Preparation for the Gospel 6.11.28–7.3.3
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 6, chapter 11
6.11.28Dindorf 1:330–331
“Ἀποδεδειγμένου τοίνυν ἡμῖν περὶ τοῦ προγνώστην εἶναι τὸν θεὸν οὐκ ἀκαίρως, ἵνα διηγησώμεθα πῶς οἱ ἀστέρες γίνονται εἰς σημεῖα, νοητέον τοὺς ἀστέρας οὕτω τετάχθαι κινεῖσθαι, ἐναντιοφορούντων τῶν καλουμένων πλανωμένων τοῖς ἀπλανέσιν, ἵνα σημεῖα ἀπὸ τοῦ σχηματισμοῦ τῶν ἀστέρων πάντων τῶν περὶ ἕκαστον γινομένων καὶ τῶν καθόλου λαμβάνοντες γινώσκωσιν, οὐχὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι, πολλῷ γὰρ μεῖζον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον τὸ δύνασθαι κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἐκλαμβάνειν ἀπὸ τῆς κινήσεως τῶν ἀστέρων τὰ περὶ ἑκάστου τῶν ὅ τί ποτε οὖν ἐνεργούντων ἢ πασχόντων) ἀλλʼ αἱ δυνάμεις, ἃς ἀναγκαῖον διὰ πολλὰ ταῦτα γινώσκειν, ὡς κατὰ δύναμιν διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς δείξομεν.
“Apodedeigmenou toinyn hēmin peri tou prognōstēn einai ton theon ouk akairōs, hina diēgēsōmetha pōs hoi asteres ginontai eis sēmeia, noēteon tous asteras houtō tetachthai kineisthai, enantiophorountōn tōn kaloumenōn planōmenōn tois aplanesin, hina sēmeia apo tou schēmatismou tōn asterōn pantōn tōn peri hekaston ginomenōn kai tōn katholou lambanontes ginōskōsin, ouchi hoi anthrōpoi, pollǭ gar meizon ē kata anthrōpon to dynasthai kata alētheian eklambanein apo tēs kinēseōs tōn asterōn ta peri hekastou tōn ho ti pote oun energountōn ē paschontōn) allʼ hai dynameis, has anankaion dia polla tauta ginōskein, hōs kata dynamin dia tōn hexēs deixomen.
"Since it has been shown, then, not inappropriately, that God has foreknowledge, in order to explain how the stars become signs we must understand that the stars have been ordered to move in such a way, the so-called planets moving contrary to the fixed stars, that from the configuration of the stars, taking signs of everything that happens to each person and to the whole, there may come to know them not human beings (for it is far beyond human power to be able truly to read from the motion of the stars what concerns each of those who act or suffer in any way), but the powers, who must know these things for many reasons, as we shall show, as far as we can, in what follows.
Notes and citation
Summary: The stars serve as signs read not by humans but by heavenly powers.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen and stray accent in the digital text; line-end hyphen left in the digital text; repeated syllable joined to the next word in the digital text; stray comma in the digital text; wrong accent in the digital text; wrong breathing in the digital text): ἐναντιοφορούντωντῶν τῶν → ἐναντιοφορούντων τῶν; πάν- τῶν → πάντων; οὐχὶ οἶ ἄνθρωποι → οὐχὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι; πασχόντων, ) → πασχόντων); ἀλλʼ αἷ δυνάμεις → ἀλλʼ αἱ δυνάμεις; διηγησώ- μεθα → διηγησώμεθα.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.28 (Dindorf 1:330–331; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-28). (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.
6.11.29Dindorf 1:331
συνέντες δὲ οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἔκ τινων τηρήσεων, ἢ καὶ ἐκ διδασκαλίας ἀγγέλων τὴν ἰδίαν τάξιν παραβεβηκότων, καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν ἐπιτριβῇ διδαξάντων περὶ τούτων τινὰ, ᾠήθησαν τοὺς ἀφʼ ὧν τὰ σημεῖα οἴονται λαμβάνειν αἰτίους ὑπάρχειν τούτων, ἃ σημαίνειν ὁ λόγος φησι· περὶ ὧν καὶ αὐτῶν ὡς ἐν ἐπιτομῇ κατὰ δύναμιν ἐπιμελέστερον εὐθέως διαληψόμεθα.
synentes de hoi anthrōpoi ek tinōn tērēseōn, ē kai ek didaskalias angelōn tēn idian taxin parabebēkotōn, kai epi tę̄ tou genous hēmōn epitribę̄ didaxantōn peri toutōn tina, ǭēthēsan tous aphʼ hōn ta sēmeia oiontai lambanein aitious hyparchein toutōn, ha sēmainein ho logos phēsi; peri hōn kai autōn hōs en epitomę̄ kata dynamin epimelesteron eutheōs dialēpsometha.
But human beings, having come to understand something from certain observations, or from the teaching of angels who transgressed their proper order and taught some things about these matters for the ruin of our race, supposed that the things from which they think they take the signs are the causes of what the word says they signify. We shall discuss these points too, briefly but as carefully as we can, at once.
Notes and citation
Summary: Humans, taught partly by fallen angels, mistook signs for causes.
- Origen. The fallen angels who taught astrology recall 1 Enoch 8.3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong breathing in the digital text): έπιμελέστερον → ἐπιμελέστερον.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation); 1 En. 8.3 (1 Enoch [in the ETH canon]; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.29 (Dindorf 1:331; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-29). (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.
6.11.30Dindorf 1:331
προκείσεται τοίνυν ταῦτα τὰ προβλήματα. (ά) Πῶς, προγνώστου ὄντος ἐξ αἰῶνος τοῦ θεοῦ περὶ τῶν ὑφʼ ἑκάστου πράττεσθαι νομιζομένων, τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν σώζεται· (βʼ) καὶ τίνα τρόπον οἱ ἀστέρες οὐκ εἰσὶ ποιητικοὶ τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις, σημαντικοὶ δὲ μόνον· (γʼ) καὶ ὅτι ἄνθρωποι τὴν περὶ τούτων γνῶσιν ἀκριβῶς ἔχειν οὐ δύνανται, ἀλλὰ δυνάμεσιν ἀνθρώπων κρείττοσι τὰ σημεῖα ἔκκειται. (δʼ) τίς γὰρ ἡ αἰτία τοῦ τὰ σημεῖα τὸν θεὸν πεποιηκέναι εἰς γνῶσιν τῶν δυνάμεων, τέταρτον ἐξετασθήσεται.
prokeisetai toinyn tauta ta problēmata. (a) Pōs, prognōstou ontos ex aiōnos tou theou peri tōn hyphʼ hekastou prattesthai nomizomenōn, to ephʼ hēmin sōzetai; (bʼ) kai tina tropon hoi asteres ouk eisi poiētikoi tōn en anthrōpois, sēmantikoi de monon; (gʼ) kai hoti anthrōpoi tēn peri toutōn gnōsin akribōs echein ou dynantai, alla dynamesin anthrōpōn kreittosi ta sēmeia ekkeitai. (dʼ) tis gar hē aitia tou ta sēmeia ton theon pepoiēkenai eis gnōsin tōn dynameōn, tetarton exetasthēsetai.
These problems, then, will be set before us. (1) How, since God foreknows from eternity what each person is thought to do, is what is in our power preserved? (2) In what way are the stars not productive of human affairs, but only significant of them? (3) That human beings cannot have exact knowledge of these things, but the signs are set out for powers higher than humans. (4) What is the reason why God made the signs for the knowledge of the powers? This will be examined fourth.
Notes and citation
Summary: Origen lists four questions on foreknowledge, the stars as signs, and their readers.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; wrong breathing in the digital text): οἶ ἀστέρες → οἱ ἀστέρες; ἄν- θρωποι → ἄνθρωποι.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.30 (Dindorf 1:331; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-30). (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.
6.11.31Dindorf 1:331–332
καὶ τοίνυν ἴδωμεν τὸ πρῶτον, ὅπερ εὐλαβηθέντες πολλοὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, οἰόμενοι κατηναγκάσθαι τὰ πράγματα καὶ τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν μηδαμῶς σώζεσθαι εἰ ὁ θεὸς προγινώσκει τὰ μέλλοντα, ἀσεβὲς δόγμα ἐτόλμησαν ἀναδέξασθαι μᾶλλον ἢ προσέσθαι τὸ, ὥς φασιν ἐκεῖνοι, ἔνδοξον μὲν περὶ θεοῦ, ἀναιροῦν δὲ τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἔπαινον καὶ ψόγον, καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀποδεκτὸν τῶν τε κακιῶν ψεκτόν.
kai toinyn idōmen to prōton, hoper eulabēthentes polloi tōn Hellēnōn, oiomenoi katēnankasthai ta pragmata kai to ephʼ hēmin mēdamōs sōzesthai ei ho theos proginōskei ta mellonta, asebes dogma etolmēsan anadexasthai mallon ē prosesthai to, hōs phasin ekeinoi, endoxon men peri theou, anairoun de to ephʼ hēmin, kai dia touto epainon kai psogon, kai to tōn aretōn apodekton tōn te kakiōn psekton.
Let us look, then, at the first. Many of the Greeks, fearing it, and thinking that events are compelled and what is in our power is in no way preserved if God foreknows the future, dared to adopt an impious doctrine rather than accept one that is, as they say, glorious for God but does away with what is in our power, and therefore with praise and blame, and with the acceptability of virtues and the blameworthiness of vices.
Notes and citation
Summary: Some Greeks denied God's foreknowledge to preserve free will.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing accent in the digital text): μαλλον → μᾶλλον.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.31 (Dindorf 1:331–332; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-31). (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.
6.11.32Dindorf 1:332
καί φασιν, εἰ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἔγνω ὁ θεὸς τόνδε τινὰ ἀδικήσειν καὶ τάδε ποιῆσαι τὰ ἀδικήματα, ἀψευδὴς δὲ ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ πάντως ἔσται ἄδικος ποιήσων τάδε τὰ ἀδικήματα ὁ τοιοῦτος εἶναι προεωραμένος, καὶ ἀμήχανον μὴ ἀδικήσειν αὐτόν· εἰ δὲ ἀμήχανον μὴ ἀδικήσειν αὐτὸν, κατηνάγκασται τὸ ἀδικήσειν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀδύνατον ἔσται ἄλλο τι πρᾶξαι αὐτὸν ἢ ὅπερ ὁ θεὸς ἔγνω. εἰ δὲ ἀδύνατον ἄλλο τι πρᾶξαι αὐτὸν, οὐδεὶς δὲ ἀδύνατον μὴ ποιήσας ψεκτός ἐστι, μάτην αἰτιώμεθα τοὺς ἀδίκους
kai phasin, ei ex aiōnos egnō ho theos tonde tina adikēsein kai tade poiēsai ta adikēmata, apseudēs de hē gnōsis tou theou, kai pantōs estai adikos poiēsōn tade ta adikēmata ho toioutos einai proeōramenos, kai amēchanon mē adikēsein auton; ei de amēchanon mē adikēsein auton, katēnankastai to adikēsein auton, kai adynaton estai allo ti praxai auton ē hoper ho theos egnō. ei de adynaton allo ti praxai auton, oudeis de adynaton mē poiēsas psektos esti, matēn aitiōmetha tous adikous
And they say: If God knew from eternity that a certain man would do wrong and commit these wrongs, and God's knowledge does not err, then the one foreseen to be such will certainly be unjust and commit these wrongs, and it is impossible that he will not do wrong. And if it is impossible that he will not do wrong, his doing wrong is compelled, and it will be impossible for him to do anything other than what God knew. And if it is impossible for him to do anything else, and no one is blameworthy for not doing the impossible, we accuse the unjust in vain.
Notes and citation
Summary: The objection: if God foreknows a wrong, it is necessary and so blameless.
- Origen, stating the objection.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.32 (Dindorf 1:332; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-32). (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.
6.11.33Dindorf 1:332
ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ἀδίκου καὶ τῶν ἀδικημάτων ἐπέρχονται καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἁμαρτήματα, εἶτα ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου καὶ τὰ νομιζόμενα κατορθώματα· καί φασιν ἀκολουθεῖν τῷ τὸν θεὸν τὰ μέλλοντα προεγνωκέναι τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν σώζεσθαι.
apo de tou adikou kai tōn adikēmatōn eperchontai kai epi ta alla hamartēmata, eita ek tou enantiou kai ta nomizomena katorthōmata; kai phasin akolouthein tǭ ton theon ta mellonta proegnōkenai to mē dynasthai to ephʼ hēmin sōzesthai.
And from the unjust man and his wrongs they go on to other sins too, and then, from the opposite side, to what are thought good deeds; and they say that it follows from God's having foreknown the future that what is in our power cannot be preserved.
Notes and citation
Summary: The objection extends to all sins and good deeds.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.33 (Dindorf 1:332; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-33). (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.
6.11.34Dindorf 1:332
πρὸς οὓς λεκτέον ὅτι ἐπιβάλλων ὁ θεὸς τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς κοσμοποιίας, οὐδενὸς ἀναιτίως γινομένου, ἐπιπορεύεται τῷ νῷ ἕκαστον τῶν ἐσομένων ὁρῶν ὅτι ἐπεὶ τόδε γέγονε τόδε ἕπεται, ἐὰν δὲ γένηται τόδε τὸ ἑπόμενον τόδε ἀκολουθεῖ· οὗ ὑποστάντος τόδε ἔσται· καὶ οὕτω μέχρι τέλους τῶν πραγμάτων ἐπιπορευθεὶς οἶδεν ἃ ἔσται, οὐ πάντως ἑκάστῳ τῶν γινωσκομένων αἴτιος τοῦ αὐτὸ συμβῆναι τυγχάνων.
pros hous lekteon hoti epiballōn ho theos tę̄ archę̄ tēs kosmopoiias, oudenos anaitiōs ginomenou, epiporeuetai tǭ nǭ hekaston tōn esomenōn horōn hoti epei tode gegone tode hepetai, ean de genētai tode to hepomenon tode akolouthei; hou hypostantos tode estai; kai houtō mechri telous tōn pragmatōn epiporeutheis oiden ha estai, ou pantōs hekastǭ tōn ginōskomenōn aitios tou auto symbēnai tynchanōn.
To them it must be said that God, applying himself to the beginning of the making of the world, since nothing comes about without a cause, goes through each future thing in his mind, seeing that since this has happened, this follows; and if this follows, this comes next; and when it has come about, this will be; and so, going through to the end of events, he knows what will be, without being in every case the cause of each thing known coming about.
Notes and citation
Summary: God foresees the whole chain of events without causing each.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.34 (Dindorf 1:332; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-34). (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.
6.11.35Dindorf 1:332
ὥσπερ γὰρ εἴ τις ὁρῶν τινὰ διὰ μὲν ἀμαθίαν προπετῆ, διὰ δὲ τὴν προπέτειαν ἀλογίστως ἐπιβαίνοντα ὁδοῦ ὀλισθηρᾶς, καὶ καταλάβοι πεσεῖσθαι ὀλισθήσαντα, οὐχὶ αἴτιος τοῦ ὀλίσθου ἐκείνῳ γίνεται, οὕτω νοητέον τὸν θεὸν προεωρακότα ὁποῖος ἔσται ἕκαστος καὶ τὰς αἰτίας τοῦ τοιοῦτον αὐτὸν ἔσεσθαι καθορᾶν, καὶ ὅτι ἁμαρτήσεται τάδε, ἢ κατορθώσει τάδε.
hōsper gar ei tis horōn tina dia men amathian propetē, dia de tēn propeteian alogistōs epibainonta hodou olisthēras, kai katalaboi peseisthai olisthēsanta, ouchi aitios tou olisthou ekeinǭ ginetai, houtō noēteon ton theon proeōrakota hopoios estai hekastos kai tas aitias tou toiouton auton esesthai kathoran, kai hoti hamartēsetai tade, ē katorthōsei tade.
For just as, if someone sees a man rash through ignorance, and through his rashness stepping thoughtlessly onto a slippery road, and grasps that he will slip and fall, he does not become the cause of the man's slipping, so we must understand that God, having foreseen what each will be, also sees the causes of his being such, and that he will commit these sins or do these good deeds.
Notes and citation
Summary: As one who foresees a fall does not cause it, so God's foresight does not cause sin.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.35 (Dindorf 1:332; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-35). (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.
6.11.36Dindorf 1:332–333
καὶ εἰ χρὴ λέγειν οὐ τὴν πρόγνωσιν αἰτίαν τῶν γινομένων, (οὐ γὰρ ἐφάπτεται τοῦ προεγνωσμένου ἁμαρτησομένου ὁ θεὸς, ὅταν ἁμαρτάνῃ) ἀλλὰ παραδοξότερον μὲν, ἀληθὲς δὲ ἐροῦμεν, τὸ ἐσόμενον αἴτιον τοῦ τοιάνδε εἶναι τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ πρόγνωσιν.
kai ei chrē legein ou tēn prognōsin aitian tōn ginomenōn, (ou gar ephaptetai tou proegnōsmenou hamartēsomenou ho theos, hotan hamartanę̄) alla paradoxoteron men, alēthes de eroumen, to esomenon aition tou toiande einai tēn peri autou prognōsin.
And if we must say so, foreknowledge is not the cause of what happens (for God does not lay hold of the one foreknown to sin when he sins); rather, we shall say something more paradoxical but true: the future event is the cause of the foreknowledge about it being such as it is.
Notes and citation
Summary: The future event causes the foreknowledge, not the reverse.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; stray comma in the digital text): ἁμαρτάνῃ, ) → ἁμαρτάνῃ); προ- εγνωσμένου → προεγνωσμένου.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.36 (Dindorf 1:332–333; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-36). (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.
6.11.37Dindorf 1:333
οὐ γὰρ ἐπεὶ ἔγνωσται γίνεται, ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ γίνεσθαι ἔμελλεν ἔγνωσται. διαστολῆς δὲ δεῖται. εἰ μὲν γὰρ τὸ ῾πάντως ἔσταιʼ οὕτω τις ἑρμηνεύει, ὡς ἀνάγκην εἶναι γενέσθαι τὸ προεγνωσμένον, οὐ διδόαμεν αὐτῷ· οὐ γὰρ ἐροῦμεν, ἐπεὶ προέγνωσται Ἰούδαν προδότην γενέσθαι, ὅτι πᾶσα ἀνάγκη ἦν Ἰούδαν προδότην γενέσθαι.
ou gar epei egnōstai ginetai, allʼ epei ginesthai emellen egnōstai. diastolēs de deitai. ei men gar to ῾pantōs estaiʼ houtō tis hermēneuei, hōs anankēn einai genesthai to proegnōsmenon, ou didoamen autǭ; ou gar eroumen, epei proegnōstai Ioudan prodotēn genesthai, hoti pasa anankē ēn Ioudan prodotēn genesthai.
For it does not happen because it is known, but it is known because it was going to happen. But a distinction is needed. If someone interprets 'it will certainly be' to mean that what is foreknown must necessarily happen, we do not grant it to him; for we shall not say that, since Judas was foreknown to become a traitor, there was every necessity for Judas to become a traitor.
Notes and citation
Summary: Foreknowledge does not make the foreknown necessary, as with Judas.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): δεῖ- ται → δεῖται.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.37 (Dindorf 1:333; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-37). (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.
6.11.38Dindorf 1:333
ἐν γοῦν ταῖς περὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα προφητείαις μέμψεις καὶ κατηγορίαι τοῦ Ἰούδα ἀναγεγραμμέναι εἰσὶ, παντί τῳ παριστῶσαι τὸ ψεκτὸν αὐτοῦ. οὐκ ἂν δὲ ψόγος αὐτῷ προσήπτετο, εἰ ἐπάναγκες προδότης ἦν, καὶ μὴ ἐνεδέχετο αὐτὸν ὅμοιον τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀποστόλοις γενέσθαι.
en goun tais peri tou Iouda prophēteiais mempseis kai katēgoriai tou Iouda anagegrammenai eisi, panti tǭ paristōsai to psekton autou. ouk an de psogos autǭ prosēpteto, ei epanankes prodotēs ēn, kai mē enedecheto auton homoion tois loipois apostolois genesthai.
In the prophecies about Judas, at any rate, reproaches and accusations against Judas are written down, showing everyone that he was blameworthy. But blame would not have been attached to him if he had been a traitor of necessity, and it had not been possible for him to become like the other apostles.
Notes and citation
Summary: Scripture's blame of Judas shows he was free to be like the other apostles.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.38 (Dindorf 1:333; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-38). (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.
6.11.39Dindorf 1:333
ὅρα δὲ εἰ μὴ ταῦτα δηλοῦται διʼ ὧν παραθησόμεθα ῥητῶν οὕτως ἐχόντων· μηδὲ γενηθήτω οἰκτίρμων τοῖς ὀρφανοῖς αὐτοῦ, ἀνθʼ ὧν οὐκ ἐμνήσθη ποιῆσαι ἔλεος· καὶ κατεδίωξεν ἄνθρωπον πένητα καὶ πτωχὸν, καὶ κατανενυγμένον τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ θανατῶσαι· καὶ ἠγάπησε κατάραν, καὶ ἥξει αὐτῷ, καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησεν εὐλογίαν, καὶ μακρυνθήσεται ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ.”
hora de ei mē tauta dēloutai diʼ hōn parathēsometha rhētōn houtōs echontōn; mēde genēthētō oiktirmōn tois orphanois autou, anthʼ hōn ouk emnēsthē poiēsai eleos; kai katediōxen anthrōpon penēta kai ptōchon, kai katanenygmenon tę̄ kardią tou thanatōsai; kai ēgapēse kataran, kai hēxei autǭ, kai ouk ēthelēsen eulogian, kai makrynthēsetai apʼ autou.”
See whether this is not shown by the passages we shall quote, which run as follows: "Let there be none to pity his orphans, because he did not remember to show mercy, and persecuted a poor and needy man, and one pierced in heart, to put him to death. And he loved a curse, and it shall come to him; and he did not desire blessing, and it shall be far from him."
Ps 109:12 (108:12 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:16 (108:16 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:17 (108:17 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Psalm 109, read of Judas, blames him for his own choices.
- Origen, quoting Ps 109:12, 16–17 (LXX 108:12, 16–17).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): ἠθέ- λησεν → ἠθέλησεν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.39 (Dindorf 1:333; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-39). (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.
6.11.40Dindorf 1:333
“Εἰ δέ τις διηγήσεται τὸ πάντως ἔσται, κατὰ τὸ σημαίνειν αὐτὸ λέγων ὅτι ἔσται μὲν τάδε τινὰ, ἐνεδέχετο δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως γενέσθαι, τοῦτο ὡς ἀληθὲς συγχωροῦμεν. τὸν μὲν γὰρ θεὸν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ψεύσασθαι, ἐνδέχεται δὲ περὶ τῶν ἐνδεχομένων γενέσθαι καὶ μὴ γενέσθαι φρονῆσαι τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὰ καὶ μὴ γενέσθαι.
“Ei de tis diēgēsetai to pantōs estai, kata to sēmainein auto legōn hoti estai men tade tina, enedecheto de kai heterōs genesthai, touto hōs alēthes synchōroumen. ton men gar theon ouk endechetai pseusasthai, endechetai de peri tōn endechomenōn genesthai kai mē genesthai phronēsai to genesthai auta kai mē genesthai.
"But if someone explains 'it will certainly be' as meaning that these things will be, but it was possible for them to happen otherwise, we grant this as true. For it is not possible for God to be mistaken, but it is possible, concerning things that may or may not happen, to think that they will happen or will not happen.
Heb 6:18 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God's foreknowledge is infallible about things that could have gone otherwise.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.40 (Dindorf 1:333; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-40). (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.
6.11.41Dindorf 1:333–334
σαφέστερον δὲ τοῦτο ἐροῦμεν οὕτως· εἰ ἐνδέχεται Ἰούδαν εἶναι ἀπόστολον ὁμοίως Πέτρῳ, ἐνδέχεται τὸν θεὸν νοῆσαι περὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα ὅτι μενεῖ ἀπόστολος ὁμοίως Πέτρῳ· εἰ ἐνδέχεται Ἰούδαν προδότην γενέσθαι, ἐνδέχεται τὸν θεὸν φρονῆσαι περὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι προδότης ἔσται.
saphesteron de touto eroumen houtōs; ei endechetai Ioudan einai apostolon homoiōs Petrǭ, endechetai ton theon noēsai peri tou Iouda hoti menei apostolos homoiōs Petrǭ; ei endechetai Ioudan prodotēn genesthai, endechetai ton theon phronēsai peri autou hoti prodotēs estai.
We shall say this more clearly thus: if it is possible for Judas to be an apostle like Peter, it is possible for God to think of Judas that he will remain an apostle like Peter; if it is possible for Judas to become a traitor, it is possible for God to think of him that he will be a traitor.
Notes and citation
Summary: God's knowledge follows whichever possibility Judas realizes.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): ἐν- δέχεται → ἐνδέχεται.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.41 (Dindorf 1:333–334; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-41). (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.
6.11.42Dindorf 1:334
εἰ δὲ προδότης ἔσται Ἰούδας, ὁ θεὸς τῇ προγνώσει αὐτοῦ τῶν προειρημένων ἐνδεχομένων δύο, ἐνδεχομένου τοῦ εἶναι ἑνὶ αὐτῶν, τὸ ἀληθὲς προγινώσκων, προγνώσεται τὸν Ἰούδαν προδότην γενέσθαι· τὸ δὲ περὶ οὗ ἡ γνῶσις ἐνδέχεται καὶ ἑτέρως γενέσθαι· καὶ λέγοι ἂν ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι ἐνδέχεται μὲν τόνδε τόδε ποιῆσαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐναντίον· ἐνδεχομένων δὲ ἀμφοτέρων οἶδα ὅτι τάδε ποιήσει.
ei de prodotēs estai Ioudas, ho theos tę̄ prognōsei autou tōn proeirēmenōn endechomenōn dyo, endechomenou tou einai heni autōn, to alēthes proginōskōn, prognōsetai ton Ioudan prodotēn genesthai; to de peri hou hē gnōsis endechetai kai heterōs genesthai; kai legoi an hē gnōsis tou theou hoti endechetai men tonde tode poiēsai, alla kai to enantion; endechomenōn de amphoterōn oida hoti tade poiēsei.
And if Judas will be a traitor, God, foreknowing the truth by his foreknowledge of the two possibilities just mentioned, either of which could be, will foreknow that Judas becomes a traitor; but the thing of which there is knowledge could also have happened otherwise. And God's knowledge would say: It is possible for this man to do this, but also the opposite; and both being possible, I know that he will do this.
Notes and citation
Summary: God knows which of two real possibilities will occur.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.42 (Dindorf 1:334; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-42). (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.
6.11.43Dindorf 1:334
οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ, ὁ θεὸς εἴποι ἂν, οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τόνδε τινὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον πτῆναι, οὕτω χρησμὸν, φέρε εἰπεῖν, περί τινος διδοὺς ἐρεῖ ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τόνδε σωφρονῆσαι· δύναμις μὲν γὰρ πάντη οὐκ ἔστι τοῦ πτῆναι οὐδαμῶς ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, δύναμις δέ ἐστι τοῦ σωφρονῆσαι καὶ τοῦ ἀκολαστῆσαι.
ou gar hōsper, ho theos eipoi an, ouk endechetai tonde tina ton anthrōpon ptēnai, houtō chrēsmon, phere eipein, peri tinos didous erei hoti ouk endechetai tonde sōphronēsai; dynamis men gar pantē ouk esti tou ptēnai oudamōs en tǭ anthrōpǭ, dynamis de esti tou sōphronēsai kai tou akolastēsai.
For God would not, in giving an oracle about someone, say, 'It is not possible for this man to be self-controlled,' in the way that he would say, 'It is not possible for this man to fly.' For there is no power at all of flying in a human being, but there is a power both of self-control and of licentiousness.
Notes and citation
Summary: Humans have power for both virtue and vice, unlike the impossible power of flight.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): σω- φρονῆσαι → σωφρονῆσαι.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.43 (Dindorf 1:334; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-43). (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.
6.11.44Dindorf 1:334
ὧν ἀμφοτέρων δυνάμεων ὑπαρχουσῶν, ὁ μὴ προσέχων λόγοις ἐπιτρεπτικοῖς καὶ παιδευτικοῖς ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδίδωσι τῇ χειρίστῃ· κρείττονι δὲ ὁ ζητήσας τὸ ἀληθὲς καὶ βιῶσαι βεβουλημένος κατʼ αὐτό. οὐ ζητεῖ δὲ ὅδε μὲν τἀληθῆ, ἐπεὶ ἐπιρρέπει ἐπὶ τὴν ἡδονήν· ὅδε δὲ ἐξετάζει περὶ αὐτῶν, αἱρεθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν κοινῶν ἐννοιῶν καὶ λόγου προτρεπτικοῦ.
hōn amphoterōn dynameōn hyparchousōn, ho mē prosechōn logois epitreptikois kai paideutikois heauton epididōsi tę̄ cheiristę̄; kreittoni de ho zētēsas to alēthes kai biōsai beboulēmenos katʼ auto. ou zētei de hode men talēthē, epei epirrepei epi tēn hēdonēn; hode de exetazei peri autōn, hairetheis hypo tōn koinōn ennoiōn kai logou protreptikou.
Both powers being present, the one who pays no heed to words of exhortation and instruction gives himself to the worse; but the one who seeks the truth and wishes to live by it gives himself to the better. This man does not seek the truth because he leans toward pleasure; that one examines these things, won over by the common notions and by exhorting reason.
Notes and citation
Summary: Each chooses the better or worse according to whether he heeds instruction.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): ἐν- νοιῶν → ἐννοιῶν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.44 (Dindorf 1:334; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-44). (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.
6.11.45Dindorf 1:334
πάλιν δʼ αὖ ὅδε μὲν αἱρεῖται τὴν ἡδονὴν, οὐχὶ οὐ δυνάμενος ἀντιβλέπειν αὐτῇ, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀγωνιζόμενος· ὅδε δὲ καταφρονεῖ αὐτῆς, τὸ ἄσχημον ὁρῶν τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ πολλάκις τυγχάνον.
palin dʼ au hode men haireitai tēn hēdonēn, ouchi ou dynamenos antiblepein autę̄, allʼ ouk agōnizomenos; hode de kataphronei autēs, to aschēmon horōn to en autę̄ pollakis tynchanon.
And again, this man chooses pleasure, not because he is unable to face it down, but because he does not struggle; while that man despises it, seeing the shamefulness that is often in it.
Notes and citation
Summary: One yields to pleasure for lack of struggle; another despises it.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.45 (Dindorf 1:334; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-45). (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.
6.11.46Dindorf 1:334–335
ὅτι μέντοι γε ἡ πρόγνωσις τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἀνάγκην ἐπιτίθησι τοῖς περὶ ὧν κατείληφε, πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ τοῦτο λελέξεται, ὅτι πολλαχοῦ τῶν γραφῶν ὁ θεὸς κελεύει τοῖς προφήταις κηρύσσειν μετάνοιαν, οὐ προσποιησάμενος τὸ ἐγνωκέναι πότερον οἱ ἀκούσαντες ἐπιστρέψουσιν, ἢ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν ἑαυτῶν ἐμμενοῦσιν· ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ λέγεται “ ἴσως ἀκούσονται καὶ μετανοήσουσιν.’’
hoti mentoi ge hē prognōsis tou theou ouk anankēn epitithēsi tois peri hōn kateilēphe, pros tois eirēmenois kai touto lelexetai, hoti pollachou tōn graphōn ho theos keleuei tois prophētais kēryssein metanoian, ou prospoiēsamenos to egnōkenai poteron hoi akousantes epistrepsousin, ē tois hamartēmasin heautōn emmenousin; hōsper en tǭ Hieremią legetai “ isōs akousontai kai metanoēsousin.’’
That God's foreknowledge does not impose necessity on the things it has grasped, this too will be said in addition to what has been said: that in many places of the Scriptures God commands the prophets to preach repentance, without pretending to know whether the hearers will turn or will remain in their sins; as in Jeremiah it is said, "Perhaps they will hear and repent."
Jer 26:3 (33:3 LXX) (quotation, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God's calls to repentance through the prophets show foreknowledge imposes no necessity.
- Origen, citing Jer 26:3 (LXX 33:3).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): ἁμαρ- τήμασιν → ἁμαρτήμασιν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.46 (Dindorf 1:334–335; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-46). (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.
6.11.47Dindorf 1:335
οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοῶν ὁ θεὸς πότερον ἀκούσουσιν, ἢ οὔ, φησὶν ‘‘ἴσως ἀκούσονται καὶ μετανοήσουσιν, ’’ ἀλλʼ οἱονεὶ τὸ ἰσοστάσιον τῶν δυνάμεων γενέσθαι δεικνὺς ἐκ τῶν λεγομένων, ἵνα μὴ προκατηγγελμένη ἡ πρόγνωσις αὐτοῦ καταπεσεῖν ποιήσῃ τοὺς ἀκούοντας, δόξαν ἀνάγκης παριστᾶσα, ὡς οὐκ ὄντος ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι, καὶ οἱονεὶ καὶ αὕτη αἰτία γένηται τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων.
ou gar agnoōn ho theos poteron akousousin, ē ou, phēsin ‘‘isōs akousontai kai metanoēsousin, ’’ allʼ hoionei to isostasion tōn dynameōn genesthai deiknys ek tōn legomenōn, hina mē prokatēngelmenē hē prognōsis autou katapesein poiēsę̄ tous akouontas, doxan anankēs paristasa, hōs ouk ontos epʼ autois tou epistrepsai, kai hoionei kai hautē aitia genētai tōn hamartēmatōn.
For it is not because God does not know whether they will hear or not that he says, "Perhaps they will hear and repent," but as showing by what is said the equal balance, so to speak, of the powers, so that his foreknowledge, announced beforehand, may not make the hearers lose heart, by presenting an appearance of necessity, as though it were not in their power to turn, and so itself become, as it were, a cause of their sins.
Jer 26:3 (33:3 LXX) (quotation, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God speaks of 'perhaps' so that announced foreknowledge will not discourage repentance.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): ἢ οὒ → ἢ οὔ.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.47 (Dindorf 1:335; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-47). (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.
6.11.48Dindorf 1:335
ἢ πάλιν τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἀγνοεῖν τὸ προεγνωσμένον καλὸν δυναμένοις ἐν τῷ ἀγωνίσασθαι καὶ ἀντιτείνειν πρὸς τὴν κακίαν ἐν ἀρετῇ βιῶσαι αἰτία γένηται ἡ πρόγνωσις ἐκλύσεως, οὐκέτι εὐτόνως ἱσταμένοις κατὰ τῆς ἀμαρτίας, ὡς πάντως ἐσομένου τοῦ προειρημένου. καὶ οὕτω γὰρ οἷον ἐμπόδιον γένοιτʼ ἂν ἡ πρόγνωσις τοῦ ἐσομένου καλοῦ.
ē palin tois ek tou agnoein to proegnōsmenon kalon dynamenois en tǭ agōnisasthai kai antiteinein pros tēn kakian en aretę̄ biōsai aitia genētai hē prognōsis eklyseōs, ouketi eutonōs histamenois kata tēs amartias, hōs pantōs esomenou tou proeirēmenou. kai houtō gar hoion empodion genoitʼ an hē prognōsis tou esomenou kalou.
Or again, for those who, by not knowing the good that is foreknown, could live in virtue by struggling and resisting vice, foreknowledge might become a cause of slackness, as they would no longer stand firmly against sin, since what was foretold would certainly come about. In this way too foreknowledge of the good to come would become a kind of hindrance.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowing one's future goodness could also make one slack.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong breathing in the digital text): οἶον ἐμπόδιον → οἷον ἐμπόδιον.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.48 (Dindorf 1:335; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-48). (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.
6.11.49Dindorf 1:335
πάντα γοῦν χρησίμως ὁ θεὸς τὰ κατὰ τὸν κόσμον οἰκονομῶν εὐλόγως ἡμᾶς καὶ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα ἐτύφλωσεν. ἡ γὰρ γνῶσις αὐτῶν ἀνῆκε μὲν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀθλεῖν κατὰ τῆς κακίας, ἐπέτρεψε δʼ ἂν δόξασα κατειλῆφθαι, πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀντιπαλαίσαντας ἡμᾶς τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τάχιον αὐτῇ ὑποχειρίους γενέσθαι.
panta goun chrēsimōs ho theos ta kata ton kosmon oikonomōn eulogōs hēmas kai pros ta mellonta etyphlōsen. hē gar gnōsis autōn anēke men hēmas apo tou athlein kata tēs kakias, epetrepse dʼ an doxasa kateilēphthai, pros to mē antipalaisantas hēmas tę̄ hamartią tachion autę̄ hypocheirious genesthai.
God, then, ordering everything in the world for our benefit, reasonably blinded us also to the future. For knowledge of it would have released us from the contest against vice, and, appearing to have settled the matter, would have let us become subject to sin the sooner by not wrestling against it.
Notes and citation
Summary: God mercifully hid the future so that we keep struggling against sin.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; missing space in the digital text): ἡμᾶςἀπὸ → ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ; κατὰτῆς → κατὰ τῆς; χρη- σίμως → χρησίμως; ἀντι- παλαίσαντας → ἀντιπαλαίσαντας.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.49 (Dindorf 1:335; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-49). (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.
6.11.50Dindorf 1:335
ἅμα δὲ καὶ μαχόμενον ἐγίνετο τῷ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι τινὰ τὸ τὴν πρόγνωσιν ἐληλυθέναι εἰς τόνδε τινὰ, ὅτι πάντως ἔσται ἀγαθός. πρὸς οἷς γὰρ ἔχομεν καὶ σφοδρότητος καὶ τάσεως πλείονος χρεία πρὸς τὸ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι· προκαταληφθεῖσα δὲ ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ πάντως καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἔσεσθαι ὑπεκλύει τὴν ἄσκησιν. διόπερ συμφερόντως οὐκ ἴσμεν οὔτε εἰ ἀγαθοὶ οὔτε εἰ πονηροὶ ἐσόμεθα.’
hama de kai machomenon egineto tǭ kalon kai agathon genesthai tina to tēn prognōsin elēlythenai eis tonde tina, hoti pantōs estai agathos. pros hois gar echomen kai sphodrotētos kai taseōs pleionos chreia pros to kalon kai agathon genesthai; prokatalēphtheisa de hē gnōsis tou pantōs kalon kai agathon esesthai hypeklyei tēn askēsin. dioper sympherontōs ouk ismen oute ei agathoi oute ei ponēroi esometha.’
At the same time, it would also conflict with someone's becoming noble and good for the foreknowledge to have come to him that he will certainly be good. For in addition to what we have, there is need of greater vehemence and effort to become noble and good; but knowledge grasped beforehand that one will certainly be noble and good slackens the discipline. Therefore it is to our advantage that we do not know whether we shall be good or wicked."
Notes and citation
Summary: Not knowing whether we will be good or bad is for our benefit.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing spaces in the digital text; repeated word in the digital text; wrong breathing and missing space in the digital text): ἀγαθὸνγενέσθαιτινὰτὸ → ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι τινὰ τὸ; πρὸς οἶς γὰρ ἔχομενκαὶ → πρὸς οἷς γὰρ ἔχομεν καὶ; καλὸν καὶ καὶ ἀγαθὸν → καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.50 (Dindorf 1:335; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-50). (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.
6.11.51Dindorf 1:335–336
‘‘Ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰρήκαμεν ὅτι ἀπετύφλωσεν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα ὁ θεὸς, ζητούμενόν τι ῥητὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐξόδου ὅρα εἰ δυνάμεθα οὕτω σαφηνίσαι τις ἐποίησε δύσκωφον καὶ κωφὸν, καὶ βλέποντα καὶ τυφλόν; οὐκ ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεός; ἵνα τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ τυφλὸν καὶ βλέποντα πεποιηκὼς ᾖ· βλέποντα μὲν πρὸς τὰ ἐνεστηκότα, τυφλὸν δὲ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα. τὸ γὰρ περὶ τοῦ δυσκώφου καὶ κωφοῦ οὐ τοῦ παρόντος καιροῦ διηγήσασθαι.
‘‘Epei de eirēkamen hoti apetyphlōsen hēmas pros ta mellonta ho theos, zētoumenon ti rhēton apo tēs Exodou hora ei dynametha houtō saphēnisai tis epoiēse dyskōphon kai kōphon, kai bleponta kai typhlon? ouk egō kyrios ho theos? hina ton auton kai typhlon kai bleponta pepoiēkōs ę̄; bleponta men pros ta enestēkota, typhlon de pros ta mellonta. to gar peri tou dyskōphou kai kōphou ou tou parontos kairou diēgēsasthai.
"Since we have said that God blinded us to the future, see whether we can in this way make clear a passage from Exodus that is inquired about: "Who made the deaf and the dumb, the seeing and the blind? Was it not I, the Lord God?" That is, he has made the same person both blind and seeing: seeing as to the present, blind as to the future. As for the deaf and the dumb, this is not the time to explain it.
Exod 4:11 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Exodus 4:11: God makes us seeing as to the present and blind as to the future.
- Origen, quoting Exod 4:11.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): πεποιηκὼς ᾐ· → πεποιηκὼς ᾖ·.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.51 (Dindorf 1:335–336; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-51). (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.
6.11.52Dindorf 1:336
ὅτι μέντοι γε πολλῶν τῶν ἐφʼ ἡμῖν αἴτια πλεῖστα τῶν οὐκ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν ἐστι καὶ ἡμεῖς ὁμολογήσομεν· ὧν μὴ γενομένων, λέγω δὲ τῶν οὐκ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν, οὐκ ἂν τάδε τινὰ τῶν ἐφʼ ἡμῖν ἐπράττετο. πράττεται δὲ τάδε τινὰ τῶν ἐφʼ ἡμῖν ἀκόλουθα τοῖσδε τοῖς προγενομένοις οὐκ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν, ἐνδεχομένου τοῦ ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς προγενομένοις καὶ ἕτερα πρᾶξαι παρʼ ἃ πράττομεν.
hoti mentoi ge pollōn tōn ephʼ hēmin aitia pleista tōn ouk ephʼ hēmin esti kai hēmeis homologēsomen; hōn mē genomenōn, legō de tōn ouk ephʼ hēmin, ouk an tade tina tōn ephʼ hēmin epratteto. prattetai de tade tina tōn ephʼ hēmin akoloutha toisde tois progenomenois ouk ephʼ hēmin, endechomenou tou epi tois autois progenomenois kai hetera praxai parʼ ha prattomen.
That very many things not in our power are causes of many things in our power, we too shall admit; if these did not happen, I mean the things not in our power, certain things in our power would not be done. But certain things in our power are done in consequence of certain prior events not in our power, while it remains possible, given the same prior events, to do other things than what we do.
Notes and citation
Summary: External events condition our acts, but we could still act otherwise.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; misread letter and accent in the digital text): πλεῖστα τόν οὐκ → πλεῖστα τῶν οὐκ; προ- γενομένοις → προγενομένοις.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.52 (Dindorf 1:336; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-52). (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.
6.11.53Dindorf 1:336
εἰ δέ τις ζητεῖ τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν ἀπολελυμένον εἶναι τοῦ παντὸς, ὥστε μὴ διὰ τάδε τινὰ συμβεβηκότα ἡμῖν ἡμᾶς αἱρεῖσθαι τάδε, ἐπιλέλησται κόσμου μέρος ὢν καὶ ἐμπεριεχόμενος ἀνθρώπων κοινωνίᾳ καὶ τοῦ περιέχοντος.
ei de tis zētei to ephʼ hēmin apolelymenon einai tou pantos, hōste mē dia tade tina symbebēkota hēmin hēmas haireisthai tade, epilelēstai kosmou meros ōn kai emperiechomenos anthrōpōn koinōnią kai tou periechontos.
If anyone seeks for what is in our power to be released from the whole, so that we do not choose these things because of what has happened to us, he has forgotten that he is a part of the world and is enclosed in the fellowship of humans and of the surrounding world.
Notes and citation
Summary: Free will does not mean independence from the world we belong to.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): παν- τὸς → παντὸς; περι- έχοντος → περιέχοντος.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.53 (Dindorf 1:336; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-53). (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.
6.11.54Dindorf 1:336
μετρίως μὲν οὖν ὡς ἐν ἐπιτομῇ οἶμαι ἀποδεδεῖχθαι, τὸ τὴν πρόγνωσιν τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ εἶναι καταναγκαστικὴν τῶν προεγνωσμένων πάντως. “Φέρε δὲ ἀγωνισώμεθα καὶ περὶ τοῦ τοὺς ἀστέρας μηδαμῶς εἶναι ποιητικοὺς τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις, σημαντικοὺς δὲ μόνον.
metriōs men oun hōs en epitomę̄ oimai apodedeichthai, to tēn prognōsin tou theou mē einai katanankastikēn tōn proegnōsmenōn pantōs. “Phere de agōnisōmetha kai peri tou tous asteras mēdamōs einai poiētikous tōn en anthrōpois, sēmantikous de monon.
I think it has been shown moderately, as in summary, that God's foreknowledge does not in every case compel what is foreknown. "Come now, let us also contend that the stars are in no way productive of human affairs, but only significant.
Notes and citation
Summary: Having dealt with foreknowledge, Origen turns to show the stars are signs, not causes.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (margin letter leaked into the digital text): οἶμαι d ἀποδεδεῖχθαι → οἶμαι ἀποδεδεῖχθαι.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.54 (Dindorf 1:336; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-54). (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.
6.11.55Dindorf 1:336
σαφὲς δὴ ὅτι εἰ ὅδε τις ὁ σχηματισμὸς τῶν ἀστέρων ποιητικὸς νομίζοιτο τῶνδέ τινων τῶν γινομένων περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ἔστω γὰρ περὶ τούτου νῦν ζητεῖσθαι τὸν λόγον·) οὐκ ἂν ὁ σήμερον, φέρε εἰπεῖν, γενόμενος σχηματισμὸς περὶ τόνδε δύναται νοεῖσθαι πεποιηκέναι τὰ παρεληλυθότα περὶ ἕτερον ἢ καὶ περὶ ἑτέρους· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ποιοῦν πρεσβύτερον τοῦ πεποιημένου.
saphes dē hoti ei hode tis ho schēmatismos tōn asterōn poiētikos nomizoito tōnde tinōn tōn ginomenōn peri ton anthrōpon; estō gar peri toutou nyn zēteisthai ton logon;) ouk an ho sēmeron, phere eipein, genomenos schēmatismos peri tonde dynatai noeisthai pepoiēkenai ta parelēlythota peri heteron ē kai peri heterous; pan gar to poioun presbyteron tou pepoiēmenou.
It is clear that if a certain configuration of the stars were thought to produce certain things that happen to a person (let the discussion now be about this), the configuration that occurred today, say, regarding this person could not be thought to have produced past events concerning another person or other people; for everything that produces is prior to what is produced.
Notes and citation
Summary: A present configuration cannot cause past events, since causes precede effects.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): σχημα- τισμὸς → σχηματισμὸς.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.55 (Dindorf 1:336; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-55). (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.
6.11.56Dindorf 1:336–337
ὅσον δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς μαθήμασι τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπαγγελλομένων, πρεσβύτερα τοῦ σχηματισμοῦ προλέγεσθαι νομίζεται περὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους.
hoson de epi tois mathēmasi tōn ta toiauta epangellomenōn, presbytera tou schēmatismou prolegesthai nomizetai peri tous anthrōpous.
Yet according to the learning of those who profess such things, things prior to the configuration are thought to be foretold concerning people.
Notes and citation
Summary: Astrologers claim to read past events from a birth configuration.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.56 (Dindorf 1:336–337; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-56). (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.
6.11.57Dindorf 1:337
ἐπαγγέλλονται γὰρ τόνδε τινὰ τρόπον, τὴν ὥραν λαβόντες τοῦδε τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καταλαμβάνειν πῶς ἕκαστος τῶν πλανωμένων κατὰ κάθετον, ἢ τῆσδε τῆς μοίρας τοῦ ζῳδίου, ἢ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ λεπτῶν, καὶ ποῖος ἀστὴρ τοῦ ζωδιακοῦ κατὰ τοῦ ἀνατολικοῦ ἐτύγχανεν ὁρίζοντος, ποῖός τε κατὰ τοῦ δυτικοῦ καὶ τίς κατὰ τοῦ μεσουρανήματος καὶ τίς κατὰ τοῦ ἀντιμεσουρανήματος.
epangellontai gar tonde tina tropon, tēn hōran labontes toude tou anthrōpou, katalambanein pōs hekastos tōn planōmenōn kata katheton, ē tēsde tēs moiras tou zǭdiou, ē tōn en autǭ leptōn, kai poios astēr tou zōdiakou kata tou anatolikou etynchanen horizontos, poios te kata tou dytikou kai tis kata tou mesouranēmatos kai tis kata tou antimesouranēmatos.
For they profess to grasp, in some such way, taking the hour of a given person, how each of the planets stood, vertically over this or that degree of the sign of the zodiac, or the minutes within it; and which star of the zodiac was on the eastern horizon, which on the western, which at mid-heaven, and which at the point opposite mid-heaven.
Notes and citation
Summary: Astrologers cast a horoscope from the hour of birth.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent and line-end hyphen in the digital text): τοὐ μεσου- ρανήματος → τοῦ μεσουρανήματος.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.57 (Dindorf 1:337; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-57). (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.
6.11.58Dindorf 1:337
καὶ ἐπὰν θῶσι τοὺς ἀστέρας, οὓς νομίζουσιν ἑαυτοῖς ἐσχηματικέναι, κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς τοῦ δεῖνος γενέσεως ἐσχηματισμένους οὑτωσὶ, τῷ χρόνῳ τῆς ἀποτέξεως τοῦ περὶ οὗ σκοποῦσιν, οὐ μόνον τὰ μέλλοντα ἐξετάζουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ παρεληλυθότα καὶ τὰ πρὸ τῆς γενέσεως καὶ τῆς σπορᾶς τοῦ περὶ οὗ ὁ λόγος γεγενημένα, περὶ πατρὸς, ποταπὸς ὢν τυγχάνει, πλούσιος ἢ πένης, ὁλόκληρος τὸ σῶμα ἢ σεσινωμένος, τὸ ἦθος βελτίων ἢ χείρων, ἀκτήμων ἢ πολυκτήμων, τήνδε τὴν πρᾶξιν ἢ τήνδε ἔχων. τὰ δʼ αὐτὰ καὶ περὶ τῆς μητρὸς καὶ περὶ πρεσβυτέρων ἀδελφῶν, ἐὰν τύχωσιν ὄντες.
kai epan thōsi tous asteras, hous nomizousin heautois eschēmatikenai, kata ton kairon tēs tou deinos geneseōs eschēmatismenous houtōsi, tǭ chronǭ tēs apotexeōs tou peri hou skopousin, ou monon ta mellonta exetazousin, alla kai ta parelēlythota kai ta pro tēs geneseōs kai tēs sporas tou peri hou ho logos gegenēmena, peri patros, potapos ōn tynchanei, plousios ē penēs, holoklēros to sōma ē sesinōmenos, to ēthos beltiōn ē cheirōn, aktēmōn ē polyktēmōn, tēnde tēn praxin ē tēnde echōn. ta dʼ auta kai peri tēs mētros kai peri presbyterōn adelphōn, ean tychōsin ontes.
And when they have set out the stars, which they think they have configured for themselves, as so configured at the time of a given person's birth, at the time of delivery of the one they are considering, they examine not only the future but also the past, and what happened before the birth and conception of the person in question: about the father, what sort of man he is, rich or poor, sound in body or maimed, better or worse in character, without property or wealthy, having this occupation or that; and the same about the mother and about older brothers, if there are any.
Notes and citation
Summary: Astrologers claim to read even the parents' circumstances from a child's horoscope.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): τυγ- χάνει → τυγχάνει.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.58 (Dindorf 1:337; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-58). (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.
6.11.59Dindorf 1:337
ἔστω δὲ ἡμὰς ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος προσίεσθαι αὐτοὺς καταλαμβάνειν τὰ ἐν τόπῳ ἀληθῆ, περὶ οὗ καὶ αὐτοῦ ὕστερον δείξομεν ὅτι οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει. πευσώμεθα τοίνυν τῶν ὑπολαμβανόντων κατηναγκάσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἄστρων τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράγματα τίνα τρόπον ὁ σήμερον σχηματισμὸς ὁ τοιόσδε δύναται πεποιηκέναι τὰ πρεσβύτερα.
estō de hēmas epi tou parontos prosiesthai autous katalambanein ta en topǭ alēthē, peri hou kai autou hysteron deixomen hoti ouch houtōs echei. peusōmetha toinyn tōn hypolambanontōn katēnankasthai hypo tōn astrōn ta tōn anthrōpōn pragmata tina tropon ho sēmeron schēmatismos ho toiosde dynatai pepoiēkenai ta presbytera.
Let us grant for the present that they grasp the truth on this point, though we shall show later that this too is not so. Let us ask, then, those who suppose human affairs to be compelled by the stars how today's configuration of a certain kind can have produced what is earlier.
Notes and citation
Summary: Origen asks how a present configuration could have caused earlier events.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): δεί- ξομεν → δείξομεν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.59 (Dindorf 1:337; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-59). (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.
6.11.60Dindorf 1:337–338
εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο ἀμήχανον, καθʼ ὃ δὴ ὅ τι εὑρίσκεται τὸ περὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τοῦ χρόνου ἀληθὲς, σαφὲς τὸ μὴ πεποιηκέναι τοὺς ἀστέρας οὑτωσὶ κινουμένους ἐν οὐρανῷ τὰ παρεληλυθότα καὶ γενόμενα πρὸ τοῦ οὕτως ἔχειν αὐτούς. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, τάχα ὁ προσιέμενος ἀληθεύειν αὐτοὺς, ἐπιστήσας τοῖς περὶ τῶν μελλόντων λεγομένοις, ἐρεῖ ἀληθεύειν οὐ τῷ ποιεῖν τοὺς ἀστέρας, ἀλλὰ τῷ σημαίνειν μόνον.
ei gar touto amēchanon, kathʼ ho dē ho ti heurisketai to peri tōn presbyterōn tou chronou alēthes, saphes to mē pepoiēkenai tous asteras houtōsi kinoumenous en ouranǭ ta parelēlythota kai genomena pro tou houtōs echein autous. ei de touto, tacha ho prosiemenos alētheuein autous, epistēsas tois peri tōn mellontōn legomenois, erei alētheuein ou tǭ poiein tous asteras, alla tǭ sēmainein monon.
For if this is impossible, then insofar as anything true is found about what is earlier in time, it is clear that the stars, moving in this way in heaven, did not produce what is past and happened before they were in that position. And if so, perhaps one who grants that they speak truly, attending to what is said about the future, will say that they speak truly not because the stars produce, but only because they signify.
Notes and citation
Summary: If the stars cannot cause the past, they at most signify, not produce.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (full stop for comma in the digital text; stray full stop in the digital text): αὐτοὺς. ἐπιστήσας → αὐτοὺς, ἐπιστήσας; ἐρεῖ. ἀληθεύειν → ἐρεῖ ἀληθεύειν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.60 (Dindorf 1:337–338; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-60). (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.
6.11.61Dindorf 1:338
ἐὰν δέ τις φάσκῃ τὰ μὲν παρεληλυθότα μὴ ποιεῖν τοὺς ἀστέρας, ἀλλὰ ἄλλους μὲν σχηματισμοὺς τοὺς τῆς ἐκείνων γενέσεως αἰτίους γενομέναι, τὸν δὲ νῦν σχηματισμὸν σεσημαγκέναι μόνον, τὰ μέντοι μέλλοντα δηλοῦσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνεστηκότος σχηματισμοῦ τῆς τοῦ δεῖνος γενέσεως, παραστησάτω τὴν διαφορὰν τοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀστέρων δύνασθαι δεῖξαι ὅτι τάδε μὲν νενόηται ἀληθῆ, ὡς ἀπὸ ποιούντων, τάδε δὲ ὡς ἀπὸ σημαινόντων μόνον.
ean de tis phaskę̄ ta men parelēlythota mē poiein tous asteras, alla allous men schēmatismous tous tēs ekeinōn geneseōs aitious genomenai, ton de nyn schēmatismon sesēmankenai monon, ta mentoi mellonta dēlousthai apo tou enestēkotos schēmatismou tēs tou deinos geneseōs, parastēsatō tēn diaphoran tou apo tōn asterōn dynasthai deixai hoti tade men nenoētai alēthē, hōs apo poiountōn, tade de hōs apo sēmainontōn monon.
But if someone claims that the stars do not produce the past, but that other configurations were the causes of those events, while the present configuration only signified them, and that the future, however, is shown by the present configuration of a given person's birth, let him show the difference by which one can demonstrate from the stars that some things are understood to be true as from producing causes, and others as from signs only.
Notes and citation
Summary: Astrologers cannot distinguish stars as causes of the future from stars as signs of the past.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text): γεγέσεως → γενέσεως.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.61 (Dindorf 1:338; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-61). (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.
6.11.62Dindorf 1:338
μὴ ἔχοντες δὲ δοῦναι τὴν διαφορὰν εὐγνωμόνως συγκαταθήσονται μηδὲν τῶν κατὰ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀπὸ τῶν ἀστέρων γίνεσθαι, ἀλλʼ ὡς προειρήκαμεν, εἰ ἄρα, σημαίνεσθαι· ὡς εἰ μὴ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀστέρων τις ἐλάμβανε τὰ παρεληλυθότα καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ νοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ διά τινος λόγου προφητικοῦ.
mē echontes de dounai tēn diaphoran eugnōmonōs synkatathēsontai mēden tōn kata tous anthrōpous apo tōn asterōn ginesthai, allʼ hōs proeirēkamen, ei ara, sēmainesthai; hōs ei mē kai apo tōn asterōn tis elambane ta parelēlythota kai ta mellonta, allʼ apo tou nou tou theou dia tinos logou prophētikou.
Unable to give the difference, they will in fairness agree that nothing in human affairs comes about from the stars, but, as we said before, is at most signified; as if someone took past and future not from the stars but from the mind of God through some prophetic word.
Notes and citation
Summary: They must admit that the stars only signify, as prophecy does.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; misread letter and stray mark in the digital text): συγγ̣αταθήσονται → συγκαταθήσονται; παρεληλυ- θότα → παρεληλυθότα.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.62 (Dindorf 1:338; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-62). (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.
6.11.63Dindorf 1:338
ὥσπερ γὰρ προαπεδείξαμεν ὅτι οὐδὲν λυπεῖ τὸν περὶ τοῦ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν λόγον τὸ τὸν θεὸν εἰδέναι τὰ πραχθησόμενα ἑκάστῳ, οὕτως οὐδὲ τὰ σημεῖα, ἃ ἔταξεν ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸ σημαίνειν, ἐμποδίζει τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ παραπλησίως βιβλίῳ περιέχοντι τὰ μέλλοντα προφητικῶς ὁ πᾶς οὐρανὸς δύναται, οἱονεὶ βίβλος ὢν θεοῦ, περιέχειν τὰ μέλλοντα.
hōsper gar proapedeixamen hoti ouden lypei ton peri tou ephʼ hēmin logon to ton theon eidenai ta prachthēsomena hekastǭ, houtōs oude ta sēmeia, ha etaxen ho theos eis to sēmainein, empodizei to ephʼ hēmin, alla paraplēsiōs bibliǭ periechonti ta mellonta prophētikōs ho pas ouranos dynatai, hoionei biblos ōn theou, periechein ta mellonta.
For just as we showed earlier that God's knowing what each will do does no harm to the doctrine of what is in our power, so neither do the signs that God appointed to signify hinder what is in our power. Rather, just like a book that contains the future prophetically, the whole heaven, being as it were God's book, can contain the future.
Notes and citation
Summary: The heavens are like God's book, containing the future without compelling it.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): προ- απεδείξαμεν → προαπεδείξαμεν; ση- μαίνειν → σημαίνειν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.63 (Dindorf 1:338; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-63). (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.
6.11.64Dindorf 1:338
διόπερ ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ δύναται οὕτω νοεῖσθαι τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἀνέγνων γὰρ ἐν ταῖς πλαξὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὅσα συμβήσεται ὑμῖν καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς ὑμῶν.’ τάχα δὲ καὶ τὸ εἱλιγήσεται ὁ οὐρανὸς ὡς βιβλίονʼ τοὺς λόγους τοὺς περιεχομένους σημαντικοὺς τῶν ἐσομένων δηλοῖ ἀπαρτισθησομένους καὶ, ἵνʼ οὕτως εἴπω, πληρωθησομένους, ὥσπερ λέγονται αἱ προφητεῖαι πεπληρῶσθαι τῷ ἐκβεβηκέναι.
dioper en tę̄ proseuchę̄ tou Iōsēph dynatai houtō noeisthai to legomenon hypo tou Iakōb anegnōn gar en tais plaxi tou ouranou hosa symbēsetai hymin kai tois huiois hymōn.’ tacha de kai to heiligēsetai ho ouranos hōs biblionʼ tous logous tous periechomenous sēmantikous tōn esomenōn dēloi apartisthēsomenous kai, hinʼ houtōs eipō, plērōthēsomenous, hōsper legontai hai prophēteiai peplērōsthai tǭ ekbebēkenai.
That is why, in the Prayer of Joseph, what Jacob says can be understood in this way: "For I read in the tablets of heaven all that will befall you and your sons." And perhaps "The heaven shall be rolled up like a scroll" shows that the words it contains, which signify what will be, will be completed and, so to speak, fulfilled, just as prophecies are said to have been fulfilled by coming to pass.
Isa 34:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Prayer of Joseph and Isaiah's rolled-up heaven support reading the heavens as God's book.
- Origen, quoting the Prayer of Joseph and Isa 34:4.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen and wrong accent in the digital text; line-end hyphen left in the digital text; misread word in the digital text; missing breathing in the digital text): ὲν ταῖς → ἐν ταῖς; ἔνʼ οὕτως → ἵνʼ οὕτως; πληρωθη- σομἐνους → πληρωθησομένους; συμ- βήσεται → συμβήσεται; πεπληρῶ- σθαι → πεπληρῶσθαι.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation); Pr. Jos. (Prayer of Joseph; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.64 (Dindorf 1:338; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-64). (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.
6.11.65Dindorf 1:338–339
καὶ οὕτως ἔσται εἰς σημεῖα τὰ ἄστρα γεγονότα, κατὰ τὴν λέγουσαν φωνὴν ‘ ἔστωσαν εἰς σημεῖα.’ ὁ δὲ Ἱερεμίας ἐπιστρέφων ἡμᾶς πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς καὶ περιαιρῶν φόβον τὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς νομιζομένοις σημαίνεσθαι, τάχα δὲ καὶ ὑπολαμβανομένοις ἐκεῖθεν ἔρχεσθαι, φησὶν ἀπὸ τῶν σημείων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μὴ φοβεῖσθε.’’’
kai houtōs estai eis sēmeia ta astra gegonota, kata tēn legousan phōnēn ‘ estōsan eis sēmeia.’ ho de Hieremias epistrephōn hēmas pros heautous kai periairōn phobon ton epi tois nomizomenois sēmainesthai, tacha de kai hypolambanomenois ekeithen erchesthai, phēsin apo tōn sēmeiōn tou ouranou mē phobeisthe.’’’
And in this way the stars will have come to be for signs, according to the saying, "Let them be for signs." But Jeremiah, turning us back to ourselves and removing the fear of what are thought to be signified, and perhaps also supposed to come from there, says, "Do not be afraid of the signs of heaven.""
Gen 1:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 10:2 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The stars are signs, but Jeremiah tells us not to fear them.
- Origen, quoting Gen 1:14 and Jer 10:2.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text): ὑπολαμβαωομένοις → ὑπολαμβανομένοις.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.65 (Dindorf 1:338–339; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-65). (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.
6.11.66Dindorf 1:339
“ Ἴδωμεν καὶ δεύτερον ἐπιχείρημα, πῶς οὐ δύνανται οἱ ἀστέρες εἶναι ποιητικοὶ, ἀλλʼ, εἰ ἄρα, σημαντικοί. ἀπὸ πλείστων γὰρ ὅσων γενέσεων ἔστι λαβεῖν τὰ περὶ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου· (τοῦτο δὲ καθʼ ὑπόθεσιν λέγομεν, συγχωροῦντες τὸ ἐπιστήμην αὐτῶν ἀναλαμβάνεσθαι ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων δύνασθαι·) φέρε γὰρ εἰπεῖν, περὶ τοῦ τόνδε πείσεσθαι τόδε καὶ τεθνήξεσθαι περιπεσόντα λῃσταῖς καὶ ἀναιρεθέντα φησὶ δύνασθαι λαμβάνειν ἀπό τε τῆς ἰδίας αὐτοῦ γενέσεως, κἂν τύχη ἔχων ἀδελφοὺς πλείονας, ἀπὸ τῆς ἑκάστου αὐτῶν.
“ Idōmen kai deuteron epicheirēma, pōs ou dynantai hoi asteres einai poiētikoi, allʼ, ei ara, sēmantikoi. apo pleistōn gar hosōn geneseōn esti labein ta peri henos anthrōpou; (touto de kathʼ hypothesin legomen, synchōrountes to epistēmēn autōn analambanesthai hypʼ anthrōpōn dynasthai;) phere gar eipein, peri tou tonde peisesthai tode kai tethnēxesthai peripesonta lę̄stais kai anairethenta phēsi dynasthai lambanein apo te tēs idias autou geneseōs, kan tychē echōn adelphous pleionas, apo tēs hekastou autōn.
"Let us look also at a second argument, how the stars cannot be productive but, if anything, significant. From a great many nativities one can take what concerns one person (we say this by hypothesis, granting that knowledge of them can be acquired by humans). For example, about this man suffering this and dying by falling among robbers and being murdered, one can, he says, take it from his own nativity, and, if he happens to have several brothers, from that of each of them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Origen's second argument: one man's fate is supposedly read from many horoscopes.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text): Ἴδνμεν → Ἴδωμεν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.66 (Dindorf 1:339; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-66). (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.
6.11.67Dindorf 1:339
περιέχειν γὰρ οἴονται τὴν ἑκάστου γένεσιν, ἀδελφὸν ὑπὸ λῃστῶν τεθνηξόμενον, ὁμοίως καὶ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τὴν τῆς μητρὸς καὶ τὴν τῆς γαμετῆς καὶ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν οἰκετῶν καὶ τῶν φιλτάτων, τάχα δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀναιρούντων.
periechein gar oiontai tēn hekastou genesin, adelphon hypo lę̄stōn tethnēxomenon, homoiōs kai tēn tou patros kai tēn tēs mētros kai tēn tēs gametēs kai tōn huiōn autou kai tōn oiketōn kai tōn philtatōn, tacha de kai autōn tōn anairountōn.
For they think that the nativity of each contains a brother who will die at the hands of robbers, and likewise that of the father and of the mother and of the wife and of his sons and of his servants and of his dearest friends, and perhaps even of the murderers themselves.
Notes and citation
Summary: Every relative's horoscope would have to contain the same death.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.67 (Dindorf 1:339; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-67). (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.
6.11.68Dindorf 1:339
πῶς οὑν δυνατὸν τὸν τοσαύταις γενέσεσιν, ἵνα αὐτοῖς τοῦτο συγχωρηθῇ, ἐμπεριεχόμενον γίνεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ σχηματισμοῦ τῶν ἀστέρων τῆσδε μᾶλλον τῆς γενέσεως ἢ τῶνδε; ἀπίθανον γὰρ καὶ τὸ φάσκειν τὸν σχηματισμὸν τὸν ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ τοῦδέ τινος γενέσει ταῦτα πεποιηκέναι, τὸν δὲ ἐν τῇ τῶνδε γενέσει μὴ πεποιηκέναι, ἀλλὰ σεσημασμέναι μόνον.
pōs houn dynaton ton tosautais genesesin, hina autois touto synchōrēthę̄, emperiechomenon ginesthai hypo tou schēmatismou tōn asterōn tēsde mallon tēs geneseōs ē tōnde? apithanon gar kai to phaskein ton schēmatismon ton en tę̄ idią toude tinos genesei tauta pepoiēkenai, ton de en tę̄ tōnde genesei mē pepoiēkenai, alla sesēmasmenai monon.
How then is it possible that one contained in so many nativities (to grant them this) should be subject to the configuration of the stars of this nativity rather than of those? It is unconvincing to claim that the configuration at this man's own nativity produced these things, while that at the nativities of the others did not produce them but only signified them.
Notes and citation
Summary: No reason can be given why one horoscope causes and the others only signify.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread word in the digital text): ἔνα αὐτοῖς → ἵνα αὐτοῖς.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.68 (Dindorf 1:339; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-68). (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.
6.11.69Dindorf 1:339–340
ἠλίθιον γὰρ τὸ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἡ πάντων γένεσις περιεῖχε καθʼ ἕκαστον ποιητικὸν τοῦ τόνδε ἀναιρεθῆναι· ὥστε ἐν γενέσεσιν, καθʼ ὑπόθεσιν λέγω, πεντήκοντα περιέχεσθαι τὸ τόνδε τινὰ ἀναιρεθῆναι. οὐκ οἶδα δʼ ὅπως δυνήσονται σῶσαι τὸ τῶν μὲν ἐν Ἰουδαίᾳ σχεδὸν πάντων τοιόνδε εἶναι τὸν σχηματισμὸν ἐπὶ τῆς γενέσεως, ὡς ὀκταήμερον αὐτοὺς λαμβάνειν περιτομὴν, ἀκρωτηριαζομένους καὶ ἑλκουμένους καὶ φλεγμονῇ περιπεσουμένους καὶ τραύμασι, καὶ ἅμα τῇ εἰς τὸν βίον εἰσόδῳ ἰατρῶν δεομένους· τῶν δὲ ἐν Ἰσμαηλίταις τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν τοιόνδε ὡς πάντας περιτέμνεσθαι τρισκαιδεκαετεῖς. τοῦτο γὰρ ἱστόρηται περὶ αὐτῶν.
ēlithion gar to eipein hoti hē pantōn genesis perieiche kathʼ hekaston poiētikon tou tonde anairethēnai; hōste en genesesin, kathʼ hypothesin legō, pentēkonta periechesthai to tonde tina anairethēnai. ouk oida dʼ hopōs dynēsontai sōsai to tōn men en Ioudaią schedon pantōn toionde einai ton schēmatismon epi tēs geneseōs, hōs oktaēmeron autous lambanein peritomēn, akrōtēriazomenous kai helkoumenous kai phlegmonę̄ peripesoumenous kai traumasi, kai hama tę̄ eis ton bion eisodǭ iatrōn deomenous; tōn de en Ismaēlitais tois kata tēn Arabian toionde hōs pantas peritemnesthai triskaidekaeteis. touto gar historētai peri autōn.
For it is silly to say that the nativity of all of them contained, each one, what produced this man's murder; so that in fifty nativities, let us suppose, this man's murder would be contained. And I do not know how they will be able to account for the fact that the configuration at the birth of nearly all those in Judea is such that they receive circumcision on the eighth day, being mutilated and wounded and falling into inflammation and injuries, and needing physicians at their very entrance into life; while that of the Ishmaelites in Arabia is such that all are circumcised at thirteen. For this is recorded of them.
Gen 17:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 17:25 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Circumcision customs of Jews and Ishmaelites cannot come from horoscopes.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): εἷναι → εἶναι.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.69 (Dindorf 1:339–340; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-69). (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.
6.11.70Dindorf 1:340
καὶ πάλιν τῶνδέ τινων τῶν ἐν Αἰθίοψι τοῖσδε τὰς κόγχας τῶν γονάτων περιαιρεῖσθαι καὶ τῶν Ἀμαζόνων τοὺς ἑτέρους τῶν μαστῶν. πῶς γὰρ ταῦτα ποιοῦσιν οἱ ἀστέρες τοῖσδε τοῖς ἔθνεσιν; οἶμαι ὅτι εἰ ἐπιστήσαιμεν οὐδὲ μέχρι τοῦ στῆσαι δυνησόμεθά τι ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν περὶ αὐτῶν.
kai palin tōnde tinōn tōn en Aithiopsi toisde tas konchas tōn gonatōn periaireisthai kai tōn Amazonōn tous heterous tōn mastōn. pōs gar tauta poiousin hoi asteres toisde tois ethnesin? oimai hoti ei epistēsaimen oude mechri tou stēsai dynēsometha ti alēthes eipein peri autōn.
And again, that certain people among the Ethiopians have their kneecaps removed, and the Amazons one of their breasts. How do the stars do these things to these nations? I think that if we gave it attention we would not be able even to establish anything true to say about them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Other national customs too cannot be due to the stars.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text; wrong breathing in the digital text): περιαιρεῖρθαι → περιαιρεῖσθαι; οἶ ἀστέρες → οἱ ἀστέρες.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.70 (Dindorf 1:340; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-70). (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.
6.11.71Dindorf 1:340
τοσούτων δὲ φερομένων ὁδῶν προγνωστικῶν, οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως ἐξώκειλαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐπὶ τὸ τὴν μὲν οἰωνιστικὴν καὶ τὴν θυτικὴν μὴ λέγειν περιέχειν τὸ ποιοῦν αἴτιον, ἀλλὰ σημαίνειν μόνον, καὶ τὴν ἀστεροσκοπικὴν, οὐκέτι δὲ τὴν γενεθλιαλογικήν.
tosoutōn de pheromenōn hodōn prognōstikōn, ouk oidʼ hopōs exōkeilan hoi anthrōpoi epi to tēn men oiōnistikēn kai tēn thytikēn mē legein periechein to poioun aition, alla sēmainein monon, kai tēn asteroskopikēn, ouketi de tēn genethlialogikēn.
Though so many ways of foretelling are current, I do not know how people ran aground on saying that augury and sacrificial divination do not contain the producing cause but only signify, and the observation of shooting stars likewise, but no longer the casting of nativities.
Notes and citation
Summary: People inconsistently treat omens as signs but horoscopes as causes.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread letter and doubled comma in the digital text; wrong accent in the digital text; wrong breathing in the digital text): οὐκ οἷδʼ → οὐκ οἶδʼ; οἶ ἄνθρωποι → οἱ ἄνθρωποι; ἀρτεροσκοπικὴν,, → ἀστεροσκοπικὴν,.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.71 (Dindorf 1:340; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-71). (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.
6.11.72Dindorf 1:340
εἰ γὰρ ἐπιγινώσκεται, (ἵνα καὶ χαρισώμεθα τὸ γινώσκεσθαι) γίνεται δὲ ἐκεῖθεν ὅθεν ἡ γνῶσις λαμβάνεται, τί μᾶλλον ἀπὸ τῶν ἀστέρων ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰωνῶν ἔσται τὰ γινόμενα, καὶ μᾶλλον ἀπὸ τῶν οἰωνῶν ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν σπλάγχνων τῶν θυομένων; τί δὲ μᾶλλον ἀπὸ τῶν σπλάγχνων τῶν θυομένων ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν διᾳττόντων ἀστέρων; ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀρκέσει εἰς ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ ποιητικοὺς εἶναι τοὺς ἀστέρας τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων.’’
ei gar epiginōsketai, (hina kai charisōmetha to ginōskesthai) ginetai de ekeithen hothen hē gnōsis lambanetai, ti mallon apo tōn asterōn ē apo tōn oiōnōn estai ta ginomena, kai mallon apo tōn oiōnōn ē apo tōn splanchnōn tōn thyomenōn? ti de mallon apo tōn splanchnōn tōn thyomenōn ē apo tōn diąttontōn asterōn? tauta men oun epi tou parontos arkesei eis anairesin tou poiētikous einai tous asteras tōn anthrōpinōn.’’
For if events are recognized (to grant that they are known) and come about from the source from which the knowledge is taken, why should things come about from the stars rather than from birds, and from birds rather than from the entrails of sacrifices? And why from the entrails of sacrifices rather than from shooting stars? This will suffice for the present to refute the view that the stars produce human affairs."
Notes and citation
Summary: If signs were causes, birds and entrails would cause events too.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; transposed letters and stray comma in the digital text): γινώσκεσθια, ) → γινώσκεσθαι); λαμβά- νεται → λαμβάνεται.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.72 (Dindorf 1:340; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-72). (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.
6.11.73Dindorf 1:340–341
“ Ὅπερ δὲ συγκεχωρήκαμεν, οὐ γὰρ ἐλύπει τὸν λόγον, ὡς τῶν ἀνθρώπων δυναμένων καταλαμβάνειν τοὺς οὐρανίους σχηματισμοὺς, καὶ τὰ σημεῖα, καὶ ὧν ἐστι σημεῖα, τοῦτο φέρε νῦν ἐξετάσωμεν εἰ ἀληθές ἐστι.
“ Hoper de synkechōrēkamen, ou gar elypei ton logon, hōs tōn anthrōpōn dynamenōn katalambanein tous ouranious schēmatismous, kai ta sēmeia, kai hōn esti sēmeia, touto phere nyn exetasōmen ei alēthes esti.
"But what we conceded (for it did no harm to the argument), that humans can grasp the heavenly configurations, and the signs, and what they are signs of, let us now examine whether it is true.
Notes and citation
Summary: Origen now examines whether humans can read the stars at all.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): ὣν ἐστι → ὧν ἐστι.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.73 (Dindorf 1:340–341; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-73). (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.
6.11.74Dindorf 1:341
φασὶ τοίνυν οἱ περὶ ταῦτα δεινοὶ τὸν μέλλοντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν γενεθλιαλογίαν ἀληθῶς καταλαμβάνειν εἰδέναι οὐ μόνον τὸ κατὰ πόστου δωδεκατημορίου ἐστὶν ὁ καλούμενος ἀστὴρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ ποίας μοίρας τοῦ δωδεκατημορίου καὶ κατὰ ποίου ἐξηκοστοῦ, οἱ δὲ ἀκριβέστεροι καὶ κατὰ ποίου ἐξηκοστοῦ τοῦ ἑξηκοστοῦ, καὶ τοῦτό φασι δεῖν ποιεῖν ἐφʼ ἑκάστου τῶν πλανωμένων, ἐξετάζοντα τὴν σχέσιν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἀπλανεῖς.
phasi toinyn hoi peri tauta deinoi ton mellonta ta kata tēn genethlialogian alēthōs katalambanein eidenai ou monon to kata postou dōdekatēmoriou estin ho kaloumenos astēr, alla kai kata poias moiras tou dōdekatēmoriou kai kata poiou exēkostou, hoi de akribesteroi kai kata poiou exēkostou tou hexēkostou, kai touto phasi dein poiein ephʼ hekastou tōn planōmenōn, exetazonta tēn schesin tēn pros tous aplaneis.
Those skilled in these matters say that one who is to grasp truly the matters of nativity-casting must know not only in which twelfth-part the so-called star is, but also in which degree of the twelfth-part and in which sixtieth; and the more exact say also in which sixtieth of the sixtieth; and they say this must be done for each of the planets, examining its relation to the fixed stars.
Notes and citation
Summary: Astrologers require positions to the minute and second of arc.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong breathing in the digital text): οἶ περὶ ταῦτα → οἱ περὶ ταῦτα; οἶ δὲ ἀκριβέστεροι → οἱ δὲ ἀκριβέστεροι.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.74 (Dindorf 1:341; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-74). (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.
6.11.75Dindorf 1:341
πάλιν αὖ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀνατολικοῦ ὁρίζοντος δεήσει, φασὶν, ἰδεῖν οὐ μόνον τὸ δωδεκατημόριον ποῖον ἦν ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν μοῖραν καὶ τὸ ἑξηκοστὸν τῆς μοίρας, τὸ πρῶτον ἢ τὸ δεύτερον ἑξηκοστόν.
palin au epi tou anatolikou horizontos deēsei, phasin, idein ou monon to dōdekatēmorion poion ēn epʼ autou, alla kai tēn moiran kai to hexēkoston tēs moiras, to prōton ē to deuteron hexēkoston.
Again, on the eastern horizon, they say, one will need to see not only which twelfth-part was on it, but also the degree and the sixtieth of the degree, the first or the second sixtieth.
Notes and citation
Summary: The rising point must also be known to the minute.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.75 (Dindorf 1:341; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-75). (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.
6.11.76Dindorf 1:341
πῶς τοίνυν τῆς ὥρας πλατεῖ λόγῳ ἥμισυ δωδεκατημορίου περιεχούσης δύναταί τις λαβεῖν τὸ ἑξηκοστὸν, μὴ ἔχων τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς διαιρέσεως τῶν ὡρῶν, ὥστε, φέρε εἰπεῖν, εἰδέναι ὅτι γεγέννηται ὁ δεῖνα ὥρα τετάρτῃ καὶ ἡμίσει ὥρας, καὶ τετάρτῳ, ὀγδόῳ, καὶ ἑκκαιδεκάτῳ, καὶ δυοτριακοστῷ;
pōs toinyn tēs hōras platei logǭ hēmisy dōdekatēmoriou periechousēs dynatai tis labein to hexēkoston, mē echōn tēn analogian tēs diaireseōs tōn hōrōn, hōste, phere eipein, eidenai hoti gegennētai ho deina hōra tetartę̄ kai hēmisei hōras, kai tetartǭ, ogdoǭ, kai hekkaidekatǭ, kai dyotriakostǭ?
How then, since an hour, broadly speaking, covers half a twelfth-part, can one take the sixtieth, without having a proportional division of the hours, so as to know, for example, that so-and-so was born at the fourth hour and a half, and a fourth, an eighth, a sixteenth, and a thirty-second of an hour?
Notes and citation
Summary: No one can time a birth precisely enough for such calculations.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.76 (Dindorf 1:341; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-76). (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.
6.11.77Dindorf 1:341
παρὰ πολὺ γάρ φασι παραλλάττειν τὰ σημαινόμενα παρὰ τὴν ἀγνωσίαν οὐ τῆς ὅλης ὥρας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ποστημορίου αὐτῆς. ἐν γοῦν τοῖς διδύμοις γεννωμένοις πολλάκις τὸ μεταξὺ καὶ ἀκαριαῖον ὥρας ἐστὶ, καὶ πολλαὶ παραλλαγαὶ τῶν συμβαινόντων καὶ τῶν πραττομένων ἐπʼ αὐτῶν ἀπαντῶσιν, ὥς φασιν ἐκεῖνοι, παρὰ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς σχέσεως τῶν ἀστέρων, καὶ τὸ μόριον τοῦ δωδεκατημορίου τὸ παρὰ τὸν ὁρίζοντα, οὐ καταλαμβανόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν νομιζομένων τὴν ὥραν τετηρηκέναι.
para poly gar phasi parallattein ta sēmainomena para tēn agnōsian ou tēs holēs hōras, alla kai tou postēmoriou autēs. en goun tois didymois gennōmenois pollakis to metaxy kai akariaion hōras esti, kai pollai parallagai tōn symbainontōn kai tōn prattomenōn epʼ autōn apantōsin, hōs phasin ekeinoi, para tēn aitian tēs scheseōs tōn asterōn, kai to morion tou dōdekatēmoriou to para ton horizonta, ou katalambanomenon hypo tōn nomizomenōn tēn hōran tetērēkenai.
For they say that what is signified varies greatly through ignorance not of the whole hour but even of a fraction of it. In twins, at any rate, the interval is often a mere instant of an hour, and many differences in what befalls them and what they do occur, as they say, because of the relation of the stars, and the part of the twelfth-part on the horizon, which is not grasped by those who think they have observed the hour.
Notes and citation
Summary: Twins born moments apart differ, yet no one can measure such intervals.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (dropped letter in the digital text; line-end hyphen left in the digital text): τετηρηκένα. → τετηρηκέναι.; με- ταξὺ → μεταξὺ; δωδεκα- τημορίου → δωδεκατημορίου.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.77 (Dindorf 1:341; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-77). (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.
6.11.78Dindorf 1:341–342
οὐδεὶς γὰρ δύναται λέγειν ὅτι τὸ μεταξὺ τοῦδε τῆς γενέσεως πρὸς τὴν τοῦδε ἐστὶν ὥρας τριακοστόν. ἀλλʼ ἔστω συγκεχωρημένον αὐτοῖς τόδε κατὰ τὸ ἐκλαβεῖν τὴν ὥραν. φέρεται δὴ θεώρημα ἀποδεικνύον τὸν ζωδιακὸν κύκλον ὁμοίως τοῖς πλανωμένοις φέρεσθαι ἀπὸ δυσμῶν ἐπὶ ἀνατολὰς διʼ ἑκατὸν ἐτῶν μοῖραν μίαν, καὶ τοῦτο τῷ πολλῷ χρόνῳ ἐναλλάττειν τὴν θέσιν τῶν δωδεκατημορίων ἑτέρου μὲν τυγχάνοντος τοῦ νοητοῦ δωδεκατημορίου, ἑτέρου δὲ τοῦ ὡσανεὶ μορφώματος. τὰ δὲ ἀποτελέσματα φασὶν εὑρίσκεσθαι οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ μορφώματος, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ νοητοῦ ζῳδίου, ὅπερ οὐ πάνυ τι δυνατὸν καταλαμβάνεσθαι.
oudeis gar dynatai legein hoti to metaxy toude tēs geneseōs pros tēn toude estin hōras triakoston. allʼ estō synkechōrēmenon autois tode kata to eklabein tēn hōran. pheretai dē theōrēma apodeiknyon ton zōdiakon kyklon homoiōs tois planōmenois pheresthai apo dysmōn epi anatolas diʼ hekaton etōn moiran mian, kai touto tǭ pollǭ chronǭ enallattein tēn thesin tōn dōdekatēmoriōn heterou men tynchanontos tou noētou dōdekatēmoriou, heterou de tou hōsanei morphōmatos. ta de apotelesmata phasin heuriskesthai ouk ek tou morphōmatos, allʼ ek tou noētou zǭdiou, hoper ou pany ti dynaton katalambanesthai.
For no one can say that the interval between one's birth and the other's is a thirtieth of an hour. But let this be granted them as to taking the hour. There is, however, a theorem current showing that the circle of the zodiac moves, like the planets, from west to east one degree in a hundred years, and that in a long time this changes the position of the twelfth-parts, the intelligible twelfth-part being one thing and the visible figure, so to speak, another. And they say the outcomes are found not from the figure but from the intelligible sign, which can hardly be grasped at all.
Notes and citation
Summary: The precession of the zodiac makes the true sign nearly impossible to determine.
- Origen, referring to the precession of the equinoxes (one degree per century, as in Ptolemy).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; missing space in the digital text): τὸνζωδιακὸν → τὸν ζωδιακὸν; δυσ- μῶν → δυσμῶν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.78 (Dindorf 1:341–342; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-78). (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.
6.11.79Dindorf 1:342
ἔστω δὲ καὶ τοῦτο συγκεχωρημένον, τὸ καταλαμβάνεσθαι τὸ νοητὸν δωδεκατημόριον, ἢ δύνασθαι ἐκ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ δωδεκατημορίου λαμβάνεσθαι τὸ ἀληθές· ἀλλὰ τήν γε σύγκρασιν παρʼ αὐτοῖς καλουμένην τῶν ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς σχηματισμοῖς τυγχανόντων καὶ αὐτοὶ ὁμολογήσουσιν οὐχ οἷοί τε σῶσαι κατὰ πᾶν, ἀμαυρουμένου τοῦ δηλουμένου, φέρε εἰπεῖν, χείρονος, ἀπὸ τοῦδε διὰ τὸ ἐπιβλέπεσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦδε τοῦ κρείττονος, καὶ ἐπὶ τοσόνδε ἢ τοσόνδε ἀμαυρουμένου. πολλάκις πάλιν τῆς ἀμαυρώσεως τῆς τοῦ χείρονος ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιβλέψεως τῆς τοῦ κρείττονος ἐμποδιζομένης, ἐκ τοῦ ἕτερον οὑτωσὶ ἐσχηματίσθαι, χειρόνων ὄντα σημαντικόν.
estō de kai touto synkechōrēmenon, to katalambanesthai to noēton dōdekatēmorion, ē dynasthai ek tou aisthētou dōdekatēmoriou lambanesthai to alēthes; alla tēn ge synkrasin parʼ autois kaloumenēn tōn en toisde tois schēmatismois tynchanontōn kai autoi homologēsousin ouch hoioi te sōsai kata pan, amauroumenou tou dēloumenou, phere eipein, cheironos, apo toude dia to epiblepesthai auton hypo toude tou kreittonos, kai epi tosonde ē tosonde amauroumenou. pollakis palin tēs amaurōseōs tēs tou cheironos hypo tēs epiblepseōs tēs tou kreittonos empodizomenēs, ek tou heteron houtōsi eschēmatisthai, cheironōn onta sēmantikon.
But let this too be granted, that the intelligible twelfth-part can be grasped, or that the truth can be taken from the visible twelfth-part. Yet the so-called blending, as they call it, of the stars in these configurations they themselves will admit they cannot account for completely: what is shown as worse, say, is obscured by this star because it is aspected by that better one, and obscured to this or that degree; and often again the obscuring of the worse by the aspect of the better is hindered because another star is so configured as to signify worse things.
Notes and citation
Summary: The 'blending' of planetary influences cannot be computed even by astrologers.
- Origen.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; misread letter in the digital text; wrong accents in the digital text): ὁμολουήσουσιν → ὁμολογήσουσιν; σώσαι κάτα πὰν → σῶσαι κατὰ πᾶν; ἐμποδιξομένης → ἐμποδιζομένης; νοη- τὸν → νοητὸν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.79 (Dindorf 1:342; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-79). (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.
6.11.80Dindorf 1:342
καὶ οἶμαι ἐπιστήσαντά τινα τοῖς τόποις ἀπογνῶναι τὴν περὶ τούτων κατάληψιν, οὐδαμῶς ἀνθρώποις ἐκκειμένην, ἀλλʼ, εἰ ἄρα, μέχρι τοῦ σημανθῆναι μόνον φθάνουσαν.
kai oimai epistēsanta tina tois topois apognōnai tēn peri toutōn katalēpsin, oudamōs anthrōpois ekkeimenēn, allʼ, ei ara, mechri tou sēmanthēnai monon phthanousan.
And I think that anyone who attends to these topics would despair of grasping these things, which are in no way set out for humans, but at most reach as far as being signified.
Notes and citation
Summary: True knowledge of the stars is beyond human reach.
- Origen.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.80 (Dindorf 1:342; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-80). (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.
6.11.81Dindorf 1:342–343
εἰ δέ τις ἐν πείρᾳ γεγένηται τῶν πραγμάτων, μᾶλλον εἴσεται τὸ ἐν τῷ στοχάζεσθαι ἀποπτωτικὸν τῶν λεγόντων καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν συγγραψαμένων ἤπερ νομιζόμενον ἐπιτευκτικόν. καὶ Ἡσαΐας γοῦν, ὡς οὐ δυναμένων τούτων εὑρίσκεσθαι ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων, φησὶ πρὸς τὴν θυγατέρα τῶν Χαλδαίων τῶν ταῦτα μάλιστα παρὰ πάντας ἐπαγγελλομένων ‘στήτωσαν δὴ καὶ σωσάτωσάν σε οἱ ἀστρολόγοι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἀναγγειλάτωσάν σοι τί μέλλει ἐπὶ σὲ ἔρχεσθαι.’ διὰ γὰρ τούτων διδασκόμεθα μὴ δύνασθαι τοὺς πάνυ περὶ ταῦτα φιλομαθεῖς προδηλοῦν ἃ βεβούληται κύριος ἑκάστῳ ἔθνει ἐπαγαγεῖν.”
ei de tis en peirą gegenētai tōn pragmatōn, mallon eisetai to en tǭ stochazesthai apoptōtikon tōn legontōn kai autōn tōn syngrapsamenōn ēper nomizomenon epiteuktikon. kai Hēsaïas goun, hōs ou dynamenōn toutōn heuriskesthai hypo anthrōpōn, phēsi pros tēn thygatera tōn Chaldaiōn tōn tauta malista para pantas epangellomenōn ‘stētōsan dē kai sōsatōsan se hoi astrologoi tou ouranou, anangeilatōsan soi ti mellei epi se erchesthai.’ dia gar toutōn didaskometha mē dynasthai tous pany peri tauta philomatheis prodēloun ha beboulētai kyrios hekastǭ ethnei epagagein.”
And if anyone has had experience of these matters, he will know rather how often those who speak, and even those who have written, miss the mark in their guessing, than how they are thought to hit it. Isaiah, at any rate, as though these things cannot be found out by humans, says to the daughter of the Chaldeans, who more than all others professed these things: "Let the astrologers of heaven stand up and save you; let them tell you what is about to come upon you." For by these words we are taught that even those most devoted to such study cannot foretell what the Lord has willed to bring on each nation."
Isa 47:13 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Isaiah mocks the Chaldean astrologers as unable to foretell God's purposes.
- Origen, quoting Isa 47:13.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; missing space in the digital text): ἐπαγγελλομένων‘στήτωσαν → ἐπαγγελλομένων ‘στήτωσαν; ἐπι- τευκτικόν → ἐπιτευκτικόν; σωσάτω- σάν → σωσάτωσάν.
Extrabiblical texts: Origen, Philoc. 23 (Philocalia; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.81 (Dindorf 1:342–343; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-81). (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.
6.11.82Dindorf 1:343
Τοσαῦτα καὶ ὁ δηλωθεὶς ἀνήρ. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὁ πᾶς ἡμῖν οὗτος εἰς δύο τὰ μέγιστα συναιρεῖται λόγος, εἴς τε τὸ μὴ θεοὺς εἶναι τοὺς κατὰ πόλιν χρᾶν νενομισμένους καὶ εἰς τὸ μηδὲ ἀγαθοὺς δαίμονας, τοὐναντίον δὲ γόητάς τινας καὶ πλάνους καὶ ἀπατεῶνας, ἐπʼ ὀλέθρῳ καὶ διαστροφῇ τῆς ἀληθοῦς εὐσεβείας τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους πλάνην τήν τε ἄλλην καὶ τὴν περὶ εἱμαρμένης προβεβλημένους.
Tosauta kai ho dēlōtheis anēr. alla gar ho pas hēmin houtos eis dyo ta megista synaireitai logos, eis te to mē theous einai tous kata polin chran nenomismenous kai eis to mēde agathous daimonas, tounantion de goētas tinas kai planous kai apateōnas, epʼ olethrǭ kai diastrophę̄ tēs alēthous eusebeias tēn eis anthrōpous planēn tēn te allēn kai tēn peri heimarmenēs probeblēmenous.
So much from the man already mentioned. But this whole discussion of ours comes down to two main points: that those thought to give oracles city by city are not gods, nor even good daemons, but on the contrary impostors, deceivers, and cheats, who have put forward, for the ruin and perversion of true piety, their deception of humankind, both the rest of it and that concerning fate.
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius sums up: the oracle-givers are not gods or good daemons but deceivers.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.82 (Dindorf 1:343; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-82). (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.
6.11.83Dindorf 1:343
ἀφʼ ἧς μηδενὸς τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος πλὴν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τὸ πᾶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος λελυτρωμένου, εἰκότως ἡμῖν ἐν ἀρχαῖς τῆς Εὐαγγελικῆς Προπαρασκευῆς τὰ παρόντα πάντα διὰ σπουδῆς γέγονεν, ὡς ἂν ἔργῳ μάθοιμεν ἐκ τίνων προγόνων φύντες καὶ οἵᾳ τὸ πρὶν ἀπάτη συνεχομένων, ἐξ ὁπόσης τε καὶ πηλίκης ἀνανεύσαντες αὐτοί τε ἡμεῖς καὶ ὁ σύμπας τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος ἀβλεψίας τε καὶ ἀθεότητος τὴν ἴασιν τῆς μακρᾶς καὶ πολυχρονίου δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας διὰ μόνης τῆς σωτηρίου Εὐαγγελικῆς εὑράμεθα διδασκαλίας.
aphʼ hēs mēdenos tōn ex aiōnos plēn Iēsou tou sōtēros hēmōn to pan tōn anthrōpōn genos lelytrōmenou, eikotōs hēmin en archais tēs Euangelikēs Proparaskeuēs ta paronta panta dia spoudēs gegonen, hōs an ergǭ mathoimen ek tinōn progonōn phyntes kai hoią to prin apatē synechomenōn, ex hoposēs te kai pēlikēs ananeusantes autoi te hēmeis kai ho sympas tōn anthrōpōn bios ablepsias te kai atheotētos tēn iasin tēs makras kai polychroniou daimonikēs energeias dia monēs tēs sōtēriou Euangelikēs heurametha didaskalias.
Since from this deception no one in all the ages except Jesus our Savior has redeemed the whole human race, it was fitting that all the present material should be treated by us with care at the beginning of the Preparation for the Gospel, so that we might learn by fact from what ancestors we are sprung, and in what deception they were formerly held fast, and from how much and how great blindness and godlessness we ourselves and the whole of human life have looked up and found healing from the long and age-old working of demons through the saving gospel teaching alone.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only Jesus redeemed humanity from this deception; the gospel alone healed the long work of demons.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): τὸ πὰν τῶν → τὸ πᾶν τῶν; μακρὰς → μακρᾶς.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.11.83 (Dindorf 1:343; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-6-11-83). (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.
Preparation 7, chapter 1
7.1.1Dindorf 1:343
Ἑβραίων πέρι λοιπὸν καὶ τῆς κατʼ αὐτοὺς φιλοσοφίας τε καὶ εὐσεβείας, ἣν τῶν πατρίων ἀπάντων προτετιμήκαμεν, τὸν τοῦ βίου τρόπον ὑπογράψαι καιρός.
Hebraiōn peri loipon kai tēs katʼ autous philosophias te kai eusebeias, hēn tōn patriōn apantōn protetimēkamen, ton tou biou tropon hypograpsai kairos.
It is time now to sketch the way of life of the Hebrews and of their philosophy and piety, which we have preferred above all our ancestral traditions.
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius opens Book 7 by turning to the Hebrews' way of life.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.1.1 (Dindorf 1:343; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-1-1). (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.
7.1.2Dindorf 1:343–344
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἀλόγῳ, κεκριμένῳ δὲ καὶ σώφρονι λογισμῷ τῆς διεψευσμένης ὁμοῦ πάντων Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων θεολογίας τὴν ἀπόλειψιν Πεποιημένοι συνέστημεν, ὥρα λοιπὸν τὴν δευτέραν ἐπιλύσασθαι, τὴν αἰτίαν ἀποδιδόντας τῆς τῶν Ἑβραϊκῶν λόγων μεταποιήσεως.
epeidē gar ouk alogǭ, kekrimenǭ de kai sōphroni logismǭ tēs diepseusmenēs homou pantōn Hellēnōn te kai barbarōn theologias tēn apoleipsin Pepoiēmenoi synestēmen, hōra loipon tēn deuteran epilysasthai, tēn aitian apodidontas tēs tōn Hebraïkōn logōn metapoiēseōs.
For since we have established that we made our departure from the false theology of all Greeks and barbarians alike not by irrational but by judicious and sober reasoning, it is time now to settle the second question, giving the reason for our taking up the Hebrew writings instead.
Notes and citation
Summary: Having justified leaving pagan theology, Eusebius will justify adopting the Hebrew writings.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.1.2 (Dindorf 1:343–344; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-1-2). (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.
7.1.3Dindorf 1:344
Τὸ μὲν οὖν μὴ φέρειν τινὰ μέμψιν ἡμῖν τὴν ἀπὸ βαρβάρων τοῦ συμφέροντος μετάληψιν ἐπὶ τῆς δεούσης σχολῆς παραστήσομεν, πάντα τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ αὐτοῖς γε τοῖς βοωμένοις αὐτῶν φιλοσόφοις τὰ φιλόσοφα μαθήματα, καὶ τὰ ἄλλως κοινὰ καὶ ταῖς πολιτικαῖς λυσιτελοῦντα χρείαις, παρὰ βαρβάρων ἐσκευωρῆσθαι ἐπιδείξοντες· τὸ δὲ μηδέν πω μηδʼ ὅλως παρά τισιν εὑρῆσθαι τῶν ἐθνῶν, οἷον τὸ παρʼ Ἑβραίων ἡμῖν ἀγαθὸν πεπορισμένον, ὧδε ἂν γένοιτο πρόδηλον.
To men oun mē pherein tina mempsin hēmin tēn apo barbarōn tou sympherontos metalēpsin epi tēs deousēs scholēs parastēsomen, panta tois Hellēsi kai autois ge tois boōmenois autōn philosophois ta philosopha mathēmata, kai ta allōs koina kai tais politikais lysitelounta chreiais, para barbarōn eskeuōrēsthai epideixontes; to de mēden pō mēdʼ holōs para tisin heurēsthai tōn ethnōn, hoion to parʼ Hebraiōn hēmin agathon peporismenon, hōde an genoito prodēlon.
That our taking what is useful from barbarians brings no reproach on us, we shall show at the proper place, by demonstrating that the Greeks, and even their celebrated philosophers, have procured from barbarians all their philosophical learning, as well as what is otherwise common and useful for civic needs. But that no good such as has been provided for us by the Hebrews has ever been found at all among any of the nations will become plain as follows.
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius promises to show the Greeks borrowed from barbarians, and that the Hebrews' gift is unique.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Latin-shaped letter in the digital text; misread letters and breathings in the digital text; misread letters in the digital text; missing accent in the digital text; wrong breathing and accent in the digital text): φιλοςόφοις → φιλοσόφοις; και ταῖς → καὶ ταῖς; παρά βαρβάρων έβκευωρήβθαι έπιδείζοντες → παρὰ βαρβάρων ἐσκευωρῆσθαι ἐπιδείξοντες; εύρῆβθαι → εὑρῆσθαι; άγαθόν → ἀγαθὸν.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.1.3 (Dindorf 1:344; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-1-3). (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.
Preparation 7, chapter 2
7.2.1Dindorf 1:344
Οἱ μὲν δὴ λοιποὶ πάντες ἄνθρωποι, ἄνωθεν ἐκ πρώτης τοῦ βίου συστάσεως καὶ εἰς τὸν χρόνον μόνῃ τῇ τῶν σωμάτων προσανασχόντες αἰσθήσει τῷ μηδέν περὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς ψυχῆς διειληφέναι πλέον τε οὐδὲν τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ὑπάρχειν ἡγησάμενοι, τὸ καλόν καὶ συμφέρον καὶ μόνον ἀγαθὸν τῇ τῶν σωμάτων ἀνέθηκαν ἡδονῇ· μόνην τε ταύτην, ὡς τὸ μόνον οὖσαν ἀγαθὸν καὶ προσηνὲς καὶ ἡδὺ πρὸς ἀπόλαυσίν τε εὐδαίμονος βίου αὐτάρκη, περισπούδαστον ὑποθέμενοι θεῶν μεγίστην ἡγήσαντό τε καὶ τεθειάκασιν, οὐδὲ τῆς ζωῆς αὐτῆς, εἰ μὴ μετέχοι τῆς τῶν σωμάτων ἡδονῆς, ἐφιέμενοι, καὶ ζῆν οὐ διὰ τὸ ζῆν, διὰ δὲ τὸ ἡδέως ζῆν ἀσπαζόμενοι, τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις εὐξάμενοι παισὶν ὡς μόνον ἀγαθὸν παρεῖναι.
Hoi men dē loipoi pantes anthrōpoi, anōthen ek prōtēs tou biou systaseōs kai eis ton chronon monę̄ tę̄ tōn sōmatōn prosanaschontes aisthēsei tǭ mēden peri tēs en autois psychēs dieilēphenai pleon te ouden tōn horōmenōn en tois ousin hyparchein hēgēsamenoi, to kalon kai sympheron kai monon agathon tę̄ tōn sōmatōn anethēkan hēdonę̄; monēn te tautēn, hōs to monon ousan agathon kai prosēnes kai hēdy pros apolausin te eudaimonos biou autarkē, perispoudaston hypothemenoi theōn megistēn hēgēsanto te kai tetheiakasin, oude tēs zōēs autēs, ei mē metechoi tēs tōn sōmatōn hēdonēs, ephiemenoi, kai zēn ou dia to zēn, dia de to hēdeōs zēn aspazomenoi, touto kai tois idiois euxamenoi paisin hōs monon agathon pareinai.
All other people, from the first formation of life onward through time, attending only to the senses of the body, because they had understood nothing more about the soul within them and thought that nothing exists among things beyond what is seen, assigned what is noble, useful, and the only good to the pleasure of the body. And supposing this alone to be worth pursuing, as the only good, agreeable and sweet, and sufficient for the enjoyment of a happy life, they considered and deified it as the greatest of gods. They did not desire even life itself unless it shared in bodily pleasure; they embraced living not for the sake of living but for the sake of living pleasantly, and prayed that this alone, as the only good, might be present to their own children.
Notes and citation
Summary: Other peoples, knowing only the body, made pleasure their highest good and god.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread letter and accent in the digital text; misread letter and missing accent in the digital text; misread letter in the digital text; misread letters in the digital text; word split and misread in the digital text; wrong breathings and accents in the digital text): Οί μεν δὴ λοιποί → Οἱ μὲν δὴ λοιποὶ; τον βίον σνστάσεως → τοῦ βίου συστάσεως; περί τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς ψνχῆς → περὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς ψυχῆς; ἀπόλανσίν → ἀπόλαυσίν; περισπονδαστον → περισπούδαστον; ζωῆς αν της, → ζωῆς αὐτῆς,; διὰ δὲ τὲ ἡδέως → διὰ δὲ τὸ ἡδέως; παιβἰν → παισὶν.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.2.1 (Dindorf 1:344; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-2-1). (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.
7.2.2Dindorf 1:344–345
ἔνθεν οἱ μὲν τὰ χορηγὰ τῆς ἐνσάρκου ζωῆς ἥλιον εἶναι καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας ὑποτοπάσαντες, καί πως καὶ πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν τοῦ φωτὸς καταπλαγέντες πρώτους θεοὺς ἀνηγόρευσαν, μόνους αἰτίους τῶν ὅλων εἶναι ἀποφηνάμενοι· οἱ δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ γῆς καρποὺς τήν τε ὑγρὰν καὶ ξηρὰν καὶ θερμὴν οὐσίαν τά τε λοιπὰ τοῦ κόσμου μέρη, διʼ ὧν αὐτοῖς τὰ σώματα τρεφόμενά τε καὶ πιαινόμενα τὴν ἔνσαρκον ὁμοῦ ζωήν τε καὶ ἡδονὴν ἐθηρᾶτο, θεῶν πάλιν προσηγορίᾳ τετιμήκασιν· οἱ δὲ πολὺ πρότερον τούτων γυμνῇ καὶ ἀκαλύπτῳ κεφαλῇ τὰ σφέτερα πάθη καὶ τὴν δέσποιναν αὐτῶν ἡδονὴν, ἔρωτα καὶ πόθον καὶ ἀφροδίτην, καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν θεῶν κρατεῖν εἰπόντες ἀπεθέωσαν· οἱ δὲ τοὺς τῶν ἡδέων χορηγούς τε καὶ εὑρετὰς αὐτοῖς γενομένους ἄνδρας τυράννους τινὰς καὶ δυνάστας, διʼ ἃς ἔτυχον ἐξ αὐτῶν εὐπαθείας, ζῶντάς τε ἔτι καὶ μετὰ τελευτὴν ἐθεοποίησαν· οἱ δὲ μοχθηρῶν πνευμάτων καὶ δαιμόνων γενόμενοι παραπαίγνια ἔτι μειζόνως τὸ παθητικὸν αὐτῶν μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς συνηύξησαν, τὰ ἡδέα καὶ παρὰ τούτων διὰ τῆς νενομισμένης αὐτῶν θεραπείας ἐκπορίζοντες· οἱ δὲ μηδενὸς τούτων ἀνασχόμενοι τὸ ἄθεον ὡς πολὺ κρεῖττον τῆς τοιᾶσδε θεολογίας εἰσηγήσαντο· οἱ δὲ ἔτι τούτων ἁπάντων ἀναιδέστεροι τὸν φιλόσοφον καὶ τρισευδαίμονα βίον οὐδʼ ἄλλον εἶναι ἢ τὸν ἡδὺν ἀπεφήναντο, τέλος τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν ἡδονὴν ὁρισάμενοι.
enthen hoi men ta chorēga tēs ensarkou zōēs hēlion einai kai selēnēn kai asteras hypotopasantes, kai pōs kai pros tēn opsin tou phōtos kataplagentes prōtous theous anēgoreusan, monous aitious tōn holōn einai apophēnamenoi; hoi de tous apo gēs karpous tēn te hygran kai xēran kai thermēn ousian ta te loipa tou kosmou merē, diʼ hōn autois ta sōmata trephomena te kai piainomena tēn ensarkon homou zōēn te kai hēdonēn ethērato, theōn palin prosēgorią tetimēkasin; hoi de poly proteron toutōn gymnę̄ kai akalyptǭ kephalę̄ ta sphetera pathē kai tēn despoinan autōn hēdonēn, erōta kai pothon kai aphroditēn, kai autōn tōn theōn kratein eipontes apetheōsan; hoi de tous tōn hēdeōn chorēgous te kai heuretas autois genomenous andras tyrannous tinas kai dynastas, diʼ has etychon ex autōn eupatheias, zōntas te eti kai meta teleutēn etheopoiēsan; hoi de mochthērōn pneumatōn kai daimonōn genomenoi parapaignia eti meizonōs to pathētikon autōn meros tēs psychēs synēuxēsan, ta hēdea kai para toutōn dia tēs nenomismenēs autōn therapeias ekporizontes; hoi de mēdenos toutōn anaschomenoi to atheon hōs poly kreitton tēs toiasde theologias eisēgēsanto; hoi de eti toutōn hapantōn anaidesteroi ton philosophon kai triseudaimona bion oudʼ allon einai ē ton hēdyn apephēnanto, telos tōn agathōn tēn hēdonēn horisamenoi.
Hence some, supposing the sun, moon, and stars to be the suppliers of life in the flesh, and being somehow also struck with awe at the sight of their light, proclaimed them the first gods, declaring them the sole causes of all things. Others honored again with the title of gods the fruits of the earth, the moist, dry, and hot substance, and the other parts of the world through which their bodies, nourished and fattened, pursued the life and pleasure of the flesh together. Others, long before these, barefacedly (literally, with bare and uncovered head) deified their own passions and their mistress pleasure, love and desire and Aphrodite, saying that these rule even the gods. Others deified, both while still living and after death, the men who had become suppliers and inventors of pleasures for them, certain tyrants and potentates, because of the comforts they had received from them. Others, becoming the playthings of wicked spirits and demons, increased still more the passionate part of their soul, procuring pleasures from these too through their customary worship. Others, putting up with none of these, introduced atheism as far better than such theology. And others, more shameless than all of these, declared that the philosophic and thrice-blessed life is nothing other than the pleasant life, defining pleasure as the end of goods.
Notes and citation
Summary: The pursuit of pleasure led peoples to deify heavenly bodies, nature, passions, rulers, and demons, or to atheism and hedonism.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (dropped letter in the digital text; line-end hyphen left in the digital text; misread letter in the digital text; wrong accent in the digital text; wrong breathing in the digital text): ἐνσάρκον → ἐνσάρκου; ὑποτοπάβαντες → ὑποτοπάσαντες; πρώτους θεὺς → πρώτους θεοὺς; οἶ δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ → οἱ δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ; οἶ δὲ τοὺς τῶν → οἱ δὲ τοὺς τῶν; οἶ δὲ μηδενὸς → οἱ δὲ μηδενὸς; οἷ δὲ ἔτι → οἱ δὲ ἔτι; ἀπο- φηνάμενοι → ἀποφηνάμενοι; τρεφό- μενά → τρεφόμενά; τετι- μήκασιν → τετιμήκασιν; δέσποι- ναν → δέσποιναν.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.2.2 (Dindorf 1:344–345; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-2-2). (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.
7.2.3Dindorf 1:345–346
ταύτῃ δʼ οὖν τὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων γένος, ὡς ἂν δεσποίνῃ πικρᾷ καὶ χαλεπωτάτῃ, ἡδονῇ θεῷ, μᾶλλον δὲ αἰσχρῷ καὶ ἀκολάστῳ δαίμονι, καταδεδουλωμένον παντοίαις ἐνεφύρετο ταλαιπωρίαις. αἵ τε γὰρ θήλειαι αὐτῶν, κατὰ τὸν ἱερὸν ἀπόστολον, μετήλλαξαν τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν τῆς θηλείας εἰς τὴν παρὰ φύσιν· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄρρενες, ἀφέντες τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν τῆς θηλείας, ἐξεκαύθησαν ἐν τῇ ὀρέξει αὐτῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους, ἄρρενες ἐν ἄρρεσι τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι, καὶ τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν, ἣν ἔδει, τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπολαμβάνοντες.
tautę̄ dʼ oun to pantōn anthrōpōn genos, hōs an despoinę̄ pikrą kai chalepōtatę̄, hēdonę̄ theǭ, mallon de aischrǭ kai akolastǭ daimoni, katadedoulōmenon pantoiais enephyreto talaipōriais. hai te gar thēleiai autōn, kata ton hieron apostolon, metēllaxan tēn physikēn chrēsin tēs thēleias eis tēn para physin; homoiōs de kai hoi arrenes, aphentes tēn physikēn chrēsin tēs thēleias, exekauthēsan en tę̄ orexei autōn eis allēlous, arrenes en arresi tēn aschēmosynēn katergazomenoi, kai tēn antimisthian, hēn edei, tēs planēs autōn en heautois apolambanontes.
In this way the whole human race, enslaved to pleasure as to a bitter and most cruel mistress, a god, or rather a shameful and licentious demon, was mired in every kind of misery. For their females, as the holy apostle says, "exchanged the natural use of the female for that which is against nature; and likewise the males also, leaving the natural use of the female, were inflamed in their desire for one another, males with males working shamelessness, and receiving in themselves the due recompense of their error."
Rom 1:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 1:27 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Enslaved to pleasure, humanity fell into the vices Paul describes in Romans 1.
- Rom 1:26–27.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text; misread letters in the digital text; missing breathing in the digital text; repeated word in the digital text; stray dash in the digital text): τὸ πάντων ανθρώπων → τὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων; καταδεδουλῖομένον → καταδεδουλωμένον; ἀφέντες ἀφέντες → ἀφέντες; θηλείας, - ἐξεκαύθησαν → θηλείας, ἐξεκαύθησαν; ἄρρεωες → ἄρρενες.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.2.3 (Dindorf 1:345–346; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-2-3). (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.
7.2.4Dindorf 1:346
ταύτῃ καὶ Ἕλληνες καὶ βάρβαροι, σοφοί τε καὶ ἰδιῶται, χαμαί τε καὶ ἐπὶ γαστέρα πεσόντες, ὡς θεῷ τῇ ἡδονῇ προσεκύνησαν, πρηνεῖς τε σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἑρπετῶν δίκην καταβαλόντες, ἄμαχον καὶ ἀπαραίτητον θεὸν ταύτην ἡγήσαντό τε καὶ ἔστερξαν· ἔν τε ᾠδαῖς καὶ ὕμνοις, ἔν τε θεῶν ἑορταῖς, ἔν τε ταῖς πανδήμοις θέαις, μόνης τῆς αἰσχρᾶς καὶ ἀκολάστου ἡδονῆς τὰ ὄργια καὶ τὰς ἀσέμνους τελετὰς μυούμενοί τε καὶ τελοῦντες, ὡς εἰ καί τι ἄλλο, καὶ τόδε καλῶς παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀνῃρῆσθαι. “ἀρχὴ γὰρ πορνείας ἐπίνοια εἰδώλων.”
tautę̄ kai Hellēnes kai barbaroi, sophoi te kai idiōtai, chamai te kai epi gastera pesontes, hōs theǭ tę̄ hēdonę̄ prosekynēsan, prēneis te sphas autous herpetōn dikēn katabalontes, amachon kai aparaitēton theon tautēn hēgēsanto te kai esterxan; en te ǭdais kai hymnois, en te theōn heortais, en te tais pandēmois theais, monēs tēs aischras kai akolastou hēdonēs ta orgia kai tas asemnous teletas myoumenoi te kai telountes, hōs ei kai ti allo, kai tode kalōs parʼ hēmin anę̄rēsthai. “archē gar porneias epinoia eidōlōn.”
In this way Greeks and barbarians, wise and ignorant, fallen on the ground and on their bellies, worshiped pleasure as a god; casting themselves down prone like reptiles, they thought her an invincible and inexorable god and loved her. In songs and hymns, at the festivals of the gods and at public spectacles, they were initiated into and celebrated the orgies and indecent rites of shameful and licentious pleasure alone; so that this, if anything, has rightly been abolished among us. "For the beginning of sexual immorality is the devising of idols."
Notes and citation
Summary: Greeks and barbarians worshiped pleasure in their rites, which Christianity has abolished.
- The closing quotation is Wisdom of Solomon 14:12.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (repeated syllables in the digital text): αἰσχρᾶς σχρὰς → αἰσχρᾶς.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 14:12 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.2.4 (Dindorf 1:346; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-2-4). (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.
7.2.5Dindorf 1:346
καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τῆς τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν θεολογίας τοσαύτην εἰλήφει, ὡς ἐν βραχεῖ φάναι, τὴν πολυτροπίαν, μιᾶς μὲν ἀρχῆς τῆς ἀκαθάρτου καὶ μιαρᾶς ἡδονῆς ἀνημμένα, ὕδρας δὲ πολυαυχένου καὶ πολυκεφάλου τρόπον εἰς πολλὰς καὶ ποικίλας διαιρέσεις τε καὶ τομὰς ἐξενηνεγμένα.
kai ta men peri tēs tōn allōn ethnōn theologias tosautēn eilēphei, hōs en brachei phanai, tēn polytropian, mias men archēs tēs akathartou kai miaras hēdonēs anēmmena, hydras de polyauchenou kai polykephalou tropon eis pollas kai poikilas diaireseis te kai tomas exenēnegmena.
So the theology of the other nations had taken on, to put it briefly, so great a variety, all depending on one principle, unclean and foul pleasure, but branching out, like a many-necked and many-headed hydra, into many and various divisions and sections.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pagan theology is a many-headed hydra springing from pleasure.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.2.5 (Dindorf 1:346; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-2-5). (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.
7.2.6Dindorf 1:346
ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν τοσαύτην ἔτυχον προβεβλημένοι τὴν πλάνην, εἰκότα δὴ αὐτοῖς ἡδονῇ θεῷ καὶ κακῷ δαίμονι χρωμένοις ἐπὶ κακοῖς κακὰ συνηγείρετο, γυναικομανίαις καὶ ἀρρένων φθοραῖς μητρογαμίαις τε καὶ θυγατρομιξίαις τὸν πάντα καταφυρομένοις βίον, καὶ τὴν ἄγριον καὶ θηριώδη φύσιν ὑπερβολῇ φαυλότητος νενικηκόσι. τοιοῦτος μὲν οὖν ὁ τρόπος τῶν παλαιῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ τῆς διεψευσμένης αὐτῶν θεολογίας, διὰ τῶν συνηγμένων ἡμῖν Ἑλληνικῶν λογογράφων τε καὶ φιλοσόφων ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἀποδέδεικται.
epeidē toinyn tosautēn etychon probeblēmenoi tēn planēn, eikota dē autois hēdonę̄ theǭ kai kakǭ daimoni chrōmenois epi kakois kaka synēgeireto, gynaikomaniais kai arrenōn phthorais mētrogamiais te kai thygatromixiais ton panta kataphyromenois bion, kai tēn agrion kai thēriōdē physin hyperbolę̄ phaulotētos nenikēkosi. toioutos men oun ho tropos tōn palaiōn ethnōn kai tēs diepseusmenēs autōn theologias, dia tōn synēgmenōn hēmin Hellēnikōn logographōn te kai philosophōn en tois emprosthen apodedeiktai.
Since, then, they had put forward so great an error, it was fitting that, as they made use of pleasure as a god and an evil demon, evils were heaped on evils for them, as they defiled their whole life with madness for women and corruptions of males, marriages with mothers and unions with daughters, and surpassed even wild and beastly nature in excess of wickedness. Such, then, was the way of the ancient nations and of their false theology, as has been shown earlier through the Greek historians and philosophers we have collected.
Notes and citation
Summary: The worship of pleasure brought the ancient nations into every vice.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): προβε- βλημένοι → προβεβλημένοι; συν- ηγείρετο → συνηγείρετο.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.2.6 (Dindorf 1:346; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-2-6). (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.
Preparation 7, chapter 3
7.3.1Dindorf 1:346
Εἰ δὴ οὖν συνῶπταί σοι ὁ τῶν παλαιῶν βίος, ἄθρει δὴ λοιπὸν τῇ διανοίᾳ μόνους παῖδας Ἑβραίων ἐν τοσούτοις τὴν ἐναντίαν ἀπιόντας.
Ei dē oun synōptai soi ho tōn palaiōn bios, athrei dē loipon tę̄ dianoią monous paidas Hebraiōn en tosoutois tēn enantian apiontas.
If, then, you have taken in the life of the ancients, consider now in your mind the sons of the Hebrews alone, among so many, going the opposite way.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Hebrews alone went the opposite way.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing iota subscript in the digital text): διανοία → διανοίᾳ.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.3.1 (Dindorf 1:346; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-3-1). (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.
7.3.2Dindorf 1:346–347
οἵδε γὰρ πρῶτοι καὶ μόνοι πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἄνωθεν ἐκ πρώτῆς τοῦ βίου καταβολῆς λογικῇ θεωρίᾳ τὴν διάνοιαν ἀναθέντες, καὶ τῇ περὶ τοῦ παντὸς φυσιολογίᾳ εὐσεβῶς ἐπιστήσαντες, πρῶτα μὲν τὰ τῶν σωμάτων στοιχεῖα, γῆν, ὕδωρ, ἀέρα, πῦρ, ἐξ ὧν τόδε τὸ πᾶν συνεστὼς κατεμάνθανον, ἥλιόν τε καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας, οὐ θεοὺς, ἔργα δὲ εἶναι θεοῦ διελογίσαντο, τὴν φύσιν τῆς σωματικῆς οὐσίας οὐ μόνον ἄλογον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄψυχον εἶναι, καθʼ ὅσον ῥοώδης καὶ φθαρτὴ οὔσα τυγχάνει, συννοήσαντες, κἄπειτα λογισάμενοι ὡς οὐχ οἷόν τε τὴν τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου διάταξιν, εὖ καὶ σοφῶς ἡρμοσμένην, ἔμπλεων τε ζῴων ἐμψύχων λογικῶν τε καὶ ἀλόγων ὑπάρχουσαν, αὐτόματον ἐπιγράφεσθαι τὴν αἰτίαν, οὐδέ γε τῶν ἐμψύχων τὴν ποιητικὴν ἀρχὴν ἄψυχον ὑπολαμβάνειν, οὐδʼ ἄλογον τὴν τῶν λογικῶν δημιουργόν.
hoide gar prōtoi kai monoi pantōn anthrōpōn anōthen ek prōtēs tou biou katabolēs logikę̄ theōrią tēn dianoian anathentes, kai tę̄ peri tou pantos physiologią eusebōs epistēsantes, prōta men ta tōn sōmatōn stoicheia, gēn, hydōr, aera, pyr, ex hōn tode to pan synestōs katemanthanon, hēlion te kai selēnēn kai asteras, ou theous, erga de einai theou dielogisanto, tēn physin tēs sōmatikēs ousias ou monon alogon, alla kai apsychon einai, kathʼ hoson rhoōdēs kai phthartē ousa tynchanei, synnoēsantes, kapeita logisamenoi hōs ouch hoion te tēn tou sympantos kosmou diataxin, eu kai sophōs hērmosmenēn, empleōn te zǭōn empsychōn logikōn te kai alogōn hyparchousan, automaton epigraphesthai tēn aitian, oude ge tōn empsychōn tēn poiētikēn archēn apsychon hypolambanein, oudʼ alogon tēn tōn logikōn dēmiourgon.
For they were the first and only people of all who, from the very first foundation of life, devoted their minds to rational contemplation and gave pious attention to the study of the nature of the universe. First they learned the elements of bodies, earth, water, air, and fire, of which this universe is composed; and they reasoned that the sun, moon, and stars are not gods but works of God, realizing that the nature of bodily substance is not only irrational but also lifeless, inasmuch as it is fluid and perishable. Then they reasoned that it is not possible to ascribe to chance the cause of the ordering of the whole world, so well and wisely fitted together and full of living creatures both rational and irrational, nor to suppose that the productive principle of living things is lifeless, nor that the maker of rational beings is irrational.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Hebrews alone reasoned that the heavens are God's works and that a living, rational Maker must exist.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; wrong accent in the digital text): ἐξ ὣν → ἐξ ὧν; πρώ- τῆς → πρώτῆς.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.3.2 (Dindorf 1:346–347; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-3-2). (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.
7.3.3Dindorf 1:347
ἐπεὶ δὲ μηδὲ ξύλων καὶ λίθων αὐτόματός ποτʼ ἂν οἰκοδομία συσταίη, οὐδέ γε ἐσθὴς ὑφάντου δίχα συντελεσθείη, οὐδὲ πόλεις καὶ πολιτεῖαι νόμων ἐκτὸς καὶ ἀρχοντικῆς διατάξεως, οὐδὲ ἐκτὸς κυβερνήτου ναῦς, οὐδὲ τὸ σμικρότατον τέχνης ὄργανον ὑποσταίη ἂν μὴ διὰ τεχνίτου, οὐδʼ εὐόρμου ποτὲ ναῦς λιμένος τύχοι μὴ οὐχὶ σὺν ἀγαθῷ κυβερνήτῃ· οὐδʼ ἡ τῶν καθόλου στοιχείων ἄρα φύσις, ἄψυχος οὖσα καὶ ἄλογος, τῷ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν λόγῳ δίχα τῆς ἀνωτάτω τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας λόγου ποτὲ καὶ ζωῆς ἀνθέξεται. ταῦτα δὴ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα διανοηθέντες οἱ τῆς Ἑβραίων εὐσεβείας πατέρες, ἐκ μεγέθους καὶ καλλονῆς κτισμάτων νῷ κεκαθαρμένῳ καὶ ψυχῆς διαυγέσιν ὄμμασι τὸν πάντων δημιουργὸν θεὸν ἐσεβάσθησαν.
epei de mēde xylōn kai lithōn automatos potʼ an oikodomia systaiē, oude ge esthēs hyphantou dicha syntelestheiē, oude poleis kai politeiai nomōn ektos kai archontikēs diataxeōs, oude ektos kybernētou naus, oude to smikrotaton technēs organon hypostaiē an mē dia technitou, oudʼ euormou pote naus limenos tychoi mē ouchi syn agathǭ kybernētę̄; oudʼ hē tōn katholou stoicheiōn ara physis, apsychos ousa kai alogos, tǭ kathʼ heautēn logǭ dicha tēs anōtatō tou theou sophias logou pote kai zōēs anthexetai. tauta dē kai ta toiauta dianoēthentes hoi tēs Hebraiōn eusebeias pateres, ek megethous kai kallonēs ktismatōn nǭ kekatharmenǭ kai psychēs diaugesin ommasi ton pantōn dēmiourgon theon esebasthēsan.
And since not even a building of wood and stone could ever put itself together, nor a garment be completed without a weaver, nor cities and constitutions exist without laws and the ordering of rulers, nor a ship without a pilot, nor the smallest tool of a craft come into being except through a craftsman, nor a ship ever reach a good harbor without a good pilot, so neither would the nature of the universal elements, being lifeless and irrational, ever of itself lay hold of reason and life without the supreme wisdom of God. Having thought through these and similar things, the fathers of Hebrew piety, from the greatness and beauty of created things, with purified mind and clear-sighted eyes of the soul, worshiped God the maker of all.
Notes and citation
Summary: From the order and beauty of creation the Hebrew fathers inferred and worshiped the Creator.
- "From the greatness and beauty of created things" echoes Wisdom of Solomon 13:5.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Latin letter and stray mark in the digital text; doubled letter in the digital text; line-end hyphen left in the digital text; misread letter in the digital text): πόλλεις → πόλεις; ρμικρότατον → σμικρότατον; ‘Eβραίων → Ἑβραίων; δια- τάξεως → διατάξεως.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 13:5 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 7.3.3 (Dindorf 1:347; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-11-28/#p-7-3-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-eusebius-praeparatio-7-3-3) · Report an error
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.