Church History 4.26.6

Summary: Melito (quoted) asks the emperor to judge the case himself, and not to abandon Christians to plunder under a decree unfit even for enemies.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:177

καὶ μεθʼ ἕτερά φησι “καὶ εἰ μὲν σοῦ κελεύσαντος ταῦτα πράττεται, ἔστω καλῶς γινόμενον. δίκαιος γὰρ βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἂν ἀδίκως βουλεύσαιτο πώποτε. καὶ ἡμεῖς ἡδέως φέρομεν τοῦ τοιούτου θανάτου τὸ γέρας. ταύτην δέ σοι μόνην προσφέρομεν δέησιν, ἵνα αὐτὸς πρότερον ἐπιγνοὺς τοὺς τῆς τοιαύτης φιλονεικίας ἐργάτας δικαίως κρίνειας, εἰ ἄξιοι θανάτου καὶ τιμωρίας ἢ σωτηρίας καὶ ἡσυχίας εἰσίν. εἰ δὲ καὶ παρὰ σοῦ μὴ εἴη ἡ βουλὴ αὕτη καὶ τὸ καινὸν τοῦτο διάταγμα, ὃ μηδὲ κατὰ βαρβάρων πρέπει πολεμίων, πολὺ μᾶλλον δεόμεθά σου μὴ περιιδεῖν ἡμᾶς ἐν τοιαύτῃ δημώδει λεηλασίᾳ.”

English · Claude translation

And after other things he says: “If this is done at your command, let it be well done; for a just king would never plan unjustly, and we gladly bear the honour of such a death. But this one request we make of you, that you yourself first come to know the authors of such contention and judge justly whether they are worthy of death and punishment or of safety and quiet. But if this counsel and this new decree, which is not fitting even against barbarian enemies, is not from you, much more do we ask you not to overlook us in such public plundering.”

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:177 · 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

Melito of Sardis, Melito Apology (Melito of Sardis (fragments)) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Persecution, Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.26.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/26/6/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.26.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/26/6/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:177

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage