Sophia Scriptura

Church History 2.17.10

Eusebius of Caesarea · Church History · ca. 300–325 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Philo (quoted): from dawn to dusk they study Scripture, interpreting it allegorically.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:66–67

καὶ μεθʼ ἕτερά φησι “ τὸ δʼ ἐξ ἑωθινοῦ “ μέχρις ἑσπέρας διάστημα σύμπαν αὐτοῖς ἐστιν ἄσκη- “ σις. ἐντυγχάνοντες γὰρ τοῖς ἱεροῖς γράμμασι τὴν “πάτριον φιλοσοφοῦσι σοφίαν ἀλληγοροῦντες, ἐπειδὴ “σύμβολα τὰ τῆς ῥητῆς ἑρμηνείας νομίζουσιν ἀποκε- “κρυμμένης φύσεως, ἐν ὑπονοίαις δηλουμένης.

English · Claude translation

And after other things he says: “The whole interval from dawn to evening is for them spiritual exercise. For reading the sacred writings they pursue philosophically their ancestral wisdom by allegorizing, since they regard the words of the literal interpretation as symbols of a hidden nature revealed in underlying meanings.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:66–67 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Extrabiblical texts
  • Philo, Contempl. 28 (Philo of Alexandria (works)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Philo, Contempl. 28.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.17.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/17/10/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.17.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/17/10/).

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