17. But, they say, if you are not satisfied with our opinion, do you point out, tell us yourselves, what is the Deity’s form. If you wish to hear the truth, either the Deity has no form; or if He is embodied in one, we indeed know not what it is. Moreover, we think it no disgrace to be ignorant of that which we never saw; nor are we therefore prevented from disproving the opinions of others, because on this we have no opinion of our own to bring forward. For as, if the earth be said to be of glass, silver, iron, or gathered together and made from brittle clay, we cannot hesitate to maintain that this is untrue, although we do not know of what it is made; so, when the form of God is discussed, we show that it is not what you maintain, even if we are still less able to explain what it is.

0961A XVII. Sed si vobis, inquiunt, nostra opinatio displicet, vos demonstrate, vos dicite, qua sit Deus praeditus forma. Si veram vultis audire sententiam, aut nullam habet Deus formam aut si informatus est aliqua, ea quae sit, profecto nescimus. Neque enim quod vidimus numquam, nescire esse ducimus turpe: aut ea re prohibemur aliorum sententias refutare, quia super hoc nostram nullam ipsi sententiam promimus. Ut enim si vitreus esse dicatur mundus, si argenteus, ferreus vel ex fragili conglobatus et fabricatus testa, non dubitemus falsum esse contendere, quamvis quae sit ejus materia nesciamus: ita cum de specie agatur Dei, quam perhibetis convincimus non esse, etiam si quae sit, minus possumus explicare.