Church History 8.9.4

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

Summary: Eusebius himself saw so many executed in a day that the swords grew blunt and the executioners took turns.

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Greek text · Dindorf 4:360

ἱστορήσαμεν δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τόπων γενόμενοι πλείους ἀθρόως κατὰ μίαν ἡμέραν τοὺς μὲν τῆς κεφαλῆς ἀποτομὴν ὑπομείναντας, τοὺς δὲ τὴν διὰ πυρὸς τιμωρίαν, ὡς ἀμβλύνεσθαι φονεύοντα τὸν σίδηρον, ἀτονοῦντά τε διαθλᾶσθαι, αὐτοὺς δὲ τοὺς ἀναιροῦντας ἀποκάμνοντας ἀμοιβαδὸν ἀλλήλους διαδέχεσθαι.

English · Claude translation

We ourselves, being on the spot, observed many in a crowd on a single day, some suffering beheading, others punishment by fire, so that the murderous iron was blunted and, weakened, broke in pieces, and the executioners themselves grew weary and relieved one another in turn.

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

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.9.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/9/4/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.9.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/9/4/).

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