Church History 4.8.5

Summary: Justin (quoted): seeing Christians fearless of death convinced him, as a Platonist, that the slanders against them were false.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:145

ἐν ταὐτῷ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς φιλοσοφίας ἐπὶ τὴν θεοσέβειαν μεταβολὴν αὐτοῦ, ὅτι μὴ ἀλόγως, μετὰ κρίσεως δʼ αὐτῷ γεγόνει δηλῶν ταῦτα γράφει “ καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ τοῖς Πλάτωνος χαίρων διδάγμασι, ῾ διαβαλλομένους ἀκούων Χριστιανοὺς, ὁρῶν δὲ καὶ “ἀφόβους πρὸς θάνατον καὶ πάντα τὰ νομιζόμενα φοβερὰ, ἐνενόουν ἀδύνατον εἶναι ἐν κακίᾳ καὶ φι- ῾ ληδονίᾳ ὑπάρχειν αὐτούς. τίς γὰρ φιλήδονος ἢ “ ἀκρατὴς καὶ ἀνθρωπείων σαρκῶν βορὰν ἡγούμενος “ ἀγαθὸν δύναιτʼ ἂν θάνατον ἀσπάζεσθαι, ὅπως τῶν “ἑαυτοῦ στερηθείη ἐπιθυμιῶν, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐκ παντὸς ζῆν ἀεὶ τὴν ἐνθάδε βιοτὴν καὶ λανθάνειν τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἐπειρᾶτο, οὐχ ὅτι ἑαυτὸν κατήγγελλε φὂνευ- “ θησόμενον;’’

English · Claude translation

In the same place, showing that his conversion from Greek philosophy to godliness took place not without reason but with judgment, he writes this: “For I myself too, delighting in the teachings of Plato, and hearing the Christians slandered, but seeing them fearless of death and of all things thought fearful, perceived that it was impossible that they were living in wickedness and love of pleasure. For what lover of pleasure or incontinent man, who counts the eating of human flesh a good, could welcome death, so as to be deprived of his desires, and would not rather try by every means to live always this present life and escape the notice of the rulers, much less denounce himself to be put to death?”

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:145 · 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

Justin, 2 Apol. 12 (Second Apology) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.8.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/8/5/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.8.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/4/8/5/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:145

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage