Church History 9.8.11 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The plague killed the wealthy whom famine had spared, and the whole city was filled with mourning.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:431

οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ ὁ λοιμὸς πάντας οἴκους καὶ γενεὰς ἐπεβόσκετο, μάλιστα δʼ οὓς ὁ λιμὸς διὰ τὸ εὐπορεῖν τροφῶν οὐχ οἷός τε ἦν ἐκτρῖψαι. οἱ γοῦν ἐν περιουσίαις, ἄρχοντες καὶ ἡγεμόνες καὶ μυρίοι τῶν ἐν τέλει, ὥσπερ ἐπίτηδες τῇ λοιμώδει νόσῳ πρὸς τοῦ λιμοῦ καταλελειμμένοι, ὀξεῖαν καὶ ὠκυτάτην ὑπέμενον τελευτήν· πάντα δʼ οὖν οἰμωγῶν ἦν ἀνάπλεα, κατὰ πάντας τε στενωποὺς, ἀγοράς τε καὶ πλατείας οὐδʼ ἦν ἄλλο τι θεωρεῖν ἢ θρήνους μετὰ τῶν συνήθων αὐτοῖς αὐλῶν τε καὶ κτύπων.

English · Claude translation

Not least, the plague too devoured whole houses and families, especially those whom the famine could not wipe out because they had plenty of food. The wealthy, rulers, governors, and countless officials, as if deliberately left by the famine for the pestilence, suffered a swift and most sudden death. Everything was full of wailing, and in all the lanes, marketplaces, and streets nothing else was to be seen but lamentations with their customary flutes and beating of breasts.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:431 · 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. 9.8.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/8/11/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 9.8.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/9/8/11/).