If the Lord did not indeed conjoin the Spirit with
the Father and Himself in baptism, do not μηδέ. The note
of the Ben. Eds. is, “this reading, followed by Erasmus, stirs
the wrath of Combefis, who would read, as is found in four
mss., τότε ἡμῖν,
‘then let them lay the blame on us.’ But he is
quite unfair to Erasmus, who has more clearly apprehended the drift
of the argument. Basil brings his opponents to the dilemma
that the words ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost’ either do or do not assert a conjunction
with the Father and the Son. If not, Basil ought not to be
found fault with on the score of ‘conjunction,’ for he
abides by the words of Scripture, and conjunction no more follows
from his words than from those of our Lord. If they do, he
cannot be found fault with for following the words of
Scripture. The attentive reader will see this to be the
meaning of Basil, and the received reading ought to be
retained.” let
them lay the blame of conjunction upon us, for we neither hold nor say
anything different. If on the contrary the Spirit is there
conjoined with the Father and the Son, and no one is so shameless as to
say anything else, then let them not lay blame on us for following the
words of Scripture.