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he thinks they hear. And who is so foolish as not to set the slandered words alongside the slander and from the reading of both to detect the malice of the speechwriter? Our argument calls Him incorruptible; that man accuses the one who *provides* incorruptibility. What does "to provide" have in common with "to say"? Each one is justly held accountable for his own words, not to suffer blame for those of others. But now he accuses us and his bitterness is directed at us, but he condemns no one, according to the true 2.1.454 account, except himself. For if *providing* God with incorruptibility is blameworthy, and this is said by no one else but him alone, then the slanderer becomes his own accuser, slandering his own statement, not ours. And concerning the name related to unbegottenness, we say that just as the endlessness of life is called incorruptible, so its beginninglessness was named unbegotten; but this man says that we procure for Him the primacy over all created things by the ages. 2.1.455 I pass over the blasphemy that he makes the only-begotten God common to every created thing, with a comprehensive term dragging down the Son of God to a similar rank with everything that exists through generation; but I will set forth in my argument his unintelligible malice for the more intelligent of my hearers. 20Basil procures for God by the ages the primacy over all created things20. What is this unintelligible empty talk? Does a man become an agent of God and procure for Him through the ages the primacy? What 2.1.456 is the vain dalliance of these insubstantial words, if the Teacher said that what transcends the durational extension of the ages on either side is signified by certain expressive names for the divine essence, concerning the one who, as the Apostle said, has neither beginning of days nor end of life, so that by different words the difference in conception might be signified, and for this reason that which is superior to all beginning is called beginningless and unbegotten, and that which is circumscribed by no end is named immortal and incorruptible? He is not ashamed to write these things as 20procurement20 and 20agency20 and such things. 2.1.457 But he also says that 20the ages20 are 20dichotomized20 by us, as if he had not read what he quoted, or as if composing his own argument among those forgetful of what was said. What does the Teacher say? If we conceive of the things before creation and, having passed through the ages with our reasoning, consider the uncircumscribed nature of eternal life, we signify such a concept by the term 'unbegotten'; and if we turn our thought to what follows and comprehend that the life of God is more abundant than the ages, we interpret this thought through the term 'endless' and 'incorruptible.' 2.1.458 Where does the argument cut the ages in what has been said, if we proclaim God's eternity, which is revealed equally in every conception and is in every way the same and is measured by no interval, with words and names according to our ability? 2.1.459 For since human life, moving through intervals, proceeds from some beginning to some end and this life here is divided into the past and the expected, so that one part is hoped for and the other is remembered, for this reason, conceiving of both the past and the expected parts of the durational extension in relation to our own condition, we also speak in this way of the transcendent nature by an improper use of terms, not as if God in his own life leaves some interval behind himself and proceeds again toward what lies ahead in living, but as our understanding, considering things in relation to our own nature, measures out eternity in the past and the future, when neither what is behind cuts short the concept as it proceeds to the infinity of the indefinite, nor does what is ahead promise any substance 2.1.460 and limit of the infinite life. If we both think and say these things, how is the cutting of the ages harped on against us, unless the holy scripture also dichotomizes the ages, the

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ἀκούουσιν οἴεται. καὶ τίς οὕτως ἠλίθιος ὡς μὴ παραθεῖναι τῇ διαβολῇ τὰ συκοφαντούμενα ῥήματα καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἑκατέρων ἀναγνώσεως τὴν κακουργίαν τοῦ λογο γράφου φωρᾶσαι; ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος προσαγορεύει τὸ ἄφθαρ τον, ἐκεῖνος κατηγορεῖ τοῦ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν πορίζοντος. τί κοινὸν ἔχει τὸ πορίζειν τῷ λέγειν; ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ἕκαστος εὐθύνεσθαι δίκαιος, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ὑπέχειν τὰς μέμψεις. νυνὶ δὲ κατηγορεῖ μὲν ἡμῶν καὶ ἡ πικρία πρὸς ἡμᾶς βλέπει, κατακρίνει δὲ οὐδένα κατά γε τὸν ἀληθῆ 2.1.454 λόγον ἢ ἑαυτόν. εἰ γὰρ τὸ πορίζειν τῷ θεῷ τὴν ἀφθαρ σίαν ὑπαίτιον, τοῦτο δὲ παρ' οὐδενὸς ἄλλου πλὴν παρ' αὐτοῦ λέγεται μόνου, ἄρα αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ γίνεται ὁ συκο φάντης κατήγορος, τὸ ἑαυτοῦ διαβάλλων, οὐ τὸ ἡμέτερον. καὶ περὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀγεννησίαν ὀνόματος ἡμεῖς μέν φαμεν, ὅτι ὥσπερ τὸ ἀτελεύτητον τῆς ζωῆς ἄφθαρτον, οὕτως τὸ ἄναρχον αὐτῆς ἀγέννητον ὠνομάσθη· οὑτοσὶ δὲ παρὰ τῶν αἰώνων ἡμᾶς λέγει κατὰ πάντων τῶν γεννητῶν προξενεῖν αὐτῷ τὰ πρεσβεῖα. 2.1.455 Σιωπῶ τὸ βλάσφημον ὅτι κοινοποιεῖ πρὸς πᾶν γεννητὸν τὸν μονογενῆ θεόν, τῇ περιληπτικῇ φωνῇ πρὸς ὁμοτίμους ὑπολήψεις παντὶ τῷ διὰ γενέσεως ὑφεστῶτι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ κατάγων· ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀδιανόητον αὐτοῦ κακουργίαν τοῖς συνετωτέροις τῶν ἀκροατῶν προθήσω τῷ λόγῳ. 20παρὰ τῶν αἰώνων προξενεῖ Βασίλειος κατὰ πάντων τῶν γεννητῶν τῷ θεῷ τὰ πρεσβεῖα20. τίς ἡ ἀδιανόητος αὕτη κενοφωνία; πρόξενος θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος γίνεται καὶ προξενεῖ διὰ τῶν αἰώνων αὐτῷ τὰ πρεσβεῖα; τίς 2.1.456 ἡ ματαία τῶν ἀνυποστάτων τούτων ῥημάτων κενεμβασία, εἰ τὸ ὑπερεκπῖπτον τὴν διαστηματικὴν τῶν αἰώνων παρά τασιν ἐφ' ἑκάτερα τῆς θείας οὐσίας ἐμφαντικοῖς τισιν ὀνό μασιν ὁ διδάσκαλος εἶπεν σημαίνεσθαι ἐπὶ τοῦ, καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ ἀπόστολος, μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν μήτε ζωῆς ἔχοντος τέλος, ὡς διαφόροις τοῖς ῥήμασι τὸ διάφορον σημανθῆναι τῆς ὑπολήψεως, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ μὲν πάσης ἀρχῆς ἀνώ τερον ἄναρχον λέγεσθαι καὶ ἀγέννητον, τὸ δὲ μηδενὶ τέλει περιγραφόμενον ἀθάνατον ὀνομάσαι καὶ ἄφθαρτον; ταῦτα 20πορισμὸν20 καὶ 20προξένησιν20 καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα οὐκ 2.1.457 αἰσχύνεται γράφων. ἀλλὰ καὶ 20διχοτομεῖσθαι20 παρ' ἡμῶν φησι 20τοὺς αἰῶνας20, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀνεγνωκὼς ἃ παρέθετο ἢ ὡς ἐν ἐπιλήσμοσι τῶν λεγομένων τὸν ἑαυτοῦ λόγον διατιθείς. τί φησιν ὁ διδάσκαλος; ἐὰν τὰ πρὸ τῆς κτίσεως ἐννοήσωμεν καὶ τοὺς αἰῶνας τῷ λογισμῷ διαβάντες τὸ ἀπερίγραπτον τῆς ἀϊδίου ζωῆς λογισώμεθα, τῇ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου προσηγορίᾳ τὸ τοιοῦτον διασημαίνομεν νόημα, κἂν εἰς τὸ ἐφεξῆς τὴν διάνοιαν τρέψωμεν καὶ περισσοτέραν τῶν αἰώνων τὴν ζωὴν τοῦ θεοῦ καταλάβωμεν, διὰ τῆς ἀτελευτήτου καὶ ἀφθάρτου φωνῆς τὴν διάνοιαν ταύτην 2.1.458 διερμηνεύομεν. ποῦ τέμνει τοὺς αἰῶνας ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὁ λόγος, εἰ τὴν ἀϊδιότητα τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἐπιβολὴν ἐπίσης προφαινομένην καὶ πανταχόθεν ὡσαύτως ἔχουσαν καὶ μηδενὶ διαστήματι μετρουμένην τοῖς κατὰ δύναμιν 2.1.459 ἐξαγγέλλομεν ῥήμασί τε καὶ ὀνόμασιν; ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ ἀν θρωπίνη ζωὴ διαστηματικῶς κινουμένη ἀπό τινος ἀρχῆς εἴς τι τέλος προϊοῦσα διέξεισι καὶ μεμέρισται πρὸς τὸ παρῳχηκός τε καὶ προσδοκώμενον ὁ τῇδε βίος, ὡς τὸ μὲν ἐλπίζεσθαι τὸ δὲ μνημονεύεσθαι, τούτου χάριν ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν σχέσιν τό τε παρῳχηκὸς καὶ τὸ προσδοκώ μενον τῆς διαστηματικῆς παρατάσεως ἐννοοῦντες, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπερκειμένης φύσεως ἐκ καταχρήσεως λέγομεν, οὐχ ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ζωῆς κατόπιν ἑαυτοῦ τι καταλιπόντος διάστημα καὶ πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον πάλιν ἐν τῷ ζῆν διοδεύοντος, ἀλλ' ὡς τῆς ἡμετέρας κατανοήσεως ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἡμῶν φύσιν περινοούσης τὰ πράγματα καὶ τὸ ἀΐδιον ἐν τῷ παρῳχηκότι καὶ μέλλοντι διαμετρούσης, ὅταν μήτε τὸ κατόπιν περικόπτῃ προϊοῦσαν εἰς τὸ ἄπειρον τοῦ ἀορίστου τὴν ἔννοιαν, μήτε τὸ ἔμπροσθεν σύστασίν τινα 2.1.460 καὶ ὅρον τῆς ἀπείρου ζωῆς ἐπαγγέλληται. εἰ ταῦτα καὶ νοοῦμεν καὶ λέγομεν, πῶς ἡμῖν ἡ τῶν αἰώνων ἐπιθρυλεῖται τομή, εἰ μὴ καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν γραφὴν διχοτομεῖν τοὺς αἰῶνας ὁ