Church History 3.33.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:126

Τοσοῦτός γε μὴν ἐν πλείοσι τόποις ὁ καθʼ ἡμῶν ἐπετάθη τότε διωγμὸς, ὡς Πλίνιον Σεκοῦνδον ἐπισημότατον ἡγεμόνων, ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν μαρτύρων κινηθέντα, βασιλεῖ κοινωσασθαι περὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως ἀναιρουμένων, ἅμα δʼ ἐν ταὐτῷ μηνῦσαι, μηδὲν ἀνόσιον μηδὲ παρὰ τοὺς νόμους πράττειν αὐτοὺς κατειληφέναι, πλὴν τό γε ἅμα τῇ ἕῳ διεγειρομένους τὸν Χριστὸν θεοῦ δίκην ὑμνεῖν, τὸ δὲ μοιχεύειν καὶ φονεύειν καὶ τὰ συγγενῆ τούτοις ἀθέμιτα πλημμελήματα καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀπαγορεύειν, πάντα τε πράττειν ἀκολούθως τοῖς νόμοις.

English · Claude translation

So severe was the persecution against us then in many places that Plinius Secundus, a most distinguished governor, moved by the number of the martyrs, communicated with the emperor about the multitude of those being put to death for the faith, and at the same time reported that he had found them doing nothing unholy or unlawful, except that they rose at dawn and sang hymns to Christ as to a god, and that they themselves forbade adultery, murder, and the lawless offences akin to these, and did everything in accordance with the laws.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:126 · 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

Pliny the Younger, Ep. 10.96 (Pliny the Younger, Letters) · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Persecution, Prayer

Notes

Translation notes

The source is Pliny, Ep. 10.96, known to Eusebius through Tertullian (3.33.3). The digital text repeats ἡγεμόνων.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (repeated word in the digital text): ἡγεμόνων ἡγεμόνων, → ἡγεμόνων,.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.33.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/33/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.33.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/33/1/).