Church History 8.16.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Galerius was struck with a rotting, worm-filled ulcer in his genitals that made his obese body horrible to see.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:378

ἀθρόα μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὰ μέσα τῶν ἀπορρήτων τοῦ σώματος ἀπόστασις γίνεται αὐτῷ, εἶθʼ ἕλκος ἐν βάθει συριγγῶδες, καὶ τούτων ἀνίατος νομὴ κατὰ τῶν ἐνδοτάτω σπλάγχνων, ἀφʼ ὧν ἄλεκτόν τι πλῆθος σκωλήκων βρύειν, θανατώδη τε ὀδμὴν ἀποπνέειν, τοῦ παντὸς ὄγκου τῶν σωμάτων ἐκ πολυτροφίας αὐτῷ καὶ πρὸ τῆς νόσου εἰς ὑπερβολὴν πλήθους πιμελῆς μεταβεβληκότος, ἣν τότε κατασαπεῖσαν ἀφόρητον καὶ φρικτοτάτην τοῖς πλησιάζουσι παρέχειν τὴν θέαν.

English · Claude translation

For suddenly an abscess appeared in the middle of his secret parts, then a deep fistulous ulcer, and from these an incurable spreading into his innermost bowels, from which an unspeakable multitude of worms swarmed and a deadly stench was given off; for even before the illness the whole bulk of his body had turned, through gluttony, into an excessive mass of fat, which then putrefied and presented a sight unbearable and most horrible to those who came near.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:378 · 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)

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.16.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/16/4/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.16.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/16/4/).