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Adversus Hermogenem

VII.

[1] Si minorem et inferiorem materiam deo et idcirco diuersam ab eo et idcirco incomparabilem illi contendit, ut maiori, ut superiori, praescribo non capere ullam diminutionem et humiliationem quod sit aeternum et innatum, quia hoc et deum faciat tantum quantus est, nullo minorem neque subiectiorem, immo omnibus maiorem et sublimiorem. Sicut enim cetera quae nascuntur aut finiunt et idcirco aeterna non sunt, semel opposita fini quae et initio, admittunt ea quae deus non capit, diminutionem dico interim et subiectionem, quia nata et facta sunt, ita et deus ideo ea non capit, quia nec natus omnino nec factus est. Et materiae autem status talis est. [2] Igitur ex duobus aeternis ut innatis, ut infectis, deo atque materia, ob eandem rationem communis status ex aequo habentibus id quod neque diminui nec subici admittit, id est aeternitatem, neutrum dicimus altero esse minorem siue maiorem, neutrum altero humiliorem siue superiorem, sed stare ambo ex pari magna, ex pari sublimia, ex pari solidae et perfectae felicitatis quae censetur aeternitas. [3] Neque enim proximi erimus opinionibus nationum quae, si quando coguntur deum confiteri, tamen et alios infra illum uolunt. Diuinitas autem gradum non habet, utpote unica; quae si et in materia erit, ut proinde innata et infecta et aeterna, aderi[n]t utrobique, quia minor se nusquam poterit esse. [4] Quomodo ergo discernere audebit Hermogenes atque ita subicere deo materiam, aeternam aeterno, innatam innato, auctricem auctori, dicere audentem: 'et ego prima, et ego ante omnia, et ego a qua omnia; pares fuimus, simul fuimus, ambo sine initio sine fine, ambo sine auctore sine deo. Quis me deo subicit contemporali coaetaneo? Si quia deus dicitur, habeo et ego meum nomen. Aut ego sum deus et ille materia, quia ambo sumus quod alter est nostrum'? Putas itaque materiam deo non comparasse quam scilicet subiciat illi?

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Against Hermogenes

Chapter VII.--Hermogenes Held to His Theory in Order that Its Absurdity May Be Exposed on His Own Principles.

When he contends that matter is less than God, and inferior to Him, and therefore diverse from Him, and for the same reason not a fit subject of comparison with Him, who is a greater and superior Being, I meet him with this prescription, that what is eternal and unborn is incapable of any diminution and inferiority, because it is simply this which makes even God to be as great as He is, inferior and subject to none--nay, greater and higher than all. For, just as all things which are born, or which come to an end, and are therefore not eternal, do, by reason of their exposure at once to an end and a beginning, admit of qualities which are repugnant to God--I mean diminution and inferiority, because they are born and made--so likewise God, for this very reason, is unsusceptible of these accidents, because He is absolutely unborn, ¹ and also unmade. And yet such also is the condition of Matter. ² Therefore, of the two Beings which are eternal, as being unborn and unmade--God and Matter--by reason of the identical mode of their common condition (both of them equally possessing that which admits neither of diminution nor subjection--that is, the attribute of eternity), we affirm that neither of them is less or greater than the other, neither of them is inferior or superior to the other; but that they both stand on a par in greatness, on a par in sublimity, and on the same level of that complete and perfect felicity of which eternity is reckoned to consist. Now we must not resemble the heathen in our opinions; for they, when constrained to acknowledge God, insist on having other deities below Him. The Divinity, however, has no degrees, because it is unique; and if it shall be found in Matter--as being equally unborn and unmade and eternal--it must be resident in both alike, ³ because in no case can it be inferior to itself. In what way, then, will Hermogenes have the courage to draw distinctions; and thus to subject matter to God, an eternal to the Eternal, an unborn to the Unborn, an author to the Author? seeing that it dares to say, I also am the first; I too am before all things; and I am that from which all things proceed; equal we have been, together we have been--both alike without beginning, without end; both alike without an Author, without a God. ⁴ What God, then, is He who subjects me to a contemporaneous, co-eternal power? If it be He who is called God, then I myself, too, have my own (divine) name. Either I am God, or He is Matter, because we both are that which neither of us is. Do you suppose, therefore, that he ⁵ has not made Matter equal with God, although, forsooth, he pretends it to be inferior to Him?