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emptying himself, as Basil says, but the man who is seen emptied himself into the form of a servant, and he who emptied himself into the form of a servant emptied himself into the generation of a man, the man who is seen 3.4.40 emptied himself into the generation of a man.20 Perhaps, then, right from what has been read, both the malice and the folly of the argument's construction have been exposed to the judgment of the listeners; yet a refutation of what has been said will be added by us in a few words, not so much for the overthrow of the uninstructed sophism, which is overthrown by itself among those who have ears, but so that we might not seem, under the pretext of despising the meanness of the argument, to overlook what has been proposed without examination. Let us then examine the argument in this way. 3.4.41 What is the utterance of the apostle? Let it be known, he says, that God has made him both Lord and Christ. Then, as if someone asked concerning whom such grace came to be, he points to the subject as with a finger, saying, This Jesus, whom you crucified. What does Basil say about this? That the deictic utterance of the argument says that this one was made Christ and Lord, the one crucified by the listeners themselves. For you crucified him, he says; and it was likely that those who had asked for his death were the hearers of the word; for the time was not long from the cross 3.4.42 to the public speech of Peter. What then does Eunomius bring forward against these things? 20If blessed Peter is not speaking about the Word who was in the beginning and who was God, but about the one who is seen and who emptied himself, as Basil says, but the man who is seen emptied himself into the form of a servant20—Wait, who says this, that the man who is seen again emptied himself into the form of a servant? Or who constructs the argument that the passion of the cross happened before the manifestation through the flesh? For neither was the cross before the body, nor the body before 3.4.43 the form of a servant. But God is manifested in the flesh, and the flesh which showed God in itself, after fulfilling through itself the great mystery of death, is transformed to that which is exalted and divine, becoming Christ and Lord through commingling, having been transferred and changed into that which He was who manifested himself in that flesh. But if we were to say these things, this champion of the truth again constructs the argument that we are saying that the one shown on the cross has been emptied into the generation of another man, composing the sophism thus in his own words: 20if the one who is seen20, he says, 20man emptied himself into the form of a servant, and he who emptied himself into the form of a servant emptied himself into the generation of a man, the man who is seen emptied himself into the generation of a man20. 3.4.44 Oh, how he remembers the proposed effort! How he brings the argument to its intended conclusion! Basil says that the apostle said that the man who is seen was made Christ and Lord; but this clever and shrewd subverter of what has been said, 20if Peter does not say that the essence20, he says, 20of him who was in the beginning was made, <but> the man who is seen emptied himself into the form of a servant, and he who emptied himself into the form of a servant emptied himself into the generation of a man, <the man who is seen 3.4.45 emptied himself into the generation of a man>20. We are defeated by this invincible wisdom, Eunomius. The apostle's word has been powerfully refuted from looking to the one crucified out of weakness, by which we learned that, if we believe this to be so, again the man who is seen becomes another man, being emptied into another generation of man. Will you never stop playing against the timid? Will you not blush, undoing the fear of the divine mysteries with such ridiculous sophisms? Will you not turn now, at least, if not before, to know that the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, being Word and King and Lord and every exalted name and concept, has no need to become any of the good things, being himself the fullness of all good things, but he who is changed into something 3.4.46 that

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κενώσαντος ἑαυτόν, καθώς φησιν ὁ Βασίλειος, ἐκένωσεν δὲ ὁ βλεπόμενος ἄνθρωπος ἑαυτὸν εἰς δούλου μορφήν, ὁ δὲ κενώσας ἑαυτὸν εἰς δούλου μορφὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτόν, ὁ βλεπόμενος ἄνθρωπος εἰς ἀνθρώπου 3.4.40 γένεσιν ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτόν20. τάχα μὲν οὖν εὐθὺς ἐκ τῶν ἀνεγνωσμένων προπεφώραται τῇ κρίσει τῶν ἀκουόντων τῆς τοῦ λόγου κατασκευῆς ἥ τε κακουργία καὶ τὸ ἀνόητον· πλὴν δι' ὀλίγων καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν ὁ τῶν εἰρημένων ἔλεγχος προσ τεθήσεται, οὐκ εἰς ἀνατροπὴν τοσοῦτον τοῦ ἀπαιδεύτου σο φίσματος, ὃ καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ παρὰ τοῖς ἔχουσιν ἀκοὴν ἀνα τέτραπται, ἀλλ' ὡς ἂν μὴ δοκοίημεν ἐν προσχήματι τοῦ καταφρονεῖν τῆς εὐτελείας τοῦ λόγου περιορᾶν τὸ προτεθὲν ἀνεξέταστον. οὑτωσὶ τοίνυν τὸν λόγον ἐπισκεψώμεθα. 3.4.41 Τίς ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ ἀποστόλου φωνή; Γνωστὸν ἔστω, φη σίν, ὅτι κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ Χριστὸν ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός. εἶτα ὡς ἂν πυθομένου τινός, περὶ τίνα γέγονεν ἡ τοιαύτη χάρις, οἱονεὶ δακτύλῳ τὸ ὑποκείμενον δεικνύει Τοῦτον, εἰπών, τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε. τί περὶ τούτου φησὶν ὁ Βασίλειος; ὅτι ἡ δεικτικὴ τοῦ λόγου φωνὴ τοῦτον πεποιῆ σθαι Χριστὸν λέγει καὶ κύριον τὸν παρ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἀκου όντων ἐσταυρωμένον. ὑμεῖς γὰρ ἐσταυρώσατε, φησί· καὶ εἰκὸς ἦν τοὺς αἰτησαμένους τὸν κατ' αὐτοῦ φόνον ἀκροατὰς εἶναι τοῦ λόγου· οὐδὲ γὰρ πολὺς ἦν ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ 3.4.42 πρὸς τὴν δημηγορίαν τοῦ Πέτρου χρόνος. τί οὖν πρὸς ταῦτα προφέρει ὁ Εὐνόμιος; 20εἰ μὴ περὶ τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντος λόγου καὶ θεοῦ ὄντος ὁ μακάριος δια λέγεται Πέτρος, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ βλεπομένου καὶ κενώσαντος ἑαυτόν, καθώς φησιν ὁ Βασί λειος, ἐκένωσεν δὲ ὁ βλεπόμενος ἄνθρωπος ἑαυτὸν εἰς δούλου μορφήν20-ἐπίσχες, τίς τοῦτό φησιν, ὅτι πάλιν ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν ὁ βλεπόμενος ἄνθρωπος εἰς δούλου μορφήν; ἢ τίς κατασκευάζει ὅτι πρὸ τῆς διὰ σαρκὸς ἐπιφανείας τὸ κατὰ τὸν σταυρὸν γέγονε πάθος; οὔτε γὰρ ὁ σταυρὸς πρὸ τοῦ σώματος οὔτε τὸ σῶμα πρὸ 3.4.43 τῆς τοῦ δούλου μορφῆς. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν θεὸς ἐν σαρκὶ φανε ροῦται, ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἡ τὸν θεὸν ἐν ἑαυτῇ δείξασα μετὰ τὸ πληρῶσαι δι' ἑαυτῆς τὸ μέγα τοῦ θανάτου μυστήριον μετα ποιεῖται πρὸς τὸ ὑψηλόν τε καὶ θεῖον, δι' ἀνακράσεως Χριστὸς γενομένη καὶ κύριος, εἰς ἐκεῖνο μετατεθεῖσα καὶ ἀλλαγεῖσα, ὅπερ ἦν ὁ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ σαρκὶ ἑαυτὸν φανε ρώσας. ἀλλ' εἰ ταῦτα λέγοιμεν, πάλιν ἡμᾶς τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ δειχθέντα εἰς ἄλλου ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν κεκενῶσθαι λέγειν ὁ προαγωνιστὴς οὗτος τῆς ἀληθείας κατασκευάζει, συντιθεὶς οὑτωσὶ κατὰ τὴν λέξιν τὸ σόφισμα: 20εἰ ὁ βλε πόμενος20, φησίν, 20ἄνθρωπος ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτὸν εἰς δούλου μορφήν, ὁ δὲ κενώσας ἑαυτὸν εἰς δού λου μορφὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτόν, ὁ βλεπόμενος ἄνθρωπος εἰς ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτόν20. 3.4.44 Ὢ πῶς μέμνηται τῆς προκειμένης σπουδῆς; πῶς κατὰ σκοπὸν συμπεραίνει τὸν λόγον; Χριστὸν πεποιῆσθαι καὶ κύριον τὸν βλεπόμενον ἄνθρωπόν φησιν εἰρηκέναι τὸν ἀπό στολον ὁ Βασίλειος· ὁ δὲ δεινὸς οὗτος καὶ ἀγχίνους τῶν εἰρημένων ἀνατροπεύς, 20εἰ μὴ τὴν οὐσίαν20, φησί, 20τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντος πεποιῆσθαι λέγει ὁ Πέτρος, ἐκέ νωσεν <δὲ> ἑαυτὸν ὁ βλεπόμενος ἄνθρωπος εἰς δούλου μορφήν, ὁ δὲ κενώσας ἑαυτὸν εἰς δούλου μορφὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτόν, <ὁ βλεπόμενος ἄνθρωπος εἰς ἀνθρώ 3.4.45 που γένεσιν ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτόν>20. ἡττήμεθα τῆς ἀμάχου ταύτης σοφίας, Εὐνόμιε. ἀπελήλεγκται κατὰ κράτος τὸ μὴ πρὸς τὸν ἐξ ἀσθενείας σταυρωθέντα βλέ πειν τοῦ ἀποστόλου τὸν λόγον, δι' ὧν ἐμάθομεν ὅτι, ἂν τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχειν πιστεύσωμεν, πάλιν ὁ βλεπόμενος ἄν θρωπος ἕτερος ἄνθρωπος γίνεται, εἰς ἄλλην ἀνθρώπου κενούμενος γένεσιν. οὐ παύσῃ ποτὲ παίζων κατὰ τῶν ἀτολμήτων; οὐκ ἐρυθριάσεις ἐν οὕτω γελοίοις σοφίσμασι τὸν τῶν θείων μυστηρίων ἐκλύων φόβον; οὐκ ἐπιστρα φήσῃ νῦν γοῦν εἰ καὶ μὴ πρότερον πρὸς τὸ γνῶναι ὅτι ὁ μονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ὢν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ πατρὸς λόγος ὢν καὶ βασιλεὺς καὶ κύριος καὶ πᾶν ὑψηλὸν ὄνομά τε καὶ νόημα οὐδὲν τῶν ἀγαθῶν γενέσθαι προσδέεται, αὐτὸς ὢν τῶν ἀγαθῶν πάντων τὸ πλήρωμα, ὁ δὲ εἴς τι μετα 3.4.46 βαλλόμενος ἐκεῖνο