84. If you [my Arian adversaries] regard what you
object as natural weakness, and rely upon examples taken from the
nature of mankind, remember that the Father’s nature is the same
as the Son’s, and therefore you
do either confess the Son to be a true Son, and
dishonour the Father in the Person of the Son, by reason of Their unity
in one and the same Nature (for as the Father is by Nature God, so also
is the Son; whereas the Apostle says that the “gods many”
are not so by nature, but are only so called); or, if you deny Him to
be a true Son, that is to say, possessing the same Nature, then He is
not begotten, and if the Son is not begotten, the Father did not beget
Him.