17. But, they say, if you
are not satisfied with our opinion, do you point out, tell us
yourselves, what is the Deity’s form. If you wish to hear
the truth, either the Deity has no form; or if He is embodied in one,
we indeed know not what it is. Moreover, we think it no disgrace
to be ignorant of that which we never saw; nor are we therefore
prevented from disproving the opinions of others, because on this we
have no opinion of our own to bring forward. For as, if the earth
be said to be of glass, silver, iron, or gathered together and made
from brittle clay, we cannot hesitate to maintain that this is untrue,
although we do not know of what it is made; so, when the form of God is
discussed, we show that it is not what you maintain, even if we are
still less able to explain what it is.