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having dragged it bare and out of context away from the rest of the body, he attempts to irritate, tearing it to pieces with his unassailable teeth, or rather, slobbering all over the argument. But I will first state the meaning of the things clarified to us by the teacher concerning this, and then I will set forth the argument itself word for word, so that he who is corrupting the earnest efforts of the pious 2.1.612 for the ruin of the truth may become clear to all. For in leading us to the meaning of 'unbegotten' through his own arguments, our teacher proposed to us such an approach to the knowledge of what is sought, showing that the meaning of 'unbegotten' is far from the concept of substance. Since the evangelist, he says, made the beginning of the Lord's genealogy according to the flesh from Joseph, then proceeded to the one who was always older in time and set the end of the genealogy in Adam, and because there is no bodily father above the first-formed man, said 'of God,' he says it is easy for each person's mind to grasp this about God: that God, from whom Adam is, does not, in the likeness of those genealogized in a human way, also have his hypostasis from another. 2.1.613 For when, having gone through all things, we grasp God after all things with our mind, we have understood the beginning of all things. But every beginning, if it should happen to be dependent on something else, is not a beginning. Therefore, if God is the beginning of all, there will be nothing whatsoever above the beginning of all things. This is the teacher's exposition concerning the meaning of 'unbegotten'. And that nothing outside the truth has been testified by us on his behalf, I will set forth his very statement on this matter in his own words. 2.1.614 "1The evangelist,' he says, 'Luke, in setting forth the genealogy according to the flesh of our God and Savior Jesus Christ and tracing it back from the last to the first, began from Joseph, and having said this one was of Heli, and that one of Matthat, and so having led the account back in ascent to Adam, then having come to those above and having said that Seth was of Adam, and Adam of God, he ended the ascent there. Just as, therefore, he said that Adam was of God, let us ask ourselves, 2.1.615 and God, of whom? Is it not ready to hand in each person's mind that He is of no one? But 'of no one' is clearly 'without beginning,' and 'without beginning' is 'unbegotten.' As, therefore, in the case of men 'of someone' was not substance, so also in the case of the God of all it is not possible to say 'unbegotten' is substance."2 With what eyes do you still look to your guide? I speak to you, the flock of the perishing. How do you still incline your ear to one who has erected such a monument of his own shamelessness through his words? Are you not ashamed now at least, if not before, to be led 2.1.616 to the truth by such a guide? Will you not use this as a sign of his madness concerning his dogmas, that he thus shamelessly sets himself against the truth of the scriptures? Is this how he interprets the divine voices for you, is this how he presides over the truth of the dogmas, so as to refute Basil for deriving the genealogy of the God over all 2.1.617 from that which is in no way existent? Should I speak his statement, should I set forth the words of his shamelessness? I pass over the insults, I do not find fault with the railings; for I do not blame one with bad breath because he has bad breath, nor one who has been maimed in body because he has been maimed. For such things are misfortunes of nature, escaping the blame of those who have sense. Therefore, the eagerness to insult is a sickness of reason and a hardness of a soul that has been maimed in its healthy reasoning. Therefore, I have no argument with the things he has railed about, but that vehement and invincible chain of reasoning, by which he brought the accusation against us to conclusion for his own purpose, I will write explicitly in his own words. 2.1.618 20For in order that20, he says, 20he may not be prevented from saying the Son is from the substance of the one who is, he has unwittingly said the God over all is from that which is in no way existent. For if 'nothing'2 is the same as that which is in no way existent according to its meaning, and of

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ψιλὴν αὐτὴν καὶ ἀσύντακτον ἐκ τοῦ λοιποῦ σώματος ἀφελκύσας κνίζειν ἐπιχειρεῖ τοῖς ἀπλήκτοις ὀδοῦσι κατα σπαράσσων, μᾶλλον δὲ κατασιελίζων τὸν λόγον. λέξω δὲ πρῶτον μὲν τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν παρὰ τοῦ διδασκάλου περὶ τούτου διευκρινηθέντων ἡμῖν, εἶθ' οὕτω τὸν λόγον αὐτὸν ἐπὶ λέξεως παραθήσομαι, ὡς ἂν πᾶσι γένοιτο φανερὸς ὁ ἐπὶ λύμῃ τῆς ἀληθείας ταῖς τῶν εὐσεβούντων σπουδαῖς 2.1.612 εἰσφθειρόμενος. προσάγων γὰρ ἡμᾶς τῇ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου σημασίᾳ διὰ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν λόγων ὁ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν τοιαύτην ἡμῖν ἔφοδον πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ζητουμένου γνῶσιν ὑπέ θετο, δεικνὺς πόρρω τῆς κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐννοίας ὂν τοῦ ἀγεννήτου τὸ σημαινόμενον. τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ, φησί, τῆς κατὰ σάρκα τοῦ κυρίου γενεαλογίας ἐκ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιησαμένου, εἶτα προϊόντος ἐπὶ τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνῳ πρε σβύτερον καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ τὸ πέρας τῆς γενεαλογίας ὁρί σαντος καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ὑπερκεῖσθαι τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου σω ματικὸν πατέρα τοῦ θεοῦ φήσαντος, πρόχειρον εἶναί φησι τῇ ἑκάστου διανοίᾳ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦτο λαβεῖν ὅτι ὁ θεός, ἐξ οὗ ὁ Ἀδάμ, οὐ καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἀνθρωπικῶς γε νεαλογηθέντων καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ ἑτέρου τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει. 2.1.613 ἐπειδὰν γὰρ πάντα διεξελθόντες τὸν θεὸν μετὰ πάντα τῷ νῷ λάβωμεν, τὴν πάντων ἀρχὴν ἐνοήσαμεν. ἀρχὴ δὲ πᾶσα εἴπερ ἑτέρου τινὸς ἐξημμένη τύχοι, ἀρχὴ οὐκ ἔστιν. οὐκοῦν εἰ ἀρχὴ τοῦ παντὸς ὁ θεός, οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν ἔσται τῆς τῶν πάντων ἀρχῆς ὑπερκείμενον. αὕτη τοῦ διδασκάλου περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀγεννήτου σημασίας ἡ ἔκθεσις. καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲν ἔξω τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτῷ παρ' ἡμῶν μεμαρτύρηται, αὐτὴν ἐπὶ ῥημάτων τὴν περὶ τούτου ῥῆσιν ἐκθήσομαι. 2.1.614 "1Ὁ εὐαγγελιστής, φησί, Λουκᾶς τὴν κατὰ σάρκα γε νεαλογίαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκ τιθέμενος καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν τελευταίων ἐπὶ τοὺς πρώτους ἀνα ποδίζων ἤρξατο μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰωσήφ, εἰπὼν δὲ τοῦτον τοῦ Ἠλεί, τὸν δὲ τοῦ Ματτὰθ καὶ οὕτω κατὰ ἀνάβασιν πρὸς τὸν Ἀδὰμ τὴν ἐξήγησιν ἐπαναγαγών, εἶτα ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄνω καὶ εἰπὼν ὅτι ὁ Σὴθ ἐκ τοῦ Ἀδάμ, ὁ δὲ Ἀδὰμ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐνταῦθα τῆς ἀναβάσεως ἔληξεν. ὥσπερ οὖν ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν ὅτι ὁ Ἀδὰμ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἡμεῖς ἑαυτοὺς 2.1.615 ἐρωτήσωμεν ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἐκ τίνος; ἆρ' οὐχὶ πρόχειρόν ἐστι τῇ ἑκάστου διανοίᾳ ὅτι ἐξ οὐδενός; τὸ δὲ ἐξ οὐδενὸς τὸ ἄναρχόν ἐστι δηλονότι, τὸ δὲ ἄναρχον τὸ ἀγέννητον. ὡς οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἦν οὐσία τὸ ἔκ τινος, οὕτως οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων οὐσίαν ἔστιν εἰπεῖν τὸ ἀγέν νητον."2 τίσιν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἔτι πρὸς τὸν ὁδηγὸν ὑμῶν ἀπο βλέπετε; πρὸς ὑμᾶς λέγω τὴν τῶν ἀπολλυμένων ἀγέλην. πῶς ἔτι τὴν ἀκοὴν ὑποκλίνετε τῷ τοιαύτην στήλην τῆς ἰδίας ἀναιδείας διὰ τῶν λόγων στήσαντι; οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθε νῦν γοῦν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πρότερον, τοιούτῳ χειραγωγῷ πρὸς τὴν 2.1.616 ἀλήθειαν χρώμενοι; οὐ σημείῳ χρήσεσθε τούτῳ τῆς περὶ τῶν δογμάτων αὐτοῦ μανίας, τῷ οὕτω πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν αὐτὸν τῶν γεγραμμένων ἀναισχύντως ἀντικαθίστασθαι; οὕτως ὑμῖν καὶ τὰς θείας ἑρμηνεύει φωνάς, οὕτω τῆς τῶν δογμάτων ἀληθείας προΐσταται, ὡς ἀπελέγχειν Βασίλειον ἐκ τοῦ πάντη μὴ ὄντος γενεαλογοῦντα τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων 2.1.617 θεόν; εἴπω τὴν παρ' αὐτοῦ ῥῆσιν, ἔκθωμαι τῆς ἀναισχυν τίας τὰ ῥήματα; παρίημι τὰς ὕβρεις, οὐ μέμφομαι ταῖς λοιδορίαις· οὐ γὰρ αἰτιῶμαι τὸν ὀδωδότα τῷ στόματι ὅτι ὄδωδεν, οὐδὲ τὸν τῷ σώματι λελωβημένον ὅτι λελώβηται. τὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτα φύσεώς ἐστιν ἀτυχήματα τὴν παρὰ τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων μέμψιν ἐκφεύγοντα. οὐκοῦν ἡ τοῦ ὑβρίζειν σπουδὴ λογισμῶν ἐστιν ἀρρωστία καὶ δυσκληρία ψυχῆς τὸν ὑγιαίνοντα λογισμὸν λελωβημένης. οὐδεὶς οὖν μοι λόγος ὧν λελοιδόρηται, ἀλλὰ τὴν σφοδρὰν ἐκείνην καὶ ἄμαχον τοῦ συλλογισμοῦ πλοκήν, δι' ἧς τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν κατηγορίαν πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν ἑαυτοῦ συνεπέρανε, διαρρήδην γράψω κατ' αὐτὰ τὰ ῥήματα. 2.1.618 20Ἵνα γάρ20, φησί, 20μὴ κωλυθῇ τὸν υἱὸν ἐκ μετ ουσίας εἰπεῖν τοῦ ὄντος, λέληθεν ἑαυτὸν τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν ἐκ τοῦ πάντη μὴ ὄντος εἰπών. εἰ γὰρ τὸ "1μηδὲν"2 τῷ πάντη μὴ ὄντι ταὐτὸν κατὰ τὴν ἔννοιαν, τῶν δὲ