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20For he goes through some praise of significant words that reveal the subject matter20 and through his usual diction he puts together and glues the tattered rags of paltry words thrown out at the crossroads, and again the wretched Isocrates is gnawed all over, his words and figures being plucked for the composition of the matter at hand, and there are times when Philo the Hebrew suffers the same things, 3.5.25 contributing paltry words to him from his own labors. And not even so was this much-patched and many-colored tapestry of words fashioned, but every argument and every projection of thoughts and every artful preparation collapsed in on itself; and just as is accustomed to happen with bubbles, when drops carried from above toward some collection of water produce foamy risings, which no sooner are formed than they immediately burst, leaving behind in the water no trace of their own formation, such were the bubbles of the speechwriter's thoughts, being extinguished as soon as they were projected, without anyone touching them. 3.5.26 For after those indissoluble constructions and the dream-like philosophy, through which he said the division of the substance is apprehended by the variations of names, just as some foamy mass carried along by a stream, having struck one of the more solid things, burst, so the argument, being carried along by its own momentum and unexpectedly encountering the truth, scattered this unsubstantial and bubble-like composition of falsehood into non-being. For he says in these words: 20who is so foolish and outside the human condition, as, when speaking of men, to say one is a man, and to call the other a horse by comparison20? I would say to him: You rightly call foolish the one who errs so in his terms, and I will use you as a witness 3.5.27 in defense of the truth. For if it is the utmost folly to call one a horse and the other a man, if both are in truth men, it is surely of equal madness, since the Father is believed to be God, and the Son God, to call one created and the other uncreated, as in that case humanity, so also in this case the Godhead does not admit the turning aside of the name to what is of a different kind. For what the irrational is to man, that creation is to the Godhead, being equally unable 3.5.28 to admit the same definition as the superior term. And as it is not possible to apply the same definition to the rational and to the four-footed animal (for each is naturally distinguished from the other by what is peculiar to it), so neither will you explain the created and uncreated substance through the same terms, since the things said of the one substance are not found in the other. For as the rational is not found in a horse nor the single-hoofed in a man, so neither is Godhead <contemplated> in creation nor in the Godhead existence through creation; but if He is God, He is in every way also uncreated; but if created, He is not God, unless perhaps someone through some misuse of terms and common usage should apply the bare name of Godhead to creation, just as also to some horses human names have been imposed by horsemen; but neither is the horse a man, even if it is called by a human name, nor is the creature God, even if some bear witness for it with the term of 'Godhead', bestowing an empty 3.5.29 sound in a pair of syllables. Since, therefore, the argument of the heresy has by its own momentum encountered the truth, let it advise itself to abide by its own words and in no way to retract its own statements, but to consider truly foolish and deranged the one who does not name the subject as it is, but instead of 'man' says 'horse', and instead of 'heaven' 'sea', and instead of 'God' says 'creature'. And let no one think it irrational that creation is set in opposition to God, but let him look to the prophets and to the 3.5.30 apostles. For the prophet says from the person of the Father that 'My hand made all these things', enigmatically calling the power of the only-begotten 'hand'

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20ἔπαινον20 γάρ τινα διεξέρχεται 20λόγων τῶν σημαντικῶν τὸ ὑποκείμενον φανερούντων20 καὶ διὰ τῆς συνήθους ἑαυτοῦ λέξεως συντίθησι καὶ δια κολλᾷ τὰ ἐν τριόδοις ἀπερριμμένα τῶν λεξειδίων ῥακώματα, καὶ πάλιν ὁ τλήμων Ἰσοκράτης περιεσθίεται ῥήματά τε καὶ σχήματα πρὸς τὴν σύνθεσιν τοῦ προκειμένου παρατιλ λόμενος, ἔστι δὲ ὅπου καὶ ὁ Ἑβραῖος Φίλων τὰ ἴσα πάσχει, 3.5.25 ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων πόνων συνερανίζων αὐτῷ τὰ λεξείδια. καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐξειργάσθη τὸ πολυκέντητον τοῦτο καὶ πολύ χρωμον τῶν λόγων ἐξύφασμα, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ἐπιχείρημα καὶ πᾶσα προβολὴ νοημάτων καὶ πᾶσα παρασκευὴ τεχνικὴ αὐτὴ περὶ ἑαυτὴν κατερρύη· καὶ οἷόν τι περὶ τὰς πομφόλυγας συμβαίνειν εἴωθεν, ὅταν πρός τι διὰ σύστασιν ὑδάτων ἄνω θεν αἱ σταγόνες φερόμεναι τὰς ἀφρώδεις ἐπαναστάσεις ἐρ γάζωνται, αἳ ὁμοῦ τε συνέστησαν καὶ παραχρῆμα διέπεσον, μηδὲν τῆς ἰδίας συστάσεως τοῖς ὕδασιν ἴχνος ὑπολειπόμεναι, τοιαῦται τῶν τοῦ λογογράφου νοημάτων αἱ φυσαλίδες ὁμοῦ τῷ προβληθῆναι δίχα τῶν ἁπτομένων κατασβεννύμεναι. 3.5.26 μετὰ γὰρ τὰς ἀλύτους ἐκείνας κατασκευὰς καὶ τὴν ἐνύπνιον φιλοσοφίαν, δι' ἧς ταῖς τῶν ὀνομάτων παραλλαγαῖς τὸ διῃ ρημένον εἶπε τῆς οὐσίας καταλαμβάνεσθαι, καθάπερ τις ἀφρώδης ὄγκος κατὰ ῥοῦν ἀπαγόμενος ἐνσείσας τινὶ τῶν στερροτέρων διέπεσεν, οὕτω κατὰ τὸ αὐτόματον ὁ λόγος φερόμενος καὶ ἀπροόπτως τῇ ἀληθείᾳ προσενεχθεὶς τὴν ἀνυπόστατον ταύτην καὶ πομφολυγώδη τοῦ ψεύδους σύστασιν εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν διεσκέδασεν. λέγει γὰρ τοῖς ῥήμασι τούτοις· 20τίς οὕτως ἠλίθιος καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης κατα στάσεως ἐκτός, ὡς περὶ ἀνθρώπων διαλεγό μενος τὸν μὲν εἰπεῖν ἄνθρωπον, τὸν δὲ ἵππον καλεῖν συγκρίνων20; εἴποιμι ἂν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐγώ· κα λῶς ὀνομάζεις ἠλίθιον τὸν οὕτως περὶ τὰς φωνὰς ἁμαρ τάνοντα, καὶ χρήσομαί γε πρὸς συνηγορίαν τῆς ἀληθείας 3.5.27 μάρτυρι σοί. εἰ γὰρ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἐστὶν ἠλιθιότητος τὸν μὲν ἵππον τὸν δὲ ἄνθρωπον λέγειν, εἴπερ ἄνθρωποι κατὰ ἀλήθειαν εἶεν ἀμφότεροι, τῆς ἴσης πάντως παραπληξίας ἐστί, θεοῦ μὲν τοῦ πατρός, θεοῦ δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ εἶναι πεπι στευμένου, τὸν μὲν κτιστὸν τὸν δὲ ἄκτιστον λέγειν, ὡς ἐκεῖ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, οὕτως καὶ ἐνταῦθα τῆς θεότητος οὐκ ἐπιδεχομένης τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἑτερογενὲς παρατροπὴν τοῦ ὀνό ματος. ὃ γάρ ἐστιν τὸ ἄλογον πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοῦτο καὶ ἡ κτίσις πρὸς τὴν θεότητα, κατὰ τὸ ἴσον μὴ δυνα 3.5.28 μένη τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπιδέξασθαι τῷ προάγοντι λόγον. καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἔστι τὸν αὐτὸν ἐφαρμόσαι ὅρον τῷ λογικῷ τε καὶ τῷ τετράποδι (διΐσταται γὰρ φυσικῶς ἑκάτερον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου τῷ ἰδιάζοντι), οὕτως οὐδὲ τὴν κτιστήν τε καὶ ἄκτιστον οὐσίαν διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ἑρμηνεύσεις, τῶν ἐπὶ ταύτης λεγο μένων τῆς οὐσίας οὐκ ἐφευρισκομένων τῇ ἄλλῃ. ὡς γὰρ οὐχ εὑρίσκεται τὸ λογικὸν ἐν ἵππῳ οὐδὲ ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ μονώνυχον, οὕτως οὔτε τῇ κτίσει ἡ θεότης <ἐνθεωρεῖται> οὔτε τῇ θεότητι τὸ διὰ κτίσεως εἶναι· ἀλλ' εἰ θεός, πάν τως καὶ ἄκτιστος, εἰ δὲ κτιστός, οὐ θεός, εἰ μή τις ἄρα διὰ καταχρήσεώς τινος καὶ συνηθείας λόγων ψιλὸν ἐπὶ τὴν κτίσιν ἄγοι τὸ τῆς θεότητος ὄνομα, καθάπερ καὶ ἵπποις τισὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα τῶν ὀνομάτων παρὰ τῶν ἱππικῶν ἐπιβέβληται· ἀλλ' οὔτε ὁ ἵππος ἄνθρωπος, κἂν ἀνθρωπίνῃ προσηγορίᾳ κατονομάζηται, οὔτε τὸ κτίσμα θεός, κἂν προσ μαρτυρῶσιν αὐτῷ τινες τὴν φωνὴν τῆς θεότητος, φθόγγον 3.5.29 διάκενον ἐν δυάδι συλλαβῶν χαριζόμενοι. ἐπεὶ οὖν συνηνέχθη κατὰ τὸ αὐτόματον ὁ τῆς αἱρέσεως λόγος πρὸς τὴν ἀλή θειαν, αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ συμβουλευσάτω τοῖς οἰκείοις ἐμμένειν καὶ μηδενὶ τρόπῳ τὰς ἑαυτοῦ φωνὰς ἀνατίθεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι νομίζειν ἠλίθιον εἶναι καὶ παρεξεστηκότα τὸν τὸ ὑποκείμενον μὴ ὡς ἐστὶν ὀνομάζοντα, ἀλλ' ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπου ἵππον καὶ ἀντὶ οὐρανοῦ θάλασσαν καὶ ἀντὶ θεοῦ λέγοντα κτίσμα. καὶ μηδεὶς οἰέσθω παράλογον ἀντιδιαιρεῖσθαι τῷ θεῷ τὴν κτίσιν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς προφήτας καὶ πρὸς τοὺς 3.5.30 ἀποστόλους βλεπέτω. ὁ μὲν γὰρ προφήτης φησὶν ἐκ προσ ώπου τοῦ πατρὸς ὅτι Ἡ χείρ μου ἐποίησε ταῦτα πάντα, χεῖρα τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς δύναμιν ἐν αἰνίγματι