Sophia Scriptura

Church History 2.20.3

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

Summary: Josephus (quoted): the high priests seized the priests' tithes, so that poor priests starved.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:73

τοσαύτη δὲ τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς κατέλαβεν ἀναί- “ δεια καὶ τόλμα ὥστε ἐκπέμπειν δούλους ἐτόλμων “ ἐπὶ τὰς ἅλωνας, τοὺς ληψομένους τὰς τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν “ὀφειλομένας δεκάτας. καὶ συνέβαινε τοὺς ἀπορου- “ μένους τῶν ἱερέων ὑπʼ ἐνδείας ἀπολλυμένους θεω- “ οὕτως ἐκράτει τοῦ δικαίου παντὸς ἡ τῶν στα- “ σιαζόντων βία. ”

English · Claude translation

And such shamelessness and audacity seized the high priests that they dared to send slaves to the threshing-floors to take the tithes owed to the priests; and so it happened that the poor among the priests were seen perishing from want. So much did the violence of the factions prevail over all justice.”

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:73 · 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
  • Josephus, Ant. 20.181 (Josephus (works)) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Josephus, Ant. 20.181. The digital text has lost ρεῖσθαι in θεω-ρεῖσθαι.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.20.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/20/3/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.20.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/20/3/).

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