157

of majesty is established for men. 2.1.588 Concerning the names used of God, in whatever manner they are uttered, this we know; whose exposition, both unadorned and simple, we have set forth for the more fair-minded of our hearers, judging it for ourselves both shameful and unseemly to earnestly oppose the feeble battles of Eunomius concerning these things. For what could one say to the one who says 20the form of the names more authoritative20 we 20make than the worth of the things named, bestowing on names the privilege over things and on unequal things 2.1.589 equal honor20? These things were thus spoken by his voice. But let him who is skilled in judging, judge, if the vehement accusation of the slanderer has any relevance against us, on which point it is also worthy to make a defense, that 20we bestow on names the privilege over things20, it being manifest to all, that none of the names has an essential subsistence in itself, but every name becomes some characteristic and sign of some substance and thought, neither existing nor being conceived of 2.1.590 by itself. And to that which does not subsist, how is it possible to assign gifts, let him who claims to use names and words aptly teach the disciples of deceit. But I would not have made mention of these things at all, if it were not necessary through them to demonstrate the weakness of the writer both in thought and in diction. And as many passages of the God-inspired scripture he drags in unfittingly and not according to its purpose, artfully contriving a difference of immortality between angels and men, with what view or what he is constructing by this, I do not know, these things also I will pass over (for the immortal, as long as it is immortal, 2.1.591 does not admit of "more" and "less" comparatively; for if one of the things compared should have some diminution in the account of immortality by comparison, it is entirely necessary that such a thing not even be named immortal; for how could that still be properly called immortal whose mortality the juxtaposition by comparison has declared?) and that subtle precision, that 20he commands20 20not20 to be 20indifferent and neutral the concept of privation, but to call the separation from better things privation, but that the removal from worse things ought not to be signified by this name20, so that, if these things should prevail, the apostolic voice would no longer be true according to him, which says that he alone has immortality and provides it to 2.1.592 others. For what the saying brought forward by him has in common with the preceding argument, it is possible for neither us nor for any others who have sense to understand. And since we were not able to perceive these wise and subtle things, 20ignorant20 he calls us 20both of the judgment of things and of the 2.1.593 use of names20, writing in these very words. And all such things, as having no force against the truth, I will run past without examination, and his slandering of the concept set forth by us of the incorruptible and the incorporeal, as if one of these appellations signifies that which is without extension, in which the three-part extension of bodies is not observed, and the other that which is not susceptible to corruption, and his saying in these very words, that 20we do not think it right for the form of the names to fall away into unfitting concepts20, and <his not> supposing each of these to be significant of not being or not belonging, but of being itself, these things also, judging them to be worthy of silence and deep forgetfulness, I will pass over, for those who read to detect for themselves the impiety mixed with folly; who thinks it right for the corruptible not to be contrasted with the incorruptible nor for the privative meaning to signify a removal from the worse, but for 2.1.594 being itself to be signified through the subject. If therefore the meaning of "incorruptible" is not considered by him who emptily contrives these things to be privative of corruption, the opposite certainly, by all necessity, such a form of the name will indicate. For if incorruptibility is not an alienation from corruption, it is certainly an assent to what is signified; for this is the nature of opposites, 2.1.595 that by the removal of the one, the position of the opposite is introduced.

157

μεγαλειότητος τοῖς ἀν θρώποις καθίσταται. 2.1.588 Περὶ μὲν δὴ τῶν ὀνομάτων τῶν ἐπὶ θεοῦ καθ' ὃν δή ποτε τύπον ἐκφωνουμένων ταῦτα γινώσκομεν· ὧν τὴν ἔκ θεσιν ἀκατάσκευόν τε καὶ ἁπλῆν τοῖς εὐγνωμονεστέροις τῶν ἀκροατῶν παρεθέμεθα, πρὸς τὰς ἀτόνους τοῦ Εὐνομίου περὶ τούτων μάχας αἰσχρὸν ἅμα καὶ ἀπρεπὲς ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς κρίναντες ἐκθύμως ἀντικαθίστασθαι. τί γὰρ ἄν τις εἴποι τῷ λέγοντι 20τὸν τύπον τῶν ὀνομάτων κυριώτερον20 ἡμᾶς 20ποιεῖσθαι τῆς τῶν ὀνομαζομένων ἀξίας, τοῖς ὀνόμασι τὴν κατὰ τῶν πραγμάτων δω ρουμένους προνομίαν καὶ τοῖς ἀνίσοις ἰσο 2.1.589 τιμίαν20; ταῦτα οὕτως εἴρηται παρὰ τῆς ἐκείνου φωνῆς. κρινέτω δὲ ὁ κρίνειν ἐπεσκεμμένος, εἴ τι καίριον ἡ σφοδρὰ τοῦ συκοφάντου κατηγορία καθ' ἡμῶν ἔχει, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ ἀπολογήσασθαι ἄξιον, ὅτι 20δωρούμεθα τοῖς ὀνόμασι τὴν κατὰ τῶν πραγμάτων προνομίαν20, πᾶσιν ὄντος προδήλου, ὅτι οὐδὲν τῶν ὀνομάτων οὐσιώδη καθ' ἑαυτὸ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει, ἀλλὰ γνώρισμά τι καὶ σημεῖον οὐσίας τινὸς καὶ διανοίας γίνεται πᾶν ὄνομα, αὐτὸ ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ μήτε 2.1.590 ὑπάρχον μήτε νοούμενον. τῷ δὲ μὴ ὑφεστηκότι πῶς ἔστι νέμειν τὰς δωρεάς, διδασκέτω τοὺς μαθητὰς τῆς ἀπάτης ὁ προσφυῶς κεχρῆσθαι τοῖς ὀνόμασιν ἀξιῶν καὶ τοῖς ῥήμασιν. τούτων δὲ οὐδ' ἂν ἐπεμνήσθην ὅλως, εἰ μὴ δι' αὐτῶν ἔδει τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τῆς κατὰ τὸν νοῦν τε καὶ τὴν λέξιν ἀτονίας τοῦ λογογράφου ποιήσασθαι. καὶ ὅσα τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς ἀναρμόστως καὶ οὐ κατὰ σκοπὸν ἐπισύρεται, δια φορὰν ἀθανασίας ἀγγέλων τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων τεχνολογῶν, οὐκ οἶδα πρὸς ὅ τι βλέπων καὶ τί διὰ τούτου κατασκευάζων, καὶ ταῦτα παρήσω (τὸ γὰρ ἀθάνατον, ἕως ἀθάνατον ᾖ, 2.1.591 τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ τὸ ἧττον συγκριτικῶς οὐ προσδέχεται· εἰ γὰρ ὑποστολήν τινα κατὰ σύγκρισιν τὸ ἕτερον τῶν παρα τεθειμένων μέρος ἐν τῷ τῆς ἀθανασίας ἔχοι λόγῳ, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα μηδὲ ἀθάνατον τὸ τοιοῦτον κατονομάζεσθαι· πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἔτι κυρίως λέγοιτο ἀθάνατον οὗ τὸ θνητὸν ἡ διὰ συγκρίσεως ἀντιπαράθεσις κατηγόρησε;) καὶ τὴν λεπτὴν ἐκείνην ἀκρίβειαν, τὸ 20μὴ20 κελεύειν 20ἀδιάφορον εἶναι καὶ μέσην τὴν τῆς στερήσεως ἔννοιαν, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν τῶν κρειττόνων χωρισμὸν στέρησιν λέγειν, τὴν δὲ τῶν χειρόνων ἀπόστασιν μὴ δεῖν τῷ ὀνό ματι τούτῳ διασημαίνειν20, ὡς, εἰ ταῦτα κρατήσειε, μηκέτι κατ' αὐτὸν τῆς ἀποστολικῆς ἀληθευούσης φωνῆς, ἥ φησι μόνον αὐτὸν ἔχειν ἀθανασίαν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις παρέ 2.1.592 χειν. τί γὰρ ἔχει κοινὸν ἡ ἐπαχθεῖσα ῥῆσις αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν προάγοντα λόγον, οὔτε ἡμῖν οὔτε ἄλλοις τισὶν τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων δυνατὸν ἐννοῆσαι. καὶ ἐπειδὴ τὰ σοφὰ ταῦτα καὶ λεπτὰ κατιδεῖν οὐκ ἰσχύσαμεν, 20ἀνεπιστήμονας20 ὀνομάζει 20καὶ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων κρίσεως καὶ τῆς τῶν 2.1.593 ὀνομάτων χρήσεως20, οὑτωσὶ τοῖς ῥήμασι γράφων. καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ὡς οὐδεμίαν ἔχοντα κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἰσχὺν παραδραμοῦμαι ἀνεξετάστως, καὶ τὸ διαβάλλειν αὐτὸν τὴν ἐκτεθεῖσαν παρ' ἡμῶν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου τε καὶ ἀσωμάτου διάνοιαν, ὡς ἑκατέρας τῶν προσηγοριῶν τούτων τῆς μὲν τὸ ἀδιάστατον, ᾧ ἡ τριμερὴς τῶν σωμάτων οὐκ ἐνθεωρεῖται διάστασις, τῆς δὲ τὸ φθορᾶς ἀνεπίδεκτον σημαινούσης, καὶ τὸ λέγειν αὐτὸν οὑτωσὶ τοῖς ῥήμασι, ὅτι 20οὐ δικαιοῦμεν τὸν τῶν ὀνομάτων τύπον εἰς ἀναρμόστους ἐκ πεσεῖν ἐννοίας20, καὶ <τὸ μὴ> τοῦ μὴ εἶναι ἢ μὴ προσ εῖναι σημαντικὸν ὑπολαμβάνειν τούτων ἕκαστον, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ εἶναι, καὶ ταῦτα σιγῆς ἄξια καὶ βαθείας λήθης εἶναι κρίνας παρήσω τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν φωρᾶσαι τὴν μεμιγμένην μετὰ τῆς ἀνοίας ἀσέβειαν· ὃς ἀξιοῖ μὴ ἀντιδιαστέλλεσθαι τὸ φθαρτὸν τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ μηδὲ ἀπόστασιν σημαίνειν τοῦ χείρονος τὴν ἀφαιρετικὴν σημασίαν, ἀλλ' 2.1.594 αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι διὰ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου σημαίνεσθαι. εἰ τοίνυν οὐκ ἀφαιρετικὴ φθορᾶς ἡ τοῦ ἀφθάρτου σημασία παρὰ τοῦ κενῶς ταῦτα τεχνολογοῦντος νομίζεται, τοὐναντίον πάν τως κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐνδείξεται τοῦ ὀνό ματος τύπος. εἰ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι φθορᾶς ἀλλοτρίωσις ἡ ἀφθαρσία, συγκατάθεσίς ἐστι πάντως τοῦ ἀπεμφαίνοντος· αὕτη γὰρ τῶν ἀντιθέτων ἡ φύσις, ὡς τῇ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀφαι 2.1.595 ρέσει τὴν τοῦ ἀντικειμένου θέσιν ἀντεισιέναι.