341

of those confessing and of those denying [and] is mutually revealed, and through the destruction of the one, what is connected to it also disappears. 3.6.53 Since, therefore, it is argued by them that the Son did not exist before he was begotten, who is the radiance of glory, and the consequence is that the non-existence of the radiance destroys along with it the eternity of the glory, and the glory is the Father, from whom the only-begotten light shone forth, let those who are exceedingly wise understand that they have shown themselves to be allies of Epicurean doctrines, 3.6.54 advocating atheism under the guise of Christianity. Since, therefore, a twofold absurdity has consequently appeared, either to say that God does not exist at all, or that he does not exist without beginning, let them choose what seems best from what has been shown, either to be called atheists or to say that the Father's life is no longer without beginning. But it is likely they would flee from being considered atheists; therefore it remains for them to prove that God is not eternal. But if the consequence of what has been demonstrated compels this, where are the various and clever inversions of names? Where is the irresistible force of syllogisms, which, through the distinction of the unbegotten from the begotten, boasts to the ears of old women? 3.6.55 But so much for these things. It would be well not to pass over what follows unexamined. But let the intervening jests be passed over in silence, in which this clever rhetorician boyishly delights, whether joking or in earnest in his railings against us, as if by this he will become superior in argument. For no one will compel us either to contort our eyes along with those who squint, or with those afflicted by a demonic disease to be twisted and leap about and fall down with our bodies. But we will pity them, 3.6.56 but we will not depart from our settled state. Therefore, turning the argument in this matter toward our teacher, he says, as if making the battle face to face, that 20you will be caught by your own feathers20. For when he had said that the good is always present to the God over all, and it is a good thing to be the father of such a child; therefore, the good is never absent from him, nor did the Father wish to be without a Son, and having wished, he was not unable, and being able and willing, it was in accordance with his purpose both to be and always to have the Son because he always wills the good (for to this points the meaning of the things spoken by our father), after having first ridiculed these things, Eunomius proposes a certain saying introduced from outside wisdom for the overthrow of what was said, and 3.6.57 says: 20What will you become if one of those practiced in such arguments should say, that if creating is good and fitting for God, how was not the good and fitting thing present to him without beginning, if God is without beginning? And this with neither ignorance preventing nor weakness hindering, or age for creating, and all the things you have badly heaped upon yourself; for it is not right to say this of God20. If, then, it were possible for the teacher himself to answer what was asked, he would have shown Eunomius "1what he would have become"2, as this man asked, through his God-taught tongue, both revealing the divine mystery and scourging with refutations the champions of deceit, so that it would become clear to all, how great is the distance between a minister of the mysteries of Christ and a buffoonish mimic 3.6.58 or a poet of new and strange doctrines. But since the one, as the apostle says, though dead, speaks to God, while the other proposes such things as if there were no one to contradict, even if the answer from us does not have the same quality as the voice of the great Basil, yet we will say these things with boldness to the one who asked, that your argument, brought forth for the overthrow of our arguments, becomes a testimony that we speak the truth in those things in which we refute the dogma of impiety. 3.6.59 For we do not so much accuse you of anything else as of thinking that the Lord of creation differs in nothing from the common creation, and what is proposed by you is a confirmation of what we accuse you of. For if what you see in the case of creation, this must also be applied to the only-begotten God, what comes from has an end

341

τῶν ὁμολογούντων καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀθετούντων [καὶ] ἀλλήλοις συναναφαίνεται καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀναιρέσεως καὶ τὸ συνημμένον συναφανίζεται. 3.6.53 ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν κατασκευάζεται παρ' αὐτῶν τὸ μὴ εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι ὅ ἐστιν ἀπαύγασμα δόξης, ἡ δὲ ἀκο λουθία συναναιρεῖ τῇ τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος ἀνυπαρξίᾳ καὶ τὴν τῆς δόξης ἀϊδιότητα, δόξα δὲ ὁ πατήρ, ὅθεν τὸ μονο γενὲς φῶς ἀπηυγάσθη, νοησάτωσαν οἱ περιττοὶ τὴν σοφίαν ὅτι σύμμαχοι τῶν Ἐπικουρείων δογμάτων ἀναπεφήνασιν, ἐν 3.6.54 προσχήματι Χριστιανισμοῦ τὴν ἀθεΐαν πρεσβεύοντες. διπλῆς τοίνυν κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον τῆς ἀτοπίας ἀναφανείσης, ἢ καθ όλου μὴ εἶναι τὸν θεὸν λέγειν ἢ μὴ ἀνάρχως εἶναι, ἑλέ σθωσαν τὸ δοκοῦν ἐκ τῶν φανέντων, ἢ ἄθεοι λέγεσθαι ἢ μηκέτι ἄναρχον εἶναι τῷ πατρὶ τὴν ζωὴν λέγειν. ἀλλὰ μὴν φεύγειν εἰκὸς αὐτοὺς τὸ ἀθέους νομίζεσθαι· οὐκοῦν λείπεται τὸ μὴ εἶναι ἀΐδιον τὸ θεὸν κατασκευάζειν. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἡ τῶν ἀποδειχθέντων ἀκολουθία συναναγκάζει, ποῦ αἱ ποικίλαι καὶ εὔστροφοι τῶν ὀνομάτων ἀντιστροφαί; ποῦ ἡ ἀμήχανος τῶν συλλογισμῶν ἀνάγκη διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀγεν νήτου πρὸς τὸ γεννητὸν διαστολῆς τὰς γραώδεις ἀκοὰς περικομποῦσα; 3.6.55 Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τοσοῦτον. καλῶς δ' ἂν ἔχοι μηδὲ τὸ ἐφεξῆς παριδεῖν ἀνεξέταστον· σιωπάσθω δὲ τὰ διὰ μέσου παίγνια, οἷς ὁ δεινὸς οὗτος ῥήτωρ μειρακιωδῶς ἐναβρύνεται εἴτε παίζων εἴτε σπουδάζων ἐν ταῖς καθ' ἡμῶν λοιδορίαις, ὡς διὰ τούτου κρείττων κατὰ τὸν λόγον ἐσόμενος. οὐ γὰρ δὴ βιάσεταί τις ἡμᾶς ἢ τοῖς λοξοῖς τὰ ὄμματα συνδιαστρέφειν τὰς ὄψεις ἢ τοῖς ὑπὸ δαιμονίας νόσου παρα πεπληγόσι συνδιαστρεβλοῦσθαι καὶ συνεξάλλεσθαι καὶ συγ καταπίπτειν τῷ σώματι. ἀλλ' ἐκείνους μὲν ἐλεήσομεν, 3.6.56 ἡμεῖς δὲ τοῦ καθεστηκότος οὐκ ἐκστησόμεθα. φησὶ τοίνυν στρέψας πρὸς τὸν διδάσκαλον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐν τῷ πράγματι λόγον, ὡς δὴ κατὰ πρόσωπον τὴν μάχην ποιούμενος ὅτι 20τοῖς ἰδίοις ἁλώσῃ πτεροῖς20. ἐκείνου γὰρ εἰρηκότος τὸ καλὸν ἀεὶ παρεῖναι τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ, καλὸν δὲ τὸ τοιούτου παιδὸς εἶναι πατέρα· οὐκοῦν μηδέποτε τὸ καλὸν ἀπεῖναι αὐτοῦ μηδὲ ἄνευ υἱοῦ τὸν πατέρα θελῆσαι εἶναι, θελήσαντα δὲ μὴ ἀδυνατῆσαι, δυνάμενον δὲ καὶ βουλό μενον ἐν τῷ κατὰ γνώμην εἶναι καὶ ἀεὶ ἔχειν τὸν υἱὸν διὰ τὸ ἀεὶ θέλειν τὸ ἀγαθόν (πρὸς τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ διάνοια τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν εἰρημένων βλέπει), ταῦτα προδιασύρας ὁ Εὐνόμιος ἐκ τῆς ἔξωθεν σοφίας ἐπεισαχθεῖσαν τοιαύτην τινὰ ῥῆσιν πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν τῶν εἰρημένων προβάλλεται καί 3.6.57 φησι· 20τίς γενήσῃ λέγοντός τινος τῶν τοῖς τοι ούτοις λόγοις ἐμμεμελετηκότων, ὡς εἴπερ τὸ δημιουργεῖν καλὸν καὶ θεῷ πρέπον, πῶς οὐκ ἀνάρχως αὐτῷ τὸ καλὸν καὶ πρέπον παρῆν, εἴπερ ἄναρχος ὁ θεός; καὶ ταῦτα μήτε ἀγνοίας κωλυούσης μήτε ἀσθενείας ἐμποδιζούσης ἢ πρὸς τὸ δημιουργεῖν ἡλικίας καὶ ὅσα συμφο ρήσας κακῶς σεαυτοῦ κατέχεας· οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοῦ θεοῦ θέμις εἰπεῖν20. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἦν δυνατὸν αὐτὸν τὸν διδάσκαλον πρὸς τὸ ἐρωτηθὲν ἀποκρίνασθαι, ἔδειξεν ἂν τῷ Εὐνομίῳ "1τίς ἂν ἐγένετο"2, καθὼς οὗτος ἠρώτησε, διὰ τῆς θεοπαιδεύτου γλώττης τό τε θεῖον ἐκκαλύπτων μυστήριον καὶ μαστίζων τοῖς ἐλέγχοις τοὺς τῆς ἀπάτης προστάτας, ὥστε φανερὸν γενέσθαι πᾶσιν, ὅσον τὸ μέσον ἐστὶ [μεταξὺ] διακόνου μυστηρίων Χριστοῦ καὶ μίμου γελοίων 3.6.58 ἢ ποιητοῦ καινῶν τε καὶ ἀλλοκότων δογμάτων. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ μέν, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἀποθανὼν τῷ θεῷ λαλεῖ, ὁ δὲ ὡς οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ ἀντεροῦντος τοιαῦτα προβάλλει, κἂν μὴ τὸ ἴσον ἡ παρ' ἡμῶν ἀπόκρισις ἔχῃ ὡς πρὸς τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου φωνήν, πλὴν ἐν παρρησίᾳ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν ἐρωτήσαντα φήσομεν, ὅτι μαρτυρία τοῦ ἀληθεύειν ἡμᾶς ἐν οἷς τὸ δόγμα τῆς ἀσεβείας ἐλέγχομεν ὁ σὸς γίνεται λόγος ὁ ἐπὶ ἀνατροπῇ τῶν ἡμετέρων προφερόμενος λόγων. 3.6.59 οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄλλο τι τοσοῦτον ἡμεῖς αἰτιώμεθα ἢ τὸ μηδὲν οἴεσθαι διαφέρειν ὑμᾶς τοῦ κοινοῦ τῆς κτίσεως τὸν δεσπότην τῆς κτίσεως, καὶ τὸ παρ' ὑμῶν προτεινόμενον κατασκευή ἐστιν ὧν ἡμεῖς αἰτιώμεθα. εἰ γὰρ ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῆς κτίσεως βλέπεις, τοῦτο δεῖ ἐφαρμόζειν καὶ τῷ μονογενεῖ θεῷ, πέρας ἔχει τὸ παρ'