Church History 4.15.22 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:158

ἔφη ὁ ἀνθύπατος πεῖσον τὸν δῆμον “ Πολύκαρπος ἔφη ‘σὲ μὲν καὶ λόγου ἠξίωσα· δεδι“δάγμεθα γὰρ ἀρχαῖς καὶ ἐξουσίαις ὑπὸ θεοῦ τετα ‘γμέναις τιμὴν κατὰ τὸ προσῆκον τὴν μὴ βλάπτου “σαν ἡμᾶς ἀπονέμειν, ἐκείνους δὲ οὐκ ἀξίους ἡγοῦμα “τοῦ ἀπολογεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς.’

English · Claude translation

The proconsul said, ‘Persuade the people.’ Polycarp said, ‘You I have thought worthy of discussion; for we have been taught to give honour, as is fitting, to rulers and authorities appointed by God, such as does not harm us; but those I do not think worthy that I should make a defence to them.’

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:158 · 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)

Scripture

Rom 13:1 · echo, high confidence
Rom 13:7 · echo, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Mart. Pol. 10.2 (Martyrdom of Polycarp) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

Quotation from Mart. Pol. 10.2, echoing Rom 13:1, 7.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (unread letter in the digital text; reading certain from context; unread letters in the digital text; reading certain from context (δεδιδάγμεθα)): δε(??) “δάγμεθα → δεδι“δάγμεθα; βλάπτο(??) → βλάπτου.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.15.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/15/22/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.15.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/15/22/).