Church History 6.9.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The accusers swore self-curses, but no believer credited them.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:251

εἶτα πιστούμενοι τοὺς ἀκροωμένους ὅρκοις ἐβεβαίουν τὰς κατηγορίας, καὶ ὁ μὲν ἦ μὴν ἀπόλοιτο πυρὶ ὤμνυεν, ὁ δὲ ἠ μὴν σκαιᾷ νόσῳ δαπανηθείη τὸ σῶμα, ὁ δὲ τρίτος ἧ μὴν τὰς ὁράσεις πηρωθείη. ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ οὕτως αὐτοῖς, καίπερ ὀμνύουσι, τῶν πιστῶν τις προσεῖχε τὸν νοῦν, διὰ τὴν εἰς πάντας λάμπουσαν ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς σωφροσύνην τε καὶ πανάρετον ἀγωγὴν τοῦ Ναρκίσσου.

English · Claude translation

Then, to convince their hearers, they confirmed the accusations with oaths: one swore, “May I perish by fire, if it is not so”; another, “May my body be wasted by a foul disease”; the third, “May I lose my sight.” But even so, though they swore, none of the faithful paid attention to them, because of the self-control and all-virtuous conduct of Narcissus, which shone upon all in every respect.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:251 · 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)

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.9.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/9/5/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.9.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/9/5/).