Edition ausblenden
Adversus Hermogenem

XXVII.

[1] Sed tu supercilia capitis nutu digiti adcommodato altius tollens et quasi retro iactans 'erat' inquis, quasi semper fuerit, scilicet innata et infecta et idcirco materia credenda. [2] At ego sine ullo lenocinio pronuntiationis simpliciter respondebo de omni re posse dici 'erat', etiam de ea quae facta, quae nata sit, quae aliquando non fuerit et quae materia non sit. Omne enim quod habet esse, unde habet, siue per initium siue sine initio, hoc ipso quod est etiam 'erat' dicetur. Cui competit prima uerbi positio in definitionem, eiusdem etiam declinatio uerbi decurret in relationem; 'est' definitionis caput, 'erat' relationis facit. [3] Haec sunt argutiae et subtilitates haereticorum simplicitatem communium uerborum torquentes in quaestionem: magna[m] scilicet quaestio est, si erat terra, quae facta est! Sane discutiendum an ei competat inuisibilem et rudem fuisse quae facta est an ei ex qua facta est, ut eiusdem sit 'erat' cuius et quod erat.

Übersetzung ausblenden
Against Hermogenes

Chapter XXVII.--Some Hair-Splitting Use of Words in Which His Opponent Had Indulged.

But you next praise your eyebrows, and toss back your head, and beckon with your finger, in characteristic disdain, ¹ and say: There is the was, looking as if it pointed to an eternal existence,--making its subject, of course, unbegotten and unmade, and on that account worthy of being supposed to be Matter. Well now, for my own part, I shall resort to no affected protestation, ² but simply reply that "was" may be predicated of everything--even of a thing which has been created, which was born, which once was not, and which is not your Matter. For of everything which has being, from whatever source it has it, whether it has it by a beginning or without a beginning, the word "was" will be predicated from the very fact that it exists. To whatever thing the first tense ³ of the verb is applicable for definition, to the same will be suitable the later form ⁴ of the verb, when it has to descend to relation. "Est" (it is) forms the essential part ⁵ of a definition, "erat" (it was) of a relation. Such are the trifles and subtleties of heretics, who wrest and bring into question the simple meaning of the commonest words. A grand question it is, to be sure, ⁶ whether "the earth was," which was made! The real point of discussion is, whether "being without form, and void," is a state which is more suitable to that which was created, or to that of which it was created, so that the predicate (was) may appertain to the same thing to which the subject (that which was) also belongs. ⁷