Sophia Scriptura

Church History 5.1.55

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

Summary: Blandina, like a noble mother who had sent her children ahead, went joyfully to her death as to a wedding feast.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:196

ἡ δὲ μακαρία Βλανδῖνα “πάντων ἐσχάτη, καθάπερ μήτηρ εὐγενὴς παρορμή- “σασα τὰ τέκνα καὶ νικηφόρους προπέμψασα πρὸς “τὸν βασιλέα, ἀναμετρουμένη καὶ αὐτὴ πάντα τὰ “τῶν παίδων ἀγωνίσματα, ἔσπευδε πρὸς αὐτοὺς χαί- “ρουσα καὶ ἀγαλλιωμένη ἐπὶ τῇ ἐξόδῳ, ὡς εἰς νυμ- “φικὸν δεῖπνον κεκλημένη, ἀλλὰ μὴ πρὸς θηρία “βεβλημένη.

English · Claude translation

But the blessed Blandina, last of all, like a noble mother who has encouraged her children and sent them ahead victorious to the king, herself retraced all her children's contests and hastened to them, rejoicing and exulting at her departure, as if invited to a wedding feast rather than thrown to the beasts.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:196 · 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)
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • 2 Macc 7:20-23 (2 Maccabees) · allusion, medium confidence
  • Ep. Lugd. (Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from the Letter of Vienne and Lyons, recalling the mother in 2 Macc 7 and the wedding supper of Rev 19:9.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/55/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/1/55/).

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