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being corrupted; and inasmuch as it concerns the unseemliness of the body of Christ, preparing a penalty for themselves; so that for this reason they refuse the right and pious confession of the faith; unless perhaps under the pretext of reverence, of seeming not to sever the union, (485) embracing confusion, they cunningly contrive not to be caught in an impious opinion.

That the difference in Christ is of things, that is, of substances, and not of qualities; and that every difference of necessity introduces with itself the quantity of those things of which it is said to be a difference; and quantity, its signifying number, whether the quantity is continuous or discrete.

For they ought, if this were not truly so, not to refuse to say what and how many the differing things happen to be, of which they confess the difference to exist, and they should not ironically put forward the difference with bare and mere utterance, as predicated of nothing, for the deception of the more simple. For if they believe that the things from which the union is formed are preserved after the union, they would certainly confess that the things preserved are two. For so many were also the things that came together for the inseparable union, which did not admit any kind of change or confusion, or diminution, or contraction, or alteration into one another from the union. But as it is, not holding this opinion, since they have denied that the natures are preserved after the union, they have made themselves liable to refutations, even if they do not wish it, by saying that the difference is preserved in quality alone, apart from the things; which is the act of men who are obviously playing games; and who consider it an insult not to be laughed at as is likely, and who clearly empty the Gospel, legislating that qualities can exist without underlying substances and supposing that a difference can be known apart from quantity. For they were ignorant, it seems, these wisest of men, that every quality is of an underlying substance, in relation to which it is both contemplated and spoken of, having in no way existence in itself; and that every difference, being indicative of the unlikeness and otherness of some things with respect to others according to the principle of how they are, is by nature disposed to introduce with itself the quantity of the differing things, whether of substances, or of qualities, or of properties. And simply, to speak concisely, concerning any other thing, of all the things they might suppose differ from one another and say there is a difference, they have certainly contemplated the differing things in quantity, whether they perceived the difference by sense or by intellect. For it is impossible to be certain of showing a difference without quantity. Since things that are not in every way identical to one another in no way admit one and the same principle of being. For of a substance, or a nature, let us say, in relation to a substance, or of a quality in relation to a quality, or of a property in relation to a property, or of anything else of all that is not entirely identical; for concerning things in every way identical to one another, and not admitting of difference, we are never able to state one and the same principle of how they are. But the fact that one and the same principle cannot be contemplated in all things in the same respect, which creates the difference, reasonably shows that those things whose principle of being is different and not the same cannot exist as one and identical to each other. But when we say that one thing differs from another, or other things from others, we signify many, or at least, two and not one; even if in another way, and according to another mode and principle, we say that they are of one, and are able to be one (488); as of one fire, the qualities and properties concerning it, and of one Christ, the natures from which and in which he is known to subsist; and of one man, the things from which he was composed and in which he is known to exist. But one in hypostasis, both in the case of Christ, and of the man as we are; that is, in the whole [composed] of these as parts, as both most fully and properly admitting the different principles of being of the parts; but not in nature and

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φθειρόμενοι· καί τήν ὅσον ἐπί τῇ ἀπρεπείᾳ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, δίκην ἑαυτοῖς ἑτοιμάζοντες· ὥστε παραιτεῖσθαι τούτου γε ἕνεκεν τήν ὀρθήν καί εὐσεβῆς τῆς πίστεως ὁμολογίαν· εἰ μή ἄρα ἐν προσχήματι εὐλαβείας, τοῦ μή τεμεῖν δόξαι τήν ἕνωσιν, (485) τήν σύγχυσιν ἀσπαζόμενοι, τό μή ἁλῶναι ἐπ᾿ ἀσεβεῖ δόξῃ ὡς πανοῦργοι τεχνάζονται.

Ὅτι πραγμάτων ἤγουν οὐσιῶν ἐπί Χριστοῦ ἡ διαφορά, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ ποιοτήτων· καί ὅτι πᾶσα διαφορά, ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἑαυτῇ συνεισάγει τήν ὧν εἶναι λέγεται πάντως ποσότητα· ἡ δέ ποσότης, τόν ἑαυτῆς σημαντικόν ἀριθμόν, κἄν τε συνεχής ἐστιν ἡ ποσότης, κἄν τε διῃρημένη.

Ἔδει γάρ αὐτούς, εἴπερ ἀληθῶς τοῦτο μή ἦν, μηδέ τήν διαφοράν ψιλῇ καί μόνῃ τῇ προφορᾷ, ὡς κατά μηδενός κειμένην, πρός ἐξαπάτην τῶν ἀφελεστέρων εἰρωνευτικῶς προφέρουσι, μή παραιτεῖσθαι λέγειν, τίνα καί πόσα τά διαφέροντα τυγχάνει ὄντα, ὧν εἶναι τήν διαφοράν ὁμολογοῦσιν. Εἰ γάρ σώζεσθαι μετά τήν ἕνωσιν τά ἐξ ὧν ἡ ἕνωσις πιστεύουσιν, δύο πάντως τά σωζομένα ὁμολογήσαιεν ἄν. Τοσαῦτα γάρ καί τά συνελθόντα πρός ἕνωσιν τήν ἀδιάσπαστον, τήν οἱανοῦν τροπήν ἤ σύγχυσιν, ἤ μείωσιν, ἤ συναίρεσιν, ἤ μεταβολήν τήν εἰς ἄλληλα ἐκ τῆς ἑνώσεως οὐ δεξάμενα. Νυνί δέ τοῦτο μή δοξάζοντες, ὡς ἠρνημένοι τάς φύσεις μετά τήν ἕνωσιν σώζεσθαι, ὑπευθύνους ἑαυτούς ἐλέγχοις πεποίηνται, κἄν μή βούλωνται, μόνῃ ποιότητι λέγοντες τήν διαφοράν σώζεσθαι, τῶν πραγμάτων χωρίς· ὅπερ ἀνθρώπων προδήλως παιζόντων ἐστί· καί τό μή γελᾶσθαι ὡς εἰκός ὕβριν λογιζομένων, καί σαφῶς κενούντων τό Εὐαγγέλιον, ἄνευ οὐσιῶν ὑποκειμένων, εἶναι ποιτότητας δύνασθαι νομοθετούντων καί ποσοῦ χωρίς, ἐπιγνωσθῆναι διαφοράν ὑποτιθεμένων. Ἠγνόησαν γάρ ὡς ἔοικεν, οἱ σοφώτατοι, ὅτι πᾶσα ποιότης ὑποκειμένης πάντως οὐσίας ἐστί, περί ἥν καί θεωρεῖται καί λέγεται, τό καθ᾿ αὐτήν εἶναι οὐδαμῶς ἔχουσα· καί πᾶσα διαφορά τῆς ἄλλων πρός ἄλλα κατά τόν τοῦ πῶς εἶναι λόγον ἀνομοιότητός τε καί ἑτερότης οὖσα δηλωτική, τό ποσόν τῶν διφερόντων πραγμάτων συνεισάγειν ἑαυτῇ πέφυκεν, εἴτε οὐσιῶν, εἴτε ποιοτήτων, εἴτε ἰδιοτήτων. Καί ἁπλῶς ἵνα συνελών εἴπω, παντός ἑτέρου τινός, τῶν ὅσα διαφέρειν ἀλλήλων ὑπολαβόντες εἴποιεν εἶνα διαφοράν πάντως ἐν ποσῷ τά διαφέροντα θεωρήσαντες, εἴτε αἰσθήσει εἴτε νοήσει τήν διαφοράν ἐγνώρισαν. Ἄνευ γάρ ποσοῦ δύνασθαι διαβεβαιοῦσθαι δεικνύναι διαφοράν, ἀνένδεκτον. Ἐπειδή τά μή ἀλλήλοις πάντη ταυτά, ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν τοῦ εἶναι οὐδαμῶς ἐπιδέξηται λόγον. Οὐσίας γάρ ἤτοι φύσεως, φέρε εἰπεῖν, πρός οὐσίαν, ἤ ποιόητος πρός ποιότητα, ἤ ἰδιότητος πρός ἰδιότητα, ἤ καί εἴ τι ἕτερον τῶν ὅσα μή πάντη ταυτόν· τά πάντη γάρ ἀλλήλοις ταυτά, καί διαφορᾶς ἀνεπίδεκτα, ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν τοῦ πῶς εἶναι λόγον, οὐδέποτε λέγειν δυνάμεθα. Τό δέ, ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν ἐπί πάντων θεωρεῖσθαι λόγον κατά τό αὐτό μή δύνασθαι, τήν δαφοράν ποιῆσαν, ἕν καί ἀλήλοις ταὐτόν ἐκεῖνα, ὧν ὁ τοῦ εἶναι διάφορος, καί οὐχ ὁ αὐτόν λόγος μή δύνασθαι ὑπάρχειν εἰκότως παρίστησιν. Ἄλλο δέ ἄλλου, ἤ ἄλλων ἄλλα διαφέρειν λέγοντες, πολλά, ἤ τοὐλάχιστον, δύο καί οὐχ ἕν σημαίνομεν· εἰ καί ἄλλως, καί καθ᾿ ἕτερον τρόπον τε καί λόγον, ἑνός εἶναι, καί ἕν δύνασθαι (488) λέγομεν· ὡς ἑνός πυρός, αἱ περί αὐτό ποιότητες καί ἰδιότητες, καί ἑνός Χριστοῦ, αἱ φύσεις ἐξ ὣν καί ἐν αἷς συνεστώς γνωρίζεται· καί ἑνός ἀνθρώπου, τά ἐξ ὦν συνετέθη καί ἐν οἷς ὑπάρχων γινώσκεται. Ἕν δέ τῇ ὑποστάσει, ἐπί τε Χριστοῦ, καί τοῦ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀνθρώπου· ἤτοι τῷ ἐκ τούτων ὡς μερῶν ὅλῳ, ὡς πληρεστάτους ἄμφω ἐπιδεχομένῳ κυρίως τούς τοῦ εἶναι τῶν μερῶν διαφόρους λόγους· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῇ φύσει καί