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we shall consider it to be, with this absurdity confronting 2.1.464 us, and if the one, then the other. 20For if you should say they are eternal20, he says, 20you will be Greeks and Valentinians and barbarians; but if generated, no longer20, he says, 20will you confess that God is ungenerated20. O this invincible and irresistible argument! If something is confessed to be generated, O Eunomius, the confession of the ungenerated will be set aside. And where for you have your technical arguments about the generated in relation to the ungenerated disappeared, by which the unlikeness of the substance of the Son to the one who begot him 2.1.465 was constructed? For it seems from what we are now taught that the Father is not unlike in substance when considered in relation to what is generated, but that He is utterly resolved into non-being by the confession of the ungenerated, if indeed when we say the ages are generated, we are brought to no longer confessing the ungenerated. But let us see the necessity by which he compels us to the acceptance of this absurdity. 2.1.466 20For by the juxtaposition of these things20, he says, 20the beginningless accrues to God, and if these things do not exist, what is added will not exist20. O this strong and inescapable grip! As if he has athletically bound us fast from the middle with unbreakable holds. He says the ungenerated accrues to God by the juxtaposition of the ages. Accrues from whom? Who says this, that to Him who is without beginning, the ungenerated accrues by acquisition through the juxtaposition of certain things? Neither the wording nor the meaning of this absurdity 2.1.467 is found in our words. For the wording is its own advocate, having nothing of the sort that has been brought against us. And of the significance of what was said, who would be considered a more trustworthy interpreter than the very fathers of the statement? Therefore, we are more justified in saying what we mean, when we define the life of God to be beyond the ages. 2.1.468 And we say these things which have been said in the preceding passages. But he says that if the juxtaposition of the ages does not exist, it is impossible for that which is added to God from it to exist, and he says that ungeneratedness is what has been added. Let him also say from whom such a thing has been added to God. If, then, it is from himself, he would be ridiculous for attributing his own foolishness to our words; but if from us, let him read the text aloud, and we will accept the accusation. 2.1.469 But I think it is necessary to pass over both these things and whatever follows from them. For they are plainly the playthings of children who arrange certain constructions of buildings in the sand. For having composed a certain period of a clause and having with difficulty come to the end, he demonstrates 20the same life20 20to be both without beginning and without end20, fulfilling our prayer in such zeal. For nothing else is said by us than that the divine life is one and continuous with itself, both infinite and eternal, and from nowhere 2.1.470 hindered by any limit towards the indefinite. Up to this point the speechwriter bestows his labors and his sweat upon the truth, showing that the same life is limited on neither side, neither if one should examine what is before the ages nor if one should consider what is after this. But in what follows next, he again returns to his own confusion. For having said that the same life is both without beginning and without end, leaving aside the argument about life and the concepts contemplated in the divine life, having arranged them all into one notion, 2.1.471 he made all things one. 20For if life20, he says, 20is without beginning and without end and is incorruptible and ungenerated, incorruptibility would be the same as ungeneratedness and what is without beginning the same as what is without end20. And he adds to these things the support from his reasonings; 20For it is not possible20, he says, 20for life to be one, but for the concept of the incorruptible not to be the same as the concept of the ungenerated20. The noble man adds well. 2.1.472 And it seems that the concept of justice is not different from what has been said, nor that of wisdom and that of power and that of goodness and of each of the names befitting God, and let no concept be understood in its particularity, but for the whole catalogue of names let one meaning be supposed, and one account of definition

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εἶναι νομίσομεν, τῆσδε τῆς ἀτοπίας ὑπαπαν 2.1.464 τώσης, καὶ εἰ τὸ ἕτερον, τῆς ἑτέρας. 20εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἀϊδίους20, φησί, 20λέγοιτε, Ἕλληνες ἔσεσθε καὶ Οὐαλεντῖνοι καὶ βάρβαροι· εἰ δὲ γεννητούς, οὐκέτι20, φησίν, 20ὁμολογήσετε τῷ θεῷ τὸ ἀγέν νητον20. ὢ τῆς ἀμάχου ταύτης καὶ ἀνανταγωνίστου ἐπι χειρήσεως· ἐάν τι γεννητὸν ὁμολογηθῇ, ὦ Εὐνόμιε, ἡ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου ὁμολογία παραγραφήσεται. καὶ ποῦ σοι διερρυή κασιν αἱ τοῦ γεννητοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον τεχνολογίαι, δι' ὧν τὸ ἀνόμοιον τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ πρὸς τὸν γεγεννηκότα οὐσίας 2.1.465 κατεσκευάζετο; ἔοικεν γὰρ ἀφ' ὧν νῦν διδασκόμεθα μὴ ἀνομοίως ἔχειν ὁ πατὴρ κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ὡς πρὸς τὸ γεν νητὸν θεωρούμενος, ἀλλὰ καθόλου τῇ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου ὁμο λογίᾳ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν ἀναλύεσθαι, εἴπερ ἐὰν γεννητοὺς εἴπωμεν τοὺς αἰῶνας, εἰς τὸ μηκέτι τὸν ἀγέννητον ὁμολο γεῖν ἐναγόμεθα. ἀλλ' ἴδωμεν τὴν ἀνάγκην δι' ἣν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν συγκατάθεσιν τῆς ἀτοπίας ταύτης συναναγκάζει. 2.1.466 20ὧν γὰρ τῇ παραθέσει20, φησί, 20προσγίνεται τῷ θεῷ τὸ ἄναρχον, τούτων οὐκ ὄντων οὐκ ἔσται τὸ προστιθέμενον20. ὢ τῆς ἰσχυρᾶς ταύτης καὶ ἀφύκτου λαβῆς· ὡς ἐκ τῶν μέσων ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἀλύτοις ἅμμασιν ἀθλητικῶς διασφίγξας ἔχει. τῇ παραθέσει τῶν αἰώνων προσγίνεσθαι λέγει τῷ θεῷ τὸ ἀγέννητον. παρὰ τίνος προσγίνεσθαι; τίς τοῦτό φησιν, ὅτι τῷ ἀνάρχως ὄντι ἐξ ἐπικτήσεως διὰ παραθέσεώς τινων προσγίνεται τὸ ἀγέν νητον; οὔτε ἡ λέξις οὔτε ἡ διάνοια τῆς ἀτοπίας ταύτης 2.1.467 ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἐλέγχεται λόγοις. ἡ μὲν γὰρ λέξις ἑαυτῆς ἐστι συνήγορος οὐδὲν ἔχουσα τοιοῦτον οἷον καθ' ἡμῶν προ ενήνεκται· τῆς δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐμφάσεως τίς ἂν ἐξηγητὴς ἀξιοπιστότερος νομισθείη αὐτῶν τῶν πατέρων τοῦ λόγου; οὐκοῦν ἡμεῖς δικαιότεροι λέγειν τί νοοῦμεν, ὅταν ἐπέκεινα τῶν αἰώνων τὴν ζωὴν τοῦ θεοῦ εἶναι διοριζώμεθα· λέγομεν 2.1.468 δὲ ταῦτα ἅπερ ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν εἴρηται. ἀλλά φησι τῆς παραθέσεως τῶν αἰώνων οὐκ οὔσης ἀδύνατον εἶναι τὸ ἐκ ταύτης τῷ θεῷ προστιθέμενον, προστεθεῖσθαι δὲ τὴν ἀγεν νησίαν λέγει. λεγέτω καὶ παρ' ὅτου τῷ θεῷ τὸ τοιοῦτον προστέθειται. εἰ μὲν οὖν παρ' ἑαυτοῦ, γελοῖος ἂν εἴη τὴν ἰδίαν ἄνοιαν ἐπικαλῶν τοῖς ἡμετέροις λόγοις· εἰ δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν, ὑπαναγνώτω τὴν λέξιν, καὶ τὴν κατηγορίαν δεξόμεθα. 2.1.469 Ἀλλὰ παραδραμεῖν οἶμαι χρῆναι καὶ ταῦτα καὶ ὅσα τούτων κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἔχεται. παιδίων γὰρ ἄντικρύς ἐστιν ἀθύρματα κατασκευάς τινας οἰκοδομημάτων ἐν ψάμμῳ διατιθέντων. συνθεὶς γάρ τινα κώλου περίοδον καὶ μόλις ἐπὶ τὸ πέρας διεξελθὼν 20τὴν αὐτὴν ζωὴν20 ἀποδεί κνυσιν 20ἄναρχόν τε εἶναι καὶ ἀτελεύτητον20, ἡμε τέραν πληρῶν εὐχὴν ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ σπουδῇ. οὐδὲ γὰρ παρ' ἡμῶν ἄλλο τι λέγεται ἢ ὅτι μία ἐστὶ καὶ συνεχὴς αὐτὴ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἡ θεία ζωή, ἄπειρός τε καὶ ἀΐδιος καὶ οὐδα 2.1.470 μόθεν οὐδενὶ πέρατι κωλυομένη πρὸς τὸ ἀόριστον. μέχρι τούτων ὁ λογογράφος τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ πόνους καὶ τοὺς ἱδρῶτας τῇ ἀληθείᾳ χαρίζεται, δεικνὺς τὴν αὐτὴν ζωὴν κατ' οὐδέ τερον μέρος περατουμένην, οὔτε εἰ τὸ πρὸ αἰώνων τις ἐξε τάζοι οὔτε εἰ τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο λογίζοιτο. ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς πάλιν πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπανέρχεται σύγχυσιν. εἰπὼν γὰρ τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι ζωὴν ἄναρχόν τε καὶ ἀτελεύτητον, ἀφεὶς τὸν περὶ τῆς ζωῆς λόγον καὶ τὰς ἐπιθεωρουμένας ὑπο λήψεις τῇ θείᾳ ζωῇ εἰς μίαν τὰς πάσας ἔννοιαν συντάξας 2.1.471 ἓν τὰ πάντα ἐποίησεν. 20εἰ γὰρ ἡ ζωή20, φησίν, 20ἄναρχός τε καὶ ἀτελεύτητος καὶ ἄφθαρτός ἐστι καὶ ἀγέννητος, ταὐτὸν ἂν εἴη τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ ἡ ἀφθαρσία καὶ τῷ ἀτελευτήτῳ τὸ ἄναρχον20. καὶ προστίθησι τούτοις τὴν ἐκ τῶν λογισμῶν συμμαχίαν· 20οὐ γὰρ δυνατόν20, φησί, 20τὴν μὲν ζωὴν εἶναι μίαν, τὸν δὲ τοῦ ἀφθάρτου λόγον μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι τῷ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου λόγῳ20. καλῶς ὁ γενναῖος προστίθησι. 2.1.472 δοκεῖ δὲ μηδὲ τὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης λόγον ἕτερον παρὰ τὰ εἰρημένα τυγχάνειν μηδὲ τὸν τῆς σοφίας καὶ τὸν τῆς δυνά μεως καὶ τὸν τῆς ἀγαθότητος καὶ ἑκάστου τῶν θεοπρεπῶν ὀνομάτων, καὶ μηδεὶς ἔστω λόγος κατὰ τὸ ἰδιάζον νοού μενος, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ παντὶ τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἓν ὑπο κείσθω τὸ σημαινόμενον, καὶ εἷς ὑπογραφῆς λόγος