361

as the Father is honored; From this Eunomius brings forward a scripture of servitude for the Lord, saying that He who holds the 3.8.46 power of the universe is ruled. Is our choice of what must be done doubtful, or is the discernment of what is more advantageous of little account? Shall I dishonor Paul's counsel, O Eunomius? Shall I consider the voice of truth less trustworthy than your deceit? But, "If I had not come and spoken," He says, "to them, they would not have had sin." Since, therefore, He Himself spoke to them, truly saying that He is Lord, not falsely named so (for "I am," He says, "not 'I am named'"), what must he do for whom punishment is inescapable from foreknowledge? 3.8.47 But perhaps again in response to these things he puts forward his usual wisdom to us and will say that the same one both serves and is Lord, being ruled by the one who has power, but ruling over the rest. For these wise sayings are said to be carried about at the crossroads by the lovers of deceit, who through human circumstances strengthen their own vain assumptions about the divine; for since the occurrences in this life bring us examples of such things, for instance, in a wealthier house it is possible to see the more efficient and more loyal of the fellow-slaves put in charge, having received pre-eminence over his peers by the command of the master, they transfer this idea to divine doctrines, so that the only-begotten God, being yoked to the power of the one who is superior, is in no way hindered by the authority of the one who has power from leadership over those who are inferior. 3.8.48 But we, having bid farewell to such wisdom, will examine the argument concerning this according to the measure of our own understanding. Do they confess that the Father is Lord by nature, or that He came to this through some appointment? But I do not think that anyone possessing any intelligence at all would come to such a madness, as not to testify that the lordship of the God of all is by nature. For what is simple by nature and without parts and uncompounded, whatever it happens to be, is this wholly and throughly, not becoming one thing from another through some change, 3.8.49 but remaining what it is for eternity. What then have they supposed also concerning the Only-begotten? Do they confess His essence to be simple, or do they conceive some composition in it? If, then, they think Him to be some complex and multipartite thing, they will not at all concede to Him even the name of divinity, transferring the doctrine concerning Christ to certain material and corporeal assumptions; but if they agree that He is simple, how is it possible to perceive in the simplicity of the subject the concurrence of opposites? For just as the opposition between life and death is immediate, so lordship is unmixed with and alienated from servitude in its particular properties. 3.8.50 For no one, considering each of these by itself, would apply the same definition to both; and of things whose definition is not the same, the nature is certainly different. If, therefore, the Lord is simple by nature, how could there be in the subject the combination of opposites, with servitude being mixed together with lordship? But if He is confessed as Lord according to the teaching of the saints, the simplicity of the subject testifies that He has no share in the opposite; but if they declare that He is a slave, they vainly attribute to Him the name of lordship. For that which is simple by nature is not split into opposite properties. 3.8.51 But if they say that He *is* the one and is *called* the other, a slave by nature but Lord by name, let them utter such a statement openly, and they will relieve us of the long labors of refutation. For who is so at leisure in vain things, as to refute what is manifest and indubitable by means of arguments? For not even if someone should confess his own defilement of murder, does any labor remain for the accusers to bring the blood-guilt to proof through any demonstrations. So too we shall no longer bring the refutation that comes from examination against our opponents, when they have proceeded to this point in impiety. 3.8.52 For he who says that the only-begotten God is a slave by nature makes Him a fellow-slave to himself by what he says. from

361

καθὼς τιμᾶται ὁ πατήρ· ἐντεῦθεν Εὐνόμιος δουλείας ἐπάγει τῷ κυρίῳ γραφήν, κυριεύεσθαι λέγων τὸν τοῦ παντὸς ἐξημμένον τὸ 3.8.46 κράτος. ἆρ' ἀμφίβολος ἡμῖν τοῦ πρακτέου ἡ αἵρεσις ἢ παρ' ὀλίγον ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ λυσιτελεστέρου διάκρισις; ἀτιμάσω Παύλου τὴν συμβουλήν, ὦ Εὐνόμιε; ἀπιστοτέραν ἡγήσομαι τῆς σῆς ἀπάτης τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας φωνήν; ἀλλ' Εἰ μὴ ἦλθον καὶ ἐλάλησα, φησίν, αὐτοῖς, ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ εἶχον. ἐπεὶ οὖν αὐτὸς ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς, ἀληθῶς λέγων ἑαυτὸν εἶναι κύριον, οὐχὶ ψευδῶς ὀνομάζεσθαι (εἰμὶ γάρ, φησίν, οὐχὶ ὀνομάζομαι), τί ἀναγκαῖον ποιεῖν ᾧ ἀναπόδραστός ἐστιν ἐκ τοῦ προγνῶναι ἡ τιμωρία; 3.8.47 Ἀλλ' ἴσως πάλιν ἡμῖν πρὸς ταῦτα τὴν συνήθη σοφίαν ἀντιπροβάλλεται καὶ λέξει τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ δουλεύειν καὶ κύριον εἶναι, ὑπὸ μὲν τοῦ κρατοῦντος κυριευόμενον, τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν κυριεύοντα. λέγεται γὰρ τὰ σοφὰ ταῦτα κατὰ τὰς τριόδους παρὰ τῶν ἐραστῶν τῆς ἀπάτης περιφερόμενα, οἳ διὰ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων περιστάσεων τὰς ματαίας ἑαυτῶν ὑπο λήψεις περὶ τὸ θεῖον κρατύνουσιν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αἱ κατὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον συντυχίαι τῶν τοιούτων ἡμῖν πραγμάτων τὰ ὑποδείγματα φέρουσιν, οἷον ἐπ' οἰκίας ἔστιν εὐπορωτέρας ἰδεῖν τὸν δραστικώτερόν τε καὶ εὐνούστερον τῶν ὁμοδούλων προτεταγμένον, προστάγματι τοῦ δεσπότου τὴν κατὰ τῶν ὁμοτίμων ὑπεροχὴν λαχόντα, ταύτην μετάγουσιν ἐπὶ τὰ θεῖα δόγματα τὴν διάνοιαν, ὥστε τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ὑπε ζευγμένον τῇ δυναστείᾳ τοῦ ὑπερέχοντος μηδὲν ἐμποδίζεσθαι τῇ τοῦ δυναστεύοντος ἐξουσίᾳ πρὸς τὴν τῶν καταδεεστέρων 3.8.48 ἡγεμονίαν. ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς ἐρρῶσθαι φράσαντες τῇ τοιαύτῃ σοφίᾳ κατὰ τὸ ἡμέτερον τῆς διανοίας μέτρον τὸν περὶ τούτου λόγον διασκεψώμεθα. ἆρα τὸν πατέρα φύσει κύριον ὁμολογοῦσιν ἢ διὰ χειροτονίας τινὸς πρὸς τοῦτο ἐλθεῖν; ἀλλ' οὐκ οἶμαι εἰς τοῦτο μανίας ἐλθεῖν τὸν καὶ ὁπωσοῦν διανοίας μετέχοντα, ὡς μὴ φύσει προσμαρτυρεῖν τῷ θεῷ τῶν ὅλων τὴν κυριότητα. ὃ γὰρ ἁπλοῦν τῇ φύσει καὶ ἀμερὲς καὶ ἀσύνθετον, ὅπερ ἂν τύχῃ ὄν, ὅλον διόλου τοῦτό ἐστιν, οὐκ ἐκ μεταβολῆς τινος ἕτερον ἐξ ἑτέρου γινόμενον, 3.8.49 ἀλλ' ἐν ᾧ ἐστι διαμένον πρὸς τὸ ἀΐδιον. τί οὖν καὶ περὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς ὑπειλήφασιν; ἆρα ἁπλῆν αὐτοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν ὁμολογοῦσιν ἤ τινα καὶ σύνθεσιν περὶ αὐτὴν ἐννοοῦσιν; εἰ μὲν οὖν ποικίλον τι χρῆμα καὶ πολυμερὲς εἶναι τοῦτον νομίζουσιν, οὐδὲ τὸ ὄνομα πάντως τῆς θεότητος αὐτῷ συγχωρήσουσιν, εἰς ὑλώδεις τινὰς καὶ σωματικὰς ὑπολήψεις τὸ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δόγμα μετάγοντες· εἰ δὲ ἁπλοῦν εἶναι συντίθενται, πῶς ἔστι τῇ ἁπλότητι τοῦ ὑποκειμένου τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων συνδρομὴν ἐνθεωρῆσαι; ὡς γὰρ τῆς ζωῆς καὶ τοῦ θανάτου ἄμεσός ἐστιν ἡ πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον ἀντιδιάστασις, οὕτως ἡ κυριότης πρὸς τὴν δουλείαν ἄμικτός ἐστι καὶ 3.8.50 ἠλλοτριωμένη τοῖς ἰδιάζουσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἄν τις ἑκάτερον τούτων ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ θεωρῶν τὸν ἴσον ἀμφοτέροις ἁρμόσειε λόγον· ὧν δὲ ὁ λόγος οὐχ ὁ αὐτός, τούτων καὶ ἡ φύσις πάντως διάφορος. εἰ οὖν ἁπλοῦς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ὁ κύριος, πῶς ἂν γένοιτο περὶ τὸ ὑποκείμενον ἡ τῶν ἐναντίων δι πλόη, δουλείας συνανακιρναμένης τῇ κυριότητι; ἀλλ' εἰ κύριος κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἁγίων διδασκαλίαν ὁμολογεῖται, ἀμέτ οχον αὐτὸν εἶναι τοῦ ἐναντίου ἡ ἁπλότης τοῦ ὑποκειμένου μαρτύρεται· εἰ δὲ δουλεύειν αὐτὸν ἀποφαίνονται, μάτην αὐτῷ τὸ ὄνομα προσμαρτυροῦσι τῆς κυριότητος. τὸ γὰρ ἁπλοῦν τῇ φύσει πρὸς τὰ ἐναντία τῶν ἰδιωμάτων οὐ δια 3.8.51 σχίζεται. εἰ δὲ τὸ μὲν εἶναί φασιν αὐτὸν τὸ δὲ λέγεσθαι, τῇ φύσει μὲν δοῦλον, τῷ ὀνόματι δὲ κύριον, ῥηξάτωσαν ἐν παρρησίᾳ τοιαύτην φωνήν, καὶ ἀναπαύσουσιν ἡμᾶς τῶν μακρῶν περὶ τὴν ἀντίρρησιν πόνων. τίς γὰρ οὕτως ἐν τοῖς ματαίοις εὔσχολος, ὡς τὰ φανερά τε καὶ ἀναμφίβολα διὰ λογισμῶν ἐξελέγχειν; οὐδὲ γὰρ εἴ τις ἑαυτοῦ καταμηνύσειε τοῦ φόνου τὸ μίασμα, πόνος τις ὑπολείπεται τοῖς κατηγόροις δι' ἀποδείξεών τινων ἄγειν τὴν μιαιφονίαν εἰς ἔλεγχον. οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐκέτι τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἐξετάσεως ἔλεγχον τοῖς ἐναν τίοις ἐποίσομεν, ὅταν μέχρι τούτου τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ προέλθωσιν. 3.8.52 ὁ γὰρ δοῦλον τῇ φύσει λέγων τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ὁμόδουλον ἑαυτῷ τοῦτον δι' ὧν λέγει κατασκευάζει. ἐκ