Sophia Scriptura

Church History 6.41.11

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

Summary: Many prominent Christians came forward to sacrifice, some trembling as if they were the victims.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:284

πλὴν πάντες γε κατεπτήχεσαν, καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν “εὐθέως τῶν περιφανεστέρων οἱ μὲν ἀπήντων “τες, οἱ δὲ δημοσιεύοντες ὑπὸ τῶν πράξεων ἤγοντο, “οἱ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀμφʼ αὐτοῖς ἐφείλκοντο· ὀνομαστί τε καλούμενοι ταῖς ἀνάγνοις καὶ ἀνιέροις θυσίαις προσῄεσαν, οἱ μὲν ὠχριῶντες καὶ τρέμοντες, ὥσπερ οὐ θύσοντες, ἀλλʼ αὐτοὶ θύματα καὶ σφάγια τοῖς “εἰδώλοις ἐσόμενοι, ὡς ὑπὸ πολλοῦ τοῦ περιεστῶτος δήμου χλεύην αὐτοῖς ἐπιφέρεσθαι, καὶ δήλους μὲν εἶναι πρὸς πάντα δειλοὺς ὑπάρχοντας, καὶ πρὸς τὸ “τεθνάναι καὶ πρὸς τὸ θῦσαι·

English · Claude translation

All indeed cowered. Many of the more prominent came forward at once, some through fear, others, holding public office, were led by their duties, others were dragged by those around them. Called by name, they approached the impure and unholy sacrifices, some pale and trembling, as if they were not to sacrifice but to be themselves the sacrifices and victims to the idols, so that the great crowd standing round mocked them, and it was plain that they were cowards in everything, both to die and to sacrifice.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:284 · 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
  • Dionysius of Alexandria (Dionysius of Alexandria (letters and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Dionysius of Alexandria. A participle (“through fear”) is partly lost in the digital text.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.41.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/41/11/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.41.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/41/11/).

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