Sophia Scriptura

Church History 2.17.20

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

Summary: Philo (quoted): they read the law allegorically, as a body (the letter) with a soul (the hidden sense).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:68–69

εἶθʼ ὑποκαταβὰς ἐμφαντικώτερον ἐκτίθεται καὶ ταῦτα “ αἱ δʼ ἐξηγήσεις τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων γίνονται αὐτοῖς “δι΄ διʼ ὑπονοιῶν ἐν ἀλληγορίαις. ἅπασα γὰρ ἡ νομο “θεσία δοκεῖ τοῖς ἀνδράσι τούτοις ἐοικέναι ζῴῳ, καὶ ‘σῦμα μὲν ἔχειν τὰς ῥητὰς λέξεις, ψυχὴν δὲ τ·ὸν ἐνα- ‘ ποκείμενον ταῖς λέξεσιν ἀόρατον νοῦν, ὃν ἤρξατο “ διαφερόντως ἡ θρησκεία αὕτη θεωρεῖν, ὡς διὰ κατό- “ πτρου τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐξαίσια κάλλη νοημάτων ἐμφαι- “νόμενα κατιδοῦσα.

English · Claude translation

Then, going down a little, he sets forth this too more expressly: “Their interpretations of the sacred writings are made through underlying meanings in allegories. For the whole legislation seems to these men to resemble a living creature, having for its body the literal words, and for its soul the invisible sense stored up in the words, which this sect has particularly begun to contemplate, seeing, as through a mirror of the names, the extraordinary beauties of the thoughts reflected.”

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:68–69 · 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. 78 (Philo of Alexandria (works)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Philo, Contempl. 78. The digital text repeats δι΄.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.17.20 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/17/20/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.17.20 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/17/20/).

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