Church History 8.12.10 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The “humane” penalty was to put out an eye, cripple a foot, and send Christians to the copper mines.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:368

τηνικαῦτα ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξορύττεσθαι καὶ τοῖν σκελοῖν πηροῦσθαι θάτερον προσετάττετο. ταῦτα γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῖς τὰ φιλάνθρωπα, καὶ τῶν καθʼ ἡμῶν τιμωριῶν τὰ κουφότατα, ὥστε ἤδη ταύτης ἕνεκα τῆς τῶν ἀσεβῶν φιλανθρωπίας οὐκέτʼ εἶναι δυνατὸν ἐξειπεῖν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὑπὲρ πάντα λόγον τοὺς μὲν δεξιοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ξίφει πρότερον ἐκκοπτομένων, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐκκέντησιν τούτους πυρὶ καυτηριαζομένων, τοὺς δὲ λαιοὺς πόδας κατὰ τῶν ἀγκυλῶν αὖθις καυτῆρσιν ἀχρειουμένων, μετά τε ταῦτα τοῖς κατʼ ἐπαρχίαν χαλκοῦ μετάλλοις οὐχ ὑπηρεσίας τοσοῦτον, ὅσον κακώσεως καὶ ταλαιπωρίας ἕνεκεν καταδικαζομένων, πρὸς ἅπασί τε τούτοις ἄλλων ἄλλοις ἀγῶσιν, οὓς μηδὲ καταλέγειν δυνατόν, (νικᾷ γὰρ πάντα λόγον τὰ κατʼ αὐτοὺς ἀνδραγαθήματα), περιπεπτωκότων.

English · Claude translation

Then it was ordered that their eyes be gouged out and one of their legs be maimed. For this was their humanity, and the lightest of their punishments against us; so that because of this humanity of the impious it is no longer possible to tell the number, beyond all words, of those whose right eyes were first cut out with the sword and then cauterized with fire, and whose left feet were then disabled at the joints by branding irons, and who after this were condemned to the copper mines in the provinces, not so much for service as for ill-treatment and misery; and besides all these, of those who fell into various other contests, which it is not even possible to list (for their brave deeds surpass all words).

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:368 · 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)

Topics

Persecution, Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.12.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/12/10/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.12.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/12/10/).