Sophia Scriptura

Church History 8.9.2

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

Summary: Some were tied between bent branches and torn apart when the branches sprang back.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:360

ἄλλοι δʼ αὖ πάλιν δένδρεσι καὶ πρέμνοις ἐναπέθνησκον δεσμούμενοι· τοὺς γὰρ μάλιστα στερροτάτους τῶν κλάδων μηχαναῖς τισιν ἐπὶ ταὐτὸν συνέλκοντες, εἰς ἑκάτερά τε τούτων τὰ τῶν μαρτύρων ἀποτείνοντες σκέλη εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἠφίεσαν τοὺς κλάδους φέρεσθαι φύσιν, ἄθρουν τῶν μελῶν διασπασμὸν καθʼ ὧν ταῦτʼ ἐνεχείρουν ἐπινοοῦντες.

English · Claude translation

Others again died bound to trees and trunks. For with machines they drew together the very strongest branches, stretched out the martyrs' legs to each of them, and let the branches spring back to their natural position, devising an instant tearing apart of the limbs of those on whom they practiced this.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:360 · 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, Persecution

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (stray number in the digital text): σκέλη 5 εἰς → σκέλη εἰς.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.9.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/9/2/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.9.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/9/2/).

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