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he might call it an essence separated from the essence of the Father, confessing the Lord to be from it, he is clearly looking at this essence instead of the Father in the case of the Only-begotten, so that two fathers are conceived for the Son, the one being merely named so, whom he indeed calls 20unbegotten20, not sharing in the generation, and the other, acting as the Father in the case of the Only-begotten, which he calls 20generation20. 3.8.27 And this is refuted more by the words of Eunomius himself than by ours. For he says in what follows: 20But God, being without generation, is also before the one who was begotten20, and a little later: 20for he whose being comes from being begotten, did not exist before he was begotten20. Therefore if generation is separated from the Father, and for the Son, his being is from being begotten, then the Father is inactive in the hypostasis of the Only-begotten and separated from the generation from which the Son has his being. If, then, the Father is alienated from the generation of the Son, either they invent some other father for the Son through the name of generation or these wise men, through what has been said, prove the Son to be self-begotten and self-originated. 3.8.28 Do you see the confusion of thought of the one who up and down through his own words charges us with ignorance, how his blasphemy wanders through many paths, or rather, through pathless ways, proceeding to its goal by no firm route? And as one can see with children, when, playing because of their age, they imitate in some sand the construction of buildings, for whom the imitation is not skillfully conformed to the archetype with a purpose, but first, out of folly, they have fashioned something at random, then they consider what they should call their construction; this is the kind of 3.8.29 cleverness I see in the writer of this treatise. For having heaped up the words of impiety like some pile of sand, as it occurred to him, he afterwards considers his unintelligible blasphemy, to what it looks, having sprung up spontaneously through what was said without any logical sequence. For I do not think that the hypostasis of 20generation20 was intentionally fabricated by him to become a father to the substance of the Son, nor was it the speaker's intention, I think, to show the Father to be alien to the generation of the Son, nor was the self-originate monstrosity introduced through any premeditation, but all such things were vomited forth by the writer of the treatise without thought, so that he who errs in his doctrines is not even worthy of much accusation in these matters, not knowing, as the Apostle says, either what he is saying or concerning what things he makes his 3.8.30 assertions. 20For he who from being begotten,20 he says, 20has his being, did not exist before he was begotten.20 If he says this, meaning "generation" instead of "Father," I too agree and there is no one who would object. For it is the same thing to signify by either word, both by saying that Abraham begot Isaac and, instead of "begot"2, that "1he became the father"2 of Isaac. Since, therefore, to be a father is the same as to have begotten, if one were to change the words to another form, fatherhood will be shown to be the same as generation. If, then, Eunomius says this: for he whose being is from the Father did not exist before the Father, the 3.8.31 statement is sound, and we approve what has been said. But if in his argument he refers back to that "generation," and says that it is separated from the Father but joined to the Son, I consider it pointless to linger on the contemplation of unintelligible things. For we have been unable to discern from what has been said until now whether he thinks "generation" is a thing contemplated in its own hypostasis, or whether he retreats in his thoughts through this name to what is non-hypostatic. For the disjointed and rootless nature of his argument tends equally toward either of these suppositions, inclining toward whatever seems right to the one thinking. 3.8.32 But the difficult parts of the blasphemy have not yet been examined, which the sequence of what has been written now adds; and so let us consider what has been said word for word. But I do not know how it is possible to dare to bring forth through my mouth the dreadful and godless treatise of the Christ-fighter. For I fear lest in some way according to

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οὐσίαν αὐτὴν λέγοι τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίας κεχωρισμένην, ἐκ ταύτης ὁμολογῶν εἶναι τὸν κύριον, δῆλός ἐστιν ταύτην ἀντὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς βλέπων, ὡς δύο πατέρας ἐπὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ νοεῖσθαι, τὸν μὲν ὀνομαζόμενον μόνον, ὃν δὴ καὶ 20ἀγέννητον20 λέγει, μὴ κοινωνοῦντα δὲ τῆς γεννήσεως, τὴν δὲ τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ἐνεργοῦσαν, ἣν 20γέννησιν20 ὀνομάζει. 3.8.27 Καὶ τοῦτο μᾶλλον δι' αὐτῶν τῶν Εὐνομίου λόγων ἢ διὰ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐλέγχεται. λέγει γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς· 20ὁ δὲ θεὸς χωρὶς γεννήσεως ὢν καὶ πρὸ τοῦ γεν νηθέντος ἐστί20, καὶ μετ' ὀλίγον· 20ᾧ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ γεν νηθῆναι τὸ εἶναι, οὗτος πρὶν γεννηθῆναι οὐκ ἦν20. οὐκοῦν εἰ ἡ γέννησις μὲν κεχώρισται τοῦ πατρός, τῷ δὲ υἱῷ ἐκ τοῦ γεννηθῆναι τὸ εἶναί ἐστιν, ἄρα ἀνενέργητος ὁ πατὴρ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑποστάσεως καὶ κεχωρισμένος τῆς γεννήσεως, ἀφ' ἧς ὁ υἱὸς τὸ εἶναι ἔχει. εἰ οὖν ἠλ λοτρίωται τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ γεννήσεως ὁ πατήρ, ἢ ἄλλον τινὰ πατέρα τοῦ υἱοῦ διὰ τοῦ τῆς γεννήσεως ὀνόματος ἀνα πλάσσουσιν ἢ αὐτογέννητόν τινα καὶ αὐτογένεθλον τὸν υἱὸν 3.8.28 οἱ σοφοὶ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀποδεικνύουσιν. ὁρᾷς τὸ πε φυρμένον τῆς διανοίας τοῦ τὴν ἀμαθίαν ἡμῖν ἄνω καὶ κάτω διὰ τῶν ἰδίων λόγων προφέροντος, ὡς διαπλανᾶται ταῖς πολυοδίαις, μᾶλλον δὲ ταῖς ἀνοδίαις ἡ βλασφημία, δι' οὐδενὸς βεβαίου πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν ἑαυτῆς προϊοῦσα; καὶ οἷον ἔστιν ἐπὶ τῶν νηπίων ἰδεῖν, ὅταν ὑφ' ἡλικίας ἀθύ ροντες ἐν ψάμμῳ τινὶ μιμῶνται τὰς τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων κατασκευάς, οἷς οὐ κατὰ σκοπὸν ἡ μίμησις τεχνικῶς πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ὁμοιοῦται, ἀλλὰ πρότερον ὑπ' ἀνοίας τι κατὰ τὸ συμβὰν ἐξειργάσαντο, εἶτα βουλεύονται τί χρὴ ὀνομάσαι τὸ κατασκεύασμα· ταύτην καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ λογογράφου τὴν 3.8.29 ἀγχίνοιαν βλέπω. οἷον γάρ τινα ψάμμου σωρείαν κατὰ τὸ ἐπελθὸν αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας ῥήματα συμφορήσας μετὰ ταῦτα λογίζεται τὴν ἀδιανόητον βλασφημίαν, πρὸς ὅ τι βλέπει, δίχα τινὸς λογικῆς ἀκολουθίας ἐκ τοῦ αὐτομάτου διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀναφυεῖσαν. οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι κατὰ πρό θεσιν αὐτῷ τὴν τῆς 20γεννήσεως20 ὑπόστασιν ἀναπεπλάσθαι ἀντὶ πατρὸς τῇ οὐσίᾳ τοῦ υἱοῦ γινομένην, οὐδὲ τὸ ἀλλό τριον ἀποδειχθῆναι τῆς γεννήσεως τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸν πατέρα κατὰ σκοπὸν ἦν, ὡς οἶμαι, τῷ ῥήτορι, οὐδὲ ἡ αὐτογένεθλος τερατεία διά τινος προβουλεύσεως ἐπεισηνέχθη, ἀλλὰ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα διανοίας χωρὶς ἀπημέσθη τῷ λογογράφῳ, ὡς μηδὲ πολλῆς ἄξιον ἐν τούτοις κατηγορίας εἶναι τὸν πλημ μελοῦντα μὲν ἐν τοῖς δόγμασιν, οὐκ εἰδότα δέ, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, οὔτε ὃ λέγει οὔτε περὶ τίνων διαβε 3.8.30 βαιοῦται. 20ᾧ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ γεννηθῆναι20, φησί, 20τὸ εἶναι, οὗτος πρὸ τοῦ γεννηθῆναι οὐκ ἦν20. εἰ ἀντὶ τοῦ πατρὸς νοῶν τὴν γέννησιν λέγει, κἀγὼ συντίθεμαι καὶ ὁ ἀντιλέγων οὐκ ἔστιν. ταὐτὸν γὰρ ἔστι δι' ἑκατέρας σημῆναι τῆς λέξεως ἔκ τε τοῦ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐγέν νησε τὸν Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ "ἐγέννησεν"2 ὅτι "1πατὴρ ἐγέ νετο"2 τοῦ Ἰσαάκ. ἐπεὶ οὖν ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ γεγεννηκέναι τὸ εἶναι πατέρα, εἴ τις πρὸς ἕτερον τύπον μεταλάβοι τὰ ῥήματα, ταὐτὸν οὖσα τῇ γεννήσει ἡ πατρότης ἀναδειχθή σεται. εἰ οὖν οὕτω φησὶν ὁ Εὐνόμιος ὅτι· ᾧ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸ εἶναι, οὗτος πρὸ τοῦ πατρὸς οὐκ ἦν, ὑγιαίνει ὁ 3.8.31 λόγος, καὶ ἡμεῖς τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐπιψηφίζομεν. εἰ δὲ πρὸς ἐκείνην ἀνατρέχει τῷ λόγῳ τὴν γέννησιν καὶ κεχωρίσθαι μέν φησι τοῦ πατρός, συνεζεῦχθαι δὲ τῷ υἱῷ, μάταιον ἡγοῦμαι τῇ τῶν ἀδιανοήτων ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν θεωρίᾳ. οὔτε γὰρ εἰ πρᾶγμα κατ' ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν θεωρούμενον τὴν γέν νησιν οἴεται οὔτε εἰ πρὸς τὸ ἀνυπόστατον ταῖς ἐννοίαις διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἀποσύρεται, μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων κατιδεῖν δεδυνήμεθα. φέρεται γὰρ ὁμοίως πρὸς ἑκατέραν τῶν ὑπολήψεων τὸ ἀπαγὲς τοῦ λόγου καὶ ἄρριζον, πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν τῷ νοοῦντι περικλινόμενον. 3.8.32 Ἀλλ' οὔπω τὰ χαλεπὰ τῆς βλασφημίας ἐξήτασται, ἅπερ ἤδη τῶν γεγραμμένων ἡ ἀκολουθία προστίθησι· καὶ δὴ τὰ εἰρημένα κατὰ λέξιν διασκεψώμεθα. οὐκ οἶδα δὲ πῶς ἔστι τολμῆσαι προενεγκεῖν διὰ στόματος τὴν φρικώδη τε καὶ ἄθεον τοῦ χριστομάχου λογογραφίαν. δέδοικα γὰρ μή ποτε καθ'