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saying that the Lord existed before eternal ages. It would remain, then, to understand the 20support from the divine laws20 for the proposition before us, through which he promises to demonstrate both an end and a beginning of the Son's generation. 20Wishing20, he says, 20that the law concerning creation be impressed upon the Hebrews, [not the first day of creation] he placed the faith of the beginning at the end of the creation; for not the first day of creation, but the seventh, on which he rested from his works, he gave *** the reminder of creation20. 3.7.36 Will anyone be persuaded that these things were written by him and not inserted by us for the sake of slandering the writing, so that he might seem ridiculous to his readers, dragging in things that have nothing in common with the matters under investigation for the proof of the propositions? For the point of inquiry was to show, as he promised, that the Son was begotten from not being, but both received a beginning of generation and ceased being generated, like some birth-pang extending the generation over time. And what is the argument for this? The fact that the people of the Hebrews keep the Sabbath by law on the seventh day. O, 3.7.37 what great harmony of the testimony with the proposition! Because the Sabbath is honored with inactivity by the Jew, it has been demonstrated that the Lord, as this man says, both received a beginning of birth and ceased being born. How many other testimonies for this did the writer omit, which are in no way inferior to the one mentioned for the establishment of the matter in question? The circumcision on the eighth day, the week of unleavened bread, the mystery on the fourteenth of the lunar course, the sacrifices of purification, the observation concerning lepers, the ram, the calf, the heifer, the scapegoat 3.7.38. But if these things are far from the propositions, how is that other thing within the matter in question? Let the zealots of the Judaic mysteries say. For we, thinking it petty and cowardly to trample upon what is established, will investigate from the sequence of what is written if there is anything such as to cause the wrestler to break a sweat. Therefore, whatever he goes through in the following passages, arguing that one ought not to conceive of anything between the Son and the Father, I will pass over, as agreeing in some way 3.7.39 with our own dogma. For it would be a matter of lack of judgment and ingratitude at the same time not to distinguish in what is said both the blameless and the blameworthy, since, fighting against his own propositions, he does not follow what is agreed upon, both speaking of that which is immediate and not accepting that which is connected, and conceiving of nothing being before the Only-begotten and supposing him to be a son, but contending about his having been begotten from not being. Having occupied ourselves a little <therefore> with these things, because the argument has already been sufficiently prepared by what has gone before, we will take up the matters before us. 3.7.40 It is not consistent to both place nothing before the hypostasis of the Only-begotten and to say that he was not before the generation, but that he was begotten then when the Father wished. For "1then"2 and "1when"2 properly and fittingly bear their meaning in reference to a temporal indication, both according to the common usage of those who speak soundly and according to the meaning in Scripture. Then they will say among the nations, and When I sent you, and Then the kingdom will be likened, and one can take myriad such examples throughout all of Scripture for the proof of the proposition, that the usage of Scripture indicates 3.7.41 time with such particles of speech. If, therefore, there was no time, as the opponent agrees, then the temporal meaning is certainly done away with as well; and if this does not exist, the eternity of the concept will by all necessity be introduced in its place. For with the expression 'not to be', 'at some time' is certainly implied. For if one should say 'not to be' without 'at some time', he will not grant that he is even now; but if, while granting 'now', he fights against 'eternal', he has certainly not conceived of 'not being' in an absolute sense, but of 'at some time not 3.7.42 being'. But since this expression is entirely without substance unless it is based on the meaning of time, it would be senseless and vain to both say that nothing is before the Son and not to establish that the Son is always. For if neither

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λογῶν πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων εἶναι τὸν κύριον. ὑπόλοιπον δ' ἂν εἴη τὴν 20ἐκ τῶν θείων νόμων20 συνηγορίαν τοῦ προ κειμένου κατανοῆσαι, δι' ἧς ἐπαγγέλλεται καὶ τέλος καὶ ἀρχὴν τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ γεννήσεως ἀποδεικνύειν. 20βουληθείς20, φησίν, 20ὁ θεὸς τοῖς Ἑβραίοις τὸν περὶ τῆς δη μιουργίας ἐντυπωθῆναι νόμον, [οὐ τὴν πρώτην τῆς γεννήσεως ἡμέραν] τῷ τέλει τῆς δημιουρ γίας ἐναπέθετο καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς τὴν πίστιν· οὐ γὰρ τὴν πρώτην τῆς γεννήσεως ἡμέραν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἑβδόμην, ἐν ᾗ κατέπαυσεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων, ἔδωκε *** τὴν ὑπόμνησιν τῆς δημιουργίας20. 3.7.36 ἆρά τις πεισθήσεται παρ' ἐκείνου ταῦτα γεγράφθαι καὶ οὐχὶ παρ' ἡμῶν ἐπὶ διαβολῇ τοῦ συγγράμματος παρεντε θεῖσθαι τὰ εἰρημένα, ὡς ἂν καταγέλαστος δοκοίη τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν, τὰ μηδὲν κοινωνοῦντα τοῖς ζητουμένοις εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τῶν προκειμένων ἐπισυρόμενος; τὸ γὰρ ζητούμενον ἦν δεῖξαι, καθὼς ἐπηγγείλατο, μὴ ὄντα τὸν υἱὸν γεγεννῆσθαι, ἀλλ' ἀρχήν τε λαβεῖν γεννήσεως καὶ λῆξαι γεννώμενον, οἷόν τινος ὠδῖνος ἐν χρόνῳ παρατεινούσης τὴν γέννησιν. ἡ δὲ εἰς τοῦτο κατασκευὴ τίς; τὸ σαββατίζειν ἐκ νόμου κατὰ τὴν ἑβδόμην ἡμέραν τὸν Ἑβραίων λαόν. ὢ 3.7.37 πόση συμφωνία τῆς μαρτυρίας πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον. ἐπειδὴ τιμᾶται τῇ ἀργίᾳ παρὰ τοῦ Ἰουδαίου τὸ σάββατον, ἀπο δέδεικται τὸ τὸν κύριον, καθὼς οὗτος λέγει, ἀρχήν τε λα βεῖν τοῦ τόκου καὶ τικτόμενον παύσασθαι. πόσαι καὶ ἄλλαι πρὸς τοῦτο μαρτυρίαι τῷ λογογράφῳ παρείθησαν οὐδὲν τῆς εἰρημένης πρὸς σύστασιν τοῦ ζητουμένου λειπό μεναι; ἡ κατὰ τὴν ὀγδόην περιτομή, ἡ τῶν ἀζύμων ἑβ δομάς, τὸ ἐν τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ σεληναίου δρόμου μυστήριον, αἱ τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ θυσίαι, ἡ περὶ τῶν λεπρῶν παρατήρησις, ὁ κριός, ὁ μόσχος, ἡ δάμαλις, ὁ ἀποπομπαῖος 3.7.38 χίμαρος. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα πόρρω τῶν προκειμένων ἐστίν, πῶς ἐντὸς ἐκεῖνο τοῦ ζητουμένου, λεγέτωσαν οἱ ζηλωταὶ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν μυστηρίων. ἡμεῖς γὰρ μικροπρεπές τε καὶ ἄνανδρον τὸ τοῖς κειμένοις ἐπεμβαίνειν νομίζοντες ἀναζη τήσομεν ἐκ τῆς τῶν γεγραμμένων ἀκολουθίας εἴ τι τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν οἷον ἱδρῶτα κινῆσαι τῷ προσπαλαίοντι. ὅσα τοίνυν ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς περὶ τοῦ μὴ δεῖν μέσον τι τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐννοεῖν κατασκευάζων διέξεισιν, ὡς συμβαίνοντά πως 3.7.39 τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς δόγματι παρελεύσομαι. ἀδιακρισίας γὰρ ἂν εἴη καὶ ἀγνωμοσύνης ἅμα μὴ διακρίνειν ἐν τοῖς λεγο μένοις τὸ ἀνεύθυνόν τε καὶ τὸ ὑπαίτιον, ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἰδίοις μαχόμενος οὐκ ἀκολουθεῖ τοῖς ὁμολογουμένοις, καὶ τὸ ἄμεσον λέγων καὶ τὸ συναφὲς οὐ δεχόμενος, καὶ τὸ μὴ εἶναί τι πρὸ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἐννοῶν καὶ τὸ εἶναι υἱὸν ὑπο νοῶν, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ μὴ ὄντα γεγεννῆσθαι διαμαχόμενος. μικρὸν <οὖν> ἐν τούτοις ἀσχοληθέντες διὰ τὸ τοῖς φθά σασιν ἱκανῶς ἤδη προκατεσκευάσθαι τὸν λόγον τῶν προ κειμένων ἑξόμεθα. 3.7.40 Οὐκ ἔστι τοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ μηδὲν ὑπερτιθέναι τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑποστάσεως καὶ μὴ εἶναι λέγειν πρὸ τῆς γεννή σεως, ἀλλὰ τότε γεγεννῆσθαι ὅτε ὁ πατὴρ ἠβουλήθη· τὸ γὰρ "1τότε"2 καὶ "1ὅτε"2 κυρίως καὶ προσφυῶς ἐπὶ τὴν χρονικὴν δεῖξιν τὴν σημασίαν φέρει κατά τε τὴν κοινὴν τῶν ὑγιῶς φθεγγομένων συνήθειαν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ γραφῇ ση μασίαν. Τότε ἐροῦσιν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καὶ Ὅτε ἀπέστειλα ὑμᾶς, καὶ Τότε ὁμοιωθήσεται ἡ βασιλεία, καὶ μυρία τοι αῦτα διὰ πάσης ἔστι τῆς γραφῆς εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ προ κειμένου λαβεῖν, ὅτι τοῖς τοιούτοις τοῦ λόγου μορίοις τὸν 3.7.41 χρόνον ἐπισημειοῦται τῆς γραφῆς ἡ συνήθεια. εἰ οὖν χρόνος οὐκ ἦν, καθὼς ὁ ἀντιλέγων συντίθεται, συνανῄρηται πάντως καὶ ἡ χρονικὴ σημασία· ταύτης δὲ μὴ οὔσης τὸ ἀΐδιον τῆς ἐννοίας κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην ἀντεισελεύσεται. τῇ γὰρ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι φωνῇ καὶ τὸ ποτὲ πάντως συνυπα κούεται. εἰ γὰρ χωρὶς τοῦ ποτὲ τὸ μὴ εἶναι λέγοι, οὐδὲ νῦν εἶναι δώσει· εἰ δὲ τὸ νῦν διδοὺς πρὸς τὸ ἀΐδιον μά χεται, πάντως οὐ τὸ καθόλου μὴ εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τὸ ποτὲ μὴ 3.7.42 εἶναι διανενόηται. τῆς δὲ φωνῆς ταύτης ἀνυποστάτου παν τάπασιν οὔσης, εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ χρόνου σημασίαν ἐρεί δοιτο, ἀνόητον ἂν εἴη καὶ μάταιον τὸ μήτε τι πρὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ εἶναι λέγειν μήτε πάντοτε τὸν υἱὸν εἶναι κατασκευάζειν. εἰ γὰρ μήτε