Church History 9.10.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Maximin, unfit for rule and swollen with pride, began to claim first place over his far better colleagues.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:439

Ἐκπεριῆλθε δʼ αὐτὸν τοιαύτη τις αἰτία· τὸ μέγεθος τῆς οὐ κατʼ ἀξίαν ἐπιτραπείσης ἡγεμονίας αὐτῷ μηκέθʼ οἷός τε φέρειν, ἀλλὰ διʼ ἀπειρίαν σώφρονος καὶ βασιλικοῦ λογισμοῦ ἀπειροκάλως τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐγχειρῶν, ἐπὶ πᾶσί τε ὑπερηφανίας μεγαλαυχίᾳ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀλόγως ἀρθεὶς, ἤδη καὶ κατὰ τῶν τῆς βασιλείας κοινωνῶν, τὰ πάντα αὐτοῦ διαφερόντων γένει καὶ τροφῇ καὶ παιδείᾳ, ἀξιώματί τε καὶ συνέσει, καὶ τῷ γε πάντων κορυφαιοτάτῳ, σωφροσύνῃ καὶ τῇ περὶ τὸν ἀληθῆ θεὸν εὐσεβείᾳ, τολμᾶν ὥρμητο θρασύνεσθαι, καὶ πρῶτον ἑαυτὸν ταῖς τιμαῖς ἀναγορεύειν.

English · Claude translation

The following cause overtook him. No longer able to bear the greatness of the government unworthily entrusted to him, but handling affairs tastelessly for lack of a prudent and royal mind, and senselessly lifted up in soul by the boastfulness of arrogance in all things, he now set out to act insolently even against his partners in the empire, who surpassed him in everything, in family, upbringing, education, rank, and intelligence, and in what is chief of all, self-control and piety toward the true God, and to proclaim himself first in honors.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:439 · 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. 9.10.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/10/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.10.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/10/1/).