Sophia Scriptura

Preparation for the Gospel 6.6.31–6.6.74

Eusebius of Caesarea · Preparation for the Gospel · ca. 313–324 · Caesarea · 44 passages

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

Preparation 6, chapter 6

6.6.31Dindorf 1:281

εἰ δὴ οὖν βουλομένοις ποτέ τινα ἕτερα παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν γνώμην συμβαίνει, ὑπομνηστέον αὐτοὺς ὡς ἄρα τοῦτʼ ἦν ἐκεῖνο τὸ διττὸν καὶ ἑτερογενὲς τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν συμπλοκῆς, λέγω δὴ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος, παρʼ ὃ καὶ ψυχῆς οὐσία, τὴν φύσιν οὖσα νοερὰ καὶ λογικὴ, ἐν νηπιάζοντι κατὰ φύσιν σώματι παρὰ φύσιν αὐτὴ χώραν ἀλόγου μετείληφε· καὶ νοῦς ὁ φρονήσεως οἰκεῖος ἀφραίνει πολλάκις κατά τι συμβεβηκὸς, παρατραπεὶς ἐν ὑπερβαλλούσαις φέρε σώματος ἀρρωστίαις.

ei dē oun boulomenois pote tina hetera para tēn hēmeteran gnōmēn symbainei, hypomnēsteon autous hōs ara toutʼ ēn ekeino to ditton kai heterogenes tēs en hēmin symplokēs, legō dē psychēs kai sōmatos, parʼ ho kai psychēs ousia, tēn physin ousa noera kai logikē, en nēpiazonti kata physin sōmati para physin autē chōran alogou meteilēphe; kai nous ho phronēseōs oikeios aphrainei pollakis kata ti symbebēkos, paratrapeis en hyperballousais phere sōmatos arrōstiais.

If, then, when we will something, other things sometimes happen contrary to our intention, we should remind ourselves that this is that double and mixed character of the union within us, I mean of soul and body. Because of it the substance of the soul, though intelligent and rational by nature, takes the place of something irrational, against its nature, in a body that is by nature still infantile; and the mind, at home with wisdom, often becomes foolish by some accident, deranged, say, by excessive illnesses of the body.

Notes and citation

Summary: When things go against our will, it is because of the union of soul and body, as in infancy or illness.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): φὐσιν → φύσιν.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.31 (Dindorf 1:281; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-31). (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.

6.6.32Dindorf 1:281

πολλάκις δὲ καὶ γήρας ἐπελθὸν σώματι κατὰ φύσιν τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀκμὴν κατορθωμάτων τὴν διάνοιαν ἀπεστέρησε, τῆς νοερᾶς ψυχῆς τὸ λογικὸν παρὰ φύσιν ἀμβλῦναν.

pollakis de kai gēras epelthon sōmati kata physin tōn kata tēn akmēn katorthōmatōn tēn dianoian apesterēse, tēs noeras psychēs to logikon para physin amblynan.

And often old age, coming upon the body by nature, has robbed the understanding of the achievements of its prime, blunting the rational part of the intelligent soul against nature.

Notes and citation

Summary: Old age, natural to the body, dulls the soul's reason against its nature.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.32 (Dindorf 1:281; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-32). (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.

6.6.33Dindorf 1:281–282

αἰκίαι δʼ αὖ πάλιν καὶ ἀλγηδόνες σώματι πηρώσεις τε ἐπισυμβᾶσαι πάρα φύσιν, τὸ αὐθεκούσιον τῆς ψυχῆς παρὰ τὸ συμβεβηκὸς ἐξενίκησαν, ἐνδούσης ταῖς ἀλγηδόσι διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ σῶμα συμπλοκήν ’ ὡς ἁλίσκεσθαι δεσμὸν ἄφυκτον ἐμποδὼν προβεβλῆσθαι τῷ κατὰ ψυχὴν ἐλευθέρῳ τοτὲ μὲν τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν, τοτὲ δὲ τὰ ἐκτὸς ἐπισυμβαίνοντα.

aikiai dʼ au palin kai algēdones sōmati pērōseis te episymbasai para physin, to authekousion tēs psychēs para to symbebēkos exenikēsan, endousēs tais algēdosi dia tēn pros to sōma symplokēn ’ hōs haliskesthai desmon aphykton empodōn probeblēsthai tǭ kata psychēn eleutherǭ tote men tēn tou sōmatos physin, tote de ta ektos episymbainonta.

Again, injuries and pains and mutilations that befall the body against nature have, by accident, overpowered the soul's free will, as it gives way to the pains because of its union with the body; so that sometimes the nature of the body, sometimes what happens from outside, is found to have been thrown in the way of the soul's freedom as an inescapable bond.

Notes and citation

Summary: Bodily injuries and pains can overpower the soul's freedom.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): συμβεβη- κὸς → συμβεβηκὸς.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.33 (Dindorf 1:281–282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-33). (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.

6.6.34Dindorf 1:282

ἦν δὲ ἄρα καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐφʼ ἡμῖν προαιρέσεως εἰς τοσοῦτον ἧκον ἀρετῆς καὶ ἰσχύος ὡς ἀντιβαίνειν ἐπὶ πολλῶν τολμᾶν καὶ ἀντιλέγειν τῇ τε τοῦ σώματος φύσει καὶ τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἐπισυμβαίνουσιν.

ēn de ara kai to tēs ephʼ hēmin proaireseōs eis tosouton hēkon aretēs kai ischyos hōs antibainein epi pollōn tolman kai antilegein tę̄ te tou sōmatos physei kai tois exōthen episymbainousin.

Yet the power of the choice that is in our power has come to such a degree of virtue and strength that in many cases it dares to resist and contradict both the nature of the body and what happens from outside.

Notes and citation

Summary: Yet free choice is strong enough to resist both bodily nature and external circumstance.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (dropped letter in the digital text): ἐπισμβαίνουσιν → ἐπισυμβαίνουσιν.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.34 (Dindorf 1:282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-34). (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.

6.6.35Dindorf 1:282

ἡ μέν γε τοῦ σώματος φύσις ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἀφροδισίων ὁρμὴν τὸν ἄνδρα καλεῖ, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ λόγῳ σώφρονι χαλινὸν ἐμβαλοῦσα τῷ πάθει κρείττων καθίσταται τῆς τοῦ σώματος φύσεως· καὶ πάλιν ἡ μὲν πεινῆν καὶ διψῆν καὶ ῥιγοῦν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα προσαναγκάζουσα ἐπὶ τὰς κατὰ φύσιν θεραπείας τε καὶ πληρώσεις παρακαλεῖ, ἡ δὲ προαίρεσις λόγοις σώφροσιν ἀναπεισθεῖσα, καί τινας ἀσκητικὰς προτροπὰς αὐθεκουσίως ἀγαπήσασα, πολυημέροις ἀσιτίαις καὶ καρτερίαις παρακρούεται τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν, ἀρετῇ λογισμοῦ κρίνασα τοῦτο καὶ ἑλομένη.

hē men ge tou sōmatos physis epi tēn tōn aphrodisiōn hormēn ton andra kalei, hē de psychē logǭ sōphroni chalinon embalousa tǭ pathei kreittōn kathistatai tēs tou sōmatos physeōs; kai palin hē men peinēn kai dipsēn kai rhigoun kai ta toiauta prosanankazousa epi tas kata physin therapeias te kai plērōseis parakalei, hē de proairesis logois sōphrosin anapeistheisa, kai tinas askētikas protropas authekousiōs agapēsasa, polyēmerois asitiais kai karteriais parakrouetai tēn tou sōmatos physin, aretę̄ logismou krinasa touto kai helomenē.

The nature of the body calls a man to the impulse of sexual desire, but the soul, putting a bridle on the passion by temperate reason, becomes master of the body's nature. Again, the body, compelling us to be hungry, thirsty, and cold and the like, calls us to the remedies and satisfactions that accord with nature; but the will, persuaded by temperate arguments and freely embracing certain ascetic exhortations, overrides the nature of the body with fasts and endurance lasting many days, having judged and chosen this by the virtue of its reasoning.

Notes and citation

Summary: Reason masters sexual desire and hunger, as in long fasts freely chosen.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; wrong breathing in the digital text): αύθεκουσίως → αὐθεκουσίως; πει- νῆν → πεινῆν; ἀνα- πεισθεῖσα → ἀναπεισθεῖσα; καρτε- ρίαις → καρτερίαις.

Topics: Fasting, Ethics

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.35 (Dindorf 1:282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-35). (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.

6.6.36Dindorf 1:282

καὶ αὖ πάλιν ἡ μὲν κατὰ φύσιν πάσαις ἡδοναῖς χαίρει καὶ τῇ λείᾳ τῶν σωμάτων κινήσει, ἡ δὲ προαίρεσις ἀρετῆς ἐπιθυμίᾳ τὸν ἐπίπονον καὶ τραχὺν ἠσπάσατο βίον.

kai au palin hē men kata physin pasais hēdonais chairei kai tę̄ leią tōn sōmatōn kinēsei, hē de proairesis aretēs epithymią ton epiponon kai trachyn ēspasato bion.

And again, the body by nature delights in all pleasures and in the smooth movement of bodies, but the will, out of desire for virtue, has embraced the laborious and rough life.

Notes and citation

Summary: The will can choose a hard life over bodily pleasure.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.36 (Dindorf 1:282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-36). (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.

6.6.37Dindorf 1:282

εἰσὶ δὲ οἱ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον τραπέντες “ μετήλλαξαν τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν εἰς τὴν παρὰ φύσιν, ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσι τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι.

eisi de hoi kai epi to cheiron trapentes “ metēllaxan tēn physikēn chrēsin eis tēn para physin, arsenes en arsesi tēn aschēmosynēn katergazomenoi.

And there are those who have turned for the worse and "exchanged the natural use for that which is against nature, males working shamelessness with males."

Rom 1:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 1:27 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Others choose the worse, as Paul says of unnatural acts.

  • Rom 1:26–27.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; misread letter in the digital text): μετίλλαξαν → μετήλλαξαν; ἄρσε- νες → ἄρσενες.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.37 (Dindorf 1:282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-37). (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.

6.6.38Dindorf 1:282–283

οὕτως ἄρα καὶ τῇ φύσει οὐ κατὰ πάντα ἐνδίδωσιν ὁ λογισμὸς, κρατεῖ δὲ ἐν πλείστοις, ὡς καὶ κρατεῖται, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν αὐτὸς ἄγει, τοτὲ δὲ αὐτὸς ἄγεται, ὡς καὶ πρὸ ὥρας ἔσθʼ ὅπη χερσὶν ἐπισπᾶσθαι τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τοῦ σώματος, ὅτε τὸ ζῆν αὐτῷ μὴ λυσιτελὲς κριθείη.

houtōs ara kai tę̄ physei ou kata panta endidōsin ho logismos, kratei de en pleistois, hōs kai krateitai, kai tote men autos agei, tote de autos agetai, hōs kai pro hōras esthʼ hopē chersin epispasthai tēn apallagēn tou sōmatos, hote to zēn autǭ mē lysiteles kritheiē.

So reason does not yield to nature in everything; it prevails in very many things, just as it is also overcome; and at times it leads, at times it is itself led, so that sometimes it even draws on itself with its own hands release from the body before its time, when life is judged not to profit it.

Notes and citation

Summary: Reason sometimes rules nature and sometimes is ruled, even to the point of suicide.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; wrong breathing and repeated syllables in the digital text): ἂγεται, τᾶι, → ἄγεται,; ἐνδίδω- σιν → ἐνδίδωσιν; κρα- τεῖται → κρατεῖται.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.38 (Dindorf 1:282–283; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-38). (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.

6.6.39Dindorf 1:283

εἰ μὲν οὖν πρὸς μόνην τὴν οἰκείαν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν ὁ πᾶς ἀγὼν ἦν αὐτῷ, μέτριος ἂν ἦν οὗτος ’ ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν πολιτείαν καὶ τὸν ἐν ἀνθρώποις βίον ὁ θεὸς αὐτῷ μεταξὺ πολλῶν καταβέβληται, ὡς μετὰ θηρίων καὶ ἑρπετῶν ἰοβόλων, ἐν μέσῳ τε πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος ἀέρος τε τοῦ περιέχοντος καὶ τῶν ἐν τούτοις ἅπασι παρηλλαγμένων καὶ διαφόρων φύσεων τὰς διατριβὰς πεποιῆσθαι, εἰκότως αὐτῷ ἡ διαμάχη καὶ ἡ ἔνστασις οὐ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐστὶ καὶ συνημμένην αὐτῷ μόνον φύσιν τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς μυρία τὰ ἐκτὸς συμβεβηκότα, ὧν ἐν μέσῳ ζῇ ὁ τὸν θνητὸν βίον διεξάγων, ὥστε καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα καρτερῶς ἀντέχειν.

ei men oun pros monēn tēn oikeian tou sōmatos physin ho pas agōn ēn autǭ, metrios an ēn houtos ’ epei de tēn politeian kai ton en anthrōpois bion ho theos autǭ metaxy pollōn katabeblētai, hōs meta thēriōn kai herpetōn iobolōn, en mesǭ te pyros kai hydatos aeros te tou periechontos kai tōn en toutois hapasi parēllagmenōn kai diaphorōn physeōn tas diatribas pepoiēsthai, eikotōs autǭ hē diamachē kai hē enstasis ou pros tēn oikeian esti kai synēmmenēn autǭ monon physin tou sōmatos, alla kai pros myria ta ektos symbebēkota, hōn en mesǭ zę̄ ho ton thnēton bion diexagōn, hōste kai pros tauta karterōs antechein.

Now if a person's whole contest were with the proper nature of his body alone, it would be moderate. But since God has set his civic and social life among many things, so that he spends his days with wild beasts and venomous reptiles, in the midst of fire and water and the surrounding air, and of the varied and differing natures in all of these, it is fitting that his struggle and resistance should be not only against the nature of the body that is his own and joined to him, but also against countless external accidents in the midst of which the one who passes mortal life lives, so that he must hold out bravely against these too.

Notes and citation

Summary: Humans must struggle not only with their bodies but with countless external circumstances.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.39 (Dindorf 1:283; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-39). (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.

6.6.40Dindorf 1:283

πολλαὶ γοῦν ἤδη καὶ τοιόνδε τροφῶν φύσεις καὶ τοιαίδε συγκράσεις τοῦ περιέχοντος, κρυμῶν τε ἐπιφοραὶ καὶ φλογμῶν ἐκκαύσεις, πλεῖστά τε ἄλλα κατά τινας οἰκείους λόγους φυσικῶς μὲν κινούμενα, συμβατικῶς δὲ ἡμῖν προσπίπτοντα τάραχον οὐ τὸν τυχόντα τῷ καθʼ ἡμᾶς αὐτεξουσίῳ διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ σῶμα συμπλοκὴν παρέσχηκε, τῆς τῶν ἡμετέρων σωμάτων φύσεως τὰς τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπιφορὰς οὐχ ὑπομενούσης, κρατουμένης δὲ καὶ νικωμένης ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκτὸς κατὰ φύσιν οἰκείαν ἐπιτελουμένων.

pollai goun ēdē kai toionde trophōn physeis kai toiaide synkraseis tou periechontos, krymōn te epiphorai kai phlogmōn ekkauseis, pleista te alla kata tinas oikeious logous physikōs men kinoumena, symbatikōs de hēmin prospiptonta tarachon ou ton tychonta tǭ kathʼ hēmas autexousiǭ dia tēn pros to sōma symplokēn pareschēke, tēs tōn hēmeterōn sōmatōn physeōs tas tōn exōthen epiphoras ouch hypomenousēs, kratoumenēs de kai nikōmenēs hypo tōn ektos kata physin oikeian epiteloumenōn.

Many particular kinds of food, at any rate, and particular mixtures of the air, onsets of frost and blazes of heat, and very many other things, moving naturally by certain principles of their own but falling on us by accident, have caused no small disturbance to our free will because of its union with the body, since the nature of our bodies does not withstand the onsets of things from outside but is overpowered and defeated by external things acting according to their own nature.

Notes and citation

Summary: Food, weather, and other natural forces disturb our free will through the body.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.40 (Dindorf 1:283; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-40). (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.

6.6.41Dindorf 1:283

πάλιν τε αὖ, ἐπειδὴ μετὰ πλείστων ἀνδρῶν ποιούμεθα τὰς διατριβὰς, οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ τῆς ἴσης ἡμῖν λαχόντες οὐσίας τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἐξουσίας ἀποφέρονται, ἐλευθέρᾳ τῇ σφῶν χρώμενοι προαιρέσει, ταύτῃ πάλιν εἰκότως καὶ ταῖς ἑτέρων γνώμαις ὑποκεισόμεθα, τοῦ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων αὐτεξουσίου ὧδέ πως ἡμῖν κατὰ τοῦ σώματος ἢ περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν χρωμένου.

palin te au, epeidē meta pleistōn andrōn poioumetha tas diatribas, hoi de kai autoi tēs isēs hēmin lachontes ousias to ephʼ hēmin autois epi tēs idias exousias apopherontai, eleutherą tę̄ sphōn chrōmenoi proairesei, tautę̄ palin eikotōs kai tais heterōn gnōmais hypokeisometha, tou autōn ekeinōn autexousiou hōde pōs hēmin kata tou sōmatos ē peri tēn psychēn chrōmenou.

And again, since we spend our lives with a great many people, and they too, having been given the same substance as we, exercise what is in their power by their own authority, using their own free choice, in this way too we shall naturally be subject to the decisions of others, when their free will makes use of us in some such way, against the body or concerning the soul.

Notes and citation

Summary: Other people's free choices also affect us in body and soul.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.41 (Dindorf 1:283; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-41). (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.

6.6.42Dindorf 1:283–284

ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν φύσις νικᾶται πολλάκις πρὸς τῶν ἔξωθεν προσπιπτόντων, οὕτως ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ προαίρεσις ὑπὸ μυρίων ἔξωθεν ἐνοχλουμένη προαιρέσεων, αὐτεξουσίῳ γνώμῃ πεισθεῖσα, ἑαυτὴν τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἐπιδίδωσι, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν βελτίων, τοτὲ δὲ χείρων ἀποτελεῖται. οἶδε γὰρ συνουσία φαύλη κακύνειν, ὥσπερ αὖ τούναντίον ποιεῖν ἀμείνους τῶν καλῶν ὁμιλία. “ φθείρουσι γὰρ ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί, ” ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ σώζουσι βελτιοῦσαι τῶν ἀγαθῶν αἱ συνουσίαι.

hōsper gar hē tou sōmatos hēmōn physis nikatai pollakis pros tōn exōthen prospiptontōn, houtōs estin hote kai proairesis hypo myriōn exōthen enochloumenē proaireseōn, autexousiǭ gnōmę̄ peistheisa, heautēn tois exōthen epididōsi, kai tote men beltiōn, tote de cheirōn apoteleitai. oide gar synousia phaulē kakynein, hōsper au tounantion poiein ameinous tōn kalōn homilia. “ phtheirousi gar ēthē chrēsta homiliai kakai, ” hōsper oun kai sōzousi beltiousai tōn agathōn hai synousiai.

For just as the nature of our body is often overcome by things falling on it from outside, so there are times when the will too, troubled by countless choices from outside, is persuaded by its own free judgment and gives itself over to things outside, and is made at times better, at times worse. For bad company is apt to corrupt, just as, conversely, the society of good people makes us better. "For bad company corrupts good morals," just as the companionship of the good preserves and improves.

1 Cor 15:33 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Others' influence can make our will better or worse, as bad company corrupts.

  • 1 Cor 15:33, itself a line of Menander's Thais.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): αὐτεξου- σίῳ → αὐτεξουσίῳ.

Extrabiblical texts: Menander, Thais (Menander, Thais; quotation)

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.42 (Dindorf 1:283–284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-42). (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.

6.6.43Dindorf 1:284

καὶ λόγοις μὲν ἡ λογικὴ τῆς ψυχῆς δύναμις τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπισυμβαινόντων ὧδέ πως καὶ τῇδε φέρεται ’ ἰσχύει δὲ πάλιν οἰκεία καὶ λογικῆς οὐσίας ἀρετὴ, καὶ θείαν ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ θεοειδῆ τὴν δύναμιν ἐπιδείκνυται, ὅτε πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἐκτὸς ἀντέχουσα, καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐλευθέρῳ φρονήματι ὑπερνικῶσα, πρὸς οὐδὲν τῆς οἰκείας ἀρετῆς ὑφιεμένη, φιλοσοφεῖν παρεσκεύασται. ὅτε μὴν ὀλιγωρεῖ, ὑπὸ τῶν χειρόνων τὰ χείριστα διατίθεται, ὥσπερ οὑν καὶ βελτιοῦται τῆς ἔξωθεν τυγχάνουσα ἐπιμελείας.

kai logois men hē logikē tēs psychēs dynamis tōn exōthen episymbainontōn hōde pōs kai tę̄de pheretai ’ ischyei de palin oikeia kai logikēs ousias aretē, kai theian hōs alēthōs kai theoeidē tēn dynamin epideiknytai, hote pros panta ta ektos antechousa, kai ta panta eleutherǭ phronēmati hypernikōsa, pros ouden tēs oikeias aretēs hyphiemenē, philosophein pareskeuastai. hote mēn oligōrei, hypo tōn cheironōn ta cheirista diatithetai, hōsper houn kai beltioutai tēs exōthen tynchanousa epimeleias.

And the rational power of the soul is carried this way and that by the arguments of what happens to it from outside; but again the proper virtue of the rational substance is strong, and shows its power to be truly divine and godlike, when, holding out against all external things and conquering them all with a free mind, yielding nothing of its own virtue, it is made ready to pursue philosophy. When it is careless, however, it is brought by the worse into the worst state, just as it is also improved when it receives care from outside.

Notes and citation

Summary: The rational soul shows its divine power by resisting external influences, or is corrupted when careless.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.43 (Dindorf 1:284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-43). (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.

6.6.44Dindorf 1:284

τί χρὴ λέγειν ἐπὶ τούτοις, ὡς καὶ φοραὶ καὶ ἀφορίαι τοιῶνδε ψυχῶν καὶ σωμάτων, κατά τινα περίπτωσιν οἰκείως τῇ τοῦ παντὸς διοικήσει συντελούμεναι, εὑ τε καὶ ὀρθῶς ἔχουσαι τῷ παντὶ, πλείστην ὅσην τοῖς κατὰ μέρος καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῖς ἐφʼ ἡμῖν παντοίας κινήσεως περιουσίαν ἀπειργάσαντο;

ti chrē legein epi toutois, hōs kai phorai kai aphoriai toiōnde psychōn kai sōmatōn, kata tina periptōsin oikeiōs tę̄ tou pantos dioikēsei synteloumenai, heu te kai orthōs echousai tǭ panti, pleistēn hosēn tois kata meros kai dē kai tois ephʼ hēmin pantoias kinēseōs periousian apeirgasanto?

What need is there to add that the fruitfulness and barrenness of souls and bodies of this or that kind, brought about by some chance in a way proper to the government of the universe, and good and right for the whole, have produced a great abundance of every kind of disturbance for individual parts, and indeed for what is in our power?

Notes and citation

Summary: Seasons of fruitfulness and barrenness, good for the whole, also disturb individuals.

  • "Fruitfulness and barrenness of souls and bodies" is a phrase from Plato, Republic 8.546a.

Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 546a (Plato (works); allusion)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.44 (Dindorf 1:284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-44). (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.

6.6.45Dindorf 1:284–285

πᾶσιν δὲ καθόλου τοῖς οὖσι, τοῖς τε παρʼ ἡμᾶς γινομένοις καὶ παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν αἰτίαν, καὶ τοῖς ἔξωθεν κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἐπιοῦσι, τοῖς τε φυσικῶς ἐνεργουμένοις, μία παναλκὴς καὶ παντοδύναμος ἐπιστατεῖ ἡ διὰ πάντων ἐπιπορευομένη τοῦ θεοῦ πρόνοια, ἣ καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα θειοτέροις ἡμῖν τε ἀρρήτοις οἰκονομεῖ λόγοις, εὐηνίως τὸ πᾶν διακυβερνῶσα, πολλά τε καὶ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἐπὶ τὸ προσῆκον τοῖς καιροῖς μετασκευάζουσα, συνεργοῦσά τε καὶ συμπράττουσα τοῖς ἐφʼ ἡμῖν, καὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς πάλιν συμβαίνουσι τὴν δέουσαν τάξιν ἀπονέμουσα.

pasin de katholou tois ousi, tois te parʼ hēmas ginomenois kai para tēn hēmeteran aitian, kai tois exōthen kata symbebēkos epiousi, tois te physikōs energoumenois, mia panalkēs kai pantodynamos epistatei hē dia pantōn epiporeuomenē tou theou pronoia, hē kai ta pleista theioterois hēmin te arrētois oikonomei logois, euēniōs to pan diakybernōsa, polla te kai tōn kata physin epi to prosēkon tois kairois metaskeuazousa, synergousa te kai symprattousa tois ephʼ hēmin, kai tois ektos palin symbainousi tēn deousan taxin aponemousa.

Yet over all beings universally, those that come about through us and through our own cause, those that come upon us by accident from outside, and those brought about by nature, there presides one all-powerful and almighty providence of God that goes through all things. It manages most things by principles more divine and inexpressible to us, steering the whole with a ready rein, changing many even of the things of nature to what fits the times, working together and cooperating with what is in our power, and assigning in turn the proper order to what happens from outside.

Notes and citation

Summary: One almighty providence of God governs free acts, natural processes, and accidents.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.45 (Dindorf 1:284–285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-45). (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.

6.6.46Dindorf 1:285

Τούτων εἰς τρία τοῦτον διῃρημένων τὸν τρόπον, εἴς τε τὰ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν, καὶ τὰ κατὰ φύσιν γινόμενα, τά τε κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς, πάντων δὲ ἐφʼ ἔνα λόγον τὸν ἐκ θεοῦ βουλῆς ἀνακεφαλαιουμένων, οὐδαμοῦ μὲν ὁ περὶ εἱμαρμένης χώραν ἔξει λόγος.

Toutōn eis tria touton dię̄rēmenōn ton tropon, eis te ta ephʼ hēmin, kai ta kata physin ginomena, ta te kata symbebēkos, pantōn de ephʼ ena logon ton ek theou boulēs anakephalaioumenōn, oudamou men ho peri heimarmenēs chōran exei logos.

Since these things are divided in this way into three, what is in our power, what comes about by nature, and what is accidental, and all are summed up under one principle, that of the will of God, the doctrine of fate will have no place anywhere.

Notes and citation

Summary: With all things divided into free, natural, and accidental under God's will, fate has no place.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): τρό- πον → τρόπον.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.46 (Dindorf 1:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-46). (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.

6.6.47Dindorf 1:285

γένοιτο δʼ ἂν ἡμῖν εὑρημένη καὶ ἡ παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀπορουμένη τῆς κακίας πηγὴ, ἐν οὐδενὶ μὲν χώραν ἔχουσα τῶν κατὰ φύσιν, οὔτʼ ἐν σώμασιν οὔτʼ ἐν οὐσίαις, πολλοῦ δεῖ ἐν τοῖς κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἔξωθεν ἐπιγινομένοις· εὑρεθείη δʼ ἂν ἐν μόνῃ τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοπροαιρέτῳ κινήσει, καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ οὐχ ὅτε κατὰ φύσιν ὁδεύουσα τὴν εὐθεῖαν βαδίζει, ἀλλʼ ὅτε τῆς βασιλικῆς ἐκστᾶσα οἰκείᾳ γνώμῃ τὴν παρὰ φύσιν τρέπεται, αὐτὴ ἑαυτῆς καθεστῶσα κυρία

genoito dʼ an hēmin heurēmenē kai hē para tois pollois aporoumenē tēs kakias pēgē, en oudeni men chōran echousa tōn kata physin, outʼ en sōmasin outʼ en ousiais, pollou dei en tois kata symbebēkos exōthen epiginomenois; heuretheiē dʼ an en monę̄ tę̄ tēs psychēs autoproairetǭ kinēsei, kai en tautę̄ ouch hote kata physin hodeuousa tēn eutheian badizei, allʼ hote tēs basilikēs ekstasa oikeią gnōmę̄ tēn para physin trepetai, autē heautēs kathestōsa kyria

And we shall also have found the source of evil, which perplexes most people. It has no place in any of the things that are by nature, neither in bodies nor in substances, still less in what happens by accident from outside. It would be found only in the self-chosen movement of the soul, and in this not when it travels by nature and walks the straight way, but when it steps off the royal road and by its own decision turns to what is against nature, being its own master.

Notes and citation

Summary: Evil originates only in the soul's free turning aside from the natural, straight way.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.47 (Dindorf 1:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-47). (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.

6.6.48Dindorf 1:285

ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο γέρας ἐξαίρετον παρὰ θεοῦ λαβοῦσα ἐλευθέρα καὶ αὐτοκράτωρ τυγχάνει, τῆς οἰκείας ὁρμῆς τὸ κριτήριον εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἀναδεδεγμένη· νόμος δὲ θεῖος αὐτῇ συνεζευγμένος κατὰ φύσιν, λαμπτῆρος καὶ φωστῆρος δίκην, ἐπιφωνεῖ ἔνδοθεν ὑπηχῶν αὐτῇ καὶ λέγων, Ὁδῷ βασιλικῇ πορεύσῃ, οὐκ ἐκκλινεῖς δεξιὰ οὐδὲ ἀριστερά· βασιλικὴν τὴν κατὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον πορείαν εἶναι διδάσκων.

epeidē touto geras exaireton para theou labousa eleuthera kai autokratōr tynchanei, tēs oikeias hormēs to kritērion eis heautēn anadedegmenē; nomos de theios autę̄ synezeugmenos kata physin, lamptēros kai phōstēros dikēn, epiphōnei endothen hypēchōn autę̄ kai legōn, Hodǭ basilikę̄ poreusę̄, ouk ekklineis dexia oude aristera; basilikēn tēn kata ton orthon logon poreian einai didaskōn.

For having received this special privilege from God, it is free and self-governing, having taken into itself the judgment of its own impulse. But a divine law, yoked to it by nature like a lamp and a light, calls out to it, sounding within it and saying, "You shall go by the royal road; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left," teaching that the royal road is the course that follows right reason.

Num 20:17 (allusion, medium confidence) · Deut 5:32 (allusion, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God gave the soul freedom and a natural inner law that calls it to keep to the royal road.

  • The words echo Num 20:17 and Deut 5:32.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text; misread letter in the digital text): Ὁσῷ → Ὁδῷ; κρι- τήριον → κριτήριον.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.48 (Dindorf 1:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-48). (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.

6.6.49Dindorf 1:285–286

τοῦτον γὰρ ἁπάσῃ ψυχῇ φυσικὸν νόμον βοηθὸν αὐτῇ καὶ σύμμαχον ἐπὶ τῶν πρακτέων ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς ὑπεστήσατο, διὰ μὲν τοῦ νόμου τὴν εὐθεῖαν αὐτῇ παραδείξας ὁδὸν, διὰ δὲ τῆς αὐτῇ δεδωρημένης αὐτεξουσίου ἐλευθερίας τὴν τῶν κρειττόνων αἵρεσιν ἐπαίνου καὶ ἀποδοχῆς ἀξίαν ἀποφήνας γερῶν τε καὶ μειζόνων ἐπάθλων τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς κατορθουμένοις, ὅτι μὴ βεβιασμένως, γνώμῃ δὲ αὐτεξουσίῳ κατώρθου, παρὸν καὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν ἑλέσθαι· ὡς ἔμπαλιν τὴν τὰ χείριστα ἑλομένην ψόγου καὶ τιμωρίας εἶναι ἀξίαν, ἅτε οἰκείᾳ κινήσει τοῦ μὲν κατὰ φύσιν νόμου παραμελήσασαν, κακίας δὲ ἀρχὴν καὶ πηγὴν ἀπογεννήσασαν, φαύλως τε ἑαυτῇ κεχρημένην οὐκ ἔκ τινος ἔξωθεν ἀνάγκης, ἀλλʼ ἐξ ἐλευθέρας γνώμης καὶ κρίσεως.

touton gar hapasę̄ psychę̄ physikon nomon boēthon autę̄ kai symmachon epi tōn prakteōn ho tōn holōn dēmiourgos hypestēsato, dia men tou nomou tēn eutheian autę̄ paradeixas hodon, dia de tēs autę̄ dedōrēmenēs autexousiou eleutherias tēn tōn kreittonōn hairesin epainou kai apodochēs axian apophēnas gerōn te kai meizonōn epathlōn tōn epi tois katorthoumenois, hoti mē bebiasmenōs, gnōmę̄ de autexousiǭ katōrthou, paron kai tēn enantian helesthai; hōs empalin tēn ta cheirista helomenēn psogou kai timōrias einai axian, hate oikeią kinēsei tou men kata physin nomou paramelēsasan, kakias de archēn kai pēgēn apogennēsasan, phaulōs te heautę̄ kechrēmenēn ouk ek tinos exōthen anankēs, allʼ ex eleutheras gnōmēs kai kriseōs.

For the maker of the universe established this natural law in every soul as its helper and ally in what it must do. Through the law he showed it the straight road, and through the free self-determination given to it he declared the choice of the better worthy of praise and acceptance and of greater prizes and rewards for what is done rightly, because it did right not under compulsion but by free judgment, when it could also have chosen the opposite; and conversely, that the soul that chooses the worst deserves blame and punishment, since by its own movement it neglected the natural law, gave birth to the beginning and source of evil, and used itself badly, not from any necessity outside but from free judgment and decision.

Notes and citation

Summary: God gave a natural law and free will, so that right choice deserves reward and wrong choice punishment.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (dropped letter and wrong breathing in the digital text; line-end hyphen left in the digital text): ἳρεσιν → αἵρεσιν; ἐλευθε- ρίας → ἐλευθερίας; βε- βιασμένως → βεβιασμένως.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.49 (Dindorf 1:285–286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-49). (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.

6.6.50Dindorf 1:286

αἰτία δὴ τοῦ ἑλομένου, θεὸς ἀναίτιος. οὔτε γὰρ φύσιν φαύλην ὁ θεὸς εἰργάσατο, οὐδέ γε ψυχῆς οὐσίαν· ἀγαθῷ γὰρ οὐδὲν πλὴν ἀγαθὰ δημιουργεῖν θέμις. ἀγαθὸν δὲ πᾶν ὅ τι κατὰ φύσιν. ψυχῇ δὲ πάσῃ λογικῇ κατὰ φύσιν πάρεστι τὸ αὐτεξούσιον ἀγαθὸν, καὶ τοῦτο ἐπʼ ἀγαθῶν αἱρέσει γεγενημένον.

aitia dē tou helomenou, theos anaitios. oute gar physin phaulēn ho theos eirgasato, oude ge psychēs ousian; agathǭ gar ouden plēn agatha dēmiourgein themis. agathon de pan ho ti kata physin. psychę̄ de pasę̄ logikę̄ kata physin paresti to autexousion agathon, kai touto epʼ agathōn hairesei gegenēmenon.

The blame lies with the one who chooses; God is blameless. For God made no evil nature, nor indeed the substance of the soul evil; for it is not lawful for the good to make anything but good things. And everything natural is good. And free will is present by nature in every rational soul as a good, and this was brought into being for the choice of good things.

Notes and citation

Summary: God is blameless; he made all natures good, including free will, which was given for choosing the good.

  • The opening words echo Plato, Republic 10.617e ("the blame is the chooser's; God is blameless").

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (stray full stop in the digital text): οὐδέ. γε → οὐδέ γε.

Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 617e (Plato (works); quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.50 (Dindorf 1:286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-50). (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.

6.6.51Dindorf 1:286

φαύλως δὲ ὅτε πράττει, οὐ τὴν φύσιν αἰτιατέον. οὐ γὰρ κατὰ φύσιν, παρὰ φύσιν δὲ αὐτῇ γίνεται τὸ φαῦλον, προαιρέσεως ὂν, ἀλλʼ οὐ φύσεως ἔργον. ᾧ γὰρ παρήν δύναμις τῆς τἀγαθοῦ αἱρέσεως, ὅτε μὴ τοῦτο εἴλετο, ἑκὼν δὲ τὸ κρεῖττον ἀπεστράφη τοῦ χείρονος μεταποιηθεὶς, τίς ἂν τούτῳ τόπος ἀποφυγῆς λείποιτο τῆς οἰκείας αἰτίῳ καταστάντι νόσου, τοῦ τε συμφύτου νόμου σωτῆρος οἶα καὶ ἰατροῦ παραμελήσαντι;

phaulōs de hote prattei, ou tēn physin aitiateon. ou gar kata physin, para physin de autę̄ ginetai to phaulon, proaireseōs on, allʼ ou physeōs ergon. hǭ gar parēn dynamis tēs tagathou haireseōs, hote mē touto eileto, hekōn de to kreitton apestraphē tou cheironos metapoiētheis, tis an toutǭ topos apophygēs leipoito tēs oikeias aitiǭ katastanti nosou, tou te symphytou nomou sōtēros oia kai iatrou paramelēsanti?

When the soul acts badly, nature is not to be blamed. For evil does not come to it according to nature but against nature, being the work of choice, not of nature. For one who had the power to choose the good, when he did not choose it, but willingly turned away from the better and took up the worse, what room for escape would be left to him, since he has become the cause of his own sickness and has neglected the inborn law, his savior and physician?

Notes and citation

Summary: Evil is the work of choice, not nature, and the one who chooses it has no excuse.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): τοὐ χείρονος → τοῦ χείρονος.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.51 (Dindorf 1:286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-51). (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.

6.6.52Dindorf 1:286

ὁ δὴ τούτων ἀπάντων μηδένα λόγον ποιούμενος, ἀνάγκης τε καὶ ἄστρων φορᾶς ἀναρτῶν τὰ πάντα, τῆς τε τῶν πλημμελουμένων ἀνθρώποις ἀτοπίας μὴ ἐξ ἡμῶν εἶναι φάσκων τὰ αἴτια, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῆς τὰ πάντα κινούσης δυνάμεως, πῶς οὐκ ἀνόσιον καὶ δυσσεβῆ λογισμὸν εἰσφέροι ἄν;

ho dē toutōn apantōn mēdena logon poioumenos, anankēs te kai astrōn phoras anartōn ta panta, tēs te tōn plēmmeloumenōn anthrōpois atopias mē ex hēmōn einai phaskōn ta aitia, allʼ ek tēs ta panta kinousēs dynameōs, pōs ouk anosion kai dyssebē logismon eispheroi an?

And one who takes no account of all this, hanging everything on necessity and the movement of the stars, and saying that the causes of the wrongs people commit are not from us but from the power that moves all things, how would he not be introducing an unholy and impious way of thinking?

Notes and citation

Summary: To blame the stars for human wrongdoing is impious.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.52 (Dindorf 1:286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-52). (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.

6.6.53Dindorf 1:286–287

εἴτε γὰρ αὐτόματον καὶ ἀπρονόητον θείη τὴν τοῦ παντὸς φορὰν, ἐλέγχοιτʼ ἂν ὡς αὐτόθεν ἄθεος, πρὸς τῷ καὶ ἀβλεπτεῖν περὶ τὴν πάνσοφον ἁρμονίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὅλων διάταξιν εὖ καὶ ἐν κόσμῳ τὴν διʼ αἰῶνος κίνησιν ἀνακυκλουμένην· εἴτε θεοῦ πρόνοιαν ἄγειν καὶ φέρειν ἐπιστατεῖν τε πᾶσι καὶ πανσόφῳ λόγῳ διοικεῖν ὁμολογήσει, οὐδʼ οὕτω τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς ἐκπέφευγε τὴν ἀτοπίαν, ἐπειδὴ τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἁμαρτανομένων τοὺς μὲν πλημμελοῦντας ἀπολύει, ὡς μηδὲν τῶν ἀτόπων ἐξ οἰκείας γνώμης διαπεπραγμένους, ἀνάγει δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν κακῶν ἐπὶ τὴν καθόλου πρόνοιαν, ἀνάγκην αὐτὴν καὶ εἱμαρμένην ἀποκαλῶν, καὶ πάσης τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις αἰσχρουργίας καὶ ἀρρητοποιίας ὠμότητός τε καὶ μιαιφονίας αἰτίαν εἶναι λέγων.

eite gar automaton kai apronoēton theiē tēn tou pantos phoran, elenchoitʼ an hōs autothen atheos, pros tǭ kai ableptein peri tēn pansophon harmonian kai tēn tōn holōn diataxin eu kai en kosmǭ tēn diʼ aiōnos kinēsin anakykloumenēn; eite theou pronoian agein kai pherein epistatein te pasi kai pansophǭ logǭ dioikein homologēsei, oudʼ houtō tou dyssebous ekpepheuge tēn atopian, epeidē tōn en anthrōpois hamartanomenōn tous men plēmmelountas apolyei, hōs mēden tōn atopōn ex oikeias gnōmēs diapepragmenous, anagei de tēn aitian tōn kakōn epi tēn katholou pronoian, anankēn autēn kai heimarmenēn apokalōn, kai pasēs tēs en anthrōpois aischrourgias kai arrētopoiias ōmotētos te kai miaiphonias aitian einai legōn.

For if he holds that the movement of the universe is spontaneous and without providence, he would be convicted at once of atheism, besides being blind to the all-wise harmony and the ordering of the whole, and to the motion that revolves well and in order through the ages. But if he admits that the providence of God leads and carries all things, presides over all, and governs them by all-wise reason, not even so has he escaped the absurdity of impiety; for he acquits those who do wrong among men of the sins committed, as though they had done none of their outrages by their own decision, and he refers the cause of evils to providence in general, calling it necessity and fate, and saying that it is the cause of all the shameful and unspeakable deeds, the cruelty and the bloodshed among men.

Notes and citation

Summary: Whether the fatalist denies providence or identifies it with fate, he falls into impiety.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.53 (Dindorf 1:286–287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-53). (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.

6.6.54Dindorf 1:287

καὶ τίς ἂν εἴη τούτου δυσσεβὴς ἄλλος, τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν, αὐτὸν δὴ τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ δημιουργὸν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς, εἰσάγων ἐπάναγκες ἐκβιαζόμενον τόνδε μὲν οὐκ ἐθέλοντα ἀσεβεῖν τοῦτο πράττειν, καὶ ἄθεον εἶναι κατʼ ἀνάγκην, καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν βλάσφημον, τόνδε δὲ, ὃν αὐτὸς τὴν φύσιν ἄρρενα συνεστήσατο, πάσχειν παρὰ φύσιν τὰ θηλειῶν οὐ κατὰ προαίρεσιν, κατηναγκασμένον δὲ πρὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἄλλον ἀνδροφόνον γίνεσθαι μὴ παρὰ τὴν οἰκείαν γνώμην, ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης δὲ ἐλαυνόμενον τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς μηδʼ εὐλόγως ἐπιμέμφεσθαι τοῖς πλημμελοῦσιν, ἀλλʼ ἤτοι μηδὲ ἁμαρτήματα ταῦτʼ εἶναι ἡγεῖσθαι, ἢ τῶν κακῶν ἁπάντων ποιητὴν εἶναι τὸν θεὸν ἀποφαίνεσθαι;

kai tis an eiē toutou dyssebēs allos, ton tōn holōn theon, auton dē ton poiētēn kai dēmiourgon toude tou pantos, eisagōn epanankes ekbiazomenon tonde men ouk ethelonta asebein touto prattein, kai atheon einai katʼ anankēn, kai eis heauton blasphēmon, tonde de, hon autos tēn physin arrena synestēsato, paschein para physin ta thēleiōn ou kata proairesin, katēnankasmenon de pros autou, kai allon androphonon ginesthai mē para tēn oikeian gnōmēn, hypʼ anankēs de elaunomenon tou theou, hōs mēdʼ eulogōs epimemphesthai tois plēmmelousin, allʼ ētoi mēde hamartēmata tautʼ einai hēgeisthai, ē tōn kakōn hapantōn poiētēn einai ton theon apophainesthai?

And who could be more impious than one who presents the God of the universe, the very maker and creator of this whole world, as forcing by necessity one man who does not wish to be impious to do so, and to be an atheist by necessity and a blasphemer against himself; another, whom he himself made male by nature, to suffer against nature what belongs to women, not by his own choice but compelled by God; and another to become a murderer, not by his own decision but driven by God's necessity, so that one could not reasonably blame wrongdoers, but must either think that these are not sins at all, or declare that God is the maker of all evils?

Notes and citation

Summary: Fatalism makes God the cause of blasphemy, unnatural acts, and murder.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.54 (Dindorf 1:287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-54). (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.

6.6.55Dindorf 1:287

εἴτε γὰρ αὐτὸς τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐπιπαρὼν καὶ τὰ πάντα ὁρῶν καὶ πάντα ἀκούων ταῦτα πράττειν ἀναγκάζει, εἴτε τὴν τοῦ παντὸς φορὰν καὶ τὴν τοιάνδε τῶν ἄστρων κίνησιν αὐτὸς τούτων ποιητικὴν καὶ ἀναγκαστικὴν ὑπεστήσατο, ὁ τὸ τοιόνδε συστήσας ὄργανον, καὶ τὴν τῶν θηρωμένων παγίδα μηχανησάμενος, εἴη ἂν αὐτὸς ὁ καὶ τῶν ἁλισκομένων αἴτιος.

eite gar autos tois pasin epiparōn kai ta panta horōn kai panta akouōn tauta prattein anankazei, eite tēn tou pantos phoran kai tēn toiande tōn astrōn kinēsin autos toutōn poiētikēn kai anankastikēn hypestēsato, ho to toionde systēsas organon, kai tēn tōn thērōmenōn pagida mēchanēsamenos, eiē an autos ho kai tōn haliskomenōn aitios.

For whether he himself, present to all things and seeing and hearing all things, compels them to do these deeds, or he established the movement of the universe and such a motion of the stars as productive and compulsive of them, the one who constructed such an instrument and devised the snare for the hunted would himself be the cause of those who are caught.

Notes and citation

Summary: If God made the stars to compel sin, he is the cause of sin.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (stray letters in the digital text): φορὰν ’ρᾶν καὶ → φορὰν καὶ.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.55 (Dindorf 1:287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-55). (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.

6.6.56Dindorf 1:287–288

εἴτʼ οὖν αὐτὸς καθʼ ἑαυτὸν, εἴτʼ οὖν πάλιν αὐτὸς διά τινος ἄλλης πρὸς αὐτοῦ μεμηχανημένης ἀνάγκης τοὺς οὐκ ἐθέλοντας τοῖσδε τοῖς κακοῖς περιβάλλει, αὐτὸς ἂν εἴη, καὶ οὐκ ἄλλος, ὁ πάντων κακῶν ποιητικὸς, καὶ οὐκέτʼ ἂν ἐν δίκῃ ἡμαρτηκὼς ὁ ἄνθρωπος λέγοιτο, ἀλλʼ ὁ τούτου ποιητὴς θεός.

eitʼ oun autos kathʼ heauton, eitʼ oun palin autos dia tinos allēs pros autou memēchanēmenēs anankēs tous ouk ethelontas toisde tois kakois periballei, autos an eiē, kai ouk allos, ho pantōn kakōn poiētikos, kai ouketʼ an en dikę̄ hēmartēkōs ho anthrōpos legoito, allʼ ho toutou poiētēs theos.

Whether, then, he by himself, or again he through some other necessity devised by him, entangles unwilling people in these evils, he himself and no other would be the maker of all evils, and it would no longer be just to say that man has sinned, but God who made him do it.

Notes and citation

Summary: Either way, fatalism makes God, not man, the sinner.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.56 (Dindorf 1:287–288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-56). (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.

6.6.57Dindorf 1:288

καὶ τίς ἂν τούτου γένοιτο ἕτερος λόγων ἀσεβέστερος; ὁ δὴ οὑν εἱμαρμένην εἰσάγων ἄντικρυς θεὸν καὶ θεοῦ πρόνοιαν ἐξωθεῖ, ὥσπερ ὁ τὸν θεὸν ἐφιστὰς τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀνέλοι ἂν τὸν περὶ εἱμαρμένης λόγον. ἢ γὰρ ταὐτὸν ἂν εἴη ὁ θεὸς καὶ εἱμαρμένη, ἢ θάτερον διεστὼς ἑτέρου. ταὐτὸν μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο.

kai tis an toutou genoito heteros logōn asebesteros? ho dē houn heimarmenēn eisagōn antikrys theon kai theou pronoian exōthei, hōsper ho ton theon ephistas tois pasin aneloi an ton peri heimarmenēs logon. ē gar tauton an eiē ho theos kai heimarmenē, ē thateron diestōs heterou. tauton men oun ouk an genoito.

And what doctrine could be more impious than this? The one who brings in fate, then, plainly drives out God and God's providence, just as the one who sets God over all things would do away with the doctrine of fate. For either God and fate would be the same, or the one distinct from the other. They could not be the same.

Notes and citation

Summary: Fate and God's providence exclude each other; they cannot be the same.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.57 (Dindorf 1:288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-57). (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.

6.6.58Dindorf 1:288

εἰ γὰρ τὴν εἱμαρμένην εἱρμόν τινα αἰτιῶν εἶναί φασιν ἀπʼ αἰῶνος ἀπαραβάτως καὶ ἀμετακινήτως ἐκ τῆς τῶν οὐρανίων ἄστρων φορᾶς καθήκοντα, πῶς οὐ πρότερα ἂν εἴη τῆς εἱμαρμένης τὰ σωματικὰ στοιχεῖα, ἐξ ὧν καὶ τὰ οὐράνια συνέστηκεν, ὣν τὴν εἱμαρμένην συμβεβηκός τι σύμπτωμα λέγοι ἄν τις εἰκότως;

ei gar tēn heimarmenēn heirmon tina aitiōn einai phasin apʼ aiōnos aparabatōs kai ametakinētōs ek tēs tōn ouraniōn astrōn phoras kathēkonta, pōs ou protera an eiē tēs heimarmenēs ta sōmatika stoicheia, ex hōn kai ta ourania synestēken, hōn tēn heimarmenēn symbebēkos ti symptōma legoi an tis eikotōs?

For if they say that fate is a chain of causes coming down from eternity, unbreakable and unalterable, from the movement of the heavenly stars, how would the bodily elements, of which the heavenly bodies too are composed, not be prior to fate, so that one could fairly call fate an accidental consequence of them?

Notes and citation

Summary: If fate comes from the stars, it is a mere consequence of bodily elements.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.58 (Dindorf 1:288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-58). (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.

6.6.59Dindorf 1:288

καὶ πῶς ἂν ταὐτὸν εἴη τὸ συμβεβηκὸς τοῖς στοιχείοις τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ, εἰ δὴ τὰ στοιχεῖα ἄψυχα καὶ ἄλογα κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπιθεωρεῖται φύσιν, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἔξω σωμάτων αὐτοζωὴ καὶ σοφία τυγχάνει ὢν, τῆς ἐξ αὐτοῦ δημιουργίας τοῖς τε κατὰ μέρος στοιχείοις καὶ τῇ τῶν ὅλων διακοσμήσει τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν δωρούμενος; οὐ ταὐτὸν ἄρα θεὸς καὶ εἱμαρμένη.

kai pōs an tauton eiē to symbebēkos tois stoicheiois tǭ epi pantōn theǭ, ei dē ta stoicheia apsycha kai aloga kata tēn oikeian epitheōreitai physin, ho de theos exō sōmatōn autozōē kai sophia tynchanei ōn, tēs ex autou dēmiourgias tois te kata meros stoicheiois kai tę̄ tōn holōn diakosmēsei tēn apolausin dōroumenos? ou tauton ara theos kai heimarmenē.

And how could what is accidental to the elements be the same as the God over all, if the elements are seen, in their own nature, to be lifeless and irrational, while God is beyond bodies, life itself and wisdom, granting the enjoyment of his creative work both to the individual elements and to the ordering of the whole? God and fate, then, are not the same.

Notes and citation

Summary: God, life and wisdom beyond bodies, cannot be the same as fate.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.59 (Dindorf 1:288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-59). (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.

6.6.60Dindorf 1:288

εἰ δὲ δὴ ἕτερον, πότερον κρεῖττον; ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν τοῦ θεοῦ κάλλιον, οὐδέ τι δυναμικώτερον. οὐκοῦν κρατήσει καὶ περιέσται τοῦ χείρονος, ἢ συγχωρῶν κακοποιῷ τυγχανούσῃ τῇ εἱμαρμένῃ αὐτὸς ἂν ἐφέλκοιτο τὴν αἰτίαν, ὃς δυνατὸς ὢν ἐπισχεῖν τὴν κακοποιὸν ἀνάγκην οὐκ ἐπέσχεν, ἀνῆκε δʼ ἄφετον ἐπὶ λύμῃ καὶ διαφθορᾷ τῶν ἁπάντων, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸς τοῦτο εἰργάσατο, εἰ δὴ πάντων καὶ αὐτῆς εἱμαρμένης ποιητὴς καὶ δημιουργὸς εἰσάγοιτο.

ei de dē heteron, poteron kreitton? allʼ ouden tou theou kallion, oude ti dynamikōteron. oukoun kratēsei kai periestai tou cheironos, ē synchōrōn kakopoiǭ tynchanousę̄ tę̄ heimarmenę̄ autos an ephelkoito tēn aitian, hos dynatos ōn epischein tēn kakopoion anankēn ouk epeschen, anēke dʼ apheton epi lymę̄ kai diaphthorą tōn hapantōn, mallon de autos touto eirgasato, ei dē pantōn kai autēs heimarmenēs poiētēs kai dēmiourgos eisagoito.

And if they are different, which is stronger? But nothing is finer than God, nor anything more powerful. He will therefore master and prevail over the worse; or else, by permitting fate to do evil, he would draw the blame on himself, since, being able to restrain the evil-working necessity, he did not restrain it, but let it loose to the ruin and destruction of all; or rather he himself did this, if he is represented as the maker and creator of all things, fate included.

Notes and citation

Summary: If God is stronger than fate and lets it do evil, he is to blame.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.60 (Dindorf 1:288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-60). (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.

6.6.61Dindorf 1:288–289

εἰ δʼ οὐδεὶς αὐτῷ λόγος τῆς τοῦ παντὸς διατάξεως, ἀθέων αὖθις ἀνακύψειεν ἂν φωνὴ, πρὸς ἣν τὰς ἀκοὰς ἀποκλειστέον, τῆς ἐνθέου προνοίας καὶ δυνάμεως ἐναργῶς ἀποφαινούσης ἑαυτὴν ἔκ τε τῶν καθόλου πανσόφων καὶ τεχνικῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων ἔκ τε τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἀναμφιλόγως τὴν ἐλευθέραν καὶ αὐτεξούσιον τῆς λογικῆς ψυχῆς δύναμιν παραδεικνυμένων.

ei dʼ oudeis autǭ logos tēs tou pantos diataxeōs, atheōn authis anakypseien an phōnē, pros hēn tas akoas apokleisteon, tēs entheou pronoias kai dynameōs enargōs apophainousēs heautēn ek te tōn katholou pansophōn kai technikōn apotelesmatōn ek te tōn kathʼ hēmas anamphilogōs tēn eleutheran kai autexousion tēs logikēs psychēs dynamin paradeiknymenōn.

And if he takes no account of the ordering of the universe, the voice of the atheists would raise its head again, to which we must shut our ears, since the divine providence and power plainly shows itself both from the all-wise and skilful works in the universe and from those in us that indisputably display the free and self-determining power of the rational soul.

Notes and citation

Summary: Denying providence is atheism, refuted by the order of the world and the freedom of the soul.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (garbled repeated syllables in the digital text): ψχῆς χῆς → ψυχῆς.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.61 (Dindorf 1:288–289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-61). (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.

6.6.62Dindorf 1:289

καθʼ ἣν καίτοι μυρίων ἔξωθεν ἐμποδὼν τῇ τε τοῦ σώματος φύσει ταῖς τε κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἐφʼ ἡμῖν ὁρμαῖς κατά τι συμβεβηκὸς προσπιπτόντων, ὅμως πρὸς ἅπαντα τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀρετῆς τὸ ἐλεύθερον ἀντέχει, ἄμαχον καὶ ἀήττητον τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν τῶν καλῶν τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενον.

kathʼ hēn kaitoi myriōn exōthen empodōn tę̄ te tou sōmatos physei tais te kata proairesin ephʼ hēmin hormais kata ti symbebēkos prospiptontōn, homōs pros hapanta tēs kata psychēn aretēs to eleutheron antechei, amachon kai aēttēton to ephʼ hēmin tōn kalōn tēn hairesin epideiknymenon.

By this power, although countless obstacles fall by accident from outside upon the nature of the body and upon the impulses of choice that are in our power, the freedom of the soul's virtue nevertheless holds out against them all, showing that what is in our power, the choice of noble things, cannot be fought down or conquered.

Notes and citation

Summary: The soul's free virtue holds out against every external obstacle.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.62 (Dindorf 1:289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-62). (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.

6.6.63Dindorf 1:289

τοῦτο δὲ μάλιστα καὶ ὁ παρὼν καιρὸς τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν διδασκαλίας ἔργοις αὐτοῖς παρεστήσατο ὅτι γὰρ ταῦτα μὴ ψόφοι καὶ κενὰ ῥήματα πάρεστί σοι τὸν τῶν θεοσεβῶν ἀγῶνα ἐπιβλέψαι, καὶ συνιδεῖν τοὺς προαιρέσει αὐθεκουσίῳ τοὺς πόνους τῶν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἄθλων ἀναδεδεγμένους, οὓς καθʼ ὅλης τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης μυρία πλήθη Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων ἐνεδείξατο, πάσας μὲν προθύμως τὰς κατὰ τοῦ σώματος ὑπομείναντα αἰκίας, πᾶν δὲ βασάνων εἶδος φαιδρῷ τῷ προσώπῳ διελθόντα, καὶ τέλος πολυτρόποις σχήμασι τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος λύσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀσπαστῶς καταδεξάμενα.

touto de malista kai ho parōn kairos tēs tou sōtēros hēmōn didaskalias ergois autois parestēsato hoti gar tauta mē psophoi kai kena rhēmata paresti soi ton tōn theosebōn agōna epiblepsai, kai synidein tous proairesei authekousiǭ tous ponous tōn hyper eusebeias athlōn anadedegmenous, hous kathʼ holēs tēs anthrōpōn oikoumenēs myria plēthē Hellēnōn te kai barbarōn enedeixato, pasas men prothymōs tas kata tou sōmatos hypomeinanta aikias, pan de basanōn eidos phaidrǭ tǭ prosōpǭ dielthonta, kai telos polytropois schēmasi tēn apo tou sōmatos lysin tēs psychēs aspastōs katadexamena.

And the present time of our Savior's teaching has shown this most of all by the deeds themselves. For that these are not mere noise and empty words, you may look at the contest of the God-fearing and observe those who by free choice have taken on themselves the labors of the contests for piety. Throughout the whole inhabited world countless multitudes of Greeks and barbarians have displayed them, enduring eagerly every outrage against the body, passing through every kind of torture with a bright face, and at last gladly accepting, in many forms, the release of the soul from the body.

Notes and citation

Summary: The Christian martyrs, Greeks and barbarians alike, show the power of free choice.

Topics: Martyrdom, Persecution

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.63 (Dindorf 1:289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-63). (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.

6.6.64Dindorf 1:289

καὶ μὴν οὐδεὶς ἐνταῦθα λόγος ἐπιτρέψειεν ἂν τὴν εἱμαρμένην αἰτιᾶσθαι. ποῦ γάρ σοι ἐξ αἰῶνος τοιούσδε ἀθλητὰς εὐσεβείας ἤνεγκεν ἡ τῶν ἄστρων φορά; ἢ πότε ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος πρὸ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους καταβληθείσης διδασκαλίας τοιόνδε προβέβληται καθʼ ὅλης τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης ἀγῶνα;

kai mēn oudeis entautha logos epitrepseien an tēn heimarmenēn aitiasthai. pou gar soi ex aiōnos toiousde athlētas eusebeias ēnenken hē tōn astrōn phora? ē pote ho tōn anthrōpōn bios pro tēs tou sōtēros hēmōn eis pantas anthrōpous katablētheisēs didaskalias toionde probeblētai kathʼ holēs tēs anthrōpōn oikoumenēs agōna?

And here no argument would allow us to blame fate. For where in all the ages has the movement of the stars produced such athletes of piety for you? Or when did human life, before our Savior's teaching was laid down for all people, put forward such a contest throughout the whole inhabited world?

Notes and citation

Summary: The stars never produced such martyrs before Christ's teaching.

Topics: Martyrdom

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.64 (Dindorf 1:289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-64). (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.

6.6.65Dindorf 1:289–290

ποῦ δὲ τοιωνδὶ λόγων διδασκάλιον, δεισιδαίμονος μὲν πλάνης ἀναιρετικὸν, ἑνὸς δὲ τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ γνώσεως διδακτικὸν, ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις, Ἕλλησι τε καὶ βαρβάροις, ὁ πᾶς αἰὼν ἤνεγκε;

pou de toiōndi logōn didaskalion, deisidaimonos men planēs anairetikon, henos de tou epi pantōn theou gnōseōs didaktikon, hapasin anthrōpois, Hellēsi te kai barbarois, ho pas aiōn ēnenke?

And where in all the ages was there such a school of doctrine for all people, Greeks and barbarians, to destroy superstitious error and to teach the knowledge of the one God over all?

Notes and citation

Summary: No earlier age had a teaching that brought all peoples knowledge of the one God.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong breathing and accent in the digital text): άνθρώποις, Ἕλλησι τε καἲ → ἀνθρώποις, Ἕλλησι τε καὶ.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.65 (Dindorf 1:289–290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-65). (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.

6.6.66Dindorf 1:290

τίς δὲ τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀοιδίμων σοφῶν, βάρβαρος ἢ Ἕλλην, τοιᾶσδέ ποτε ἠξιώθη εἱμαρμένης ὡς εἰς τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον διαφανῆ καταστῆσαι τὸν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ προβληθέντα λόγον, γνωσθέντα τε μέχρι καὶ τῶν ἐσχατιῶν, καὶ θεοῦ δόξαν παρὰ τοῖς αὐτῷ καθωσιωμένοις κτήσασθαι;

tis de tōn ex aiōnos aoidimōn sophōn, barbaros ē Hellēn, toiasde pote ēxiōthē heimarmenēs hōs eis ton sympanta kosmon diaphanē katastēsai ton hypʼ autou problēthenta logon, gnōsthenta te mechri kai tōn eschatiōn, kai theou doxan para tois autǭ kathōsiōmenois ktēsasthai?

And which of the famous sages of all the ages, barbarian or Greek, was ever granted such a fate as to make the doctrine he put forward shine out to the whole world, known even to its farthest bounds, and to win the reputation of a god among those devoted to him?

Notes and citation

Summary: No sage was ever 'fated' to have his teaching spread worldwide and be honored as God.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.66 (Dindorf 1:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-66). (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.

6.6.67Dindorf 1:290

εἰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐξ αἰῶνος οὔτʼ ἦν οὔτε γέγονεν οὔτε ἀκοαῖς ἤκουσται, οὐκ ἦν ἄρα εἱρμὸς αἰτιῶν καὶ ἀνάγκη τὸ τούτων αἴτιον. πάλαι γὰρ ἂν διὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀνακυκλήσεως καὶ περιφορᾶς τῶν ἄστρων οὐδεὶς ἦν φθόνος καὶ ἄλλους τῆς αὐτῆς τυχεῖν γενέσεως τε καὶ εἱμαρμένης

ei de tauta ex aiōnos outʼ ēn oute gegonen oute akoais ēkoustai, ouk ēn ara heirmos aitiōn kai anankē to toutōn aition. palai gar an dia tēs autēs anakyklēseōs kai periphoras tōn astrōn oudeis ēn phthonos kai allous tēs autēs tychein geneseōs te kai heimarmenēs

And if these things neither were nor happened in all the ages, nor were heard of by report, then a chain of causes and necessity was not their cause. For long ago, through the same revolution and circuit of the stars, nothing would have prevented others too from having the same birth and fate.

Notes and citation

Summary: Since nothing like Christianity occurred before, the stars' recurring cycles cannot be its cause.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (repeated syllable in the digital text): αἰῶνος νος → αἰῶνος.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.67 (Dindorf 1:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-67). (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.

6.6.68Dindorf 1:290

ἐκ ποίας δὲ ἄρα εἱμαρμένης ὁ μὲν ἡμέτερος σωτὴρ θεὸς ἐπιφανεὶς καθʼ ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀνηγόρευται, οἱ δὲ πάλαι νενομισμένοι παρά τε Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις θεοὶ καθῄρηνται, καὶ οὐκ ἄλλως καθῄρηνται ἢ διὰ τῆς τοῦ νέου θεοῦ διδασκαλίας;

ek poias de ara heimarmenēs ho men hēmeteros sōtēr theos epiphaneis kathʼ holēs tēs oikoumenēs anēgoreutai, hoi de palai nenomismenoi para te Hellēsi kai barbarois theoi kathę̄rēntai, kai ouk allōs kathę̄rēntai ē dia tēs tou neou theou didaskalias?

From what sort of fate, then, has our Savior, having appeared as God, been proclaimed throughout the whole inhabited world, while the gods long believed in among Greeks and barbarians have been overthrown, and overthrown by no other means than the teaching of the new God?

Notes and citation

Summary: No fate explains why Christ is proclaimed everywhere and the old gods overthrown.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): Ἓλλησι → Ἕλλησι.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.68 (Dindorf 1:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-68). (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.

6.6.69Dindorf 1:290

ποία δʼ αὐτῶν εἱμαρμένη θεὸν δημιουργὸν ἀπάντων πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις κατήγγειλεν, εἱμαρμένην δὲ μὴ εἶναι φάναι ἐξηνάγκασε; καὶ πῶς ἡ εἱμαρμένη μὴ εἶναι ἑαυτὴν λέγειν τε καὶ φρονεῖν ἐβιάσατο; τί δὲ οἱ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εὐσεβοῦς ἕνεκα διδασκαλίας παντοίους ἄθλους ἔκπαλαι ἠγωνισμένοι, καὶ εἰσέτι δεῦρο διαθλοῦντες;

poia dʼ autōn heimarmenē theon dēmiourgon apantōn pasin anthrōpois katēngeilen, heimarmenēn de mē einai phanai exēnankase? kai pōs hē heimarmenē mē einai heautēn legein te kai phronein ebiasato? ti de hoi tēs tou sōtēros hēmōn eusebous heneka didaskalias pantoious athlous ekpalai ēgōnismenoi, kai eiseti deuro diathlountes?

And what fate of theirs proclaimed to all people a God who is creator of all things, and compelled them to say that fate does not exist? And how did fate force them to say and to think that it does not itself exist? And what of those who long ago contended in every kind of contest for the sake of our Savior's teaching of piety, and still contend to this day?

Notes and citation

Summary: Fate cannot have forced people to deny fate and to suffer for Christ's teaching.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong breathing in the digital text): τί δὲ οἶ τῆς → τί δὲ οἱ τῆς.

Topics: Martyrdom

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.69 (Dindorf 1:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-69). (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.

6.6.70Dindorf 1:290

μιᾶς ἄρα καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἔτυχον μοίρας, ὡς ὑφʼ ἐνὶ λόγῳ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ δουλωθῆναι, μίαν τε γνώμην καὶ προαίρεσιν ἐνδείξασθαι, καὶ ψυχῆς ἀρετὴν μίαν, ἔνα τε καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀναδέξασθαι βίον, καὶ λόγον ἀγαπήσαι τὸν αὐτὸν, τάς τε αὐτὰς ἀγαπητικῶς ὑπομεῖναι πάθας διʼ ἔνστασιν εὐσεβείας.

mias ara kai tēs autēs etychon moiras, hōs hyphʼ eni logǭ kai didaskalią doulōthēnai, mian te gnōmēn kai proairesin endeixasthai, kai psychēs aretēn mian, ena te kai ton auton anadexasthai bion, kai logon agapēsai ton auton, tas te autas agapētikōs hypomeinai pathas diʼ enstasin eusebeias.

So, it seems, they all received one and the same lot: to be made subject to one doctrine and teaching, to display one judgment and choice and one virtue of soul, to take up one and the same life, to love the same doctrine, and to endure lovingly the same sufferings for their steadfastness in piety.

Notes and citation

Summary: It is absurd to think all Christians received one and the same fate.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): ὧς ὑφʼ → ὡς ὑφʼ.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.70 (Dindorf 1:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-70). (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.

6.6.71Dindorf 1:290–291

καὶ τίς ἂν ὀρθὸς τοῦτο συγχωρήσειε λόγος, νέους κατὰ ταὐτὸ καὶ πρεσβύτας, καὶ πᾶν μέτρον ἡλικίας, ἀρρένων τε καὶ θηλειῶν γένη, φύσεις τε βαρβάρων ἀνδρῶν, οἰκετῶν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἐλευθερίων, λογίων τε καὶ παιδείας ἀμετόχων, οὐκ ἐν γωνίᾳ γῆς οὐδʼ ὑπὸ τοῖσδε γενομένων τοῖς ἄστροις, καθʼ ὅλης δὲ τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης, εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκῃ φάναι βεβιασμένους τόνδε τινὰ τῶν πατρῴων ἁπάντων προτιμῆσαι λόγον, καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἑνὸς τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ θάνατον ἀσπάσασθαι, τά τε περὶ ψυχῆς ἀθανασίας εὖ μάλα δόγματα παιδεύεσθαι, καὶ φιλοσοφίαν οὐ τὴν ἐν λόγοις, τὴν δὲ διʼ ἔργων προτιμῆσαι;

kai tis an orthos touto synchōrēseie logos, neous kata tauto kai presbytas, kai pan metron hēlikias, arrenōn te kai thēleiōn genē, physeis te barbarōn andrōn, oiketōn homou kai eleutheriōn, logiōn te kai paideias ametochōn, ouk en gōnią gēs oudʼ hypo toisde genomenōn tois astrois, kathʼ holēs de tēs anthrōpōn oikoumenēs, heimarmenēs anankę̄ phanai bebiasmenous tonde tina tōn patrǭōn hapantōn protimēsai logon, kai ton hyper eusebeias henos tou epi pantōn theou thanaton aspasasthai, ta te peri psychēs athanasias eu mala dogmata paideuesthai, kai philosophian ou tēn en logois, tēn de diʼ ergōn protimēsai?

And what sound reasoning would grant this: that young and old alike, and every age, the race of men and of women, the natures of barbarian men, slaves and free together, the learned and those without education, not in a corner of the earth nor born under these particular stars, but throughout the whole inhabited world, were forced by the necessity of fate to prefer this teaching above all the ways of their fathers, to welcome death for the sake of piety toward the one God over all, to be very well taught the doctrines of the soul's immortality, and to prefer a philosophy not of words but of deeds?

Notes and citation

Summary: People of every age, sex, nation, and class cannot all have been fated to embrace the faith.

Topics: Martyrdom

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.71 (Dindorf 1:290–291; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-71). (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.

6.6.72Dindorf 1:291

ταῦτα γὰρ ἂν εἴη τὰ καὶ τυφλῷ δῆλα, ὡς οὐδεμιᾶς ἀνάγκης, μαθήσεως δὲ καὶ διδασκαλίας οἰκεῖα τυγχάνει, αὐθεκουσίου γνώμης καὶ προαιρέσεως ἐλευθέρας ἐναργῆ τυγχάνοντα παραδείγματα.

tauta gar an eiē ta kai typhlǭ dēla, hōs oudemias anankēs, mathēseōs de kai didaskalias oikeia tynchanei, authekousiou gnōmēs kai proaireseōs eleutheras enargē tynchanonta paradeigmata.

For these things would be plain even to a blind man: that they belong to no necessity, but to learning and teaching, being clear examples of a free judgment and of free choice.

Notes and citation

Summary: The spread of the faith is plainly due to teaching and free choice.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen left in the digital text): προαιρέ- σεως → προαιρέσεως.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.72 (Dindorf 1:291; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-72). (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.

6.6.73Dindorf 1:291

γένοιτο δʼ ἂν καὶ ἄλλα τοῦ προβλήματος παραστατικὰ μυρία, ὧν τὰ πολλὰ παρεὶς, αὐτὸς μὲν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἀρκεσθήσομαι, σοὶ δὲ τὸ σὸν ἀνάγνωσμα τῶν σεπτῶν σου φιλοσόφων καταλείψω σκοπεῖν, ὡς ἂν μάθῃς ὅσον ἄρα τῶν χρησμῳδῶν σου θεῶν σοφώτερος ἦν καὶ βελτίων ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ τοὺς θαυμασίους χρησμοὺς ψευδεῖς ἀπελέγχων καὶ τὸν Πύθιον αὐτὸν ἐφʼ οἷς ἔχρησε περὶ εἱμαρμένης ἐπιρραπίζων.

genoito dʼ an kai alla tou problēmatos parastatika myria, hōn ta polla pareis, autos men tois eirēmenois arkesthēsomai, soi de to son anagnōsma tōn septōn sou philosophōn kataleipsō skopein, hōs an mathę̄s hoson ara tōn chrēsmǭdōn sou theōn sophōteros ēn kai beltiōn ho anthrōpos ho tous thaumasious chrēsmous pseudeis apelenchōn kai ton Pythion auton ephʼ hois echrēse peri heimarmenēs epirrapizōn.

Countless other arguments could also be brought to establish the point. Passing over most of them, I shall be content with what has been said, and leave you to examine your own reading of your revered philosophers, so that you may learn how much wiser and better than your oracle-giving gods was the man who refuted their wonderful oracles as false and rebuked the Pythian himself for what he declared about fate.

Notes and citation

Summary: Eusebius turns to a pagan philosopher who refuted Apollo's oracles on fate.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (misread ending in the digital text): τοῖς εἰρημένους → τοῖς εἰρημένοις.

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.73 (Dindorf 1:291; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-73). (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.

6.6.74Dindorf 1:291

ἄκουε δʼ οὖν αὖθις τοῦ τὴν τῶν γοήτων φωρὰν τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐπονομάσαντος σύγγραμμα, ὡς εὖ μάλα νεανικῷ φρονήματι τὸν πλάνον τῶν πολλῶν καὶ αὐτοῦ γε τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἐπανορθοῦται, διʼ ὧν γράφει τάδε κατὰ λέξιν

akoue dʼ oun authis tou tēn tōn goētōn phōran to oikeion eponomasantos syngramma, hōs eu mala neanikǭ phronēmati ton planon tōn pollōn kai autou ge tou Apollōnos epanorthoutai, diʼ hōn graphei tade kata lexin

Listen, then, again to the man who entitled his own treatise The Detection of Impostors, how with a truly youthful spirit he corrects the error of the many and of Apollo himself, in which he writes as follows, word for word:

Notes and citation

Summary: Eusebius introduces Oenomaus, author of The Detection of Impostors.

  • The author is Oenomaus of Gadara, a Cynic of the second century, whose work is quoted in the next chapter.

Extrabiblical texts: Oenomaus (Oenomaus of Gadara, Detection of Impostors; quotation)

Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.6.74 (Dindorf 1:291; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/6-6-31/#p-6-6-74). (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.