Church History 3.17.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Domitian, cruel to many Romans, became the second emperor to persecute Christians.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:104–105

Πόλλην γε μὴν εἰς πολ- λοὺς ἐπιδειξάμενος ὁ Δομετιανὸς ὠμότητα, οὐκ ἀλίγον τε τῶν ἐπὶ Ῥώμης εὐπατριδῶν τε καὶ ἐπισήμων ἀνδρῶν πλῆθος οὐ μετʼ εὐλόγου κρίσεως κτείνας, μυρίους τε ἄλλους ἐπιφανεῖς ἄνδρας ταῖς ὑπὲρ τὴν ἐνορίαν ζημιώσας φυγαῖς καὶ ταῖς τῶν οὐσιῶν ἀποβολαῖς ἀναιτίως, τελευτῶν τῆς Νέρωνος θεοεχθρίας τε καὶ θεομαχίας διάδοχον ἑαυτὸν κατεστήσατο. δεύτερος δῆτα τὸν καθʼ ἡμῶν ἀνεκίνει διωγμὸν, καίπερ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῷ Οὐεσπασιανοῦ μηδὲν καθʼ ἡμῶν ἄτοπον ἐπινοήσαντος.

English · Claude translation

Domitian, having shown great cruelty toward many, having put to death without reasonable trial no small number of the patricians and notable men at Rome, and having punished countless other distinguished men without cause with exile beyond the borders and confiscation of their property, finally made himself successor to Nero's enmity against God and warfare against God. He was the second to stir up persecution against us, although his father Vespasian had devised nothing harmful against us.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:104–105 · 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)

Topics

Persecution

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.17.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/17/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.17.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/17/1/).