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leads. But let us, according to our custom, appropriate his argument for the construction of the dogmas of the truth, so that through this it may also become clear that everywhere, involuntarily, being compelled by the truth itself, they argue in favor of our position. For if 20He begot the Son when He willed20, as the adversary says, and He always willed the good, and the power is concurrent with the will, then the Son will always be conceived with the Father, Who always both wills 3.7.23 the good and is able to have what He wills. And if we must also bring his subsequent argument to the truth, it is easy to fit this also to our dogma that 20let there be no inquiry about this among the prudent, as to why not before20. For the word 20before20 has a certain temporal indication, being distinguished from 'after this' and 'later'; but when there is no time, the names of temporal extension are altogether abolished. But surely the Lord is before times and before ages; therefore, the inquiry about 'before' and 'after' is useless for those with understanding concerning the creator of the ages; for such names, when not spoken in relation to time, are 3.7.24 empty of all meaning. Since, therefore, the Lord is before the ages, 'before' and 'after' certainly have no place in His case. Perhaps these things are sufficient for the overthrow of arguments that do not need a wrestler, but fall down from their own weakness. For who is so at leisure from the cares of life as to give himself over to such an extent to the hearing both of the vanity of the opposing arguments and of our battle against vain things? But since, for those who have been pre-occupied by impiety, the deceit, like some fast and hard-to-wash dye, has been burned deep into their hearts, let us tarry a little longer with the argument, if somehow we might be able to wash their souls clean of this wicked 3.7.25 stain of theirs. For having said the aforementioned things and having added to them, after the fashion of his master Prounicus, some incoherent and unfitting octaves of insults and railings, he proceeds to the culmination of his arguments, and abandoning the unsyllogistic exposition of vanity, he again arms his argument with the goads of dialectic and, as he thinks, syllogistically constructs his absurdity against us. 3.7.26 And the text is as follows: 20since every generation does not extend to infinity, but ceases at some end, it is altogether necessary for those who accept the generation of the Son **** that He at some point ceased to be begotten, and not to be unbelieving about the beginning, of those who have ceased from being begotten and have certainly begun; for the cessation of being begotten confirms the beginning of both the generation and the being begotten, and it is not possible to disbelieve these things from nature itself, and further, also from the divine laws20. Since, therefore, according to the wisdom of those skilled in such matters, he sets forth the universal and attempts to construct his thesis inductively, including the particular proof in the general proposition, let us first understand the universal, and then let us examine the force of the 3.7.27 inductive arguments. Is it pious to infer the pre-eternal generation of the Son from every generation, and must common nature be put forward as the teacher of the existence of the Only-begotten? For my part, I would not expect anyone to come to such a pitch of madness as to imagine such a thing concerning the divine and undefiled generation. 20Every20, he says, 20generation does not extend to infinity20. What is the meaning of generation? Does he mean the carnal and corporeal bringing forth, or the construction of inanimate things? 3.7.28 But the passions of corporeal generations are manifest, which one would not transfer to the divine generation. And so that the argument, by describing the works of nature, might not seem to be superfluous, we will pass over such things in silence, since I think everyone with any sense knows for himself the causes for which generation is prolonged, both beginning and ending; for it would be long and at the same time superfluous to set forth everything with precision: the union of the parents, the [growth] in the womb of the one being born

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ἄγει. ἡμεῖς δὲ κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες ἡμῖν τὸν ἐκείνου λόγον πρὸς κατασκευὴν τῶν τῆς ἀληθείας δογμάτων οἰκειωσώμεθα, ὡς ἂν καὶ διὰ τούτου γένοιτο δῆλον ὅτι πανταχοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἀκούσιον ὑπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας ἀναγκαζόμενοι τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς συναγορεύουσι λόγῳ. εἰ γὰρ 20τότε ἐγέννησε τὸν υἱὸν ὅτε ἐβού λετο20, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀντίπαλος, ἐβούλετο δὲ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀεί, σύνδρομος δὲ τῇ βουλήσει ἡ δύναμις, ἀεὶ ἄρα ὁ υἱὸς μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς νοηθήσεται τοῦ ἀεὶ καὶ βουλομένου τὸ 3.7.23 καλὸν καὶ δυναμένου ἔχειν ὃ βούλεται. εἰ δὲ χρὴ καὶ τὸν ἐφεξῆς αὐτοῦ λόγον προσαγαγεῖν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ῥᾴδιόν ἐστι καὶ τοῦτον τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς συναρμόσαι δόγματι ὅτι 20μηδεμία περὶ τούτου ζήτησις ἔστω τοῖς σώφροσιν, διὰ τί μὴ πρότερον20. ἡ γὰρ τοῦ 20πρότερον20 λέξις χρονι κήν τινα τὴν ἔνδειξιν ἔχει, ἀντιδιαστελλομένη πρὸς τὸ μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ ὕστερον· ὅταν δὲ χρόνος μὴ ᾖ, συναναιρεῖται πάντως καὶ τῆς χρονικῆς διαστάσεως τὰ ὀνόματα. ἀλλὰ μὴν πρὸ χρόνων καὶ πρὸ αἰώνων ὁ κύριος· ἄχρηστος ἄρα τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ ποιητοῦ τῶν αἰώνων ἡ τοῦ πρό τερον καὶ ὕστερον ζήτησις· κενὰ γὰρ πάσης διανοίας ἐστὶ 3.7.24 τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν ὀνομάτων μὴ ἐπὶ χρόνου λεγόμενα. ἐπεὶ οὖν πρὸ τῶν χρόνων ὁ κύριος, τὸ πρότερον πάντως καὶ τὸ ὕστερον ἐπ' αὐτοῦ χώραν οὐκ ἔχει. τάχα μὲν ἀπόχρη καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν τῶν οὐ δεομένων τοῦ προσπαλαίοντος, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας αὐτῶν ἀτονίας καταπιπτόντων. τίς γὰρ τοσοῦτον εὔσχολος ἐκ τῶν τοῦ βίου φροντίδων ὡς ἐπὶ το σοῦτον ἑαυτὸν δοῦναι τῇ ἀκροάσει τῆς τε ματαιότητος τῶν ὑπεναντίων λόγων καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας πρὸς τὰ μάταια πράγ ματα μάχης; ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῖς προειλημμένοις τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ καθάπερ τις δευσοποιὸς βαφὴ καὶ δυσέκνιπτος ἡ ἀπάτη καὶ διὰ βάθους ταῖς καρδίαις ἐγκέκαυται, μικρὸν ἔτι τῷ λόγῳ προσδιατρίψωμεν, εἴ πως δυνηθείημεν τῆς πονηρᾶς 3.7.25 αὐτῶν ταύτης κηλῖδος τὰς ψυχὰς ἀπορρύψαι. εἰπὼν γὰρ τὰ εἰρημένα καὶ ἐπαγαγὼν τούτοις κατὰ τὸν παιδευτὴν αὐτοῦ Προύνικον ἀσυναρτήτους τινὰς καὶ ἀναρμόστους ὕβρεών τε καὶ λοιδορημάτων ὀκτάδας ἐπὶ τὸν κολοφῶνα τῶν ἐπι χειρημάτων μετέρχεται καὶ καταλιπὼν τὴν ἀσυλλόγιστον τῆς ματαιότητος ἔκθεσιν πάλιν τοῖς κέντροις τῆς διαλεκτι κῆς καθοπλίσας τὸν λόγον συλλογιστικῶς ὡς οἴεται καθ' ἡμῶν κατασκευάζει τὸ ἄτοπον. 3.7.26 Ἔχει δὲ οὕτως ἡ λέξις· 20πάσης γεννήσεως οὐκ ἐπ' ἄπειρον ἐκτεινομένης, ἀλλ' εἴς τι τέλος κατα ληγούσης, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ τοὺς παραδεξα μένους τοῦ υἱοῦ τὴν γέννησιν **** ποτὲ πε παῦσθαι τοῦτον γεννώμενον μηδὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀρ χὴν ἀπίστως ἔχειν, τῶν παυσαμένων τοῦ γεν νᾶσθαι καὶ ἀρξαμένων πάντως· ἡ γὰρ τοῦ γεννᾶσθαι παῦλα πιστοῦται τῆς τε γεννήσεως καὶ τοῦ γεννᾶσθαι τὴν ἀρχήν, καὶ τούτοις ἀπιστεῖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἔκ τε τῆς φύσεως αὐτῆς, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν θείων νόμων20. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν κατὰ τὴν σοφίαν τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα δεινῶν τὸ καθόλου προθεὶς ἐπα γωγικῶς κατασκευάζειν ἐπιχειρεῖ τὸ προκείμενον, ἐμπερι λαμβάνων τῇ γενικῇ προτάσει τὴν ἐπὶ μέρους ἀπόδειξιν, πρότερον τὸ καθόλου κατανοήσωμεν, εἶθ' οὕτως τὴν τῶν 3.7.27 ἐπαγομένων ἐξετάσωμεν δύναμιν. ἆρ' εὐσεβές ἐστιν ἐκ πάσης γεννήσεως καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τεκμήρασθαι τὴν προαιώνιον γέν νησιν, καὶ τὴν κοινὴν φύσιν διδάσκαλον τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑπάρξεως προβάλλεσθαι χρή; ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ ἂν ἐπὶ το σοῦτον ἐλθεῖν τινα μανίας ἐλπίσαιμι, ὡς τοιοῦτό τι κατὰ τῆς θείας καὶ ἀκηράτου φαντασθῆναι γεννήσεως. 20πᾶσα20, φησί, 20γέννησις οὐκ ἐπ' ἄπειρον ἐκτείνεται20. τί τὸ τῆς γεννήσεώς ἐστι σημαινόμενον; τὴν σαρκώδη καὶ σωμα τικὴν ἀποκύησιν λέγει ἢ τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν ἀψύχων; 3.7.28 ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν σωματικῶν γεννήσεων φανερὰ τὰ πάθη, ἅπερ οὐκ ἄν τις ἐπὶ τὴν θείαν γέννησιν μεταφέροι. καὶ ὡς ἂν μὴ τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἔργα διαγράφων ὁ λόγος παρέλκειν δο κοίη, σιωπῇ τὰ τοιαῦτα παρελευσόμεθα, παντὸς οἶμαι τοῦ γε νοῦν ἔχοντος ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ γινώσκοντος τὰς αἰτίας καθ' ἃς ἡ γέννησις παρατείνεται καὶ ἀρχομένη καὶ λήγουσα· μακρὸν γὰρ ἂν εἴη καὶ περιττὸν ἅμα πάντα δι' ἀκριβείας ἐκτίθεσθαι, τὴν σύνοδον τῶν γεννώντων, τὴν ἐν τοῖς σπλάγ χνοις τοῦ γεννωμένου