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that David has been shown to be an ally of our understanding, not by teaching through the prophecy that God names the stars, but that he knows them precisely according to the custom of men who know them with the greatest precision, whom they are able even to call by name through great familiarity. 2.1.440 But if it is necessary also to set forth the interpretation of the many on these sayings of the psalmody, the futility of Eunomius's opinion concerning these things will be much more refuted. For those who have more carefully examined the meaning of the divinely inspired scripture say that not all beings are worthy of the divine numbering; for in the common meals of the Gospels which took place in the desert neither the infants nor the women were considered worthy of being numbered, and in the exodus of the Israelite people only those were counted in the number who were already able to bear arms against the enemy and to be pre-eminent. 2.1.441 For not all names are such as to be uttered by the divine mouth, but whatever is pure and heavenly is numbered, which on account of the height of its way of life, remaining unmixed with communion with the darkness, is called a star, and whatever according to the same reasoning becomes worthy of being inscribed in the divine tablets is named. For concerning the opposite he says that "I will not make mention of their names through 2.1.442 my lips." And the names, such as the Lord confers upon such stars, we have learned clearly from the prophecy of Isaiah which says "I have called you by your name, you are mine"; so that if anyone makes himself a possession of God, the deed becomes a name for him. But let these things be held as may seem best to those who read them. 2.1.443 But what he adds to what has been said, the first things of the cosmogony as a testimony that names were given by God to things that exist, of which, since they have been sufficiently examined in what follows, I judge the repetition to be superfluous, and the saying of Adam, which the apostle says was prophetically spoken of Christ and the church, let this man interpret with authority 2.1.444 as he wishes. For no one is so foolish, while Paul reveals to us the hidden things of the mysteries in the power of the Spirit, as to make Eunomius a more trustworthy interpreter of divine things, who openly fights against the words of the divinely inspired testimony and forces the establishment of the idea that the kinds of irrational creatures were not named by Adam through the misinterpretation of this saying. 2.1.445 Let the words of his insolence also be passed over, and that graceless lack of culture, and his foul and dung-like voice, which utters these things against our teacher with its usual fine speech: 20the sower of the tares20 and 20the † appearance of the fruit20 and 20the corruption of Valentinus20 and 20the fruit from him, which in the soul20 he says 20is heaped up20 of the teacher, and let the rest of the unpleasantness of what was said be covered over with silence, just as we also hide in the earth the decaying parts of bodies, so that the stench may not become an annoyance to many. 2.1.446 But the argument must be shifted to the sequence of what was said. For again he sets forth a certain saying of the teacher which runs thus: "1For we call the God of all incorruptible and unbegotten, using these names according to different concepts. For when we look back to the ages that are past, finding the life of God to exceed every circumscription, we call him unbegotten; but when we apply our mind to the ages to come, that which is indefinite and infinite and comprehended by no end we have designated 2.1.447 incorruptible. Therefore, as the endlessness of his life is incorruptible, so its beginninglessness was named unbegotten, as our mind contemplates these things."2 The abuse, therefore, which he has made the preface to his consideration of what has been said, we will again pass over, 20a certain exchange of seed20 and 20a teacher of sowing20 and 20the illogicality of the censure20 and whatever else with his insatiable tongue he utters, walking on air; but on what he attempts to slander, falsely accusing the argument, 2.1.448 to this we too

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τὸν ∆αβὶδ τῆς ἡμετέρας ὑπολήψεως σύμμαχον ἀποδεδεῖχθαι, οὐ τὸ κατονομάζειν τὸν θεὸν τὰ ἄστρα διὰ τῆς προφητείας διδάσκοντα, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀκριβῶς γινώσκειν κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἀν θρώπων συνήθειαν τῶν ἐκείνους μάλιστα δι' ἀκριβείας ἐπισταμένων, οὓς καὶ ὀνομαστὶ προσκαλεῖσθαι διὰ πολλὴν συνήθειαν δύνανται. 2.1.440 Εἰ δὲ χρὴ καὶ τὴν παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς ῥητοῖς τούτοις τῆς ψαλμῳδίας ἐκθέσθαι διάνοιαν, πολὺ μᾶλλον ἀπελεγχθήσεται τὸ μάταιον τῆς Εὐνομίου περὶ τούτων οἰή σεως. λέγουσι γὰρ οἱ ἐπιμελέστερον ἐξητακότες τὸν νοῦν τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς ὅτι οὐ πάντα τὰ ὄντα τῆς θείας ἐστὶν ἐξαριθμήσεως ἄξια· ἔν τε γὰρ τοῖς εὐαγγελικοῖς συσσιτίοις τοῖς γεγονόσι κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον οὔτε τὸ νηπιῶδες οὔτε τὸ γυναικεῖον ἀριθμοῦ ἄξιον ἐνομίσθη, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐξόδῳ τοῦ Ἰσραηλίτου λαοῦ μόνοι τῷ ἀριθμῷ κατελέγησαν οἱ ἤδη κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὅπλα φέρειν καὶ ἀριστεύειν δυνά 2.1.441 μενοι. οὔτε γὰρ πάντων τὰ ὀνόματα τοιαῦτά ἐστιν ὡς διὰ τοῦ θείου στόματος φέρεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἀριθμεῖται μὲν εἴ τι καθαρὸν καὶ οὐράνιον, ὃ διὰ τὸ ὕψος τῆς πολιτείας ἀμιγὲς μένον τῆς πρὸς τὸν ζόφον ἐπιμιξίας ἄστρον λέγεται, ὀνο μάζεται δὲ εἴ τι κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον τοῦ ἐγγραφῆναι ταῖς θείαις δέλτοις ἄξιον γίνεται. περὶ γὰρ τῶν ὑπεναν τίων φησὶν ὅτι Οὐ μὴ μνησθῶ τῶν ὀνομάτων αὐτῶν διὰ 2.1.442 χειλέων μου. ὀνόματα δέ, οἷα τοῖς τοιούτοις ἄστροις ἐπι βάλλει ὁ κύριος, σαφῶς παρὰ τῆς Ἠσαΐου προφητείας ἐμάθομεν ἥ φησιν Ἐκάλεσά σε τὸ ὄνομά σου, ἐμὸς εἶ σύ· ὥστε εἴ τις ἑαυτὸν κτῆμα ποιεῖ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὄνομα τούτῳ τὸ ἔργον γίνεται. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐχέτω, ὅπως ἂν ἔχειν δόξῃ 2.1.443 τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν. ὃ δὲ προστίθησι τοῖς εἰρημένοις, τὰ πρῶτα τῆς κοσμογενείας εἰς μαρτυρίαν τοῦ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῖς οὖσι τὰς φωνὰς κεῖσθαι, ὧνπερ ἐν τοῖς κατόπιν ἱκανῶς ἐξητασμένων περιττὴν κρίνω τὴν ἐπανάληψιν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ φωνήν, ἣν προφητικῶς εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν ἐκκλη σίαν γεγενῆσθαί φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἑρμηνευέτω κατ' ἐξου 2.1.444 σίαν οὗτος ὡς βούλεται. οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὕτως ἠλίθιος ὡς Παύλου τὰ κεκρυμμένα τῶν μυστηρίων ἐν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ πνεύματος ἡμῖν ἐκκαλύπτοντος ἀξιοπιστότερον ἑρμηνέα τῶν θείων ποιήσασθαι τὸν Εὐνόμιον τὸν φανερῶς ταῖς φωναῖς τῆς θεοπνεύστου μαρτυρίας ἀντιμαχόμενον καὶ τὸ μὴ κατω νομάσθαι παρὰ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ τῶν ἀλόγων τὰ εἴδη διὰ τῆς παρεξηγήσεως τοῦ ῥητοῦ τούτου κατασκευάζειν ἐκβιαζόμενον. 2.1.445 παρείσθω καὶ τὰ τῆς ὕβρεως αὐτοῦ ῥήματα καὶ ἡ ἄχαρις ἀμουσία ἐκείνη καὶ ἡ κοπρώδης αὐτοῦ καὶ βεβολβιτωμένη φωνὴ διεξιοῦσα μετὰ τῆς συνήθους εὐστομίας ταῦτα κατὰ τοῦ διδασκάλου ἡμῶν· 20τὸν σπορέα τῶν ζιζανίων20 καὶ 20τὴν τοῦ καρποῦ † πρόσοψιν20 καὶ 20Οὐαλεν τίνου παραφθορὰν20 καὶ 20τὸν παρ' ἐκείνου καρ πόν, ὃν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ20 λέγει 20σεσωρεῦσθαι20 τοῦ δι δασκάλου, καὶ ἡ λοιπὴ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀηδία συγκαλυ φθήτω τῇ σιωπῇ, καθάπερ καὶ τὰ μεμυδηκότα τῶν σωμά των τῇ γῇ κατακρύπτομεν, ὡς μὴ πολλοῖς δι' ὄχλου τὴν δυσωδίαν γίνεσθαι. 2.1.446 Πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῶν εἰρημένων μετενεκτέον τὸν λόγον. πάλιν γὰρ ἐκτίθεταί τινα ῥῆσιν τοῦ διδασκάλου ἔχουσαν οὕτως· "1ἄφθαρτον γὰρ καὶ ἀγέννητον τὸν θεὸν τῶν ὅλων λέγομεν, κατὰ διαφόρους ἐπιβολὰς τοῖς ὀνόμασι τούτοις χρώμενοι· ὅταν μὲν γὰρ εἰς τοὺς κατόπιν αἰῶνας ἀποβλέψωμεν, ὑπερεκπίπτουσαν πάσης περιγραφῆς εὑρίσκον τες τὴν ζωὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀγέννητον αὐτὸν λέγομεν· ὅταν δὲ τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις αἰῶσι τὸν νοῦν ἐπιβάλωμεν, τὸ ἀόριστον καὶ ἄπειρον καὶ οὐδενὶ τέλει καταληπτὸν προσηγορεύσαμεν 2.1.447 ἄφθαρτον. ὡς οὖν τὸ ἀτελεύτητον τῆς ζωῆς ἄφθαρτον, οὕτω τὸ ἄναρχον αὐτῆς ἀγέννητον ὠνομάσθη, τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ ἡμῶν ἐπιθεωρούντων ταῦτα."2 τὴν μὲν οὖν λοιδορίαν, ἣν προοίμιον τῆς τῶν εἰρημένων θεωρίας πεποίηται, πάλιν παρήσομεν, 20σπέρματός τινος ὑπαλλαγὴν20 καὶ 20σπορᾶς καθηγητὴν20 καὶ 20τὸ τῆς μέμψεως ἀσυλ λόγιστον20 καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τῇ ἀκορήτῳ γλώσσῃ κενεμβατῶν διεξέρχεται· ἐφ' ᾧ δὲ διαβάλλειν ἐπιχειρεῖ συκοφαντῶν τὸν 2.1.448 λόγον, πρὸς τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς