Church History 5.21.3

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

Summary: The informer was himself punished by having his legs broken.

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Greek text · Dindorf 4:228

ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν δείλαιος παρὰ καιρὸν τὴν δίκην εἰσελθὼν, ὅτι μὴ ζῆν ἐξὸν ἦν κατὰ βασιλικὸν ὅρον τοὺς τῶν τοιῶνδε μηνυτὰς, αὐτίκα κατάγνυται τὰ σκέλη, Περεννίου δικαστοῦ τοιαύτην κατʼ αὐτοῦ ψῆφον ἀπενέγκαντος.

English · Claude translation

But the wretch, having brought the case at the wrong time, since by an imperial decree informers of such things were not permitted to live, immediately had his legs broken, the judge Perennius passing this sentence on him.

About this passage

Source: Dindorf 4:228 · 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: Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

Perennius was praetorian prefect under Commodus. The decree punishing informers is otherwise unknown.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.21.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/21/3/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.21.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/21/3/).

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