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and incorruptible is in every way unbegotten according to your argument, for with everything that is endless and incorruptible, the unbegotten must in every way be contemplated. Those who, before learning what they ought to learn, attempt to teach fall into these errors, 2.1.541 publicizing their own ignorance. For if he had any discerning knowledge, he would not have been ignorant of the meaning specially inherent in "without beginning" and "endless," and that "endless" is common to all things that are believed to continue in life for infinity, while "without beginning" belongs only 2.1.542 to that which exists without cause. How then is it possible to consider that which is common to all things equivalent to that which is believed by all to belong to God alone as a special property, so as through this either to make "unbegotten" common to all things that partake of immortality, or to concede that nothing is immortal, if being endless belongs only to the unbegotten, and conversely, if being unbegotten belongs only to the endless. For thus all endless things would be considered unbegotten. 2.1.543 But let these things be dismissed, and let his customary abuse, which he poured upon what was said, be silenced with them, and let us come to what follows in the reading. And perhaps it seems good to me to run past most of the succeeding points without examination. For in all of them he is the same, not engaging with what we have said, but giving to himself, as if from our side forsooth, the starting points for his refutation; to go through these points with accuracy one of those who have considered the matter might call futile, since each one of those who reads his treatise with understanding perceives the false accusation from the very things being said. 2.1.544 20older20 he says 20is the dignity of God than the conception of our teacher20. We do not disagree. For the dignity of God, which we must also consider this to be, not only precedes our generation, but also all of creation, and is beyond the ages themselves. What then is added to the argument from these things, if the dignity of God is confessed to be superior not only to Basil, but also to all beings? Yes, he says, 2.1.545 but the name is the dignity. And who has demonstrated that the appellation is the same as the dignity, so that we too may agree with what is said? 20The law of nature teaches us20, he says, 20that in the things named, not in the authority of those who name, lies the dignity of the names20. What is this law of nature, and how is it not established over all things? For if nature legislated such a thing, it ought to have authority over all who share in nature, just as all other 2.1.546 things that are properties of nature. If, then, the law of nature caused the appellations to grow for us out of the things, like shoots from seeds or roots, and did not entrust the significant designations of the subjects to the choice of those indicating the things, we humans would all speak the same language to one another. For if the names applied to things were not different, we would not differ from one another in the form of our speech. 20It is pious20 he says 20and most fitting to the law of providence for the names to be applied to things from above20. 2.1.547 How then did the prophets not know what is pious, and were they not taught the law of providence, they who nowhere, according to your argument, deified unbegottenness? And how does God himself not know such a form of piety, who does not impose the appellations from above on the animals formed by him, but grants to Adam the authority of name-making? For if it is fitting to the law of providence, as Eunomius says, and pious for the names to be applied to things from above, it is in every way impious and unfitting for the titles to be applied to beings by those below. 2.1.548 But 20the guardian of all20, he says, 20deemed it right by the law of creation to sow in our souls20. and if these things were sown in the souls of men, how from Adam until your transgression did the fruit of this vanity not spring up in the souls, as you say, of men

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καὶ ἄφθαρτον ἀγεννήτως κατὰ τὸν σὸν λόγον πάντως ἐστί, παντὶ τῷ ἀτελευτήτῳ τε καὶ ἀφθάρτῳ συν θεωρεῖσθαι πάντως χρὴ τὸ ἀγέννητον. τούτοις περιπί πτουσιν οἱ πρὶν μαθεῖν ἃ προσήκει μαθεῖν, δι' ὧν διδάσκειν 2.1.541 ἐπιχειροῦσι τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀμαθίαν δημοσιεύοντες. εἰ γὰρ εἶχέ τινα διακριτικὴν ἐπιστήμην, οὐκ ἂν ἠγνόησε τὴν ἰδιαζόντως ἐγκειμένην τῷ τε ἀνάρχῳ καὶ τῷ ἀτελευτήτῳ διάνοιαν, καὶ ὅτι τὸ μὲν ἀτελεύτητον κοινὸν πάντων ἐστίν, ὅσα διαρκεῖν πεπίστευται τῇ ζωῇ πρὸς τὸ ἄπειρον, τὸ δὲ ἄναρχον μόνου 2.1.542 ἐστὶ τοῦ ἄνευ αἰτίας ὄντος. πῶς οὖν ἐστι τὸ πάντων κοινὸν ἰσοδύναμον ἐκείνων νομίσαι, ὃ μόνου τοῦ θεοῦ κατ' ἐξαί ρετον εἶναι παρὰ πάντων πεπίστευται, ὥστε διὰ τούτου ἢ κοινοποιῆσαι πρὸς πάντα τὰ τῆς ἀθανασίας μετέχοντα τὸ ἀγέννητον ἢ μηδὲν ἀθάνατον συγχωρεῖν εἶναι, εἴπερ μόνου ἐστὶ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου τὸ ἀτελευτήτως εἶναι, καὶ τὸ ἔμπαλιν εἰ τοῦ ἀτελευτήτου μόνου ἐστὶ τὸ ἀγεννήτως εἶναι. οὕτω γὰρ ἂν εἶναι νομισθείη τὰ ἀτελεύτητα πάντα ἀγέννητα. 2.1.543 Ἀλλ' ἐάσθω καὶ ταῦτα καὶ ἡ συνήθης αὐτοῦ λοι δορία, ἣν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐπήντλησε, μετὰ τούτων σιγάσθω, πρὸς δὲ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἔλθωμεν τῆς ἀναγνώσεως. τάχα δέ μοι δοκεῖ καλῶς ἔχειν καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἐφεξῆς παρα δραμεῖν ἀνεξέταστα. ἐν πᾶσι γὰρ ὁ αὐτός ἐστιν οὐ τοῖς παρ' ἡμῶν συμπλεκόμενος, ἀλλ' ἑαυτῷ διδοὺς ὡς ἐκ τοῦ ἡμετέρου δῆθεν τὰς πρὸς ἀντίρρησιν ἀφορμάς· οἷς τὸ δι' ἀκριβείας ἐπεξιέναι μάταιον ἄν τις εἴποι τῶν κρίνειν ἐπε σκεμμένων, ἑκάστου τῶν μετὰ διανοίας ἐντυγχανόντων αὐτὸν τῷ συγγράμματι ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν λεγομένων τὴν συκοφαντίαν 2.1.544 καταλαμβάνοντος. 20πρεσβυτέραν20 λέγει 20τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἀξίαν τῆς τοῦ ἡμετέρου καθηγητοῦ ἐπι νοίας20. οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς ἀντιλέγομεν. ἡ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀξία, ἥντινα χρὴ καὶ ταύτην νομίζειν εἶναι, οὐ τῆς καθ' ἡμῶν μόνον γενεᾶς προτερεύει, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως καὶ αὐτῶν ὑπέρκειται τῶν αἰώνων. τί οὖν ἐκ τούτων τῷ λόγῳ προσγίνεται, εἰ μὴ Βασιλείου μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων τῶν ὄντων ἀνωτέρα ὁμολογεῖται τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ ἀξία; ναί, φησίν, 2.1.545 ἀλλὰ τὸ ὄνομα ἡ ἀξία ἐστίν. καὶ τίς ἀπέδειξε ταὐτὸν εἶναι τῇ ἀξίᾳ τὴν προσηγορίαν, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς τῷ λεγομένῳ συνθώμεθα; 20φύσεως ἡμᾶς20, φησί, 20διδάσκει θε σμὸς ἐν τοῖς ὀνομαζομένοις πράγμασιν, οὐκ ἐν τῇ τῶν ὀνομαζόντων ἐξουσίᾳ κεῖσθαι τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων ἀξίαν20. τίς οὗτος ὁ τῆς φύσεως νόμος καὶ πῶς οὐ κατὰ πάντων κεκυρωμένος; εἰ γὰρ <ἡ> φύσις τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐνομοθέτησε, κατὰ πάντων αὐτὴν ἔδει τὸ κράτος ἔχειν τῶν κοινωνούντων τῆς φύσεως, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα 2.1.546 πάντα ὅσα ἐστὶ τῆς φύσεως ἴδια. εἰ οὖν ὁ νόμος τῆς φύ σεως ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡμῖν ἀναφύεσθαι τὰς προσηγορίας ἐποίει ὥσπερ ἐκ τῶν σπερμάτων ἢ τῶν ῥιζῶν τὰ βλαστή ματα, καὶ μὴ τῇ προαιρέσει τῶν δηλούντων τὰ πράγματα τὰς σημαντικὰς τῶν ὑποκειμένων ἐπωνυμίας ἐπέτρεπε, πάντες ἂν ἦμεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμόγλωσσοι. μὴ γὰρ παρηλλαγμένων τῶν ἐπικειμένων τοῖς πράγμασιν ὀνομάτων, οὐκ ἂν πρὸς ἀλλήλους κατὰ τὸ εἶδος διεφωνοῦμεν τοῦ λόγου. 20ὅσιόν20 φησιν 20εἶναι καὶ τῷ τῆς προνοίας νόμῳ προσφυέστατον ἄνωθεν ἐπικεῖσθαι τοῖς 2.1.547 πράγμασι τὰς φωνάς20. πῶς οὖν ἠγνόησαν οἱ προφῆται τὸ ὅσιον καὶ τὸν τῆς προνοίας νόμον οὐκ ἐπαιδεύθησαν, οἱ μηδαμοῦ κατὰ τὸν σὸν λόγον τὴν ἀγεννησίαν θεοποιή σαντες; πῶς δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς ἀγνοεῖ τὸ τοιοῦτον εἶδος τῆς ὁσιότητος, ὅς γε οὐκ ἄνωθεν ἐπιτίθησι τοῖς παρ' αὐτοῦ πλασθεῖσι ζῴοις τὰς προσηγορίας, ἀλλὰ τῷ Ἀδὰμ τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῆς ὀνοματοποιΐας χαρίζεται; εἰ γὰρ προσφυὲς τῷ τῆς προνοίας νόμῳ, καθώς φησιν ὁ Εὐνόμιος, καὶ ὅσιόν ἐστι τὸ ἄνωθεν ἐπικεῖσθαι τοῖς πράγμασι τὰς φωνάς, ἀνό σιον πάντως καὶ ἀνάρμοστον παρὰ τῶν κάτω τοῖς οὖσιν ἐφαρμοσθῆναι τὰς κλήσεις. 2.1.548 Ἀλλ' 20ὁ πάντων κηδεμών20, φησί, 20δημιουρ γίας νόμῳ ταῖς ἡμετέραις ἐγκατασπεῖραι ψυ χαῖς ἐδικαίωσε20. καὶ εἰ ταῦτα ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχαῖς κατεσπάρη, πῶς ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι τῆς σῆς παρα βάσεως ὁ τῆς ματαιότητος ταύτης καρπὸς οὐκ ἐβλάστησε ταῖς ψυχαῖς, ὡς φῄς, τῶν ἀνθρώπων