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20But if, since the begotten is opposed to the unbegotten, the begotten light were to fall short of the unbegotten light in equal measure, the one will become light, the other darkness20. Now, let whoever has leisure learn the sharp and well-aimed quality of the response to the objection through his own words. But I would ask the impersonator of our views either to state our views (or to bring the imitation as close as possible to our argument), or, as he has been taught and is able, using his argument to speak from his own person and not from ours. For may none of our people ever be so misled as to suppose, since the begotten is opposed to the unbegotten in meaning, 3.10.52 that the one is a falling short of the other. For every opposite has its difference not in a falling short, but has its distinction in a complete alienation of meaning, for example, we say someone is sleeping or not sleeping, sitting or not sitting, has been begotten or has not been begotten, and all other things in the same pattern; of which the negation of the one becomes the affirmation of the opposite. Therefore, just as to live is not a falling short of not living, but a complete opposition, so we understood 'to have been begotten' not as a falling short of 'not having been begotten,' but as a certain opposition and unmediated distinction, such that the meaning in each in no way has communion with the other, neither in little nor in more. He, therefore, who says that which is understood by opposition falls short of its opposite, let him bring forth the argument from his own person. 3.10.53 For our simple way of speaking says that things analogous to opposites are, in equal measure to their prototypes, also distinct from one another. So that if Eunomius perceives in the case of light the same variation that he perceives in the begotten in relation to the unbegotten, I will repeat our argument, that just as in that case the one part of the contradiction remains without communion with its opposite, so too, if the light were joined to the one part of the opposites, the remaining conjugate will by all means be shown to be darkness, since the necessity of opposition, analogously to the primary terms, also distinguishes the concept of light from its opposite. 3.10.54 These things we, 20who undertake to write without logical dexterity20, as our slanderer says, speak somewhat boorishly to the new Paeanian in our native tongue. And how he struggled against this objection, bringing forth against us those fiery and fire-breathing arguments in the vigorous style of Demosthenes, let those who take pleasure in laughing go through what has been written by the rhetorician themselves. For our part is not too sluggish for the refutation of the dogmas of impiety, but for mocking the ignorance of the uneducated it is completely unsuitable.

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20ἀλλ' εἰ τοῦ γεννη τοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον ἐναντίως ἔχοντος κατ' ἴσον ὑποβαίνοι τὸ γεννητὸν φῶς πρὸς τὸ ἀγέν νητον φῶς, τὸ μὲν γενήσεται φῶς, τὸ δὲ σκότος20. τὸ μὲν οὖν ὀξὺ καὶ εὔστοχον τῆς πρὸς τὴν ἀντίθεσιν ἀπαν τήσεως, ὅτῳ σχολή, διὰ τῶν ἐκείνου μαθέτω λόγων. ἐγὼ δὲ τὸν τῶν ἡμετέρων ὑποκριτὴν ἀξιώσαιμ' ἂν ἢ τὰ ἡμέτερα λέγειν (ἢ ὡς ἐγγυτάτω προσάγειν τοῦ λόγου τὴν μίμησιν), ἢ καθὼς πεπαίδευται καὶ δύναται κεχρημένον τῷ λόγῳ ἐκ τοῦ ἰδίου προσώπου καὶ μὴ ἐξ ἡμῶν διαλέγεσθαι. μήποτε γὰρ οὕτω παραχθείη τῶν ἡμετέρων μηδείς, ὥστε τοῦ γεν νητοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον ἐναντίως κατὰ τὸ σημαινόμενον 3.10.52 ἔχοντος ὑπόβασιν τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸ ἕτερον οἴεσθαι. πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἀντικείμενον οὐκ ἐν ὑφέσει τὴν διαφοράν, ἀλλ' ἐν παντελεῖ τῇ κατὰ τὸ σημαινόμενον ἀλλοτριώσει τὴν ἀντι διαστολὴν ἔχει, οἷον καθεύδειν τινὰ λέγομεν ἢ μὴ καθεύ δειν, καθῆσθαι ἢ μὴ καθῆσθαι, γεγεννῆσθαι ἢ μὴ γεγεν νῆσθαι, τἆλλα πάντα κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τύπον· ὧν ἡ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἄρσις θέσις τοῦ ἀντικειμένου γίνεται. ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ ζῆν οὐχὶ ὕφεσίς ἐστι τοῦ μὴ ζῆν, ἀλλὰ παντελὴς ἐναν τίωσις, οὕτω τὸ γεγεννῆσθαι οὐχ ὕφεσιν τοῦ μὴ γεννη θέντος ἐνοήσαμεν, ἀλλ' ἀντίθεσίν τινα καὶ ἀντιδιαστολὴν ἀμεσίτευτον, ὡς τὸ ἐν ἑκατέρῳ σημαινόμενον μηδενὶ τρόπῳ κοινωνεῖν πρὸς τὸ ἕτερον μήτε ἐν ὀλίγῳ μήτε ἐν πλείονι. ὁ τοίνυν τὸ ἐξ ἐναντίου νοούμενον ὑποβαίνειν πρὸς τὸ ἀντι κείμενον λέγων ἐκ τοῦ ἰδίου προαγέτω προσώπου τὸν λόγον. 3.10.53 ὁ γὰρ ἡμέτερος ἰδιωτισμὸς τὰ τοῖς ἀντικειμένοις ἀναλο γοῦντα κατὰ τὸ ἴσον τοῖς πρωτοτύποις καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὰ λέγει διΐστασθαι. ὥστε εἰ καὶ τῷ φωτὶ τὴν αὐτὴν παραλ λαγὴν ἣν τῷ γεννητῷ πρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον ἐνορᾷ ὁ Εὐνόμιος, τὸν ἡμέτερον ἐπαναλήψομαι λόγον, ὅτι ὡς ἐκεῖ τὸ ἕτερον τῆς ἀντιφάσεως μέρος ἀκοινώνητον πρὸς τὸ ἀντικείμενον μένει, οὕτως εἴπερ τῷ ἑνὶ μέρει τῶν ἀντιθέτων τὸ φῶς συναρμοσθείη, τὸ λειπόμενον συζυγὲς τῷ σκότῳ πάντως ἀναδειχθήσεται, τῆς ἀντιθετικῆς ἀνάγκης ἀναλόγως τοῖς προάγουσι καὶ τὸν τοῦ φωτὸς λόγον πρὸς τὸ ἀντι-3.10.54 κείμενον διαστελλούσης. ταῦτα ἡμεῖς οἱ 20δίχα λογικῆς ἐντρεχείας ἐπιχειροῦντες τῷ γράφειν20, καθώς φησιν ὁ διαβάλλων ἡμᾶς, πρὸς τὸν νέον Παιανιέα διὰ τῆς ἐπιχωρίου γλώττης ὑπαγροικίζομεν. πῶς δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀντίθεσιν ταύτην διηγωνίσατο τοὺς θερμοὺς ἐκείνους καὶ πῦρ πνέοντας λόγους κατὰ τὴν ∆ημοσθενικὴν εὐτονίαν καθ' ἡμῶν προβαλλόμενος, ὅσοις καθ' ἡδονήν ἐστι τὸ γελᾶν, αὐτοῖς ἐπερχέσθωσαν τοῖς γεγραμμένοις τῷ ῥήτορι. τὸ γὰρ ἡμέτερον πρὸς μὲν ἔλεγχον τῶν τῆς ἀσεβείας δογμάτων οὐ λίαν δυσκίνητον, πρὸς δὲ τὸ κωμῳδεῖν τὴν ἀμαθίαν τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων παντελῶς ἐστιν ἀνεπιτήδειον.