Sophia Scriptura

Church History 9.5.2

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

Summary: At Damascus a military commander forced prostitutes to testify falsely to Christian immorality, and the testimony was published everywhere.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:423–424

ὧν τοῦτον ἐπιτελουμένων τὸν τρόπον ἕτερος στρατοπεδάρχης, ὃν δοῦκα Ῥωμαῖοι προσαγορεύουσιν, ἀνὰ τὴν Δαμασκὸν τῆς Φοινίκης ἐπίρρητά τινα γυναικάρια ἐξ ἀγορᾶς ἀνάρπαστα ποιήσας, βασάνους αὐταῖς ἐπιθήσειν ἠπείλει, λέγειν ἐγγράφως ἐπαναγκάζων, ὡς δὴ εἴησάν ποτε χριστιαναὶ, συνειδεῖέν τε αὐτοῖς ἀθεμιτουργίας, ἐν αὐτοῖς τε τοῖς κυριακοῖς πράττειν αὐτοὺς τὰ ἀκόλαστα, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα λέγειν αὐτὰς ἐπὶ διαβολῇ τοῦ δόγματος ἤθελεν· ὧν καὶ οὗτος ἐν ὑπομνήμασι τὰς φωνὰς ἐντεθείσας βασιλεῖ κοινοῦται. καὶ δὴ προστάξαντος εἰς πάντα τόπον καὶ πόλιν καὶ ταῦτα δημοσιοῦται τὰ γράμματα.

English · Claude translation

While this was being done in this way, another commander, whom the Romans call a dux, at Damascus in Phoenicia had certain notorious women snatched from the marketplace and threatened to torture them, compelling them to state in writing that they had once been Christians and knew of unlawful deeds among them, and that the Christians committed licentious acts in the very churches, and whatever else he wished them to say to slander the faith. He recorded their words in official minutes and communicated them to the emperor, and at his command these documents too were published in every place and city.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:423–424 · 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

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): ἐξ ἀγορὰς → ἐξ ἀγορᾶς.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/5/2/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/5/2/).

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