Sophia Scriptura

Church History 4.15.31

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

Summary: The Martyrdom (quoted): Polycarp asked not to be nailed, trusting God to keep him still; they tied him instead.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:159

εὐθέως οὖν αὐτῷ περιετίθετο τὰ “πρὸς τὴν πυρὰν ἡρμοσμένα ὄργανα, μελλόντων δὲ “αὐτῶν καὶ προσηλοῦν αὐτὸν εἶπεν ῾ἄφετέ με οὕτως· “ὁ γὰρ διδοὺς ὑπομεῖναι τὸ πῦρ δώσει καὶ χωρὶς τῆς “ὑμετέρας ἐκ τῶν ἥλων ἀσφαλείας ἀσκύλτως ἐπιμεῖ- “ναι τῇ πυρᾷ.᾿ οἱ δὲ οὐ καθήλωσαν, προσέδησαν δὲ “αὐτόν.

English · Claude translation

At once, then, the instruments prepared for the pyre were placed around him; and when they were about to nail him too, he said, ‘Leave me as I am; for he who grants me to endure the fire will grant me also to remain on the pyre unmoved without the security of your nails.’ So they did not nail him, but tied him.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:159 · 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
  • Mart. Pol. 13.3 (Martyrdom of Polycarp) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Mart. Pol. 13.3.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.15.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/15/31/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.15.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/15/31/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage