Church History 5.1.52
Summary: Roasting on the iron chair, Attalus told the crowd that they, not the Christians, were eating people, and that God has no name like a man.
Greek text · Dindorf 4:195
ὁ δὲ Ἄτταλος, ὁπότε ἐπὶ τῆς σιδηρᾶς ἐπετέθη καθέδρας καὶ περιεκαίετο, ἡνίκα ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος κνῖσα ἀνεφέρετο, ἔφη πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος τῇ Ῥωμαϊκῇ φωνῇ ῾ “ἐστιν ἀνθρώπους ἐσθίειν, ὃ ποιεῖτε ὑμεῖς· ἡμεῖς δὲ οὔτε ἀνθρώπους ἐσθίομεν οὔθʼ ἕτερόν τι πονηρὸν πράττομεν.’ ἐπερωτώμενος δὲ τί ὄνομα ἔχει ὁ θεὸς, ἀπεκρίθη ‘ ὁ θεὸς ὄνομα οὐκ ἔχει ὡς ἄνθρωπος.
English · Claude translation
Attalus, when he was placed on the iron chair and was being burned all round, and the reek rose from his body, said to the multitude in Latin, “Look, this is eating human beings, what you are doing; but we neither eat human beings nor do anything else wicked.” And when asked what name God has, he answered, “God does not have a name as a man does.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Quotation from the Letter of Vienne and Lyons. The words “Look, this is” are partly lost in the digital text and supplied from the sense.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Latin letter and stray marks in the digital text): ‘Pωμαἰ·κῇ → Ῥωμαϊκῇ.
Cite this passage
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/52/).
Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/52/).
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