Church History, Book 5, preface 4

Summary: Eusebius's history instead celebrates the spiritual warfare of the martyrs and their victories over demons.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:183

ὁ δέ γε περὶ τοῦ καθʼ ἡμὰς πολιτεύματος διηγηματικὸς ἡμῖν λόγος τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν εἰρήνης εἰρηνικωτάτους πολέμους, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τούτοις ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας μᾶλλον ἢ πατρίδος, καὶ μᾶλλον ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἢ τῶν φιλτάτων ἀνδρισαμένους αἰωνίαις ἀναγράψεται στήλαις, τῶν εὐσεβείας ἀθλητῶν τὰς ἐνστάσεις, καὶ τὰς πολυτλήτους ἀνδρείας, τρόπαιά τε τὰ κατὰ δαιμόνων, καὶ νίκας τὰς κατὰ τῶν ἀοράτων ἀντιπάλων, καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις στεφάνους εἰς αἰώνιον μνήμην ἀνακηρύττων.

English · Claude translation

But our narrative of the commonwealth that is ours will inscribe on everlasting monuments the most peaceful wars, fought for the very peace of the soul, and those who in them showed courage for truth rather than for country, and for piety rather than for their dearest ones; it will proclaim for eternal remembrance the steadfastness of the athletes of piety, their much-enduring courage, their trophies over demons, their victories over invisible adversaries, and the crowns won for all these.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:183 · 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)

Topics

Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.0.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/0/4/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.0.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/0/4/).