Sophia Scriptura

Church History 2.7.1

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

Summary: Tradition says Pilate, under Gaius, fell into such misfortunes that he killed himself.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:55

Οὐκ ἀγνοεῖν δὲ ἄξιον ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος Πιλᾶτον, κατὰ Γάϊον, οὗ τοὺς χρόνους διέξιμεν, τοσαύταις περιπεσεῖν κατέχει λόγος συμφοραῖς ὡς ἐξ ἀνάγκης αὐτοφονευτὴν ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τιμωρὸν αὐτόχειρα γενέσθαι, τῆς θείας, ὡς ἔοικε, δίκης οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν αὐτὸν μετελθούσης. ἱστοροῦσιν Ἑλλήνων οἱ τὰς Ὀλυμπιάδας ἅμα τοῖς κατὰ χρόνους πεπραγμένοις ἀναγράψαυτες.

English · Claude translation

It is worth knowing that tradition holds that Pilate himself, the governor at the time of the Saviour, fell, under Gaius, whose times we are describing, into such misfortunes that he was forced to become his own slayer and to punish himself with his own hand, divine justice, it seems, overtaking him before long. The Greek writers who record the Olympiads together with the events in chronological order relate this.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:55 · 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)

Notes

Translation notes

  • The Greek chronographers are not named; the tradition is not otherwise attested and its historicity is doubtful.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.7.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/7/1/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.7.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/7/1/).

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