Church History 8.12.9 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The authorities announced that, out of imperial humanity, Christians would no longer be put to death.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:367–368

μὴ γὰρ καθήκειν φασὶν αἵμασιν ἐμφυλίοις μιαίνειν τὰς πόλεις, μηδʼ ἐπʼ ὠμότητι τῇ ἀνωτάτω διαβάλλειν τὴν τῶν κρατούντων ἀρχὴν, εὐμενῆ τοῖς πᾶσιν ὑπάρχουσαν καὶ πραεῖαν, δεῖν δὲ μᾶλλον τῆς φιλανθρώπου καὶ βασιλικῆς ἐξουσίας εἰς πάντας ἐκτείνεσθαι τὴν εὐεργεσίαν, μηκέτι θανάτῳ κολαζομένους· λελύσθαι γὰρ αὐτῶν καθʼ ἡμῶν ταύτην τὴν τιμωρίαν, διὰ τὴν τῶν κρατούντων φιλανθρωπίαν.

English · Claude translation

For they said it was not fitting to defile the cities with the blood of their own people, nor to bring the government of the rulers, which was kindly and gentle to all, into disrepute for extreme cruelty; rather, the benevolence of the humane imperial authority should extend to all, and they should no longer be punished with death: for this punishment of theirs against us had been abolished because of the humanity of the rulers.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:367–368 · 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

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.12.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/12/9/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 8.12.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/8/12/9/).