Τί γέννησιν ἀκούει θεοῦ καὶ κτίσιν, καὶ θεὸν οὐκ ὄντων, καὶ τομὴν καὶ διαίρεσιν καὶ ἀνάλυσιν, ὁ πικρὸς τῶν λεγομένων ἀκροατής ; τί δικαστὰς τοὺς κατηγόρους καθίζομεν; τί τὰ ξίφη τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐγχειρίξομεν ; πῶς, οἴει, δέξεται τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον, ἢ μεθ’ οἵας τῆς διανοίας, ὁ τὰς μοιχείας ἐπαινῶν καὶ τὰς παιδοΦθορίας, καὶ προσκυνῶν τὰ πάθη, καὶ μηδὲν ὑπὲρ τὸ σῶμα διανοηθῆναι δυνάμενος, ὁ χθὲς καὶ πρώην ἑαυτῷ στήσας θεούς, καὶ τούτους ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰσχίστοις γνῶ γνωριξομένους ; οὐχ ὑλικῶς ; οὐκ αἰσχρῶς; οὐκ ἀμαθῶς ; οὐχ ὡς εἴωθεν ; οὐ συνήγορον τῶν οἰκείων θεῶν καὶ παθῶν τὴν σὴν θεολογίαν ποιήσεται ; εἰ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ταῖς φωναῖς ταύταις ἐπηρεάζομεν, σχολῇ γ ἂν ἐκείνους πείσαιμεν φιλοσοφεῖν ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις· καὶ εἰ 6. 3 ακροατης] εξεταστης b 1. γέννησιν. . .κ. κτίσιν] The one is an orthodox word and the other a heretical one ; but Gr. deprecates the using of both alike before a promiscuous public. ib. θεὸν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων] The Arians affirmed that the Son ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐγένετο, but of course denied that He was in the full sense θεός. Gr., however, is speaking of the effect produced upon the heathen by the varying language of professing Christians. 2. τομὴν κ. διαίρεσιν κ. ἀνάλυσιν] These are not to be taken (as Elias and others take them) as technical terms of theology ; nor are they strictly parallel to the first three accusatives after ἀκούει. The ἀκροατής hears οf ‘ begetting ’ and ‘creation’; he hears ’dissection and division and analysis.’ 4. καθίζομεν] as in I Cor. v 4. 6. ἐπαινῶν] inasmuch as he attributes such actions to the gods. 8. ὁ χθὲς κτλ.] Gr. does not mean that he no longer worships those gods, but rather that he has not worshipped them very long. The heathen is accustomed to making new gods. 9. οὐχ ὑλικῶς] He cannot but put a material construction upon such language. Ἀμαθῶς will mean ‘grossly.’ 10. συνήγορον] He will turn what you say about God into an advocacy of his own deified passions. 12. ταῖς φωναῖς τ. ἐπηρεάζομεν] The Eunomians ‘ maltreated these ’ by maintaining that, because the Son is begotten, the Father must have existed before Him. At the same time Gr. does not acquit his own party of a similar misuse of terms, as is seen by what follows, though in their case the misuse lay in a different direction. 13. φίλ’. ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις] τοῖς ἤμ’. is prob. neuter, ‘ in our quarters ’ ’ in our ’; but it may be masc., ‘ among our ’ In either case, of course, it means, ’to adopt and use our system of ’ The term φιλοσοφία was early applied to Christianity. See Melito ap. Eus. Hist. Eccl. iv xxvi 7 ἢ καθ’ ἡμᾶς φιλοσοφία. παρ’ ἑαυτῶν εἰσὶν ἐφευρεταὶ κακῶν, πότε ἂν τῶν διδομένων ἀπόσχοιντο ; ταῦτα ἡμῖν ὁ πρὸς ἀλλήλους πόλεμος. ταῦτα οἱ πλεῖον ὑπὲρ τοῦ λόγου μαχόμενοι, ἢ ὅσον ἀρέσκει τῷ Λόγῳ, καὶ ταὐτὸν πάσχοντες τοῖς μαινομένοις, οἲ τοὺς ἰδίους οἴκους ἀνάπτουσιν, ἢ τοὺς παῖδας σπαράττουσιν, ἢ τοὺς γονέας περιωθοῦσιν, ὡς ἀλλοτρίους νομίζοντες.