Sophia Scriptura

Church History 2.17.16

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

Summary: Philo (quoted): founded on self-control, they eat and drink only after sunset.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:67–68

εἰ εὐγνωμονοίη, κομίσεται τὴν περὶ τοῦδε μαρτυρίαν. γράφει γὰρ ὧδε “ ἐγκράτειαν δʼ ὥσπερ τινὰ θεμέλιον “ προκαταβαλλόμενοι τῇ ψυχῇ τἀς ἄλλας ἐποικοδομοῦσιν ἀρετάς σιτίον δὲ ἢ ποτὸν οὐδεὶς ἂν αὐτῶν “ προσενέγκαιτο πρὸ ἡλίου δύσεως, ἐπεὶ τὸ μὲν φιλο- “ σοφεῖν φωτὸς ἄξιον κρίνουσιν εἶναι, σκότους δὲ τὰς “ τοῦ σώματος ἀνάγκας, ὅθεν τῷ μὲν ἡμέρας, ταῖς δὲ ‘νυκτὸς βραχύ τι μέρος ἀπένειμαν.

English · Claude translation

if he is fair-minded, he will find undisputed testimony on this point. For he writes thus: “Having first laid down self-control as a kind of foundation in the soul, they build the other virtues on it. None of them would take food or drink before sunset, since they judge that philosophizing is worthy of light, but the needs of the body of darkness; hence they assigned the day to the one, and a small part of the night to the other.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:67–68 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Extrabiblical texts
  • Philo, Contempl. 34 (Philo of Alexandria (works)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Fasting, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Philo, Contempl. 34.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.17.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/17/16/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.17.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/17/16/).

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