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it being overturned and 3.1.3 falling down by itself. But that it might become most clear to all that Eunomius’s own labor becomes the material for its own overthrow for those who wrestle against it, I will set forth the very idol of his argument to its readers (for so I think it is necessary to name an argument that is outside of the truth); and may you all who encounter our labors and observe the present contest of our argument against our adversary become just judges of the lawful contest of arguments, so that through your just verdict the argument of piety might be proclaimed in the whole theater of the church, having received from all an uncontested victory against impiety, being adorned by the three falls of the enemy with the ever-verdant crown of those who are being saved. 3.1.4 This, then, is the statement set forth in the preliminaries of the third book against the truth, which is of this sort. 20preserving20, he says, 20the natural order and abiding by the things known from above, we do not refuse to say that the Son is begotten and an offspring, since the begotten essence and the appellation of Son appropriate such a relation of names20. Let the listener diligently attend his mind to this for me, that in naming the only-begotten God both begotten and Son he refers the cause of these names to 20the natural order20 and calls upon the knowledge from above as a witness for such a thought; so that if in what follows he should be found contradicting what he has set forth before, it may become clear to all that he is overturned by himself, being refuted by his own arguments before 3.1.5 our arguments. And so let us consider the argument through the things said by him. He confesses that the name of Son could in no way be properly applied to the only-begotten God, unless 20the natural20, as he says, 20order20 confirms the title for the one begotten. Therefore if someone should take away the natural order from the appellation of Son, he will babble the name to him in vain, it being divorced from its proper and natural significance. But also, to say that he affirms these things while 20abiding by the things known from above20 much more strengthens the pious thought concerning the appellation of Son, as the divinely-inspired teaching of the scriptures which has come to us from above confirms the argument concerning these things 3.1.6. If, then, these things are so and this is the unassailable definition of truth—that these two things should concur with each other, both the natural, as he says, order and the testimony of the knowledge from above, confirming the judgment of nature—it is clear that to say anything contrary to these is nothing other than to fight openly against the truth itself. Let us hear again, then, what sort of things this one who makes nature the teacher of this name and says he abides by the things known to us from above through the teaching of the saints goes on to say a little further down after what he has said. 3.1.7 For the time being I will skip over the continuous text of what is arranged in the argument following these things, so that the contradiction in what is written may not escape notice, being obscured by the reading of the things inserted in between. 20The same20, he says, 20argument will also apply concerning 'work' and 'creature', since both the natural judgment and the relation of the things to one another, and furthermore the usage of the saints, provides us the unhindered authority for the term; wherefore one would not err in joining the work with the one who made it and the 3.1.8 creature with the one who created it20. Concerning what 20creature20 and 20work20 does he speak as having a natural relation in its name to the one who made and created it? If he speaks concerning the visible and invisible things contemplated in creation, as Paul recounts, saying that in him all things were created, visible and invisible, so that this relational pairing of names is properly fitted to itself, the work being joined with the one who made it, and the creature with the one who created it—if he says these things, we also agree; for in reality, since the Lord is the maker of angels, the angel is entirely the 20work20 of the one who made him, and since the Lord is the creator of the world,

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αὐτὴ δι' ἑαυτῆς ἀνατρεπομένη καὶ 3.1.3 καταπίπτουσα. ὡς δ' ἂν μάλιστα γένοιτο πᾶσι δῆλον ὅτι αὐτὸς τοῦ Εὐνομίου ὁ πόνος τῆς ἰδίας ἀνατροπῆς ὕλη τοῖς προσπαλαίουσι γίνεται, αὐτὸ προθήσω τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι τοῦ λόγου τὸ εἴδωλον (οὕτω γὰρ οἶμαι χρῆναι τὸν ἔξω τῆς ἀληθείας ὀνομάζεσθαι λόγον)· βραβευταὶ δὲ δίκαιοι τῆς νομίμου τῶν λόγων ἀθλήσεως γένοισθε πάντες οἱ τοῖς πό νοις ἡμῶν ἐντυγχάνοντες καὶ θεωροῦντες τὴν γινομένην νῦν τοῦ ἡμετέρου λόγου πρὸς τὸν ἀντίπαλον συμπλοκήν, ὡς ἂν διὰ τῆς δικαίας ὑμῶν ἐπικρίσεως ἀνακηρυχθείη παντὶ τῷ τῆς ἐκκλησίας θεάτρῳ τῆς εὐσεβείας ὁ λόγος, ἀνανταγώ νιστον λαβὼν παρὰ πᾶσι κατὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας τὸ κράτος, διὰ τριῶν τῶν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ πτωμάτων τῷ ἀειθαλεῖ στεφάνῳ τῶν σῳζομένων καλλωπιζόμενος. 3.1.4 Αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ λέξις ἐν προοιμίοις κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦ τρίτου προβέβληται λόγου, ἣ τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον. 20φυσικήν20, φησί, 20διασῴζοντες τάξιν καὶ τοῖς ἄνω θεν ἐγνωσμένοις ἐμμένοντες γεννητὸν ὄντα τὸν υἱὸν καὶ γέννημα λέγειν οὐ παραιτού μεθα, τῆς γεννηθείσης οὐσίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ προσηγορίας τὴν τοιαύτην τῶν ὀνομάτων οἰκειουμένης σχέσιν20. τούτῳ μοι δι' ἐπιμελείας ὁ ἀκροατὴς ἐπισχέτω τὸν νοῦν, ὅτι καὶ γεννητὸν καὶ υἱὸν ὀνομάζων τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν εἰς 20τὴν φυσικὴν τάξιν20 ἀναφέρει τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων τούτων αἰτίαν καὶ τὴν ἄνωθεν γνῶσιν ἐπὶ τῇ τοιαύτῃ διανοίᾳ μαρτύρεται· ὡς εἴ τι διὰ τῶν ἐφεξῆς εὑρεθείη τοῖς προεκτεθεῖσιν ἐναντιούμενος, φα νερὸν γενέσθαι πᾶσιν ὅτι δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἀνατρέπεται, πρὸ τῶν 3.1.5 ἡμετέρων λόγων διὰ τῶν ἰδίων ἀπελεγχόμενος. οὑτωσὶ δὲ διὰ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ ῥηθέντων τὸν λόγον κατανοήσωμεν. ὁμολογεῖ μηδαμῶς ἂν τὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ ὄνομα κυρίως ἐφαρμο σθῆναι τῷ μονογενεῖ θεῷ, μὴ 20τῆς φυσικῆς20, καθώς φησι, 20τάξεως20 βεβαιούσης τῷ γεννηθέντι τὴν κλῆσιν. οὐκοῦν εἴ τις ἀφέλοι φυσικὴν τάξιν ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ προσηγορίας, μάτην αὐτῷ ἐπιθρυλήσει τὸ ὄνομα, τῆς κυρίας καὶ κατὰ φύσιν διεζευγμένον ἐμφάσεως. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ 20τοῖς ἄνω θεν ἐγνωσμένοις ἐμμένοντα20 ταῦτα διαβεβαιοῦσθαι λέγειν πολὺ μᾶλλον κρατύνει τὴν εὐσεβῆ περὶ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ προσηγορίας διάνοιαν, ὡς τῆς θεοπνεύστου τῶν γραφῶν δι δασκαλίας τῆς ἄνωθεν γεγενημένης ἡμῖν τὸν περὶ τούτων 3.1.6 βεβαιούσης λόγον. εἰ ταῦτα τοίνυν τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον καὶ οὗτός ἐστιν ὅρος τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπαραλόγιστος, τὸ τὰ δύο ταῦτα συνδραμεῖν πρὸς ἄλληλα, τήν τε φυσικήν, κα θώς φησι, τάξιν καὶ τὴν τῆς ἄνωθεν γνώσεως μαρτυρίαν, βεβαιοῦσαν τὴν κρίσιν τῆς φύσεως, δῆλον ὅτι τὸ παρὰ ταῦτά τι λέγειν οὐδέν ἐστιν ἕτερον ἢ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν αὐτὴν ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ διαμάχεσθαι. οὗτος τοίνυν ὁ τὴν φύσιν διδάσκαλον τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου ποιούμενος καὶ τοῖς ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν διὰ τῆς τῶν ἁγίων διδασκαλίας ἐγνω σμένοις ἐμμένειν λέγων οἷα διεξέρχεται μικρὸν ὑποβὰς μετὰ τὰ εἰρημένα πάλιν ἀκούσωμεν. 3.1.7 Τέως γὰρ τὸ συνεχὲς ὑπερβήσομαι τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἀκό λουθον τούτοις ἐν τῷ λόγῳ συντεταγμένων, ὡς ἂν μὴ δια λάθοι τῶν γεγραμμένων ἡ ἐναντίωσις, τῇ ἀναγνώσει τῶν διὰ μέσου παρεγκειμένων συσκιασθεῖσα. 20ὁ αὐτός20, φησίν, 20ἁρ μόσει λόγος καὶ περὶ τοῦ ποιήματος καὶ κτί σματος, τῆς τε φυσικῆς κρίσεως καὶ τῆς πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσεως τῶν πραγμάτων, ἔτι δὲ τῆς τῶν ἁγίων χρήσεως ἀκώλυτον ἡμῖν παρεχούσης τοῦ τύπου τὴν ἐξουσίαν· διόπερ οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τις συναρμόζων τῷ τε ποιήσαντι τὸ ποίημα καὶ τῷ 3.1.8 κτίσαντι τὸ κτίσμα20. περὶ τίνος λέγει 20κτίσματος20 καὶ 20ποιήματος20 ὡς φυσικὴν ἔχοντος τὴν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι σχέσιν πρὸς τὸν πεποιηκότα καὶ κτίσαντα; εἰ μὲν περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ κτίσει θεωρουμένων ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων, καθὼς ὁ Παῦλος διέξεισιν, ἐν αὐτῷ λέγων ἐκτίσθαι τὰ πάντα, ὁρατὰ καὶ ἀόρατα, ὥστε τὴν σχετικὴν ταύτην τῶν ὀνομάτων συζυγίαν κυρίως πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἁρμοσθῆναι, συν ταχθέντος τῷ ποιήσαντι μὲν τοῦ ποιήματος, τῷ κτίσαντι δὲ τοῦ κτίσματος, εἰ ταῦτα λέγει, καὶ ἡμεῖς συντιθέμεθα· τῷ ὄντι γάρ, ἐπειδὴ ποιητὴς ἀγγέλων ὁ κύριος, 20ποίημα20 πάντως ἐστὶ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ὁ ἄγγελος, καὶ ἐπειδὴ τοῦ κόσμου κτίστης ὁ κύριος,