Preparation for the Gospel 4.16.1–4.19.8

Eusebius of Caesarea · Preparation for the Gospel · ca. 313–324 · Caesarea · 47 passages

Greek text: Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 1 (Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 1–2 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1867), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: E. H. Gifford, Eusebii Pamphili Evangelicae Praeparationis libri XV (Oxford, 1903), vol. 3 (English).

Preparation 4, chapter 16

4.16.1Dindorf 1:182

“Καὶ ὅτι ταῦτα οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ πλήρους οὔσης τῆς ἱστορίας λέγομεν, αὐτάρκη καὶ ταῦτα παραστῆσαι. ἐθύετο γὰρ καὶ ἐν Ῥόδῳ μηνὶ τνιῶνι ἕκτῃ ἱσταμένου ἄνθρωπος τῷ Κρόνῳ. ὃ δὴ ἐπὶ πολὺ κρατῆσαν ἔθος μετεβλήθη· ἕνα γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ δημοσίᾳ κατακριθέντων μέχρι τῶν Κρονίων συνεῖχον, ἐνστάσης δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς προαγαγόντες τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔξω πυλῶν ἀντικρὺ τοῦ Ἀριστοβούλης ἕδους οἴνου ποτίσαντες ἔσφαττον.

“Kai hoti tauta ouch haplōs, alla plērous ousēs tēs historias legomen, autarkē kai tauta parastēsai. ethyeto gar kai en Rhodǭ mēni tniōni hektę̄ histamenou anthrōpos tǭ Kronǭ. ho dē epi poly kratēsan ethos meteblēthē; hena gar tōn epi thanatǭ dēmosią katakrithentōn mechri tōn Kroniōn syneichon, enstasēs de tēs heortēs proagagontes ton anthrōpon exō pylōn antikry tou Aristoboulēs hedous oinou potisantes esphatton.

"And that we say these things not lightly, since history is full of them, these examples will be enough to show. In Rhodes, in the month Metageitnion, on the sixth day of the month, a man was sacrificed to Cronus. This custom, after prevailing a long time, was changed: they kept one of those publicly condemned to death until the Cronia, and when the festival came, they led the man outside the gates, opposite the shrine of Aristobule, gave him wine to drink, and slaughtered him.

Notes and citation

Summary: Porphyry reports the human sacrifice to Cronus at Rhodes.

Porphyry, On Abstinence 2.54–56 (sections 4.16.1–10). The month name is truncated in the digital text (τνιῶνι).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization; digitization slip; line-break hyphen rejoined): ἔνα γὰρ → ἕνα γὰρ; Ἀριστοβούλης ἴδους → Ἀριστοβούλης ἕδους; πα- ραστῆσαι → παραστῆσαι.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.1 (Dindorf 1:182; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.

4.16.2Dindorf 1:182–183

ἐν δὲ τῇ νῦν Σαλαμῖνι, πρότερον δὲ Κορωνείᾳ ὀνομαζομένη, μηνὶ κατὰ Κυπρίους Ἀφροδισίῳ, ἐθύετο ἄνθρωπος τῇ Ἀγραύλῳ τῇ Κέκροπος καὶ νύμφης Ἀγραυλίδος. καὶ διέμενε τὸ ἔθος ἄχρι τῶν Διομήδους χρόνων· εἶτα μετέβαλεν, ὥστε τῷ Διομήδει τὸν ἄνθρωπον θύεσθαι· ὑφʼ ἕνα δὲ περίβολον ὅ τε τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς νεὼς καὶ ὁ τῆς Ἀγραύλου καὶ Διομήδους. ὁ δὲ σφαγιαζόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἐφήβων ἀγόμενος τρὶς περιέθει τὸν βωμόν· ἔπειτα ὁ ἱερεὺς αὐτὸν λόγχῃ ἔπαιε κατὰ τοῦ στομάχου, καὶ οὕτως αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν νηθεῖσαν πυρὰν ὡλοκαύτιζον.

en de tę̄ nyn Salamini, proteron de Korōneią onomazomenē, mēni kata Kyprious Aphrodisiǭ, ethyeto anthrōpos tę̄ Agraulǭ tę̄ Kekropos kai nymphēs Agraulidos. kai diemene to ethos achri tōn Diomēdous chronōn; eita metebalen, hōste tǭ Diomēdei ton anthrōpon thyesthai; hyphʼ hena de peribolon ho te tēs Athēnas neōs kai ho tēs Agraulou kai Diomēdous. ho de sphagiazomenos hypo tōn ephēbōn agomenos tris periethei ton bōmon; epeita ho hiereus auton lonchę̄ epaie kata tou stomachou, kai houtōs auton epi tēn nētheisan pyran hōlokautizon.

In what is now Salamis, formerly called Coronea, in the month called Aphrodisius among the Cyprians, a man was sacrificed to Agraulus, daughter of Cecrops and of the nymph Agraulis. The custom continued until the time of Diomedes; then it changed, so that the man was sacrificed to Diomedes. The temple of Athena and that of Agraulus and Diomedes are in one enclosure. The victim, led by the young men, ran three times round the altar; then the priest struck him with a spear in the throat, and so they burned him whole on the heaped pyre.

Notes and citation

Summary: At Salamis in Cyprus a man was sacrificed to Agraulus and later to Diomedes.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization; digitization slip; line-break hyphen rejoined): Ἀγραυλίσος → Ἀγραυλίδος; ὑφʼ ἔνα → ὑφʼ ἕνα; νησθεῖσαν → νηθεῖσαν; στομά- χου → στομάχου; ὡλο- καύτιζον → ὡλοκαύτιζον.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.2 (Dindorf 1:182–183; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.3Dindorf 1:183

τοῦτον δὲ τὸν θεσμὸν Δίφιλος ὁ τῆς Κύπρου βασιλεὺς κατέλυσε, κατὰ τοὺς Σελεύκου χρόνους τοῦ θεολόγου γενόμενος, τὸ ἔθος εἰς βουθυσίαν μεταστήσας. προσήκατο δὲ ὁ δαίμων ἀντʼ ἀνθρώπου τὸν βοῦν.

touton de ton thesmon Diphilos ho tēs Kyprou basileus katelyse, kata tous Seleukou chronous tou theologou genomenos, to ethos eis bouthysian metastēsas. prosēkato de ho daimōn antʼ anthrōpou ton boun.

This ordinance Diphilus, king of Cyprus, abolished in the time of Seleucus the theologian, changing the custom to the sacrifice of an ox; and the demon accepted the ox instead of the man.

Notes and citation

Summary: King Diphilus replaced the human sacrifice with an ox.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.3 (Dindorf 1:183; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.4Dindorf 1:183

οὕτως ἰσάξιόν ἐστι τὸ δρώμενον. κατέλυσε δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἡλίου πόλει τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὸν τῆς ἀνθρωποκτονίας νόμον Ἅμωσις, ὡς μαρτυρεῖ Μανεθῶς ἐν τῷ Περὶ ἀρχαισμοῦ καὶ εὐσεβείας. ἐθύοντο δὲ τῇ Ἥρᾳ, καὶ ἐδοκιμάζοντο καθάπερ οἱ ζητούμενοι καθαροὶ μόσχοι καὶ συσφραγιζόμενοι. ἐθύοντο δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας τρεῖς· ἀνθʼ ὧν κηρίνους ἐκέλευσεν ὁ Ἄμωσις τοὺς ἴσους ἐπιτίθεσθαι.

houtōs isaxion esti to drōmenon. katelyse de kai en Hēliou polei tēs Aigyptou ton tēs anthrōpoktonias nomon Hamōsis, hōs martyrei Manethōs en tǭ Peri archaismou kai eusebeias. ethyonto de tę̄ Hērą, kai edokimazonto kathaper hoi zētoumenoi katharoi moschoi kai sysphragizomenoi. ethyonto de tēs hēmeras treis; anthʼ hōn kērinous ekeleusen ho Amōsis tous isous epitithesthai.

So equivalent is the act. At Heliopolis in Egypt too Amosis abolished the law of human sacrifice, as Manetho testifies in his work On Ancient Customs and Piety. They were sacrificed to Hera, and were examined like the pure calves that are sought out and sealed. Three were sacrificed each day; in their place Amosis ordered the same number of wax figures to be offered.

Notes and citation

Summary: Amosis abolished human sacrifice at Heliopolis, replacing the victims with wax figures.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing and accent lost in digitization; breathing misread in digitization): οἶ ζητούμενοι → οἱ ζητούμενοι; ὁ Αμωσις → ὁ Ἄμωσις.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.4 (Dindorf 1:183; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.5Dindorf 1:183

ἔθυον δὲ καὶ ἐν Χίῳ τῷ Ὠμαδίῳ Διονύσῳ ἄνθρωπον διασπῶντες, καὶ ἐν Τενέδῳ, ὥς φησιν Εὔελπις ὁ Καρύστιος· ἐπεὶ καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους φησὶν ὁ Ἀπολλόδωρος τῷ Ἄρει θύειν ἄνθρωπον.

ethyon de kai en Chiǭ tǭ Ōmadiǭ Dionysǭ anthrōpon diaspōntes, kai en Tenedǭ, hōs phēsin Euelpis ho Karystios; epei kai Lakedaimonious phēsin ho Apollodōros tǭ Arei thyein anthrōpon.

In Chios too they sacrificed a man to Dionysus Omadius (the Raw-eater), tearing him apart, and in Tenedos, as Euelpis of Carystus says; and Apollodorus says that the Lacedaemonians sacrificed a man to Ares.

Notes and citation

Summary: Human sacrifices were offered to Dionysus at Chios and Tenedos and to Ares at Sparta.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.5 (Dindorf 1:183; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.6Dindorf 1:183

Φοίνικες δὲ ἐν ταῖς μεγάλαις συμφοραῖς ἢ πολέμων, ἢ λοιμῶν, ἢ αὐχμῶν, ἔθυον τῶν φιλτάτων τινὰ ἐπιψηφίζοντες Κρόνῳ· καὶ πλήρης γε ἡ Φοινικικὴ ἱστορία τῶν θυσάντων, ἣν Σαγχουνιάθων μὲν τῇ Φοινίκων γλώττῃ συνέγραψε, Φίλων δὲ ὁ Βύβλιος εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα γλῶτταν διʼ ὀκτὼ βιβλίων ἡρμήνευσεν.

Phoinikes de en tais megalais symphorais ē polemōn, ē loimōn, ē auchmōn, ethyon tōn philtatōn tina epipsēphizontes Kronǭ; kai plērēs ge hē Phoinikikē historia tōn thysantōn, hēn Sanchouniathōn men tę̄ Phoinikōn glōttę̄ synegrapse, Philōn de ho Byblios eis tēn Hellada glōttan diʼ oktō bibliōn hērmēneusen.

The Phoenicians, in great calamities of war, plague, or drought, sacrificed one of their dearest, chosen by vote, to Cronus; and the Phoenician history is full of those who sacrificed, which Sanchuniathon wrote in the Phoenician language and Philo of Byblos translated into Greek in eight books.

Notes and citation

Summary: The Phoenicians sacrificed loved ones to Cronus in times of disaster.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip): Σαυχουνιάθων → Σαγχουνιάθων.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.6 (Dindorf 1:183; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.7Dindorf 1:183–184

Ἴστρος δὲ ἐν τῇ Συναγωγῇ τῶν Κρητικῶν θυσιῶν φησι τοὺς Κουρῆτας τὸ παλαιὸν τῷ Κρόνῳ θύειν παῖδας. καταλυθῆναι δὲ τὰς ἀνθρωποθυσίας σχεδὸν τὰς παρὰ πᾶσί φησι Πάλλας, ὁ ἄριστα περὶ τῶν τοῦ Μίθρα συναγαγὼν μυστηρίων ἐπὶ Ἀδριανοῦ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος. ἐθύετο γὰρ καὶ ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ τῇ κατὰ Συρίαν τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ κατʼ ἔτος παρθένος, νῦν δὲ ἔλαφος.

Istros de en tę̄ Synagōgę̄ tōn Krētikōn thysiōn phēsi tous Kourētas to palaion tǭ Kronǭ thyein paidas. katalythēnai de tas anthrōpothysias schedon tas para pasi phēsi Pallas, ho arista peri tōn tou Mithra synagagōn mystēriōn epi Adrianou tou autokratoros. ethyeto gar kai en Laodikeią tę̄ kata Syrian tę̄ Athēną katʼ etos parthenos, nyn de elaphos.

Ister, in his Collection of Cretan Sacrifices, says that the Curetes in ancient times sacrificed children to Cronus. And Pallas, who made the best collection about the mysteries of Mithras, says that human sacrifices were abolished almost everywhere under the emperor Hadrian. For in Laodicea in Syria a virgin was sacrificed to Athena every year, but now a deer.

Notes and citation

Summary: The Curetes sacrificed children; human sacrifice was largely abolished under Hadrian.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.7 (Dindorf 1:183–184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.8Dindorf 1:184

καὶ μὴν καὶ οἱ ἐν Λιβύῃ Καρχηδόνιοι ἐποίουν τὴν θυσίαν, ἣν Ἰφικράτης ἔπαυσε. καὶ Δουματηνοὶ δὲ τῆς Ἀραβίας κατʼ ἔτος ἕκαστον ἔθυον παῖδα, ὃν ὑπὸ βωμὸν ἔθαπτον, ᾧ χρῶνται ὡς ξοάνῳ.

kai mēn kai hoi en Libyę̄ Karchēdonioi epoioun tēn thysian, hēn Iphikratēs epause. kai Doumatēnoi de tēs Arabias katʼ etos hekaston ethyon paida, hon hypo bōmon ethapton, hǭ chrōntai hōs xoanǭ.

And indeed the Carthaginians in Libya performed this sacrifice, which Iphicrates stopped. And the Dumatenes of Arabia sacrificed a boy every year and buried him under the altar, which they use as an image.

Notes and citation

Summary: Carthaginians and Arabians also practiced child sacrifice.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.8 (Dindorf 1:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.9Dindorf 1:184

Φύλαρχος δὲ κοινῶς πάντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας, πρὶν ἐπὶ πολεμίους ἐξιέναι, ἀνθρωποκτονεῖν ἱστορεῖ. καὶ παρίημι Θρᾷκας καὶ Σκύθας, καὶ ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν Ἐρεχθέως καὶ Πραξιθέας θυγατέρα ἀνεῖλον. ἀλλʼ ἔτι γε νῦν τίς ἀγνοεῖ κατὰ τὴν Μεγάλην πόλιν τῇ τοῦ Λατιαρίου Δῖός ἑορτῇ σφαζόμενον ἄνθρωπον;

Phylarchos de koinōs pantas tous Hellēnas, prin epi polemious exienai, anthrōpoktonein historei. kai pariēmi Thrąkas kai Skythas, kai hōs Athēnaioi tēn Erechtheōs kai Praxitheas thygatera aneilon. allʼ eti ge nyn tis agnoei kata tēn Megalēn polin tę̄ tou Latiariou Dios heortę̄ sphazomenon anthrōpon?

Phylarchus records that all the Greeks in common killed a man before going out against their enemies. And I pass over the Thracians and Scythians, and how the Athenians put to death the daughter of Erechtheus and Praxithea. But even now who does not know that in the great city a man is slaughtered at the feast of Jupiter Latiaris?

Notes and citation

Summary: Greeks, Thracians, Scythians, Athenians, and Romans also offered human sacrifice.

"The great city" is Rome.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): ἀνθρω- ποκτονεῖν → ἀνθρωποκτονεῖν.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.9 (Dindorf 1:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.10Dindorf 1:184

Καὶ πάλιν φησὶν “Ἀφʼ οὗ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οὐκ ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ μόνον τοῖς Λυκαίοις, οὐδʼ ἐν Καρχηδόνι τῷ Κρόνῳ κοινῇ πάντες ἀνθρωποθυτοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ περίοδον, τῆς τοῦ νομίμου χάριν μνήμης, ἐμφύλιον ἀεὶ αἷμα ῥαίνουσι πρὸς τοὺς βωμούς.”

Kai palin phēsin “Aphʼ hou mechri tou nyn ouk en Arkadią monon tois Lykaiois, oudʼ en Karchēdoni tǭ Kronǭ koinę̄ pantes anthrōpothytousin, alla kata periodon, tēs tou nomimou charin mnēmēs, emphylion aei haima rhainousi pros tous bōmous.”

And again he says: "From that time until now, not only in Arcadia at the Lycaea, nor in Carthage to Cronus, do all in common offer human sacrifices, but periodically, in memory of the custom, they sprinkle the altars with the blood of their own kin."

Notes and citation

Summary: Human sacrifice continued in Arcadia and Carthage.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.10 (Dindorf 1:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.11Dindorf 1:184–185

Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐκ τῆς προδηλωθείσης κείσθω γραφῆς. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ πρώτου συγγράμματος τῆς Φίλωνος Φοινικικῆς ἱστορίας παραθήσομαι ταῦτα “Ἔθος ἦν τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἐν ταῖς μεγάλαις συμφοραῖς τῶν κινδύνων ἀντὶ τῆς πάντων φθορᾶς τὸ ἠγαπημένον τῶν τέκνων τοὺς κρατοῦντας ἢ πόλεως ἢ ἔθνους εἰς σφαγὴν ἐπιδιδόναι λύτρον τοῖς τιμωροῖς δαίμοσι· κατεσφάττοντο δὲ οἱ διδόμενοι μυστικῶς. Κρόνος τοίνυν, ὃν οἱ Φοίνικες Ἦλ προσαγορεύουσι, βασιλεύων τῆς χώρας, καὶ ὕστερον μετὰ τὴν τοῦ βίου τελευτὴν εἰς τὸν τοῦ Κρόνου ἀστέρα καθιερωθεὶς, ἐξ ἐπιχωρίας νύμφης Ἀνωβρὲτ λεγομένης υἱὸν ἔχων μονογενῆ, ὃν διὰ τοῦτο Ἰεοὺδ ἐκάλουν, τοῦ μονογενοῦς οὕτως ἔτι καὶ νῦν καλουμένου παρὰ τοῖς Φοίνιξι, κινδύνων ἐκ πολέμου μεγίστων κατειληφότων τὴν χώραν, βασιλικῷ κοσμήσας σχήματι τὸν υἱὸν, βωμόν τε κατασκευασάμενος κατέθυσε.”

Tauta men oun ek tēs prodēlōtheisēs keisthō graphēs. ek de tou prōtou syngrammatos tēs Philōnos Phoinikikēs historias parathēsomai tauta “Ethos ēn tois palaiois en tais megalais symphorais tōn kindynōn anti tēs pantōn phthoras to ēgapēmenon tōn teknōn tous kratountas ē poleōs ē ethnous eis sphagēn epididonai lytron tois timōrois daimosi; katesphattonto de hoi didomenoi mystikōs. Kronos toinyn, hon hoi Phoinikes Ēl prosagoreuousi, basileuōn tēs chōras, kai hysteron meta tēn tou biou teleutēn eis ton tou Kronou astera kathierōtheis, ex epichōrias nymphēs Anōbret legomenēs huion echōn monogenē, hon dia touto Ieoud ekaloun, tou monogenous houtōs eti kai nyn kaloumenou para tois Phoinixi, kindynōn ek polemou megistōn kateilēphotōn tēn chōran, basilikǭ kosmēsas schēmati ton huion, bōmon te kataskeuasamenos katethyse.”

Let these extracts from the work mentioned be set down. From the first book of Philo's Phoenician History I shall set out this: "It was the custom of the ancients, in great calamities of danger, that instead of the destruction of all, the rulers of the city or nation gave up the most beloved of their children to be slaughtered as a ransom to the avenging demons; and those given up were slaughtered with mystic rites. Cronus, then, whom the Phoenicians call El, who was king of the country and afterward, at the end of his life, was deified as the star of Cronus, having an only-begotten son by a nymph of the country called Anobret, whom they called Ieoud for this reason (the only-begotten is still so called among the Phoenicians), when very great dangers from war had seized the country, adorned his son with royal attire, prepared an altar, and sacrificed him."

Notes and citation

Summary: Eusebius repeats Philo of Byblos's account of Cronus sacrificing his only son.

Repeated from 1.10.44 (Philo of Byblos).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): τιμωροἲς → τιμωροῖς; Ἢλ → Ἦλ; ἐκά- λουν → ἐκάλουν.

Extrabiblical texts: Philo of Byblos, Philo Byb. (Philo of Byblos, Phoenician History; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.11 (Dindorf 1:184–185; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.12Dindorf 1:185–186

Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τοῦτον εἶχε τὸν τρόπον. εἰκότως ἄρα ὁ θαυμάσιος Κλήμης ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ἕλληνας Προτρεπτικῷ, αὐτὰ δὴ ταῦτα ἐπιμεμφόμενος, τοιάδε καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν πλάνην τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπολοφύρεται λέγων “Φέρʼ οὖν δὴ καὶ τοῦτο προσθῶμεν, ὡς ἀπάνθρωποι καὶ μισάνθρωποι δαίμονες εἶεν ὑμῶν οἱ θεοὶ καὶ οὐχὶ μόνον ἐπιχαίροντες τῇ φρενοβλαβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἀνθρωποκτονίας ἀπολαύοντες· νυνὶ μὲν τὰς ἐν σταδίοις ἐνόπλους φιλονεικίας, νυνὶ δὲ τὰς ἐν πολέμοις ἀναρίθμους φιλοτιμίας ἀφορμὰς σφίσιν ἡδονῆς ποριζόμενοι, ὅπως ὅτι μάλιστα ἔχοιεν ἀνθρωπείων ἀνέδην ἐμφορεῖσθαι φόνων. ἤδη δὲ κατὰ πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη, οἱονεὶ λοιμοὶ ἐπισκήψαντες, σπονδὰς ἀπῄτησαν ἀνημέρους. Ἀριστομένης γοῦν ὁ Μεσσήνιος τῷ Ἰθωμήτῃ Διὶ τριακοσίους ἀπέσφαξε, τοσαύτας ὁμοῦ καὶ τοιαύτας καλλιερεῖν οἰόμενος ἑκατόμβας· ἐν οἷς καὶ Θεόπομπος ἦν ὁ Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεὺς, ἱερεῖον εὐγενές. Ταῦροι δὲ τὸ ἔθνος, οἱ περὶ τὴν Ταυρικὴν Χερρόνησον κατοικοῦντες, οὓς ἂν τῶν ξένων παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἕλωσι, τούτων δὴ τῶν κατὰ θάλατταν ἐπταικότων, αὐτίκα μάλα τῇ Ταυρικῇ καταθύουσιν Ἀρτέμιδι. ταύτας σου τὰς θυσίας Εὐριπίδης ἐπὶ σκηνῆς τραγῳδεῖ. Μόνιμος δὲ ἱστορεῖ ἐν τῇ τῶν θαυμασίων Συναγωγῇ ἐν Πέλλῃ τῆς Θετταλίας Ἀχαιὸν ἄνθρωπον Πηλεῖ καὶ Χείρωνι καταθύεσθαι. Λυκτίους γὰρ — Κρητῶν δὲ ἔθνος εἰσὶν οὗτοι — Ἀντικλείδης ἐν Νόστοις ἀποφαίνεται ἀνθρώπους ἀποσφάττειν τῷ Διὶ, καὶ Λεσβίους Διονύσῳ τὴν ὁμοίαν προσάγειν θυσίαν Δωσίδας λέγει. Φωκαεῖς δὲ — οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτοὺς παραπέμψομαι — τούτους Πυθοκλῆς ἐν τρίτῳ Περὶ ὁμονοίας τῇ Ταυροπόλῳ Ἀρτέμιδι ἄνθρωπον ὁλοκαυτεῖν ἱστορεῖ. Ἐρεχθεὺς δὲ ὁ Ἀττικὸς καὶ Μάριος ὁ Ῥωμαῖος τὰς αὑτῶν ἐθυσάτην θυγατέρας· ὧν ὁ μὲν τῇ Φερρεφάττῃ, ὡς Δημάρατος ἐν πρώτῃ Τραγῳδουμένων, ὁ δὲ τοῖς ἀποτροπαίοις, ὁ Μάριος, ὡς Δωρόθεος ἐν τετάρτῃ Ἰταλικῶν ἱστορεῖ. φιλάνθρωποί γε ἐκ τούτων καταφαίνονται οἱ δαίμονες· πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἀνόσιοι ἀναλόγως οἱ δεισιδαίμονες, οἱ μὲν σωτῆρες εὐφημούμενοι, οἱ δὲ σωτηρίαν αἰτούμενοι παρὰ τῶν ἐπιβούλων σωτηρίας; καλλιερεῖν γοῦν τοπάζοντες αὐτοῖς σφᾶς αὐτοὺς λελήθασιν ἀποσφάττοντες ἀνθρώπους. οὐ γὰρ οὖν παρὰ τὸν τόπον ἱερεῖον γίνεται ὁ φόνος· οὐδʼ εἰ Ἀρτέμιδί τις καὶ Διὶ ἐν ἱερῷ δῆθεν χωρίῳ μᾶλλον ἢ ὀργῇ καὶ φιλαργυρίᾳ, ἄλλοις ὁμοίοις δαίμοσιν ἐπὶ βωμοῖς, ἢ ἐν ὁδοῖς ἀποσφάττοι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἱερὸν ἱερεῖον ἐπιφημίσας· ἀλλὰ φόνος ἐστὶ καὶ ἀνδροκτασία ἡ τοιαύτη θυσία.

Tauta men oun touton eiche ton tropon. eikotōs ara ho thaumasios Klēmēs en tǭ pros Hellēnas Protreptikǭ, auta dē tauta epimemphomenos, toiade kai autos tēn planēn tōn anthrōpōn apolophyretai legōn “Pherʼ oun dē kai touto prosthōmen, hōs apanthrōpoi kai misanthrōpoi daimones eien hymōn hoi theoi kai ouchi monon epichairontes tę̄ phrenoblabeią tōn anthrōpōn, pros de kai anthrōpoktonias apolauontes; nyni men tas en stadiois enoplous philoneikias, nyni de tas en polemois anarithmous philotimias aphormas sphisin hēdonēs porizomenoi, hopōs hoti malista echoien anthrōpeiōn anedēn emphoreisthai phonōn. ēdē de kata poleis kai ethnē, hoionei loimoi episkēpsantes, spondas apę̄tēsan anēmerous. Aristomenēs goun ho Messēnios tǭ Ithōmētę̄ Dii triakosious apesphaxe, tosautas homou kai toiautas kallierein oiomenos hekatombas; en hois kai Theopompos ēn ho Lakedaimoniōn basileus, hiereion eugenes. Tauroi de to ethnos, hoi peri tēn Taurikēn Cherronēson katoikountes, hous an tōn xenōn parʼ autois helōsi, toutōn dē tōn kata thalattan eptaikotōn, autika mala tę̄ Taurikę̄ katathyousin Artemidi. tautas sou tas thysias Euripidēs epi skēnēs tragǭdei. Monimos de historei en tę̄ tōn thaumasiōn Synagōgę̄ en Pellę̄ tēs Thettalias Achaion anthrōpon Pēlei kai Cheirōni katathyesthai. Lyktious gar — Krētōn de ethnos eisin houtoi — Antikleidēs en Nostois apophainetai anthrōpous aposphattein tǭ Dii, kai Lesbious Dionysǭ tēn homoian prosagein thysian Dōsidas legei. Phōkaeis de — oude gar autous parapempsomai — toutous Pythoklēs en tritǭ Peri homonoias tę̄ Tauropolǭ Artemidi anthrōpon holokautein historei. Erechtheus de ho Attikos kai Marios ho Rhōmaios tas hautōn ethysatēn thygateras; hōn ho men tę̄ Pherrephattę̄, hōs Dēmaratos en prōtę̄ Tragǭdoumenōn, ho de tois apotropaiois, ho Marios, hōs Dōrotheos en tetartę̄ Italikōn historei. philanthrōpoi ge ek toutōn kataphainontai hoi daimones; pōs de ouk anosioi analogōs hoi deisidaimones, hoi men sōtēres euphēmoumenoi, hoi de sōtērian aitoumenoi para tōn epiboulōn sōtērias? kallierein goun topazontes autois sphas autous lelēthasin aposphattontes anthrōpous. ou gar oun para ton topon hiereion ginetai ho phonos; oudʼ ei Artemidi tis kai Dii en hierǭ dēthen chōriǭ mallon ē orgę̄ kai philargyrią, allois homoiois daimosin epi bōmois, ē en hodois aposphattoi ton anthrōpon, hieron hiereion epiphēmisas; alla phonos esti kai androktasia hē toiautē thysia.

This is how these things were. Rightly, then, the admirable Clement in his Exhortation to the Greeks, blaming these very things, himself laments the error of men, saying: "Come, then, let us add this too: that your gods are inhuman and man-hating demons, who not only rejoice in the madness of men but also enjoy the murder of men; providing themselves occasions of pleasure, now in the armed contests in the stadiums, now in the countless rivalries for glory in wars, so that they may be able to glut themselves to the full with human blood. And already, falling upon cities and nations like plagues, they have demanded savage libations. Aristomenes the Messenian, at any rate, slaughtered three hundred men to Zeus of Ithome, thinking he was offering so many and such fine hecatombs; among them was Theopompus, king of the Lacedaemonians, a noble victim. The Tauri, the people who live around the Tauric Chersonese, at once sacrifice to the Tauric Artemis any strangers they catch among them, those shipwrecked at sea. These sacrifices of yours Euripides represents on the stage. Monimus records in his Collection of Marvels that at Pella in Thessaly an Achaean man is sacrificed to Peleus and Chiron. Anticlides in his Returns declares that the Lyctians (they are a people of Crete) slaughter men to Zeus; and Dosiadas says the Lesbians offer the like sacrifice to Dionysus. As for the Phocaeans (for I will not pass them by), Pythocles in the third book On Concord records that they burn a man whole to Artemis Tauropolus. Erechtheus of Attica and Marius the Roman sacrificed their own daughters, the one to Pherephatta, as Demaratus says in the first book of his Tragic Subjects, the other, Marius, to the averting gods, as Dorotheus records in the fourth book of his Italian History. How humane the demons are shown to be from this! And how are not the superstitious correspondingly unholy, the demons being acclaimed as saviors, and the people asking salvation from those who plot against salvation? Supposing they offer fair sacrifices to them, they have not noticed that they are slaughtering men. For murder does not become a sacrifice because of the place; not even if someone slaughters a man to Artemis and Zeus in a supposedly sacred place rather than to anger and love of money, other demons like them, on altars or on roads, calling it a sacred victim; such a sacrifice is murder and manslaughter.

Notes and citation

Summary: Clement catalogs human sacrifices among the Greeks and calls them murder.

Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation 3.42.1–9 (sections 4.16.12–13). The play of Euripides is Iphigenia among the Taurians.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): ῾Ρωμαῖος → Ῥωμαῖος; ἀπολαύον- τες → ἀπολαύοντες; Θεττα- λίας → Θετταλίας; καταθύε- σθαι → καταθύεσθαι.

Extrabiblical texts: Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 3.42.1 (Exhortation to the Greeks; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.12 (Dindorf 1:185–186; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-12). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.13Dindorf 1:186–187

τί δὴ οὖν, ὦ σοφώτατοι τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ἄνθρωποι, τὰ μὲν θηρία περιφεύγομεν τὰ ἀνήμερα, κἄν που περιτύχωμεν ἄρκτῳ, ἢ λέοντι, ἐκτρεπόμεθα, ὡς δʼ ὅτε τίς τε δράκοντα ἰδὼν παλίνορσος ἀπέστη οὔρεος ἐν βήσσῃς, ὑπό τε τρόμος ἔλλαβε γυῖα, ἄψ τʼ ἀνεχώρησε. δαίμονας δʼ ὀλεθρίους καὶ ἀλιτηρίους, ἐπιβούλους τε καὶ μισανθρώπους καὶ λυμεῶνας ὄντας προαισθόμενοι καὶ συνιέντες οὐκ ἐντρέπεσθε, οὐδὲ ἀποστρέφεσθε;”

ti dē oun, ō sophōtatoi tōn allōn zǭōn anthrōpoi, ta men thēria peripheugomen ta anēmera, kan pou peritychōmen arktǭ, ē leonti, ektrepometha, hōs dʼ hote tis te drakonta idōn palinorsos apestē oureos en bēssę̄s, hypo te tromos ellabe guia, aps tʼ anechōrēse. daimonas dʼ olethrious kai alitērious, epiboulous te kai misanthrōpous kai lymeōnas ontas proaisthomenoi kai synientes ouk entrepesthe, oude apostrephesthe?”

Why, then, O wisest of all living creatures, men, do we flee from savage beasts, and if we meet a bear or a lion somewhere, turn aside, 'as when a man, seeing a serpent in the mountain glens, starts back, and trembling seizes his limbs beneath, and he retreats again'; but when you perceive and understand that demons are destructive and accursed, plotting against men, hating them, and ruining them, do you not turn away or flee from them?"

Notes and citation

Summary: Clement asks why people flee wild beasts but not the destructive demons.

The verses are Homer, Iliad 3.33–35.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined; line-break hyphen rejoined; accent corrected; stray mark in digitization): ἅλλων → ἄλλων; ὡς· δʼ ὅτε → ὡς δʼ ὅτε; προαισθό- μένοι → προαισθόμενοι; ἀποστρέ- φεσθε → ἀποστρέφεσθε.

Extrabiblical texts: Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 3.42.9 (Exhortation to the Greeks; quotation); Homer, Il. 3.33 (Homer, Iliad; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.13 (Dindorf 1:186–187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-13). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.14Dindorf 1:187

Τοσαῦτα καὶ ὁ Κλήμης. ἔχω δέ σοι καὶ ἄλλον παραστῆσαι μάρτυρα τῆς τῶν ἀθέων καὶ ἀπανθρώπων δαιμόνων μιαιφονίας, Διονύσιον τὸν Ἁλικαρνασσέα, ἄνδρα τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς ἱστορίας ἀκριβῆ τὴν γραφὴν ἅπασαν ἐκθέμενον. γράφει δʼ οὖν καὶ οὗτος τὸν Δία καὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα αἰτῆσαί ποτε ἀνθρωποθυσίας, τοὺς δʼ αἰτηθέντας καρπῶν μὲν ἀπάντων καὶ βοσκημάτων τὸ λάχος ἀποθῦσαι τοῖς θεοῖς, ὅτι δὲ μὴ καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἔθυσαν παντοίαις περιστῆναι συμφοραῖς. οὐδὲν δὲ οἷον καὶ τοῦ συγγραφέως ἀκοῦσαι ὧδέ πη διεξιόντος

Tosauta kai ho Klēmēs. echō de soi kai allon parastēsai martyra tēs tōn atheōn kai apanthrōpōn daimonōn miaiphonias, Dionysion ton Halikarnassea, andra tēs Rhōmaïkēs historias akribē tēn graphēn hapasan ekthemenon. graphei dʼ oun kai houtos ton Dia kai ton Apollōna aitēsai pote anthrōpothysias, tous dʼ aitēthentas karpōn men apantōn kai boskēmatōn to lachos apothysai tois theois, hoti de mē kai anthrōpous ethysan pantoiais peristēnai symphorais. ouden de hoion kai tou syngrapheōs akousai hōde pē diexiontos

So much Clement. I can also produce for you another witness of the bloodguiltiness of the godless and inhuman demons, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a man who set out the whole of Roman history accurately. He too writes that Zeus and Apollo once demanded human sacrifices, and that those of whom they were demanded offered to the gods the portion of all their fruits and cattle, but, because they did not sacrifice men too, fell into all kinds of calamities. There is nothing like hearing the historian himself relating it thus:

Notes and citation

Summary: Eusebius introduces Dionysius of Halicarnassus on the Pelasgians' failure to sacrifice men.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent lost in digitization; accent misread in digitization; breathing lost in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined; stray letter in digitization): ἄλλον x παραστῆσαι → ἄλλον παραστῆσαι; ἀπανθρωπων → ἀπανθρώπων; Αλικαρνασσέα → Ἁλικαρνασσέα; οἶον → οἷον; ἀνθρωπο- θυσίας → ἀνθρωποθυσίας; συμ- φοραῖς → συμφοραῖς.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.14 (Dindorf 1:187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-14). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.15Dindorf 1:187–188

" Ὀλίγον δὲ κατέμεινεν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ τῶν Ἀβοριγίνων προνοίᾳ. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τῆς οἰκοφθορίας ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐδόκει αὐχμῷ ἡ γῆ κακωθεῖσα ἄρξαι, ἡνίκα οὔτʼ ἐπὶ τοῖς δένδρεσι καρπὸς οὐδεὶς ὡραῖος διέμεινεν, ἀλλʼ ὠμοὶ κατέρρεον, οὔτε ὁπόσα σπερμάτων ἀνέντα βλαστοὺς ἀνθήσειεν ὡς στάχυος ἀκμῆς τοὺς κατὰ νόμον ἐξεπλήρου χρόνους, οὔτε πόα κτήνεσιν ἐφύετο διαρκὴς, τῶν τε ναμάτων τὰ μὲν οὐκέτι πίνεσθαι σπουδαῖα ἦν, τὰ δʼ ὑπελίμπανε θέρους, τὰ δʼ εἰς τέλος ἀπεσβέννυτο. ἀδελφὰ δὲ τούτοις ἐγίνετο περὶ προβάτων καὶ γυναικῶν γονάς· ἢ γὰρ ἐξημβλοῦτο τὰ ἔμβρυα, ἢ κατὰ τοὺς τόκους διεφθείρετο, ἔστιν ἃ καὶ τὰς φερούσας συνδιαλυμηνάμενα. εἰ δέ τι διαφύγοι τὸν ἐκ τῶν ὠδίνων κίνδυνον ἀνάπηρον, ἢ ἀτελὲς, ἢ διὰ ἄλλην τινὰ τύχην βλαφθὲν, τρέφεσθαι χρηστὸν οὐκ ἦν· ἔπειτα καὶ τὸ ἄλλο πλῆθος τὸ ἐν ἀκμῇ μάλιστα ἐκακοῦτο νόσοις καὶ θανάτοις παρὰ τὰ εἰκότα συχνοῖς. μαντευομένοις δὲ αὐτοῖς τίνα θεῶν ἢ δαιμόνων παραβάντες τάδε πάσχουσι καὶ τί ποιήσασιν αὐτοῖς λωφῆσαι τὰ δεινὰ ἐλπὶς, ὁ θεὸς ἀνεῖλεν ὅτι τυχόντες ὧν ἐβούλοντο οὐκ ἀπέδοσαν ἃ ηὔξαντο, ἀλλὰ προσοφείλουσι τὰ πλείστου ἄξια. οἱ γὰρ Πελασγοὶ, ἀφορίας αὐτοῖς γενομένης ἐν τῇ γῇ πάντων χρημάτων, ηὔξαντο τῷ Διὶ καὶ τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι καὶ τοῖς Καβείροις καταθύσειν δεκάτας τῶν προσγενησομένων ἁπάντων, τελεσθείσης δὲ τῆς εὐχῆς ἐξελόμενοι καρπῶν τε καὶ βοσκημάτων ἁπάντων τὸ λάχος ἀπέθυσαν τοῖς θεοῖς, ὡς δὴ κατὰ τούτων μόνων εὐξάμενοι. ταῦτα δὲ Μυρσίλος ὁ Λέσβιος ἱστόρηκεν ὀλίγου δεῖν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὀνόμασι γράφων οἷς ἐγὼ νῦν, πλὴν ὅσον οὐ Πελασγοὺς καλεῖ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ Τυρρηνούς· τὴν δʼ αἰτίαν ὀλίγον ὕστερον ἀλλὰ.”

" Oligon de katemeinen en Italią tōn Aboriginōn pronoią. prōton men oun tēs oikophthorias tais polesin edokei auchmǭ hē gē kakōtheisa arxai, hēnika outʼ epi tois dendresi karpos oudeis hōraios diemeinen, allʼ ōmoi katerreon, oute hoposa spermatōn anenta blastous anthēseien hōs stachyos akmēs tous kata nomon exeplērou chronous, oute poa ktēnesin ephyeto diarkēs, tōn te namatōn ta men ouketi pinesthai spoudaia ēn, ta dʼ hypelimpane therous, ta dʼ eis telos apesbennyto. adelpha de toutois egineto peri probatōn kai gynaikōn gonas; ē gar exēmblouto ta embrya, ē kata tous tokous diephtheireto, estin ha kai tas pherousas syndialymēnamena. ei de ti diaphygoi ton ek tōn ōdinōn kindynon anapēron, ē ateles, ē dia allēn tina tychēn blaphthen, trephesthai chrēston ouk ēn; epeita kai to allo plēthos to en akmę̄ malista ekakouto nosois kai thanatois para ta eikota sychnois. manteuomenois de autois tina theōn ē daimonōn parabantes tade paschousi kai ti poiēsasin autois lōphēsai ta deina elpis, ho theos aneilen hoti tychontes hōn eboulonto ouk apedosan ha ēuxanto, alla prosopheilousi ta pleistou axia. hoi gar Pelasgoi, aphorias autois genomenēs en tę̄ gę̄ pantōn chrēmatōn, ēuxanto tǭ Dii kai tǭ Apollōni kai tois Kabeirois katathysein dekatas tōn prosgenēsomenōn hapantōn, telestheisēs de tēs euchēs exelomenoi karpōn te kai boskēmatōn hapantōn to lachos apethysan tois theois, hōs dē kata toutōn monōn euxamenoi. tauta de Myrsilos ho Lesbios historēken oligou dein tois autois onomasi graphōn hois egō nyn, plēn hoson ou Pelasgous kalei tous anthrōpous, alla Tyrrēnous; tēn dʼ aitian oligon hysteron alla.”

"Few remained in Italy through the foresight of the Aborigines. First, then, the ruin of their homes seemed to begin for the cities when the land was afflicted by drought, when no fruit remained ripe on the trees, but fell off unripe; nor did the seeds that sent up shoots and flowered fulfill their natural time to the ripeness of the ear; nor did enough grass grow for the cattle; and of the springs some were no longer good to drink, some failed in summer, and some dried up altogether. Things akin to these happened to the births of cattle and of women: either the embryos miscarried, or perished in birth, sometimes destroying the mothers as well; and if any escaped the danger of birth maimed or imperfect or harmed by some other mischance, it was of no use to rear it. Then the rest of the population too, those in their prime, were afflicted with diseases and deaths beyond the usual number. When they consulted the oracle, asking which of the gods or demons they had offended to suffer these things, and what they must do to hope for relief from their troubles, the god answered that, having obtained what they wished, they had not paid what they vowed, but still owed what was of most value. For the Pelasgians, when a dearth of all goods had come upon their land, had vowed to Zeus, Apollo, and the Cabiri to sacrifice tithes of all that should accrue to them; and when the prayer was fulfilled, they set aside the portion of all their fruits and cattle and sacrificed it to the gods, as if they had vowed these alone. This Myrsilus of Lesbos has recorded, writing almost in the same words as I do now, except that he calls the people not Pelasgians but Tyrrhenians; the reason I shall give a little later."

Notes and citation

Summary: Dionysius tells how the Pelasgians suffered disasters for not paying the tithe of their children vowed to the gods.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.23–24 (sections 4.16.15–17). The last words are defective in the digital text (ἀλλά for "I shall tell"); translated by sense.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined; stray letters in digitization): ἀκμῆς μὴς → ἀκμῆς; συχνοἲς → συχνοῖς; αὐτοἲς → αὐτοῖς; σπερ- μάτων → σπερμάτων; διε- φθείρετο → διεφθείρετο; πά- σχουσι → πάσχουσι.

Extrabiblical texts: Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.15 (Dindorf 1:187–188; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-15). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.16Dindorf 1:188

“Ὡς δὲ ἀπενεχθέντα τὸν χρησμὸν ἔμαθον, οὐκ εἶχον τὰ λεγόμενα συμβαλεῖν. ἀμηχανοῦσι δὲ αὐτοῖς τῶν γεραιτέρων τις λέγει συμβαλὼν τὸ λόγιον, ὅτι τοῦ παντὸς ἡμαρτήκασιν, εἰ οἴονται τοὺς θεοὺς ἀδίκως αὐτοῖς ἐγκαλεῖν· χρημάτων μὲν γὰρ ἀποδεδόσθαι τὰς ἀπαρχὰς αὐτοῖς ἁπάσας ὀρθῶς τε καὶ σὺν δίκῃ, ἀνθρώπων δὲ γονῆς τὸ λάχος, χρῆμα παντὸς μάλιστα θεοῖς τιμιώτατον, ὀφείλεσθαι· εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ τούτων λάβοιεν τὴν δικαίαν μοῖραν, τέλος ἕξειν σφίσι τὸ λόγιον. τοῖς μὲν δὴ ὀρθῶς ἐδόκει λέγεσθαι ταῦτα, τοῖς δʼ ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς συγκεῖσθαι ὁ λόγος· εἰσηγησαμένου δέ τινος τὴν γνώμην τὸν θεὸν ἐπερέσθαι, εἰ αὐτῷ φίλον ἀνθρώπων δεκάτας ἀπολαμβάνειν, πέμπουσι τὸ δεύτερον θεοπρόπους, καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἀνεῖλεν οὕτω ποιεῖν.

“Hōs de apenechthenta ton chrēsmon emathon, ouk eichon ta legomena symbalein. amēchanousi de autois tōn geraiterōn tis legei symbalōn to logion, hoti tou pantos hēmartēkasin, ei oiontai tous theous adikōs autois enkalein; chrēmatōn men gar apodedosthai tas aparchas autois hapasas orthōs te kai syn dikę̄, anthrōpōn de gonēs to lachos, chrēma pantos malista theois timiōtaton, opheilesthai; ei de dē kai toutōn laboien tēn dikaian moiran, telos hexein sphisi to logion. tois men dē orthōs edokei legesthai tauta, tois dʼ ex epiboulēs synkeisthai ho logos; eisēgēsamenou de tinos tēn gnōmēn ton theon eperesthai, ei autǭ philon anthrōpōn dekatas apolambanein, pempousi to deuteron theopropous, kai ho theos aneilen houtō poiein.

"When they learned the oracle that was brought back, they could not understand what was said. In their perplexity one of the elders, interpreting the oracle, said that they were wholly mistaken if they thought the gods accused them unjustly; for the first-fruits of their goods had all been paid rightly and justly, but the portion of human offspring, the thing above all most precious to the gods, was still owed; and if the gods received their just share of these too, the oracle would be fulfilled. Some thought this rightly said, others that the account had been concocted by design. When someone proposed asking the god whether it pleased him to receive tithes of men, they sent envoys a second time, and the god answered that they should do so.

Notes and citation

Summary: An elder interpreted the oracle as demanding a tithe of human beings, and the god confirmed it.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization): ἀνεἲλεν → ἀνεῖλεν.

Extrabiblical texts: Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.16 (Dindorf 1:188; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-16). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.17Dindorf 1:188–189

ἐκ δὲ τούτου στάσις αὐτοὺς καταλαμβάνει περὶ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς δεκατεύσεως· καὶ ἐν ἀλλήλοις οἱ προεστηκότες τῶν πόλεων τότε πρῶτον ἐταράχθησαν, ἔπειτα καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος διʼ ὑποψίας τοὺς ἐν τέλει ἐλάμβανεν. ἐγίνοντο δὲ οὐδενὶ κόσμῳ αἱ ἐπαναστάσεις, ἀλλʼ, ὥσπερ εἰκὸς, οἴστρῳ καὶ θεοβλαβείᾳ ἀπελαυνομένων, καὶ πολλὰ ἐφέστια ὅλα ἐξηλείφθη μέρους αὐτῶν μεθισταμένου· οὐ γὰρ ἐδικαίουν οἱ προσήκοντες τοῖς ἐξιοῦσιν ἀπολείπεσθαι τῶν φιλτάτων καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐχθίστοις ὑπομένειν. πρῶτον μὲν δὴ οὗτοι μεταστάντες ἐξ Ἰταλίας εἴς τε τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τῆς βαρβάρου πολλὴν ἐπλανήθησαν. μετὰ δὲ τοὺς πρώτους ἕτεροι τὸ αὐτὸ ἔπαθον, καὶ τοῦτο διετέλει γινόμενον ἐπὶ ἔτη. οὐ γὰρ ἀνίεσαν οἱ δυναστεύοντες ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι τῆς ἀνδρουμένης ἀεὶ νεότητος ἐξαιρούμενοι τὰς ἀπαρχὰς, τοῖς τε θεοῖς τὰ δίκαια ὑπουργεῖν ἀξιοῦντες καὶ στασιασμοὺς ἐκ τῶν διαλαθόντων δεδιότες. ἦν δὲ πολὺ καὶ τὸ πρὸς ἔχθραν σὺν προφάσει εὐπρεπεῖ ἀπελαυνόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν διαφόρων· ὥστε πολλαὶ αἱ ἐπαναστάσεις ἐγίνοντο καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον γῆς τὸ Πελασγικὸν γένος διεφορήθη."

ek de toutou stasis autous katalambanei peri tou tropou tēs dekateuseōs; kai en allēlois hoi proestēkotes tōn poleōn tote prōton etarachthēsan, epeita kai to loipon plēthos diʼ hypopsias tous en telei elambanen. eginonto de oudeni kosmǭ hai epanastaseis, allʼ, hōsper eikos, oistrǭ kai theoblabeią apelaunomenōn, kai polla ephestia hola exēleiphthē merous autōn methistamenou; ou gar edikaioun hoi prosēkontes tois exiousin apoleipesthai tōn philtatōn kai en tois echthistois hypomenein. prōton men dē houtoi metastantes ex Italias eis te tēn Hellada kai tēs barbarou pollēn eplanēthēsan. meta de tous prōtous heteroi to auto epathon, kai touto dietelei ginomenon epi etē. ou gar aniesan hoi dynasteuontes en tais polesi tēs androumenēs aei neotētos exairoumenoi tas aparchas, tois te theois ta dikaia hypourgein axiountes kai stasiasmous ek tōn dialathontōn dediotes. ēn de poly kai to pros echthran syn prophasei euprepei apelaunomenon hypo tōn diaphorōn; hōste pollai hai epanastaseis eginonto kai epi pleiston gēs to Pelasgikon genos diephorēthē."

From this, strife seized them about the manner of the tithing; and first the leaders of the cities fell into confusion among themselves, then the rest of the people came to suspect those in authority. The expulsions took place in no order, but, as was natural, of men driven out by frenzy and divine madness; and many whole households were wiped out when part of them was removed, since the kinsmen did not think it right to be left behind by those who were departing, their dearest ones, and to remain among their worst enemies. These, then, were the first to leave Italy, and they wandered over much of Greece and of the barbarian land. After the first, others suffered the same, and this went on for years. For the rulers in the cities did not cease taking the first-fruits of the youth as they came to manhood, thinking it right to render the gods their due and fearing seditions from those who escaped notice. Many too were driven out by their adversaries out of enmity under a fair pretext; so that there were many expulsions, and the Pelasgian race was scattered over most of the earth."

Notes and citation

Summary: The human tithe caused strife and mass emigration that scattered the Pelasgians.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): οἶ προεστηκότες → οἱ προεστηκότες; αἶ ἐπαναστάσεις → αἱ ἐπαναστάσεις; οἶ προσήκοντες → οἱ προσήκοντες; οἶ δυναστεύοντες → οἱ δυναστεύοντες; δεκατεύ- σεως → δεκατεύσεως; πλῆ- θος → πλῆθος; ἀπο- λείπεσθαι → ἀπολείπεσθαι; ὑπο- μένειν → ὑπομένειν; ἐπλα- νήθησαν → ἐπλανήθησαν; ἔπα- θον → ἔπαθον; στασια- σμοὺς → στασιασμοὺς.

Extrabiblical texts: Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.17 (Dindorf 1:188–189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-17). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.18Dindorf 1:189–190

Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα φησὶ " Λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τὰς θυσίας ἐπιτελεῖν τῷ Κρόνῳ τοὺς παλαιοὺς, ὥσπερ ἐν Καρχηδόνι τέως ἡ πόλις διέμεινε καὶ παρὰ Κελτοῖς εἰς τόδε χρόνου γίνεται, καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις τισὶ τῶν προσεσπερίων ἐθνῶν ἀνδροφονοῦσιν, Ἡρακλέα δὲ παῦσαι τὸν νόμον τῆς θυσίας βουληθέντα τόν τε βωμὸν ἱδρύσασθαι τὸν ἐπὶ τῷ Σατορνίῳ καὶ κατάρξασθαι θυμάτων ἁγνῶν ἐπὶ καθαρῷ πυρὶ ἁγιζομένων, ἵνα δὲ μηδὲν ᾖ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δέους ἐνθύμιον, ὡς πατρίων ἠλογηκόσι θυσιῶν, διδάξαι τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους ἀπομειλιττομένους τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μῆνιν ἀντὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὓς συμποδίζοντες καὶ τῶν χειρῶν ἀκρατεῖς ποιοῦντες ἐρρίπτουν εἰς τὸ τοῦ Τιβέριος ῥεῖθρον, εἴδωλα ποιοῦντας ἀνδρείκελα, κεκοσμημένα τὸν αὐτὸν ἐκείνοις τρόπον, ἐμβάλλειν εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν, ἵνα δὴ τὸ τῆς ὀττείας ὅ τι δή ποτε ἦν ἐν ταῖς ἀπάντων ψυχαῖς παραμένον ἐξαιρεθῇ, τῶν εἰκόνων τοῦ παλαιοῦ πάθους ἔτι σωζομένων. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ μέχρις ἐμοῦ διετέλουν Ῥωμαῖοι δρῶντες ἔτι μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐαρινῆς ἰσημερίας, ἐν μηνὶ Μαίῳ ταῖς καλουμέναις εἰδοῖς, διχομήνιδα βουλόμενοι ταύτην εἶναι τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐν ᾗ προθύσαντες ἱερεῖα τὰ κατὰ τοὺς νόμους οἱ καλούμενοι ποντίφικες, ἱερέων οἱ διαφανέστατοι, καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς αἱ τὸ ἀθάνατον πῦρ διαφυλάττουσαι παρθένοι, στρατηγοί τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν οὓς παρεῖναι ταῖς ἱερουργίαις θέμις, εἴδωλα εἰς μορφὰς ἀνθρώπων εἰκασμένα, τριάκοντα τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἱερᾶς γεφύρας βάλλουσιν εἰς τὸ ῥεῦμα τοῦ Τιβέριος, Ἀργείους αὐτὰ καλοῦντες."

Kai meta brachea phēsi " Legousi de kai tas thysias epitelein tǭ Kronǭ tous palaious, hōsper en Karchēdoni teōs hē polis diemeine kai para Keltois eis tode chronou ginetai, kai en allois tisi tōn prosesperiōn ethnōn androphonousin, Hēraklea de pausai ton nomon tēs thysias boulēthenta ton te bōmon hidrysasthai ton epi tǭ Satorniǭ kai katarxasthai thymatōn hagnōn epi katharǭ pyri hagizomenōn, hina de mēden ę̄ tois anthrōpois deous enthymion, hōs patriōn ēlogēkosi thysiōn, didaxai tous epichōrious apomeilittomenous tēn tou theou mēnin anti tōn anthrōpōn, hous sympodizontes kai tōn cheirōn akrateis poiountes erriptoun eis to tou Tiberios rheithron, eidōla poiountas andreikela, kekosmēmena ton auton ekeinois tropon, emballein eis ton potamon, hina dē to tēs otteias ho ti dē pote ēn en tais apantōn psychais paramenon exairethę̄, tōn eikonōn tou palaiou pathous eti sōzomenōn. touto de kai mechris emou dieteloun Rhōmaioi drōntes eti mikron hysteron earinēs isēmerias, en mēni Maiǭ tais kaloumenais eidois, dichomēnida boulomenoi tautēn einai tēn hēmeran, en hę̄ prothysantes hiereia ta kata tous nomous hoi kaloumenoi pontiphikes, hiereōn hoi diaphanestatoi, kai syn autois hai to athanaton pyr diaphylattousai parthenoi, stratēgoi te kai tōn allōn politōn hous pareinai tais hierourgiais themis, eidōla eis morphas anthrōpōn eikasmena, triakonta ton arithmon apo tēs hieras gephyras ballousin eis to rheuma tou Tiberios, Argeious auta kalountes."

And a little later he says: "They say too that the ancients performed the sacrifices to Cronus, as was done at Carthage as long as the city lasted and is done among the Celts to this day, and among some other western nations they kill men; and that Heracles, wishing to put an end to the custom of this sacrifice, set up the altar on the Saturnian hill and began sacrifices of pure victims consecrated on a pure fire. And so that men should have no scruple, as having neglected ancestral sacrifices, he taught the natives to appease the god's wrath by making images in the likeness of men, adorned in the same way as the men they used to bind hand and foot and throw into the stream of the Tiber, and casting these into the river instead of the men, so that whatever ominous fear remained in the souls of all might be removed, while images of the ancient practice were still preserved. This the Romans continued to do even to my time, a little after the spring equinox, in the month of May, on the so-called Ides, meaning this to be the day of the full moon. On it, after offering beforehand the victims prescribed by the laws, the so-called pontiffs, the most distinguished of the priests, and with them the virgins who guard the undying fire, the praetors, and those of the other citizens who may lawfully be present at the rites, throw from the sacred bridge into the stream of the Tiber images made in the forms of men, thirty in number, calling them Argei."

Notes and citation

Summary: Dionysius says Heracles replaced human sacrifice to Cronus at Rome with images thrown into the Tiber, the rite of the Argei.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.38.2–3.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing lost in digitization; digitization slip; line-break hyphen rejoined): έν Καρχηδόνι → ἐν Καρχηδόνι; ἔνα δὲ μηδὲν → ἵνα δὲ μηδὲν; ἔνα δὴ τὸ → ἵνα δὴ τὸ; τόν εἰκόνων → τῶν εἰκόνων; ἀνδρο- φονοῦσιν → ἀνδροφονοῦσιν.

Extrabiblical texts: Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.18 (Dindorf 1:189–190; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-18). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.19Dindorf 1:190–191

Τοσαῦτα μὲν δὴ ταῦτα. καὶ ὁ Διόδωρος δὲ τὰ ὅμοια τούτοις ἐν εἰκοστῇ βίβλῳ τῆς ἱστορικῆς Βιβλιοθήκης ἱστορεῖ, μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος τελευτὴν, ἐπὶ τοῦ πρώτου Πτολεμαίου, περὶ Καρχηδονίων ὑπὸ Ἀγαθοκλέους τοῦ Σικελίας τυράννου πολιορκουμένων, ταῦτα πρὸς λέξιν γράφων “Ἠιτιῶντο δὲ καὶ τὸν Κρόνον αὐτοῖς ἐναντιοῦσθαι, καθʼ ὅσον ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις θύοντες τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ τῶν υἱῶν τοὺς κρατίστους, ὕστερον ὠνούμενοι λάθρα παῖδας, καὶ θρέψαντες ἔπεμπον ἐπὶ τὴν θυσίαν, καὶ ζητήσεως γενομένης εὑρέθησάν τινες τῶν καθιερουργημένων ὑποβολιμαῖοι γεγονότες. τούτων δὲ λαβόντες ἔννοιαν, καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους πρὸς τοῖς τείχεσιν ὁρῶντες στρατοπεδεύοντας, ἐδεισιδαιμόνουν ὡς καταλελυκότες τὰς πατρίους τῶν θεῶν τιμάς. διορθώσασθαι δὲ τὰς ἀγνοίας σπεύδοντες διακοσίους μὲν τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων παίδων προκρίναντες ἔθυσαν δημοσίᾳ, ἄλλοι δʼ ἐν διαβολαῖς ὄντες ἑκουσίως ἑαυτοὺς ἔδοσαν, οὐκ ἐλάττους ὄντες τριακοσίων. ἦν δὲ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀνδριὰς Κρόνου χαλκοῦς, ἐκτετακὼς τὰς χεῖρας ὑπτίας ἐκτεταμένας ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ὥστε τὸν συντιθέντα τῶν παίδων ἀποκωλύεσθαι καὶ πίπτειν εἴς τι χάσμα πλῆρες πυρός.”

Tosauta men dē tauta. kai ho Diodōros de ta homoia toutois en eikostę̄ biblǭ tēs historikēs Bibliothēkēs historei, meta tēn Alexandrou tou Makedonos teleutēn, epi tou prōtou Ptolemaiou, peri Karchēdoniōn hypo Agathokleous tou Sikelias tyrannou poliorkoumenōn, tauta pros lexin graphōn “Ēitiōnto de kai ton Kronon autois enantiousthai, kathʼ hoson en tois emprosthen chronois thyontes toutǭ tǭ theǭ tōn huiōn tous kratistous, hysteron ōnoumenoi lathra paidas, kai threpsantes epempon epi tēn thysian, kai zētēseōs genomenēs heurethēsan tines tōn kathierourgēmenōn hypobolimaioi gegonotes. toutōn de labontes ennoian, kai tous polemious pros tois teichesin horōntes stratopedeuontas, edeisidaimonoun hōs katalelykotes tas patrious tōn theōn timas. diorthōsasthai de tas agnoias speudontes diakosious men tōn epiphanestatōn paidōn prokrinantes ethysan dēmosią, alloi dʼ en diabolais ontes hekousiōs heautous edosan, ouk elattous ontes triakosiōn. ēn de parʼ autois andrias Kronou chalkous, ektetakōs tas cheiras hyptias ektetamenas epi tēn gēn, hōste ton syntithenta tōn paidōn apokōlyesthai kai piptein eis ti chasma plēres pyros.”

So much for these things. Diodorus too records things like these in the twentieth book of his Historical Library, after the death of Alexander of Macedon, under the first Ptolemy, about the Carthaginians when they were besieged by Agathocles, tyrant of Sicily, writing this word for word: "They also blamed Cronus for opposing them, inasmuch as in former times they had sacrificed to this god the best of their sons, but later bought children secretly, reared them, and sent them to the sacrifice; and when an inquiry was made, some of those sacrificed were found to have been substituted. Taking these things to heart and seeing the enemy encamped before their walls, they were filled with superstitious fear, as having abolished the ancestral honors of the gods. Eager to correct their errors, they selected two hundred of the noblest children and sacrificed them publicly; and others who were under suspicion gave themselves up voluntarily, not fewer than three hundred. There was among them a bronze statue of Cronus, stretching out its hands palm upward and sloping toward the ground, so that the child placed on them rolled off and fell into a pit full of fire."

Notes and citation

Summary: Diodorus describes the Carthaginians' mass sacrifice of children to Cronus during Agathocles' siege.

Diodorus, Library 20.14.4–6.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization; breathing lost in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined; line-break hyphen rejoined; accent corrected; words joined in digitization): Ηιτιῶντο → Ἠιτιῶντο; ὑποβολιμαἲοι → ὑποβολιμαῖοι; θεῶντιμάς → θεῶν τιμάς; τοὐ Μακε- δόνος → τοῦ Μακεδόνος; Βι- βλιοθήκης → Βιβλιοθήκης; ἐναντιοῦ- σθαι → ἐναντιοῦσθαι.

Extrabiblical texts: Diodorus Siculus, 20.14.4 (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.19 (Dindorf 1:190–191; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-19). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.20Dindorf 1:191

Τοιαῦτα δὴ καὶ οὗτος διὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἱστορίας παρέδωκεν. εἰκότως ἄρα καὶ ἡ παρʼ Ἑβραίοις γραφὴ καταμέμφεται τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα ζηλώσασι τῶν ἐκ περιτομῆς, φάσκουσα “καὶ ἔθυον τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτῶν τοῖς δαιμονίοις· καὶ ἐφονοκτονήθη ἡ γῆ ἐν τοῖς αἵμασι, καὶ ἐμιάνθη ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτῶν.” ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἡγοῦμαι διὰ τούτων ἀπεληλέγχθαι σαφῶς δαιμονικήν τινα γεγονέναι τὴν παλαιτάτην καὶ πρώτην τῶν ξοάνων ἵδρυσιν, καὶ πάσαν τὴν εἰδωλικὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν θεοποιίαν καὶ δαιμόνων οὐκ ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλὰ πάντα μοχθηροτάτων καὶ φαύλων· ὡς ἐπαληθεύειν τὸ φάσκον ἐν προφητείαις λόγιον “πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια·” τό τε ἀποστολικὸν, διʼ οὗ φησιν ὅτι “ἃ θύουσι, δαιμονίοις καὶ οὐ θεῷ θύουσιν.”

Toiauta dē kai houtos dia tēs oikeias historias paredōken. eikotōs ara kai hē parʼ Hebraiois graphē katamemphetai tois ta toiauta zēlōsasi tōn ek peritomēs, phaskousa “kai ethyon tous huious autōn kai tas thygateras autōn tois daimoniois; kai ephonoktonēthē hē gē en tois haimasi, kai emianthē en tois ergois autōn.” alla gar hēgoumai dia toutōn apelēlenchthai saphōs daimonikēn tina gegonenai tēn palaitatēn kai prōtēn tōn xoanōn hidrysin, kai pasan tēn eidōlikēn tōn ethnōn theopoiian kai daimonōn ouk agathōn, alla panta mochthērotatōn kai phaulōn; hōs epalētheuein to phaskon en prophēteiais logion “pantes hoi theoi tōn ethnōn daimonia;” to te apostolikon, diʼ hou phēsin hoti “ha thyousi, daimoniois kai ou theǭ thyousin.”

Such things this writer too has handed down through his history. Rightly, then, the Scripture of the Hebrews also blames those of the circumcision who imitated such things, saying: "And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons; and the land was polluted with blood, and was defiled by their works." But I think it has been clearly proved by these things that the most ancient and first setting up of images was demonic, and all the idolatrous deification of the nations was the work of demons, not good but altogether most wicked and evil; so that the oracle spoken in the prophecies is fulfilled: "All the gods of the nations are demons"; and the apostolic word, in which it says that "what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God."

Ps 106:37–38 (105:37-Ps LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 96:5 (95:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:20 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Scripture condemns child sacrifice and declares the gods of the nations to be demons.

Quotations: Ps 106:37–38 (105:37–38 LXX); Ps 96:5 (95:5 LXX); 1 Cor 10:20.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.20 (Dindorf 1:191; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-20). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.21Dindorf 1:191–192

ἢ εἴ τί γε ἦν ἀγαθὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς, ὡς διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν μεταλαχεῖν προσηγορίας, εὐεργετικὸν ἂν ἦν καὶ πάντων σωτήριον, φίλον τε δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἀνθρώπων κηδεμονικόν. τοιοῦτον δὲ ὂν πῶς ἀνθρώπων ἔχαιρε σφαγαῖς; πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἀπεῖργε διὰ χρησμῶν τὸ ἀνθρώπειον γένος τοιαῦτα πράττειν; ἦ που χεῖρον ἦν καὶ φαυλότερον ἀνθρώπων, οἵ γε νόμων τιμωρίαις ἐξάντεις τοὺς μιαιφόνους κατέστησαν. οὐ γὰρ θεός τις ἦν, ἀλλʼ ἄνθρωπος, ὁ τῆς ἀνθρωποθυσίας τὴν χρόνιον καὶ μακρὰν παραλύσας νόσον.

ē ei ti ge ēn agathon en autois, hōs dia touto kai tēs tōn agathōn metalachein prosēgorias, euergetikon an ēn kai pantōn sōtērion, philon te dikaiosynēs kai anthrōpōn kēdemonikon. toiouton de on pōs anthrōpōn echaire sphagais? pōs de ouk apeirge dia chrēsmōn to anthrōpeion genos toiauta prattein? ē pou cheiron ēn kai phauloteron anthrōpōn, hoi ge nomōn timōriais exanteis tous miaiphonous katestēsan. ou gar theos tis ēn, allʼ anthrōpos, ho tēs anthrōpothysias tēn chronion kai makran paralysas noson.

Or if there were anything good in them, so as on this account to share the title of the good, it would be beneficent and a savior of all, a friend of justice and protective of men. Being such, how could it delight in the slaughter of men? And how did it not prevent the human race by oracles from doing such things? Surely it was worse and baser than men, who by the penalties of the laws brought the bloodthirsty to their senses. For it was no god but a man who put an end to the long and lasting disease of human sacrifice.

Notes and citation

Summary: A good divine being would have forbidden human sacrifice, but it was men who abolished it.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (letter lost in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): μαιφόνους → μιαιφόνους; σωτή- ριον → σωτήριον; γέ- νος → γένος.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.21 (Dindorf 1:191–192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-21). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.22Dindorf 1:192

Ὅτι δὲ φαύλων ἦν καὶ πονηρῶν ταῦτα δαιμόνων εἴη ἄν σοι ἔτι μᾶλλον συμφανὲς, εἰ λογίσαιο τὰ τῆς ἐπιρρήτου καὶ ἀκολάστου πορνείας αὐτῶν τῆς ἐν Ἡλίου πόλει τῆς Φοινίκης εἰσέτι νῦν ἐπιτελούμενα καὶ παρὰ πλείστοις ἄλλοις ἀνθρώπων. μοιχείας γοῦν καὶ φθορὰς καὶ παρανόμους ἑτέρας μίξεις ἐπὶ τιμῇ θεῶν, ὥσπερ τι χρέος ὀφειλόμενον, χρῆναί φασιν ἐκτελεῖν, καὶ τῆς μοιχιδίου καὶ πορνικῆς πράξεως τοῖς θεοῖς ἀπάρχεσθαι, τῆς ἀκλεοῦς ταύτης καὶ ἀσέμνου ἐμπορίας, ὥσπερ τι χαριστήριον ἀγαθὸν, τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτοῖς ἀνατιθέντας. ὅμοια γὰρ ταῦτα ταῖς ἀνθρωποθυσίαις.

Hoti de phaulōn ēn kai ponērōn tauta daimonōn eiē an soi eti mallon symphanes, ei logisaio ta tēs epirrētou kai akolastou porneias autōn tēs en Hēliou polei tēs Phoinikēs eiseti nyn epiteloumena kai para pleistois allois anthrōpōn. moicheias goun kai phthoras kai paranomous heteras mixeis epi timę̄ theōn, hōsper ti chreos opheilomenon, chrēnai phasin ektelein, kai tēs moichidiou kai pornikēs praxeōs tois theois aparchesthai, tēs akleous tautēs kai asemnou emporias, hōsper ti charistērion agathon, tous karpous autois anatithentas. homoia gar tauta tais anthrōpothysiais.

That these things belonged to bad and wicked demons would be still plainer to you if you considered the infamous and licentious prostitution practiced in their honor even now at Heliopolis in Phoenicia and among very many other peoples. For they say that adulteries, seductions, and other unlawful unions must be performed in honor of the gods, as a debt owed, and that first-fruits of the act of adultery and prostitution must be offered to the gods, dedicating to them the gains of this inglorious and indecent traffic as some good thank-offering. For these things are like the human sacrifices.

Notes and citation

Summary: Ritual prostitution at Heliopolis in Phoenicia shows that these gods are wicked demons.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): φα- σιν → φασιν.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.22 (Dindorf 1:192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-22). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.23Dindorf 1:192–193

εἰ δὴ οὖν οὐδὲ σώφρονος ἀνδρὸς οἰκεῖον τὸ χαίρειν φόνοις αἰσχρορρημοσύναις τε καὶ παρανόμοις γυναικῶν μίξεσιν, ἐπὶ μισθῷ τὴν ὥραν ἀπεμπολούσαις, πολλοῦ δεῖ φάναι θεῶν ἢ δαιμόνων εἶναι ἀγαθῶν τὸ ἀποδέχεσθαι τὰ τοιαῦτα. εἰ δὲ δὴ λέγοι τις φαύλων μὲν ὁμολογουμένως εἶναι ταῦτα δαιμόνων, πλὴν ἀλλʼ ἑτέρους εἶναι τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς, οὓς δὴ μάλιστα σέβειν αὐτοὺς οἷα σωτῆρας, πευστέον ποῦ ἄρα ἦσαν αὐτοῖς οἱ ἀγαθοὶ σωτῆρες, εἰ δὴ καὶ τούτους ἔσεβον, ὥστε μὴ τοὺς πονηροὺς τοιαῦτα δρῶντας κατὰ τῶν προσφύγων ἀπερύκειν, ποῦ δὲ οἱ ἀγαθοὶ δαίμονες, τοὺς βλαπτικοὺς μὴ ἀπελαύνειν καὶ τοῖς θεραπεύουσι συμμαχεῖν; τί δὲ καὶ περιεφρόνουν παρορῶντες τὸ λογικὸν καὶ θεοφιλὲς ἀνθρώπων γένος τῇ τῶν φαύλων δαιμόνων ὠμότητι κατατρυχόμενον, οὐχὶ δὲ ἄντικρυς τοῖς πᾶσι προεκήρυττον ἀμεταστρεπτὶ φεύγειν καὶ ἀποτρέπεσθαι πάντα θεὸν ὀνομαζόμενον ὡς οὐ θεὸν, ἀλλὰ φαῦλον δαίμονα, ᾧ τὰ ὠμὰ καὶ ἀπάνθρωπα καὶ παράνομα καὶ αἰσχρὰ φίλα τυγχάνει;

ei dē oun oude sōphronos andros oikeion to chairein phonois aischrorrēmosynais te kai paranomois gynaikōn mixesin, epi misthǭ tēn hōran apempolousais, pollou dei phanai theōn ē daimonōn einai agathōn to apodechesthai ta toiauta. ei de dē legoi tis phaulōn men homologoumenōs einai tauta daimonōn, plēn allʼ heterous einai tous agathous, hous dē malista sebein autous hoia sōtēras, peusteon pou ara ēsan autois hoi agathoi sōtēres, ei dē kai toutous esebon, hōste mē tous ponērous toiauta drōntas kata tōn prosphygōn aperykein, pou de hoi agathoi daimones, tous blaptikous mē apelaunein kai tois therapeuousi symmachein? ti de kai periephronoun parorōntes to logikon kai theophiles anthrōpōn genos tę̄ tōn phaulōn daimonōn ōmotēti katatrychomenon, ouchi de antikrys tois pasi proekērytton ametastrepti pheugein kai apotrepesthai panta theon onomazomenon hōs ou theon, alla phaulon daimona, hǭ ta ōma kai apanthrōpa kai paranoma kai aischra phila tynchanei?

If, then, it is not fitting even for a self-controlled man to delight in murders, foul talk, and unlawful unions with women who sell their youth for hire, far less can it be said that it belongs to gods or good demons to accept such things. And if anyone should say that these things admittedly belong to bad demons, but that the good ones are others, whom they especially worship as saviors, we must ask where their good saviors were, if they worshipped these too, that they did not keep the wicked from doing such things against those who fled to them for refuge? Where were the good demons, that they did not drive away the harmful ones and fight for their worshippers? Why did they disregard, overlooking it, the rational and God-loving race of men worn down by the cruelty of the bad demons, and not proclaim plainly to all to flee without turning back and to reject every so-called god, as being no god but a bad demon, to whom cruel, inhuman, lawless, and shameful things are dear?

Notes and citation

Summary: If good demons existed, they would have protected people and warned them against the evil ones.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): δαι- μόνων → δαιμόνων; προεκή- ρυττον → προεκήρυττον.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.23 (Dindorf 1:192–193; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-23). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.24Dindorf 1:193

καὶ εἴτε τις ἦν πάλαι πρότερον ἐν Ῥόδῳ νενομισμένος θεὸς χαίρων ἀνθρωποθυσίαις, τοῦτον ὁ ἀληθὴς θεὸς, εἴ τις ἦν ἄρα τὴν πρᾶξιν ἐπισχὼν, οὐ θεὸν, ἀλλὰ φαῦλον ἡγεῖσθαι δαίμονα τοῖς πάσι προεκήρυξεν, εἴτε ἐν Σαλαμῖνι τῇ πρότερον Κορωνείᾳ ὀνομαζομένῃ, ἐν ᾗ ἐν μηνὶ κατὰ Κυπρίους Ἀφροδισίῳ ἐθύετο ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τοῦτον ὁ ἀληθὴς θεὸς ἀπέφηνεν ἂν ἀλιτήριον εἶναι δαίμονα, παύσας ὡς ἀσεβὲς καὶ ἀνόσιον τὸ γινόμενον;

kai eite tis ēn palai proteron en Rhodǭ nenomismenos theos chairōn anthrōpothysiais, touton ho alēthēs theos, ei tis ēn ara tēn praxin epischōn, ou theon, alla phaulon hēgeisthai daimona tois pasi proekēryxen, eite en Salamini tę̄ proteron Korōneią onomazomenę̄, en hę̄ en mēni kata Kyprious Aphrodisiǭ ethyeto anthrōpos, kai touton ho alēthēs theos apephēnen an alitērion einai daimona, pausas hōs asebes kai anosion to ginomenon?

And if formerly at Rhodes there was a so-called god who delighted in human sacrifices, the true God, if there were one, would have stopped the practice and proclaimed to all that this was not a god but a bad demon; and if at Salamis, formerly called Coronea, where in the month called Aphrodisius by the Cyprians a man was sacrificed, the true God would have declared this one too to be an accursed demon, stopping the practice as impious and unholy.

Notes and citation

Summary: A true god would have denounced the demons demanding human sacrifice at Rhodes and Salamis.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): ἐν ᾑ ἐν → ἐν ᾗ ἐν; ἀνθρω- ποθυσίαις → ἀνθρωποθυσίαις.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.24 (Dindorf 1:193; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-24). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.25Dindorf 1:193

εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἡλίου πόλει τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὸν τῆς ἀνθρωποκτονίας νόμον Ἄμωσις ἔλυσε, πολὺ κρείττονα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁ ἀληθὴς θεὸς ἐδίδαξεν ἂν γεγονέναι· οὐ γὰρ θεὸς, δαίμων δὲ πάλιν κἀκεῖνος ἦν ὁ κατάρχων τῆς ἀνθρωποκτονίας. οὐκ ἂν δὲ ὁ ἀληθὴς θεὸς καὶ τὸν τῆς Ἥρας δαίμονα οὐχὶ μιαρὸν ἡγεῖσθαι δεῖν ἐνομοθέτησεν, ᾧ τῆς ἡμέρας ἑκάστης τρεῖς ἀνθρώπους θύεσθαι παρέστησεν ἡ ἱστορία.

ei de kai en Hēliou polei tēs Aigyptou ton tēs anthrōpoktonias nomon Amōsis elyse, poly kreittona tou theou ton anthrōpon ho alēthēs theos edidaxen an gegonenai; ou gar theos, daimōn de palin kakeinos ēn ho katarchōn tēs anthrōpoktonias. ouk an de ho alēthēs theos kai ton tēs Hēras daimona ouchi miaron hēgeisthai dein enomothetēsen, hǭ tēs hēmeras hekastēs treis anthrōpous thyesthai parestēsen hē historia.

And if at Heliopolis in Egypt Amosis abolished the law of human sacrifice, the true God would have taught that the man had been far better than the god; for it was no god, but again a demon, that led the human sacrifice. Nor would the true God have failed to ordain that Hera's demon be regarded as abominable, to whom, as the history shows, three men were sacrificed every day.

Notes and citation

Summary: Amosis showed himself better than the demon of Heliopolis.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization; breathing misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): Ἠλίου πόλει → Ἡλίου πόλει; ᾡ τῆς → ᾧ τῆς; ἐδίδα- ξεν → ἐδίδαξεν.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.25 (Dindorf 1:193; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-25). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.26Dindorf 1:193

τί δʼ ἂν γένοιτο δαιμονικώτερον ἀληθῶς τοῦ καλουμένου Ὠμαδίου Διονύσου, ᾧ φασιν ἐν Χίῳ ἄνθρωπον μελιστὶ διασπῶντας θύειν, ἢ τοῦ ἐν Τενέδῳ ὡσαύτως, ὃν καὶ αὐτὸν διὰ τῆς ἀνθρωποθυσίας ἱλάσκοντο; ἀπηγόρευσε δʼ ἂν ὁ ἀληθὴς θεὸς καὶ τῷ Ἄρει τῷ βροτολοιγῷ καὶ φιλοπολέμῳ δαίμονι θύειν ἄνθρωπον, ἐνομοθέτησε δʼ ἂν μήτε τῶν οἰκείων μήτε τῶν ἀλλοτρίων τὰ φίλτατα κατασφάττειν αὐτῷ.

ti dʼ an genoito daimonikōteron alēthōs tou kaloumenou Ōmadiou Dionysou, hǭ phasin en Chiǭ anthrōpon melisti diaspōntas thyein, ē tou en Tenedǭ hōsautōs, hon kai auton dia tēs anthrōpothysias hilaskonto? apēgoreuse dʼ an ho alēthēs theos kai tǭ Arei tǭ brotoloigǭ kai philopolemǭ daimoni thyein anthrōpon, enomothetēse dʼ an mēte tōn oikeiōn mēte tōn allotriōn ta philtata katasphattein autǭ.

And what could be more truly demonic than the so-called Dionysus Omadius, to whom they say they sacrificed a man in Chios, tearing him limb from limb, or the one in Tenedos likewise, whom they too appeased with human sacrifice? The true God would have forbidden sacrificing a man to Ares, the man-destroying and war-loving demon, and would have ordained that no one slaughter for him the dearest of his own or of others.

Notes and citation

Summary: The cults of Dionysus and Ares show their demonic nature.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined; punctuation misread in digitization; repeated syllable in digitization): ἀληθῶς θῶς → ἀληθῶς; Διονύσου. ᾧ → Διονύσου, ᾧ; κατα- σφάττειν → κατασφάττειν.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.26 (Dindorf 1:193; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-26). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.16.27Dindorf 1:193–194

εἰ δὲ καὶ τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ κατʼ ἔτος παρθένος, ὥς φασιν, ἐθύετο ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ τῇ κατὰ Συρίαν, καὶ ταύτην εἰπεῖν πονηρὸν δαίμονα οὐκ ἂν ἐφυλάξατο ὁ ἀληθὴς θεός· ὡς καὶ τὸν ἐν Λιβύῃ τοῖς ὁμοίοις χαίροντα καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀραβίας, ᾧ καὶ αὐτῷ κατʼ ἔτος ἕκαστον ἔθυον παῖδα, ὃν καὶ ὑπὸ βωμὸν ἔθαπτον.

ei de kai tę̄ Athēną katʼ etos parthenos, hōs phasin, ethyeto en Laodikeią tę̄ kata Syrian, kai tautēn eipein ponēron daimona ouk an ephylaxato ho alēthēs theos; hōs kai ton en Libyę̄ tois homoiois chaironta kai ton epi tēs Arabias, hǭ kai autǭ katʼ etos hekaston ethyon paida, hon kai hypo bōmon ethapton.

And if a virgin, as they say, was sacrificed every year to Athena at Laodicea in Syria, the true God would not have hesitated to call her too a wicked demon; as also the one in Libya who delighted in the like, and the one in Arabia, to whom they sacrificed a boy every year and buried him under the altar.

Notes and citation

Summary: The Athena of Laodicea and the gods of Libya and Arabia were wicked demons.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization): ὂν καὶ → ὃν καὶ.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.16.27 (Dindorf 1:193–194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-16-27). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Preparation 4, chapter 17

4.17.1Dindorf 1:194

Τούτους ἅπαντας, καὶ τούς γε αἰσχρορρημοσύναις καὶ γυναικῶν παρανόμοις διαφθοραῖς τῇ τε ἄλλῃ τῇ προκατειλεγμένῃ μανίᾳ χαίροντας, προεφώνησεν ἂν ὁ ἀληθὴς καὶ ἀγαθὸς εἴτε θεὸς εἴτε καὶ δαίμων μηδαμῶς ἡγεῖσθαι θεούς. τοῦτο δὲ οὐδεὶς τῶν πώποτε ἢ μόνος ὁ παρʼ Ἑβραίοις τιμώμενος, ὡς ἂν μόνος καὶ ἀληθὴς θεὸς, πεποιηκὼς μνημονεύεται.

Toutous hapantas, kai tous ge aischrorrēmosynais kai gynaikōn paranomois diaphthorais tę̄ te allę̄ tę̄ prokateilegmenę̄ manią chairontas, proephōnēsen an ho alēthēs kai agathos eite theos eite kai daimōn mēdamōs hēgeisthai theous. touto de oudeis tōn pōpote ē monos ho parʼ Hebraiois timōmenos, hōs an monos kai alēthēs theos, pepoiēkōs mnēmoneuetai.

All these, and those who delighted in foul speech and the unlawful corruption of women and in the rest of the madness listed before, the true and good god, or demon, would have warned people beforehand by no means to regard as gods. But no one of all who ever were is recorded to have done this, except only the God honored among the Hebrews, as the only and true God.

Notes and citation

Summary: Only the God of the Hebrews warned people not to treat these demons as gods.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (repeated syllable in digitization): αἰσχρορρημονοσύναις → αἰσχρορρημοσύναις.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.1 (Dindorf 1:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.2Dindorf 1:194

μόνος γὰρ οὗτος διὰ τοῦ προφήτου καὶ θεολόγου Μωυσέως προεκήρυξε τοῖς πᾶσι μὴ σέβειν ὡς ἀγαθοὺς δαίμονας τοὺς φαύλους, ἔμπαλιν δὲ ἀποτρέπεσθαι καὶ ἀπελαύνειν, ὡς ἂν πονηρὰ τυγχάνοντας πνεύματα· καὶ μὴν καὶ καθαιρεῖν αὐτῶν τούς τε νεὼς καὶ τὰς ἀνιέρους καὶ ἀτελέστους θρησκείας, καὶ πάμπαν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀφανίζειν τὴν ὡς περὶ θεῶν αὐτῶν μνήμην, καὶ τὴν ἀπονεμομένην αὐτοῖς τιμὴν ἐνομοθέτησεν. οὐδὲ γὰρ τοὺς φαύλους ἀπομειλίσσεσθαι ὅσιον ἦν τοὺς τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς μεμελημένους.

monos gar houtos dia tou prophētou kai theologou Mōyseōs proekēryxe tois pasi mē sebein hōs agathous daimonas tous phaulous, empalin de apotrepesthai kai apelaunein, hōs an ponēra tynchanontas pneumata; kai mēn kai kathairein autōn tous te neōs kai tas anierous kai atelestous thrēskeias, kai pampan ex anthrōpōn aphanizein tēn hōs peri theōn autōn mnēmēn, kai tēn aponemomenēn autois timēn enomothetēsen. oude gar tous phaulous apomeilissesthai hosion ēn tous tois agathois memelēmenous.

For he alone, through Moses the prophet and theologian, proclaimed to all not to worship the bad demons as good, but on the contrary to turn away from them and drive them off as being evil spirits; and he legislated, moreover, to pull down their temples and their unholy and profane rites, and to wipe out entirely from among men the memory of them as gods and the honor paid to them. For it was not holy for those cared for by the good to propitiate the bad.

Deut 12:2–3 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Through Moses God commanded the destruction of the demons' temples and worship.

Allusion to the Mosaic commands to destroy idolatrous shrines (e.g. Deut 12:2–3).

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.2 (Dindorf 1:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.3Dindorf 1:194

εἴτε δὲ Φύλαρχος εἴτε καὶ ὁστισοῦν ἱστορεῖ πάντας τοὺς Ἓλληνας πρὶν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολέμους ἐξιέναι ἀνθρωποκτονεῖν, καὶ τοῦτον μάρτυρα τῆς Ἑλλήνων δαιμονικῆς ἐπιληψίας μὴ ὄκνει παραλαμβάνειν· μὴ παρίδῃς μηδὲ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀφρικὴν, τούς τε Θρᾷκας καὶ τοὺς Σκύθας τὰ ὅμοια πράττοντας, ταῖς αὐταῖς τῶν δαιμόνων ὑπῆχθαι μανίαις ἀποφαίνεσθαι· ὡς καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Μεγάλην πόλιν, εἰ δὴ καὶ οὗτοι κατὰ τὰς τοῦ Μεγάλου Δῖός ἑορτὰς ἀνθρώπους ἔσφαζον.

eite de Phylarchos eite kai hostisoun historei pantas tous Hellēnas prin epi tous polemous exienai anthrōpoktonein, kai touton martyra tēs Hellēnōn daimonikēs epilēpsias mē oknei paralambanein; mē paridę̄s mēde tous kata tēn Aphrikēn, tous te Thrąkas kai tous Skythas ta homoia prattontas, tais autais tōn daimonōn hypēchthai maniais apophainesthai; hōs kai tous Athēnaious kai tous kata tēn Megalēn polin, ei dē kai houtoi kata tas tou Megalou Dios heortas anthrōpous esphazon.

Whether it is Phylarchus or anyone else who records that all the Greeks killed a man before going out to war, do not hesitate to take him too as a witness of the demonic seizure of the Greeks; nor fail to declare that those in Africa, and the Thracians and Scythians who do the like, have been led into the same madness of the demons; as also the Athenians and those in the Great City, if indeed they too slaughtered men at the festivals of great Jupiter.

Notes and citation

Summary: The testimony of human sacrifice among Greeks, Africans, Thracians, Scythians, and Romans shows their demonic bondage.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.3 (Dindorf 1:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.4Dindorf 1:194–195

ἀλλὰ γὰρ συναγαγὼν ὁμοῦ τὸν πάντων τῶν προειρημένων κατάλογον εὕροις ἂν σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν πᾶσαν τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν θεοποιίαν τούτοις αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀνθρωποκτόνοις πνεύμασι καὶ τοῖς πονηροῖς δαιμονίοις ἀνακειμένην. εἰ γὰρ ἐν Ῥόδῳ καὶ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις νήσοις, ἔν τε Ἡλίου πόλει τῇ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, ἔν τε Χίω καὶ Τενέδῳ καὶ Λακεδαίμονι καὶ Ἀρκαδίᾳ, Φοινίκῃ τε καὶ Λιβύῃ, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἅπασιν ἐν Συρίᾳ καὶ Ἀραβίᾳ, καὶ παρά γε τοῖς Πανέλλησιν καὶ ἔτι τούτων τοῖς κορυφαιοτάτοις Ἀθηναίοις, κατά τε Καρχηδόνα καὶ τὴν Ἀφρικὴν καὶ παρὰ Θρᾳξὶ καὶ Σκύθαις ἀποδέδεικται τὰ τῆς δαιμονικῆς ἀνθρωποκτονίας κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς χρόνους ἐπιτελούμενα, καὶ μέχρι τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παρατείναντα· πῶς οὐκ εὐλόγως τοὺς πάντας εἴποις ἂν τότε τοῖς πονηροῖς δαίμοσι δεδουλῶσθαι, οὐ πρότερόν τε παῦλαν τῶν τοσούτων γενέσθαι τῷ βίῳ κακῶν ἢ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν καταλάμψαι διδασκαλίαν; ὅτι δὴ μέχρι τῶν Ἀδριανοῦ χρόνων διαμεῖναι ταῦτα, λελύσθαι δʼ ἐξ ἐκείνου παρέστησεν ὁ τῆς ἱστορίας λόγος. οὗτος δὲ μάλιστα ἦν ὁ χρόνος, καθʼ ὃν ἡ σωτήριος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἤκμαζε διδασκαλία.

alla gar synagagōn homou ton pantōn tōn proeirēmenōn katalogon heurois an schedon eipein pasan tēn tōn ethnōn theopoiian toutois autois tois anthrōpoktonois pneumasi kai tois ponērois daimoniois anakeimenēn. ei gar en Rhodǭ kai en Salamini kai tais allais nēsois, en te Hēliou polei tę̄ katʼ Aigypton, en te Chiō kai Tenedǭ kai Lakedaimoni kai Arkadią, Phoinikę̄ te kai Libyę̄, kai pros toutois hapasin en Syrią kai Arabią, kai para ge tois Panellēsin kai eti toutōn tois koryphaiotatois Athēnaiois, kata te Karchēdona kai tēn Aphrikēn kai para Thrąxi kai Skythais apodedeiktai ta tēs daimonikēs anthrōpoktonias kata tous palaious chronous epiteloumena, kai mechri tou sōtēros hēmōn parateinanta; pōs ouk eulogōs tous pantas eipois an tote tois ponērois daimosi dedoulōsthai, ou proteron te paulan tōn tosoutōn genesthai tǭ biǭ kakōn ē tēn tou sōtēros hēmōn katalampsai didaskalian? hoti dē mechri tōn Adrianou chronōn diameinai tauta, lelysthai dʼ ex ekeinou parestēsen ho tēs historias logos. houtos de malista ēn ho chronos, kathʼ hon hē sōtērios eis pantas anthrōpous ēkmaze didaskalia.

But gathering together the list of all those mentioned, you would find, one may almost say, that all the deification of the nations was dedicated to these very murderous spirits and wicked demons. For if at Rhodes and Salamis and the other islands, at Heliopolis in Egypt, at Chios and Tenedos, Sparta and Arcadia, Phoenicia and Libya, and besides all these in Syria and Arabia, and among all the Greeks and their foremost, the Athenians, at Carthage and in Africa, and among Thracians and Scythians, the demonic killing of men has been shown to have been practiced in ancient times and to have lasted until our Savior, how could you not reasonably say that all were then enslaved to the wicked demons, and that there was no rest from such great evils for human life before the teaching of our Savior shone forth? For the account of the history showed that these things lasted until the times of Hadrian and were abolished from then on; and this was above all the time when the saving teaching was flourishing among all men.

Notes and citation

Summary: Human sacrifice was everywhere until Christ's teaching flourished, showing universal bondage to demons.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization; capital misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined; stray digit in digitization): Ἠλίου → Ἡλίου; Λιβύῃ 5 καὶ → Λιβύῃ, καὶ; Κορυφαιοτάτοις → κορυφαιοτάτοις; θεο- ποιίαν → θεοποιίαν; Ἀρα- βίᾳ → Ἀραβίᾳ; δεδου- λῶσθαι → δεδουλῶσθαι.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.4 (Dindorf 1:194–195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.5Dindorf 1:195

καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ δυνατὸν αὐτοῖς εἰπεῖν ὡς τοῖς πονηροῖς δαίμοσιν· αὐτοῖς γὰρ μάλιστα τοῖς μεγίστοις θεοῖς ἡ ἱστορία τὰς ἀνθρωποθυσίας ἐδήλωσεν ἐπιτελεῖσθαι. θύεσθαι γὰρ ἔφησε τῇ Ἥρᾳ καὶ τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ Κρόνῳ τε καὶ Ἄρει καὶ Διονύσω, καὶ αὐτῶ τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων Διὶ καὶ τῷ Φοίβῳ, τῷ δὴ σεμνοτάτῳ πάντων καὶ σοφωτάτῳ Ἀπόλλωνι· τούτους δὲ καὶ οὐκ ἄλλους τοὺς μεγίστους θεοὺς ἀγαθοὺς καὶ σωτῆρας ἀναγορεύουσιν.

kai mēn oude dynaton autois eipein hōs tois ponērois daimosin; autois gar malista tois megistois theois hē historia tas anthrōpothysias edēlōsen epiteleisthai. thyesthai gar ephēse tę̄ Hērą kai tę̄ Athēną Kronǭ te kai Arei kai Dionysō, kai autō tǭ epi pantōn Dii kai tǭ Phoibǭ, tǭ dē semnotatǭ pantōn kai sophōtatǭ Apollōni; toutous de kai ouk allous tous megistous theous agathous kai sōtēras anagoreuousin.

Nor can they say that these were offered to the wicked demons; for the history showed that human sacrifices were performed above all to the greatest gods themselves. For it said they were sacrificed to Hera, Athena, Cronus, Ares, and Dionysus, to Zeus himself who is over all, and to Phoebus, the most revered and wisest of all, Apollo; and these and no others they proclaim the greatest gods, good and saviors.

Notes and citation

Summary: Human sacrifices were offered to the greatest gods, not merely to minor evil demons.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): αὐ- τοῖς → αὐτοῖς; ἀν- θρωποθυσίας → ἀνθρωποθυσίας; μεγί- στους → μεγίστους.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.5 (Dindorf 1:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.6Dindorf 1:195–196

αὐτοὶ δʼ ἄρα εἶεν ἂν οἱ πονηροὶ δαίμονες. εἰ γὰρ οἵδε τοιαύταις ἀνθρωποθυσίαις καὶ ἀνθρωποκτονίαις ἔχαιρον, πῶς οὐκ ἂν αὐτοὺς εἰκότως τῇ τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων μιαιφονίᾳ καταριθμήσειας, εἴτε αὐτοὶ χαίρειν λέγοιντο τοῖς τοιούτοις εἴτε συγχωρεῖν καὶ περιορᾶν ἑτέροις γιγνόμενα;

autoi dʼ ara eien an hoi ponēroi daimones. ei gar hoide toiautais anthrōpothysiais kai anthrōpoktoniais echairon, pōs ouk an autous eikotōs tę̄ tōn ponērōn pneumatōn miaiphonią katarithmēseias, eite autoi chairein legointo tois toioutois eite synchōrein kai perioran heterois gignomena?

So these themselves would be the wicked demons. For if they delighted in such human sacrifices and killings, how could you not reasonably count them among the bloodguilty wicked spirits, whether they are said to delight in such things themselves or to permit and overlook them when done by others?

Notes and citation

Summary: Gods who delighted in or tolerated human sacrifice are themselves wicked demons.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): οἶ πονηροὶ → οἱ πονηροὶ; χαί- ρειν → χαίρειν.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.6 (Dindorf 1:195–196; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.7Dindorf 1:196

τί γὰρ χρῆν ὅλως ἐπιτρέπειν ἀνθρώποις ἱλάσκεσθαι τὰ πονηρὰ πνεύματα; τί δὲ τοσοῦτον πλανᾶσθαι ὡς θεραπεύειν καὶ κολακεύειν τοὺς φαύλους; τί δὲ τοῖς πονηροῖς καταδουλοῦσθαι, δέον ἀγαθοὺς ὄντας καὶ θεοὺς πορρωτάτω τῆς ἀνθρώπων διατριβῆς πᾶν ὅ τι φαῦλον καὶ πονηρὸν δυνάμει κρείττονι καὶ θειοτέρᾳ ἀπελαύνειν;

ti gar chrēn holōs epitrepein anthrōpois hilaskesthai ta ponēra pneumata? ti de tosouton planasthai hōs therapeuein kai kolakeuein tous phaulous? ti de tois ponērois katadoulousthai, deon agathous ontas kai theous porrōtatō tēs anthrōpōn diatribēs pan ho ti phaulon kai ponēron dynamei kreittoni kai theioterą apelaunein?

For why should they allow men at all to propitiate the wicked spirits? Why should they go so astray as to serve and flatter the bad? Why be enslaved to the wicked, when, being good and gods, they ought to drive away as far as possible from the haunts of men everything bad and wicked by a stronger and more divine power?

Notes and citation

Summary: Good gods would drive evil spirits away rather than let men appease them.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.7 (Dindorf 1:196; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.8Dindorf 1:196

ἦ πατὴρ μὲν ἀγαθὸς οὐκ ἂν ὑπὸ φαύλοις ἀνδράσι φθειρόμενον περιίδοι ἂν τὸν αὑτοῦ παῖδα, οὐδὲ τὸν οἰκέτην σώφρων δεσπότης ὑπὸ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἀγόμενον περιόψεται, οὐδέ γε πολέμου στρατηγὸς, τοὺς οἰκείους παρὸν διασώσασθαι, τοῖς πολεμίοις αἰχμαλώτους ἀνήσει, οὐδὲ ποιμὴν τὰ θρέμματα τοῖς λύκοις· θεοὶ δὲ ἄρα καὶ ἀγαθοὶ δαίμονες ὑπὸ τοῖς μοχθηροῖς καὶ φαύλοις ἀνήσουσι τὸ ἀνθρώπων γένος;

ē patēr men agathos ouk an hypo phaulois andrasi phtheiromenon periidoi an ton hautou paida, oude ton oiketēn sōphrōn despotēs hypo tois echthrois agomenon periopsetai, oude ge polemou stratēgos, tous oikeious paron diasōsasthai, tois polemiois aichmalōtous anēsei, oude poimēn ta thremmata tois lykois; theoi de ara kai agathoi daimones hypo tois mochthērois kai phaulois anēsousi to anthrōpōn genos?

A good father would not allow his own son to be ruined by wicked men; a sober master will not overlook his servant being carried off by enemies; a general in war, when he can save his own men, will not give them up as captives to the enemy; nor a shepherd his flock to the wolves. Will gods and good demons, then, give up the human race to the wicked and bad?

Notes and citation

Summary: Fathers, masters, generals, and shepherds protect their own; good gods would do the same.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.8 (Dindorf 1:196; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.9Dindorf 1:196

καὶ οἱ τρισμύριοι φύλακες μερόπων ἀνθρώπων, οἱ δὴ ποιμένες καὶ σωτῆρες, βασιλεῖς τε καὶ πατέρες καὶ κύριοι, τοῖς ἐχθροῖς καὶ πολεμίοις καὶ ἀγρίοις θηρσὶν ἀνηλεῶς οὕτως καὶ ὠμῶς ἄγειν καὶ φέρειν τὰ φίλτατα παραδώσουσιν, οὐχὶ δὲ προπολεμήσουσιν ὑπερασπίζοντες τῶν προσφύγων, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐχθροὺς καὶ πονηροὺς δαίμονας τῆς ἀνθρώπων ἀγέλης μακρὰν ὥσπερ τινὰς ἀγρίους καὶ ὠμοβόρους θῆρας ἀποδιώξουσι, διδάξουσι δὲ πάντα ἄνθρωπον μυρίων θεῶν καὶ δαιμόνων ἀγαθῶν πλήθει προσῳκειωμένων ἐπιθαρσοῦντα, καὶ τοῖς οὐ μόνον κρείττοσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλείοσιν καὶ μεγίστοις θεοῖς καθωσιωμένον, σμικρὰ, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ μηδὲν ἐπιστρέφεσθαι τῆς τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων ἀσθενείας;

kai hoi trismyrioi phylakes meropōn anthrōpōn, hoi dē poimenes kai sōtēres, basileis te kai pateres kai kyrioi, tois echthrois kai polemiois kai agriois thērsin anēleōs houtōs kai ōmōs agein kai pherein ta philtata paradōsousin, ouchi de propolemēsousin hyperaspizontes tōn prosphygōn, kai tous men echthrous kai ponērous daimonas tēs anthrōpōn agelēs makran hōsper tinas agrious kai ōmoborous thēras apodiōxousi, didaxousi de panta anthrōpon myriōn theōn kai daimonōn agathōn plēthei prosǭkeiōmenōn epitharsounta, kai tois ou monon kreittosin, alla kai pleiosin kai megistois theois kathōsiōmenon, smikra, mallon de to mēden epistrephesthai tēs tōn ponērōn daimonōn astheneias?

And will the thirty thousand guardians of mortal men, the shepherds and saviors, kings, fathers, and lords, hand over their dearest so pitilessly and cruelly to be harried by enemies, foes, and wild beasts, and not fight in front of them, shielding those who flee to them; driving the hostile and wicked demons far from the flock of men like savage and flesh-eating beasts; and teaching every man, trusting in the multitude of countless gods and good demons that are his kin, and consecrated to gods not only stronger but more numerous and greatest, to care little, or rather not at all, for the weakness of the wicked demons?

Notes and citation

Summary: The supposed divine guardians of mankind should have defended people against the evil demons.

"Thirty thousand guardians of mortal men" echoes Hesiod, Works and Days 252–253.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): ἀποδιώ- ξουσι → ἀποδιώξουσι.

Extrabiblical texts: Hesiod, Op. 252 (Hesiod, Works and Days; allusion)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.9 (Dindorf 1:196; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.10Dindorf 1:196–197

ὅτε δὲ τοῦτο μὴ ἔπραττον, συνήργουν δʼ ἔμπαλιν τοῖς πονηροῖς αὐτοὶ, διὰ τῶν χρησμῶν τὰς προδηλωθείσας ἀνιέντες ἀνθρωποθυσίας, χαίροντές τε αἰσχρορρημοσύναις ἀπάσαις καὶ ταῖς τούτων ἀκολούθοις πράξεσιν, ἔργῳ, φασὶ, δῆλον ὡς οὐδέν τι καὶ αὐτοὶ φαύλων δαιμόνων τὴν φύσιν διήλλαττον, μᾶλλον δὲ μιᾶς καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ὑπῆρχον προαιρέσεως καὶ γνώμης· καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν ὡς οὐδὲ ὅλως θεός τις ἦν, οὐδέ τις ἀγαθὸς δαίμων, ὁ πάλαι πρὸς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων κατὰ πόλεις τε καὶ χώρας προσκυνούμενος.

hote de touto mē epratton, synērgoun dʼ empalin tois ponērois autoi, dia tōn chrēsmōn tas prodēlōtheisas anientes anthrōpothysias, chairontes te aischrorrēmosynais apasais kai tais toutōn akolouthois praxesin, ergǭ, phasi, dēlon hōs ouden ti kai autoi phaulōn daimonōn tēn physin diēllatton, mallon de mias kai tēs autēs hypērchon proaireseōs kai gnōmēs; kai eti mallon eipein hōs oude holōs theos tis ēn, oude tis agathos daimōn, ho palai pros tōn ethnōn hapantōn kata poleis te kai chōras proskynoumenos.

But since they did not do this, but on the contrary themselves worked with the wicked, sending up through their oracles the human sacrifices described and delighting in all foul speech and the deeds that follow it, it is plain in fact, as they say, that they too differed in no way in nature from bad demons, or rather were of one and the same choice and mind; and still more, that there was no god at all, nor any good demon, among those worshipped of old by all the nations in cities and countries.

Notes and citation

Summary: By demanding human sacrifice, the gods showed themselves to be no different from evil demons.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): ἢν, οὐδέ → ἦν, οὐδέ; ἀνθρωποθυ- σίας → ἀνθρωποθυσίας; πό- λεις → πόλεις.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.10 (Dindorf 1:196–197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.17.11Dindorf 1:197

πῶς γὰρ ἂν γένοιτό ποτε τῷ ἀγαθῷ τὸ φαῦλον φίλον, εἰ μὴ καὶ φωτὸς καὶ σκότους κρᾶσιν δύνασθαι μίαν φαίη τις ἄν γενέσθαι; πόσῳ δὲ κρείττων ὁ παρʼ ἀνθρώποις λογισμὸς τῶν νενομισμένων θεῶν, μηδὲ φαύλοις δαίμοσι χρῆναι θύειν παρακελευόμενος; λέγει δʼ οὖν ὁ πρόσθεν εἰρημένος συγγραφεὺς, ἐν οἷς ἔφησε μὴ δεῖν ζῳοθυτεῖν, ὅτι μηδὲ φαύλοις δαίμοσι θυτέον, τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον

pōs gar an genoito pote tǭ agathǭ to phaulon philon, ei mē kai phōtos kai skotous krasin dynasthai mian phaiē tis an genesthai? posǭ de kreittōn ho parʼ anthrōpois logismos tōn nenomismenōn theōn, mēde phaulois daimosi chrēnai thyein parakeleuomenos? legei dʼ oun ho prosthen eirēmenos syngrapheus, en hois ephēse mē dein zǭothytein, hoti mēde phaulois daimosi thyteon, touton ton tropon

For how could the bad ever be dear to the good, unless one should say that light and darkness can be mixed into one? And how much better is human reasoning than the reputed gods, bidding men not to sacrifice even to bad demons! The writer mentioned before, where he said one must not sacrifice animals, says that one must not sacrifice even to bad demons, in this way:

2 Cor 6:14 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Human reason, unlike the gods, forbids sacrifice even to evil demons, as Porphyry says.

Allusion to 2 Cor 6:14.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined; stray mark and accent misread in digitization): τοῦτον ’τον τρόπον → τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον; δαί- μοσι → δαίμοσι.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.17.11 (Dindorf 1:197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-17-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Preparation 4, chapter 18

4.18.1Dindorf 1:197

" Διὸ συνετὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ σώφρων εὐλαβηθήσεται τοιαύταις χρῆσθαι θυσίαις, διʼ ὧν ἐπισπάσεται πρὸς ἑαυτὸν τοὺς τοιούτους, σπουδάσει δὲ καθαίρειν τὴν ψυχὴν παντοίως· καθαρᾷ γὰρ ψυχῇ οὐκ ἐπιτίθενται, διὰ τὸ αὐτοῖς ἀνόμοιον. εἰ δὲ ταῖς πόλεσιν ἀναγκαῖον καὶ τούτους ἀπομειλίττεσθαι, οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμὰς· ταύταις γὰρ καὶ πλοῦτος καὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς καὶ τὰ σωματικὰ ἀγαθὰ εἶναι νενόμισται, καὶ τὰ ἐναντία, κακὰ, ὀλιγοστὸν δὲ ἐν αὐταῖς τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιμελούμενον." Τούτοις ἑξῆς ἐπάγει λέγων

" Dio synetos anēr kai sōphrōn eulabēthēsetai toiautais chrēsthai thysiais, diʼ hōn epispasetai pros heauton tous toioutous, spoudasei de kathairein tēn psychēn pantoiōs; katharą gar psychę̄ ouk epitithentai, dia to autois anomoion. ei de tais polesin anankaion kai toutous apomeilittesthai, ouden pros hēmas; tautais gar kai ploutos kai ta ektos kai ta sōmatika agatha einai nenomistai, kai ta enantia, kaka, oligoston de en autais to tēs psychēs epimeloumenon." Toutois hexēs epagei legōn

"Therefore a wise and sober man will beware of using such sacrifices, through which he will draw such beings to himself, and will be eager to purify his soul in every way; for they do not attack a pure soul, because it is unlike them. And if it is necessary for cities to propitiate these too, that is nothing to us; for in cities wealth and external and bodily things are thought to be goods, and their opposites evils, and care for the soul is very rare in them." Next to this he adds, saying:

Notes and citation

Summary: Porphyry says the wise man avoids sacrifices that attract demons and instead purifies his soul.

Porphyry, On Abstinence 2.43.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined; stray mark in digitization): τούτου ’ς → τούτους; εὐλαβη- θήσεται → εὐλαβηθήσεται; ἐπισπά- σεται → ἐπισπάσεται.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.18.1 (Dindorf 1:197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-18-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Preparation 4, chapter 19

4.19.1Dindorf 1:197–198

"Ἡμεῖς δὲ κατὰ δύναμιν οὐ δεησόμεθα ὧν οὗτοι παρέχουσιν, ἀλλʼ ἔκ τε ψυχῆς ἔκ τε τῶν ἐκτὸς πάσαν σπουδὴν ποιούμεθα θεῷ μὲν καὶ τοῖς ἀμφʼ αὐτὸν ὁμοιοῦσθαι, ( ὃ γίνεται διʼ ἀπαθείας καὶ τῆς περὶ τῶν ὄντως ὄντων διηρθρωμένης διαλήψεως καὶ πρὸς αὐτὰ καὶ κατʼ αὐτὰ ζωῆς, ) πονηροῖς δὲ ἀνθρώποις καὶ δαίμοσι καὶ ὅλως παντὶ τῷ χαίροντι τῷ θνητῷ τε καὶ ὑλικῷ ἀνομοιοῦσθαι.

"Hēmeis de kata dynamin ou deēsometha hōn houtoi parechousin, allʼ ek te psychēs ek te tōn ektos pasan spoudēn poioumetha theǭ men kai tois amphʼ auton homoiousthai, ( ho ginetai diʼ apatheias kai tēs peri tōn ontōs ontōn diērthrōmenēs dialēpseōs kai pros auta kai katʼ auta zōēs, ) ponērois de anthrōpois kai daimosi kai holōs panti tǭ chaironti tǭ thnētǭ te kai hylikǭ anomoiousthai.

"But we, as far as we can, shall not need what these provide, but make every effort, both from the soul and from external things, to become like God and those around him (which happens through freedom from passion and through a clear understanding of what truly is, and a life directed toward it and in accordance with it), and to become unlike wicked men and demons and everything in general that delights in the mortal and material.

Notes and citation

Summary: Porphyry urges likeness to God through freedom from passion, and unlikeness to demons.

Porphyry, On Abstinence 2.43.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization; digitization slip; line-break hyphen rejoined): 'Ημεῖς → Ἡμεῖς; τόν ἐκτὸς → τῶν ἐκτὸς; ἀνθρώ- ποις → ἀνθρώποις.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.19.1 (Dindorf 1:197–198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-19-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.19.2Dindorf 1:198

“Ὃν δὲ ἡμεῖς ὑπογράφομεν φιλόσοφον ἀφιστάμενον τῶν ἐκτὸς, εἰκότως φαμὲν μὴ ἐνοχλήσειν δαίμοσι, μηδὲ μάντεων δεήσεσθαι, μηδὲ σπλάγχνων ζῴων. ὧν γὰρ ἕνεκα αἱ μαντεῖαι, τούτων οὗτος μεμελέτηκεν ἀφίστασθαι. οὔτε γὰρ εἰς γάμον καθίησιν, ἵνα περὶ γάμου τὸν μάντιν ἐνοχλήσῃ· οὐκ εἰς ἐμπορίαν, οὐ περὶ οἰκέτου, οὐ περὶ κλοπῆς καὶ τῆς ἄλλης παρὰ ἀνθρώποις δοξοκοπίας. περὶ ὧν δὲ ζητεῖ, μάντις μὲν οὐδεὶς, οὐδὲ σπλάγχνα ζῴων μηνύσει τὸ σαφές· αὐτὸς δὲ διʼ ἑαυτοῦ, ὡς λέγομεν, προσιὼν τῷ θεῷ, ὃς ἐν τοῖς ἀληθινοῖς αὐτοῦ σπλάγχνοις ἵδρυται, περὶ τοῦ αἰωνίου βίου λήψεται τὰς ὑποθήκας, ὅλος ἐκεῖ συρρεύσας.

“Hon de hēmeis hypographomen philosophon aphistamenon tōn ektos, eikotōs phamen mē enochlēsein daimosi, mēde manteōn deēsesthai, mēde splanchnōn zǭōn. hōn gar heneka hai manteiai, toutōn houtos memeletēken aphistasthai. oute gar eis gamon kathiēsin, hina peri gamou ton mantin enochlēsę̄; ouk eis emporian, ou peri oiketou, ou peri klopēs kai tēs allēs para anthrōpois doxokopias. peri hōn de zētei, mantis men oudeis, oude splanchna zǭōn mēnysei to saphes; autos de diʼ heautou, hōs legomen, prosiōn tǭ theǭ, hos en tois alēthinois autou splanchnois hidrytai, peri tou aiōniou biou lēpsetai tas hypothēkas, holos ekei syrreusas.

"The philosopher we describe, who stands apart from external things, will reasonably, we say, not trouble demons, nor need seers, nor the entrails of animals. For he has practiced withdrawing from the things for whose sake divinations exist. He does not engage in marriage, so as to trouble the seer about marriage; nor in commerce, nor about a servant, nor about theft and the other vainglory among men. And about what he seeks, no seer nor the entrails of animals will show the truth; but he himself through himself, as we say, approaching God, who is established in his true inward parts, will receive counsels about eternal life, having flowed wholly there."

Notes and citation

Summary: The philosopher needs no seers or entrails, since he seeks only God and eternal life within himself.

Porphyry, On Abstinence 2.52. A play on σπλάγχνα, both "entrails" and "inward parts."

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent lost in digitization; accent misread in digitization; breathing misread in digitization; digitization slip; letters lost in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): Ὂν δὲ → Ὃν δὲ; φιλόσοφον στάμενον → φιλόσοφον ἀφιστάμενον; ὣν γὰρ → ὧν γὰρ; ἔνα περὶ → ἵνα περὶ; συρρευσας → συρρεύσας; ἐμπο- ρίαν → ἐμπορίαν; ἄλ- λης → ἄλλης.

Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.19.2 (Dindorf 1:198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-19-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.19.3Dindorf 1:198

Σαφέστατα δὴ διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος ἐξέφηνεν τίνων ἡγεῖσθαι χρὴ τὰ μαντεῖα καὶ τὰς διὰ θυτικῆς ἐρωτήσεις, τάς τε παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς θαυμαζομένας περὶ τῶν ἀδήλων προγνώσεις. ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα δοξοκοπίας ὀνομάσας ὡς ἂν ὑπὸ δαιμόνων πονηρῶν ἐνεργούμενα ἀποβάλλει.

Saphestata dē dia toutōn ho logos exephēnen tinōn hēgeisthai chrē ta manteia kai tas dia thytikēs erōtēseis, tas te para tois pollois thaumazomenas peri tōn adēlōn prognōseis. tauta gar panta doxokopias onomasas hōs an hypo daimonōn ponērōn energoumena apoballei.

Very clearly, then, the account has shown by these words to whom one must ascribe the oracles, inquiries by sacrifice, and the foreknowledge of hidden things admired by the many. For he calls all these vainglory and rejects them as worked by wicked demons.

Notes and citation

Summary: Porphyry attributes oracles and divination to evil demons.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): δο- ξοκοπίας → δοξοκοπίας.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.19.3 (Dindorf 1:198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-19-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.19.4Dindorf 1:198

τὸν γοῦν περὶ φαύλων δαιμόνων διεξιὼν λόγον, καὶ φάσκων τὸν συνετὸν ἄνδρα καὶ σώφρονα μή ποτε τούτοις ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδοῦναι, μηδʼ ἐπισπάσασθαι εἰς ἑαυτὸν διὰ τῶν θυσιῶν τοὺς τοιούτους, ἑξῆς ἐπισυνάπτει λέγων τὸν φιλόσοφον μηδὲ μαντείων δεήσεσθαι, μηδὲ σπλάγχνων ζῴων, καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων, ὡς ἂν τῆς δαιμονικῆς ὄντων κακοτεχνίας.

ton goun peri phaulōn daimonōn diexiōn logon, kai phaskōn ton syneton andra kai sōphrona mē pote toutois heauton epidounai, mēdʼ epispasasthai eis heauton dia tōn thysiōn tous toioutous, hexēs episynaptei legōn ton philosophon mēde manteiōn deēsesthai, mēde splanchnōn zǭōn, kai tōn paraplēsiōn, hōs an tēs daimonikēs ontōn kakotechnias.

At any rate, going through the account of bad demons, and saying that the wise and sober man will never give himself up to them nor draw them to himself by sacrifices, he next adds that the philosopher will not need oracles, nor entrails of animals, nor the like, since these belong to the evil art of demons.

Notes and citation

Summary: Porphyry links divination with the evil craft of demons.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.19.4 (Dindorf 1:198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-19-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.19.5Dindorf 1:198–199

εἰ δὴ οὖν κατὰ ταῦτα εὐλαβητέον τῷ συνετῷ καὶ σώφρονι τοιαύταις χρῆσθαι θυσίαις, διʼ ὧν ἐπισπάσεται πρὸς ἑαυτὸν τοὺς δαίμονας—αὗται δʼ ἦσαν αἱ διʼ αἱμάτων ἐκχύσεως καὶ διʼ ἀλόγων ζῴων σφαγῆς — οὐδεὶς ἂν ἐνδίκως ῥηθείη σώφρων καὶ συνετὸς τῶν πάλαι ζῳοθυτούντων τοῖς δαίμοσι, καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον τῶν ἀνθρωποθυτούντων.

ei dē oun kata tauta eulabēteon tǭ synetǭ kai sōphroni toiautais chrēsthai thysiais, diʼ hōn epispasetai pros heauton tous daimonas—hautai dʼ ēsan hai diʼ haimatōn ekchyseōs kai diʼ alogōn zǭōn sphagēs — oudeis an endikōs rhētheiē sōphrōn kai synetos tōn palai zǭothytountōn tois daimosi, kai poly mallon tōn anthrōpothytountōn.

If, then, according to this, the wise and sober man must beware of using such sacrifices as draw the demons to himself (and these were the sacrifices by shedding of blood and slaughter of irrational animals), none of those of old who sacrificed animals to the demons, and much less those who sacrificed men, could justly be called sober and wise.

Notes and citation

Summary: By Porphyry's standard no one who offered animal or human sacrifice was wise.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): εὐλα- βητέον → εὐλαβητέον; δαί- μονας → δαίμονας.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.19.5 (Dindorf 1:198–199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-19-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.19.6Dindorf 1:199

ἥλω δὲ τὰ πανταχοῦ πάντα σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν ἔθνη, πρόσθεν ἢ τὸν ἡμέτερον σωτῆρα εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἀναδειχθῆναι, τοὺς φαύλους ἱλεούμενα δαίμονας ταῖς κατὰ πάντα τόπον ἐπιτελουμέναις ἀνθρωποθυσίαις. οὐδεὶς ἄρα τούτων συνετὸς ἦν καὶ σώφρων.

hēlō de ta pantachou panta schedon eipein ethnē, prosthen ē ton hēmeteron sōtēra eis anthrōpous anadeichthēnai, tous phaulous hileoumena daimonas tais kata panta topon epiteloumenais anthrōpothysiais. oudeis ara toutōn synetos ēn kai sōphrōn.

And almost all the nations everywhere, before our Savior was shown to men, were caught propitiating the bad demons with human sacrifices performed in every place. So none of them was wise and sober.

Notes and citation

Summary: All the nations offered human sacrifice before Christ, so none was wise.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.19.6 (Dindorf 1:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-19-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.19.7Dindorf 1:199

ὁ μὲν οὖν κοινὸς καὶ ἀνθρώπινος λογισμὸς ἑπόμενος ὀρθῷ λόγῳ παντὶ τῷ συνετῷ καὶ σώφρονι διαρρήδην προκηρύττει μὴ χρῆσθαι θυσίαις ἐπὶ θεραπείᾳ τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων, σπουδάζειν δὲ καθαίρειν τὴν ψυχὴν παντοίως· καθαρᾷ γὰρ ψυχῇ μὴ ἐπιτίθεσθαι, διὰ τὸ αὐτοῖς ἀνόμοιον·

ho men oun koinos kai anthrōpinos logismos hepomenos orthǭ logǭ panti tǭ synetǭ kai sōphroni diarrēdēn prokēryttei mē chrēsthai thysiais epi therapeią tōn ponērōn daimonōn, spoudazein de kathairein tēn psychēn pantoiōs; katharą gar psychę̄ mē epitithesthai, dia to autois anomoion;

Common human reasoning, then, following right reason, plainly proclaims to every wise and sober man not to use sacrifices in the service of wicked demons, but to be eager to purify the soul in every way; for they do not attack a pure soul, because it is unlike them.

Notes and citation

Summary: Human reason commands purity of soul rather than sacrifice to demons.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.19.7 (Dindorf 1:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-19-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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4.19.8Dindorf 1:199

ὁ δὲ θεὸς αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἀπόλλων, ( πάλιν γὰρ ἀνθρώποις τοῦτον παραβλητέον, καὶ δεικτέον ὅσον τοῦ ὀρθοῦ λείπεται λογισμοῦ, ) προστάττει τῷ πονηρῷ δαίμονι θύειν, οὐκ ἄλλως ἢ δηλαδὴ φίλος ὢν αὐτῷ· κακῷ δὲ τὸ ὅμοιον φίλον. τούτου δὲ μάρτυς ὁ καὶ πρόσθεν ἐν οἷς ἐπέγραψε Περὶ τῆς ἐκ λογίων φιλοσοφίαςʼ’ ὧδε ἱστορῶν πρὸς λέξιν.

ho de theos autois ho Apollōn, ( palin gar anthrōpois touton parablēteon, kai deikteon hoson tou orthou leipetai logismou, ) prostattei tǭ ponērǭ daimoni thyein, ouk allōs ē dēladē philos ōn autǭ; kakǭ de to homoion philon. toutou de martys ho kai prosthen en hois epegrapse Peri tēs ek logiōn philosophiasʼ’ hōde historōn pros lexin.

But their god Apollo (for he must again be compared with men, and it must be shown how far he falls short of right reasoning) commands sacrifice to the wicked demon, plainly as being his friend; for like is dear to the bad. The witness of this is the same writer as before, in the work he entitled On the Philosophy from Oracles, recording thus word for word:

Notes and citation

Summary: Apollo, unlike human reason, commands sacrifice to an evil demon.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 4.19.8 (Dindorf 1:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/4-16-1/#p-4-19-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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