Sophia Scriptura

Church History 4.15.18

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

Summary: The Martyrdom (quoted): the proconsul urged Polycarp to respect his age, swear by Caesar's fortune, and say “Away with the atheists.”

Greek text · Dindorf 4:157

προσαχθέντος οὑν αὐτοῦ θόρυβος ἠν μέ- “γας, ἀκουσάντων ὅτι Πολύκαρπος συνείληπται. λοι- “πὸν οὖν προσελθόντα ἀνηρώτα ὁ ἀνθύπατος εἰ αὐτὸς εἴη Πολύκαρπος. καὶ ὁμολογήσαντος ἔπειθεν ἀρνεῖσθαι λέγων ‘αἰδέσθητί σου τὴν ἡλικίανʼ καὶ ἕτερα τούτοις ἀκόλουθα, ἃ σύνηθες αὐτοῖς λέγειν ἐστίν ῾ὄμοσον τὴν Καίσαρος τύχην, μετανόησον εἶ- ‘πον· ‘αἶρε τοὺς ἀθέους.’

English · Claude translation

When he was brought forward, then, there was a great uproar, as they heard that Polycarp had been arrested. So when he came forward the proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. And when he admitted it, he tried to persuade him to deny, saying, ‘Respect your age,’ and other things following from these, which it is their custom to say: ‘Swear by the fortune of Caesar; repent; say, Away with the atheists!’

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:157 · 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
  • Mart. Pol. 9.2 (Martyrdom of Polycarp) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Mart. Pol. 9.2.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.15.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/15/18/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.15.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/15/18/).

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