὗτος καὶ ταχὺς τὴν διάνοιαν τὴν ἰδίαν πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν πήρωσιν 2.1.453 καὶ ἐν τοῖς