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the Mede also will yield and will not accept that his own interests should not come first, and each of the other nations will claim that its own interests have precedence over others. What then will the doctrine not suffer, being torn apart by those who dispute in the face of so many differences of language? 20But from these things20, he says, 20just as from laws clearly established, it is shown that God makes the callings fitting and suitable to their natures20. O the genius of the doctrine! What sort of conceptions the theologian bestows upon the divine teachings, which men do not begrudge even to bath-attendants. For we allow even them to coin names for the activities in which they happen to be engaged, and no one has revered them with honors equal to God's, when they assign names like foot-baths and depilatories and hand-towels and many such things to what is produced by them, 20aptly20 signifying by the force of the words the subject matter. But I shall pass over these things too and their Epicurean natural philosophy <the> which is set forth next, which he who says that the void and the atom and the chance generations of beings are akin to what is signified by 'conception' will say is equivalent in force to 'conception'. Oh, how he has understood Epicurus! If we attribute the words that signify things to the rational power of our nature, is it for this reason that we are refuted for speaking in the manner of Epicurus of the indivisible bodies and the entanglements and collisions and repulsions of atoms and such things? Let his champion and ally in doctrines, Aristotle, also be silenced, whose opinion he says in what follows agrees with the arguments concerning 'conception'. 20For it is his20, he says, 20doctrine that providence does not extend through all beings nor pass through to terrestrial matters, which this man strongly asserts to be in harmony with what has been examined concerning 'conception'20. So carefully has he examined how to judge the doctrines with accuracy. But going on 20one must20 he says 20either not even concede to God the generation of beings or, having granted this, not take away the imposition of names20. And indeed, concerning the irrational creatures, as we have already said, we are taught the contrary by Scripture, that Adam did not make the animals nor did God name them, but from God came their generation, and from man the naming of what had been generated, as has been recorded by Moses. Then he sets forth for us in his own discourse an encomium of words, as if someone were dishonoring the power of reason, and he says after that insolent and bombastic composition of words that 20by a law of providence and a perfect measure He joined to the knowledge and use of necessary things the bestowal of names20; and having uttered much such nonsense in a deep sleep, he proceeds in his argument to irrefutable and unassailable necessity. But I shall speak, not in his words, but only in thought, setting forth his argument. 20One must not attribute20, he says, 20the invention of words to poets, to those who have been deceived in their conceptions about God20. What favors the noble man bestows on God, attributing to God the inventions of poetic license, so that through this God might seem to be more venerable and more exalted to men, when the disciples of Eunomius believe that "screeching shrilly" and "rattled" and "straight-way" and "ravage" and "slapped with the hand" and "hissed" and "thudded" and "clashed" and "clanged" and "terribly resounded" and "twanged" and "shouted" and "pondered" and all such things, that the poets do not utter these according to any license as they see fit, but being initiated into these words by God Himself they weave them into their verses. Let these things also be dismissed, and that wise and irrefutable argument that 20we are not able to show that the holy men, according to the scriptural history, invented new words20. For if human nature was imperfect until the appearance of those men and had not yet been completely filled with the grace of reason, it would have been right to seek from them the fulfillment of what was lacking; but if from the very first it was without need and perfect with respect to the rational

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ὑφήσεται καὶ ὁ Μῆδος οὐ δέξεται μὴ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ προτερεύειν καὶ ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν ἕκαστος τὰ ἑαυτοῦ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἀξιώσει 2.1.408 πρωτεύειν. τί οὖν οὐ πείσεται τὸ δόγμα πρὸς τοσαύτας φωνῶν διαφορὰς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀμφισβητούντων διασχιζόμενον; 20ἀλλ' ἐκ τούτων20, φησί, 20καθάπερ νόμων ἐμφανῶς κειμέ νων δηλοῦται τὸ τὸν θεὸν ταῖς φύσεσι πρε πούσας καὶ καταλλήλους ποιεῖσθαι τὰς κλή 2.1.409 σεις20. ὢ τῆς μεγαλοφυΐας τοῦ δόγματος. οἵας ὑπολήψεις ταῖς θείαις διδασκαλίαις ὁ θεολόγος χαρίζεται, ὧν οὐδὲ τοῖς βαλανεῦσι φθονοῦσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι. καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνοις συγχωροῦμεν ὀνοματοποιεῖν τὰς ἐνεργείας περὶ ἃς πονοῦντες τυγχάνουσι, καὶ οὐδεὶς αὐτοὺς ταῖς ἰσοθέοις τιμαῖς ἀπε σέμνυνεν, ὅτε ποδάνιπτρα καὶ ψιλέθειρα καὶ χειρόμακτρα καὶ τοιαῦτα πολλὰ τοῖς γινομένοις παρ' αὐτῶν ὀνόματα τίθενται, 20προσφυῶς20 δηλοῦντα τῇ ἐμφάσει τῶν ῥημάτων τὸ ὑποκείμενον. 2.1.410 Ἀλλὰ παραδραμοῦμαι καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὴν Ἐπικούρειον αὐτῶν φυσιολογίαν <τὴν> ἐφεξῆς κειμένην, ἣν ἰσοδυναμεῖν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ φήσει ὁ τὸ κενὸν καὶ ἄτομον καὶ τὰς τυχαίας τῶν ὄντων γενέσεις συγγενῶς ἔχειν λέγων πρὸς τὸ διὰ τῆς ἐπινοίας δηλούμενον. ὢ πῶς ἐνόησε τὸν Ἐπίκουρον. εἰ τὰς σημαντικὰς τῶν πραγμάτων φωνὰς τῇ λογικῇ δυνάμει τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἀνατίθεμεν, διὰ τοῦτο τὰ ἀμερῆ σώματα καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀτόμων ἀντεμπλοκὰς καὶ συγκρούσεις καὶ ἀποπάλσεις καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα κατ' Ἐπίκουρον λέγοντες ἐλεγχό 2.1.411 μεθα. σιγάσθω καὶ ὁ προστάτης αὐτοῦ καὶ σύμμαχος τῶν δογμάτων Ἀριστοτέλης, οὗ τὴν δόξαν ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς φησι τοῖς τῆς ἐπινοίας λόγοις συμφέρεσθαι. 20ἐκείνου γάρ20 φησιν 20εἶναι τὸ δόγμα τὸ μὴ διὰ πάντων τῶν ὄντων διήκειν τὴν πρόνοιαν μηδὲ μέχρι τῶν περιγείων διαβαίνειν πραγμάτων, ὅπερ οὗτος σύμφωνον τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν ἐξητασμέ νοις εἶναι20 διϊσχυρίζεται. οὕτως ἐστὶ κρίνειν ἐπεσκεμ μένος δι' ἀκριβείας τὰ δόγματα. ἀλλὰ προϊὼν 20χρῆναί20 φησιν 20ἢ μηδὲ τὴν γένεσιν τῶν ὄντων τῷ θεῷ συγχωρεῖν ἢ δόντας ταύτην μὴ παραιρεῖσθαι 2.1.412 τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων θέσιν20. καὶ μὴν καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀλόγων, καθὼς φθάσαντες εἰρήκαμεν, τὸ ἐναντίον παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς διδασκόμεθα, ὅτι οὔτε ἐποίησεν ὁ Ἀδὰμ τὰ ζῷα οὔτε ὠνόμασεν ὁ θεός, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ μὲν ἡ γένεσις, παρὰ δὲ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τῶν γεγονότων ἡ κλῆσις, 2.1.413 ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἱστόρηται. εἶτα λόγων ἡμῖν ἐγκώ μιον τῷ ἰδίῳ διέξεισι λόγῳ, ὥσπερ ἀτιμάζοντός τινος τοῦ λόγου τὴν δύναμιν, καί φησι μετὰ τὴν ἀσύφηλον ἐκείνην καὶ στομφώδη τῶν ῥημάτων συνθήκην 20προνοίας νόμῳ καὶ μέτρῳ τελείῳ συνάψαι τῇ γνώσει καὶ τῇ χρήσει τῶν ἀναγκαίων τὴν μετάδοσιν τῶν ὀνο μάτων20· καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἐν βαθεῖ τῷ ὕπνῳ ληρήσας ἐπὶ τὴν ἄμαχόν τε καὶ ἀνανταγώνιστον ἀνάγκην μεταβαίνει 2.1.414 τῷ λόγῳ. λέξω δὲ οὐκ ἐπὶ ῥημάτων, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μόνης τῆς διανοίας τὸν παρ' ἐκείνου λόγον ἐκθέμενος. 20οὐ ποιηταῖς20, φησίν, 20ἀναθετέον τὴν τῶν ῥημάτων εὕρεσιν τοῖς διαψευσθεῖσιν ἐν ταῖς περὶ θεοῦ ὑπολήψεσιν20. οἷα χαρίζεται τῷ θεῷ ὁ γεννάδας τὰ τῆς ποιητικῆς ἐξου σίας εὑρήματα τῷ θεῷ προσάπτων, ὥστε διὰ τούτου σεμ νότερον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ ὑψηλότερον τὸν θεὸν δοκεῖν εἶναι, ὅταν πιστεύωσιν οἱ Εὐνομίῳ μαθητευόμενοι τὸ λι κριφὶς καὶ τὸ κάρκαιρε καὶ τὸ εὐρὰξ καὶ τὸ κέραιρε καὶ τὸ φῦ χειρὶ καὶ σίζε καὶ δούπησε καὶ ἀράβησε καὶ κανάχιζε καὶ σμερδαλέον κονάβιζε καὶ λίγξε καὶ ἴαχε καὶ μερμήριξε καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ὅτι οὐ κατ' ἐξουσίαν τινὰ πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν οἱ ποιηταὶ διεξέρχονται, ἀλλὰ παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα μυσταγωγούμενοι τοῖς 2.1.415 μέτροις ἐνείρουσι. παρείσθω καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὸ σοφὸν ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἄμαχον ἐπιχείρημα τὸ 20τοὺς ἁγίους τῶν ἀνδρῶν μὴ ἔχειν ἡμᾶς ἐπιδεικνύναι κατὰ τὴν γραφικὴν ἱστορίαν καινὰς ἐπεξευρόντας φω νάς20. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἀτελὴς ἦν μέχρι τῆς ἀναδείξεως τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις καὶ οὔπω τῇ χάριτι τῇ λογικῇ συμπεπλήρωτο, καλῶς ἔδει παρ' αὐτῶν ἐπιζητεῖσθαι 2.1.416 τὴν τοῦ λείποντος πλήρωσιν· εἰ δὲ εὐθὺς παρὰ τὴν πρώτην ἀπροσδεὴς καὶ τελεία κατὰ τὴν λογικήν τε