Sophia Scriptura

Church History 5.1.61

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

Summary: The Christians grieved that neither bribes nor pleas allowed them to bury the martyrs.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:197

καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀπʼ ἐκείνων τοιαύτην “εἶχε τὴν ποικιλίαν, τὰ δὲ καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἐν μεγάλῳ “καθειστήκει πένθει, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι τὰ σώματα “κρύψαι τῇ γῇ. οὔτε γὰρ νὺξ συνεβάλλετο ἡμῖν πρὸς “τοῦτο οὔτε ἀργύρια ἔπειθεν οὔτε λιτανεία ἐδυσώπει, “παντὶ δὲ τρόπῳ παρετήρουν, ὡς μέγα τι κερδανουντες, “εἰ μὴ τύχοιεν ταφῆς.”

English · Claude translation

Such was the variety of their conduct; but our situation was one of great grief, because we could not hide the bodies in the earth. Neither did night help us to this, nor did money persuade, nor did entreaty move them, but they kept guard in every way, as though it were some great gain if they should not obtain burial.”

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:197 · 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
  • Ep. Lugd. (Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from the Letter of Vienne and Lyons.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.61 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/61/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.61 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/61/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage