203

we apply such appellations to the substance, not adorning it by the names we use, but guiding ourselves by what is said 2.1.155 toward the understanding of hidden things. I said to the Lord, says the prophet, You are my God, for you have no need of my good things. How then do we thus, as this man says, 20adorn the most blessed life of God20, which the prophet says is in no need of human goods? 2.1.156 Or did he mean 20'to adorn'20 instead of 'to name'? And yet we hear from those who use the word correctly and have been taught the precise use of names that the word 20'to adorn'20 is not appointed for mere designation, but that such a thing is to be called 'to make known' or 'to declare' or 'to signify' or 2.1.157 some other such term, while 'to adorn' is equivalent to 'to glory in' and 'to exult over' and whatever partakes of such an emphasis; but he says that we 20adorn the blessed life with the names of our conception20. But we think that to add some honor to the divine nature, which is beyond all honor, is too great a task for human weakness, but we do not deny that we attempt to make known something concerning it through piously conceived expressions and names. 2.1.158 And for this reason, tracing out what is pious as far as is possible for us, we comprehend that the first cause does not have its hypostasis from a superior cause. Which if one were to accept as true, it would be praiseworthy for the sake of the truth alone; but if he should judge such a thing as greater than the other things conceived concerning the divine nature, and for this reason, in this supposition alone, he should say that God exults and rejoices as though glorying in some preeminent thing, it would be of the Muse of Eunomius alone, who says that unbegottenness itself glories in itself, which indeed he calls substance and names a blessed and divine life. 2.1.159 But let us hear how according to 20the manner appropriate to the need and the preceding form20 (for thus he again beautifies his speech for us with similarly-formed names), how through these he says he is 20refuting the suspicion that has arisen concerning him, and is curtailing the ignorance of the deceived20. For I will use the dithyrambist's very own rhyming words. 20Having said20, he says, 20that things spoken by conception are naturally dissolved with the words, we added to these things: But God, both when men are silent and when they speak, both when beings have come to be and before they came to be, 2.1.160 was and is unbegotten20. Let us learn, then, what common ground a conception of expressions or a positing of names has with the things themselves, which we signify through a certain sound of names and expressions, so that if God exists unbegottenly before the constitution of humanity, we should judge the word that manifests such a supposition invalid, as being dissipated with the sound, if it happens to have been named according to human conception. 2.1.161 For 'to be' is not the same as 'to be spoken of.' But God is by nature what He is, and is spoken of by us as far as it is possible to declare, on account of the poverty of our nature, which has dispositions in the soul that are unclear unless they are revealed through voice and speech. Therefore, having conceived that He is not from a cause, by some conception 2.1.162 we declare this thought through the word 'unbegotten'. What harm is it, then, to Him who truly is, to be named by us as He is? For His being unbegotten does not come from being called 'unbegotten', but from His being so, it follows that He is called so. But the man of subtle intellect did not perceive this, nor did he clearly understand the things he himself had posited. For he would have ceased from reviling those who through conception coin the name 20'unbegottenness'20. 2.1.163 For consider what he says: 20Things spoken by conception are dissolved with the words, but God, both when beings have come to be and before they came to be, both was and is unbegotten20. You see that He has his being as what He is before the existence of all things, and whether men are silent or speak, He is neither more nor less what He is, but the use of expressions and names became known after the creation of men 2.1.164 of those with the rational power from God

203

οὐσίᾳ τὰς τοιαύτας προσ ηγορίας ἐπιφημίζομεν, οὐκ ἐκείνην ἀγάλλοντες δι' ὧν ὀνο μάζομεν, ἀλλ' ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς διὰ τῶν λεγομένων ὁδηγοῦντες 2.1.155 πρὸς τὴν τῶν κρυπτῶν κατανόησιν. Εἶπα τῷ κυρίῳ, φησὶν ὁ προφήτης, θεός μου εἶ σύ, ὅτι τῶν ἀγαθῶν μου οὐ χρείαν ἔχεις. πῶς οὖν 20τὴν μακαριωτάτην τοῦ θεοῦ ζωὴν20 ἡμεῖς οὕτως, καθώς φησιν οὗτος, 20ἀγάλλομεν20, ἥν φησιν ὁ προφήτης ἀπροσδεᾶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων εἶναι καλῶν; 2.1.156 ἢ ἀντὶ τοῦ ὀνομάζειν τὸ 20ἀγάλλειν20 ἐνόησε; καὶ μὴν ἀκούομεν παρὰ τῶν ὀρθῶς τῇ λέξει χρωμένων καὶ δι' ἀκριβείας τῶν ὀνομάτων τὴν χρῆσιν πεπαιδευμένων μὴ ἐπὶ ψιλῆς τῆς δηλώσεως τὴν τοῦ 20ἀγάλλειν20 τετάχθαι φωνήν, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν τοιοῦτον ἢ γνωρίζειν ἢ δηλοῦν ἢ σημαίνειν ἢ 2.1.157 ἄλλο τι τοιουτότροπον λέγεσθαι, τὸ δὲ ἀγάλλειν ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ ἐπικαυχᾶσθαι καὶ ἐπευφραίνεσθαι καὶ εἴ τι τῆς τοιαύτης ἐμφάσεως ἔχεται· ὁ δέ φησιν ἡμᾶς 20τοῖς τῆς ἐπινοίας ὀνόμασι τὴν μακαρίαν ἀγάλλειν ζωήν20. ἡμεῖς δὲ προσθεῖναι μέν τινα τῇ θείᾳ φύσει τιμὴν τῇ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν οὔσῃ τιμὴν μεῖζον ἢ κατὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην οἰόμεθα, γνωρίσαι δέ τι τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν διὰ τῶν εὐσεβῶς ἐπινοουμένων ῥημάτων τε καὶ ὀνομάτων ἐπιχειρεῖν οὐκ ἀρ 2.1.158 νούμεθα. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καθ' ὅσον δυνατὸν ἡμῖν τὸ εὐσεβὲς ἰχνεύοντες τὸ μὴ ἐξ αἰτίας ὑπερκειμένης τὸ πρῶτον αἴτιον τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχειν καταλαμβάνομεν. ὅπερ εἰ μὲν ὡς ἀληθὲς ἀποδέχοιτό τις, ἐπαινετὸν ἂν εἴη διὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν μόνην· εἰ δὲ ὡς μεῖζον τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν περὶ τὴν θείαν φύσιν νοουμένων τὸ τοιοῦτον κρίνοι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μόνῃ ταύτῃ τῇ ὑπολήψει λέγοι τὸν θεὸν ἐπιγαυριῶντα καὶ εὐφραινόμενον ὥς τινι τῶν ὑπερεχόντων ἀγάλλεσθαι, μόνης τῆς Εὐνομίου Μούσης ἂν εἴη τοῦ λέγοντος αὐτὴν ἐφ' ἑαυτῇ τὴν ἀγεννη σίαν ἀγάλλεσθαι, ἣν δὴ οὐσίαν τε λέγει καὶ μακαρίαν τε καὶ θείαν ὀνομάζει ζωήν. 2.1.159 Ἀλλ' ἀκούσωμεν πῶς κατὰ 20τὸν ἐπιβάλλοντα τῇ χρείᾳ τρόπον καὶ τὸν προλαβόντα τύπον20 (οὕτω γὰρ τοῖς ἰσοτύποις τῶν ὀνομάτων πάλιν ἡμῖν ἐνωραΐζεται) πῶς διὰ τούτων 20διαλύειν μέν20 φησι 20τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ γενομένην ὑπόνοιαν, περιστέλλειν δὲ τὴν τῶν ἠπατημένων ἄγνοιαν20. αὐταῖς γὰρ χρήσομαι τοῦ δι θυραμβιστοῦ ταῖς ὁμοιοκαταλήκτοις φωναῖς. 20εἰπόντες20, φησίν, 20ὅτι τὰ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν λεγόμενα ταῖς φω ναῖς συνδιαλύεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἐπηγάγομεν τού τοις· ὁ δὲ θεὸς καὶ σιωπώντων καὶ φθεγγομέ νων καὶ γεγονότων καὶ πρὸ τοῦ γεγονέναι τὰ 2.1.160 ὄντα ἦν τε καὶ ἔστιν ἀγέννητος20. μάθωμεν τοίνυν τί κοινὸν ἔχει ῥημάτων ἐπίνοια ἢ ὀνομάτων θέσις πρὸς αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα, ἃ διὰ τῆς ποιᾶς τῶν ὀνομάτων τε καὶ ῥημάτων φωνῆς σημειούμεθα, ὥστε εἰ ἀγεννήτως ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς πρὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης συστάσεως, τὴν ἐμφαντικὴν τῆς τοιαύτης ὑπολήψεως φωνὴν ὡς τῷ φθόγγῳ συνδιαχεομένην ἄκυρον κρίνειν, εἰ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν ἀνθρωπίνην ὀνομασθεῖσα 2.1.161 τύχοι. οὐ γὰρ ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ εἶναι τὸ λέγεσθαι. ἀλλ' ἐστὶ μὲν τῇ φύσει ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ θεός, λέγεται δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν, ὡς ἂν ᾖ δυνατὸν ἐξαγγεῖλαι διὰ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν πτωχείαν, ἣ τὰς ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ διαθέσεις ἀδήλους ἔχει μὴ διὰ φωνῆς ἐκκαλυπτομένας καὶ λόγου. οὐκοῦν τὸ μὴ ἐξ αἰτίας αὐτὸν εἶναι νοήσαντες ἐπινοίᾳ τινὶ τὴν νόησιν 2.1.162 ταύτην διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀγεννήτου φωνῆς ἐξαγγέλλομεν. τίς οὖν ἡ βλάβη τῷ ὄντως ὄντι τὸ ὡς ἔστι παρ' ἡμῶν ὀνομά ζεσθαι; οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ῥηθῆναι ἀγέννητον καὶ τὸ ὑπάρ χειν ἀγεννήτως ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ εἶναι καὶ τὸ ῥηθῆναι προσγίνεται. τοῦτο δὲ οὐ συνεῖδεν ὁ λεπτὸς τὴν διάνοιαν οὐδὲ τὰ παρ' αὐτοῦ τεθέντα σαφῶς κατενόησεν. ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἐπαύσατο τοὺς δι' ἐπινοίας τὴν 20ἀγεννησίαν20 ὀνοματο 2.1.163 ποιοῦντας κακίζων. σκοπεῖτε γὰρ ὅ φησι· 20τὰ κατ' ἐπί νοιαν λεγόμενα ταῖς φωναῖς συνδιαλύεται, ὁ δὲ θεὸς καὶ γεγενημένων καὶ πρὸ τοῦ γενέ σθαι τὰ ὄντα καὶ ἦν καὶ ἔστιν ἀγέννητος20. ὁρᾷς ὅτι τὸ μὲν εἶναι ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἔχει πρὸ τῆς τῶν πάντων ὑπάρξεως, καὶ σιωπώντων καὶ φθεγγομένων οὔτε μᾶλλον οὔτε ἧττον ὢν ὅ ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ τῶν ῥημάτων τε καὶ ὀνομάτων χρῆσις μετὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατασκευὴν ἐγνωρίσθη 2.1.164 τῶν τῇ λογικῇ δυνάμει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ