Preparation for the Gospel 3.4.1–3.9.15
Greek text: Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 1 (Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 1–2 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1867), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: E. H. Gifford, Eusebii Pamphili Evangelicae Praeparationis libri XV (Oxford, 1903), vol. 3 (English).
Preparation 3, chapter 4
3.4.1Dindorf 1:112
‟ Χαιρήμων μὲν γὰρ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι οὐδʼ ἄλλο τι πρὸ τῶν ὁρωμένων κόσμων ἡγοῦνται, ἐν ἀρχῆς λόγῳ τιθέμενοι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίων, οὐδʼ ἄλλους θεοὺς πλὴν τῶν πλανητῶν λεγομένων, καὶ τῶν συμπληρούντων τὸν ζωδιακὸν, καὶ ὅσοι τούτοις παρανατέλλουσι· τάς τε εἰς τοὺς δεκανοὺς τομὰς, καὶ τοὺς ὡροσκόπους, καὶ τοὺς λεγομένους κραταιοὺς ἡγεμόνας, ὧν καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα ἐν τοῖς ἀλμενιχιακοῖς φέρεται, καὶ θεραπεῖαι παθῶν, καὶ ἀνατολαὶ, καὶ δύσεις, καὶ μελλόντων σημειώσεις.
‟ Chairēmōn men gar kai hoi alloi oudʼ allo ti pro tōn horōmenōn kosmōn hēgountai, en archēs logǭ tithemenoi tous Aigyptiōn, oudʼ allous theous plēn tōn planētōn legomenōn, kai tōn symplērountōn ton zōdiakon, kai hosoi toutois paranatellousi; tas te eis tous dekanous tomas, kai tous hōroskopous, kai tous legomenous krataious hēgemonas, hōn kai ta onomata en tois almenichiakois pheretai, kai therapeiai pathōn, kai anatolai, kai dyseis, kai mellontōn sēmeiōseis.
"For Chaeremon and the others do not think there is anything prior to the visible worlds, putting the gods of the Egyptians at the head of their account, and no other gods except those called planets, and those that fill up the zodiac, and those that rise alongside them: the divisions into decans, the horoscopes, and the so-called mighty leaders, whose names are given in the almanacs, together with cures of diseases, risings and settings, and signs of the future.
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry reports that Chaeremon and others recognized only the visible heavenly bodies as gods.
- Porphyry, Letter to Anebo (sections 3.4.1–2).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization): οἶ ἄλλοι → οἱ ἄλλοι.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Anebo (Porphyry, Letter to Anebo; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.1 (Dindorf 1:112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.2Dindorf 1:112
ἑώρα γὰρ τοὺς τὸν ἥλιον δημιουργὸν φαμένους καὶ τὰ περὶ Ὄσιριν καὶ τὴν Ἴσιν, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἱερατικοὺς μύθους, ἢ εἰς τοὺς ἀστέρας καὶ τὰς τούτων φάνσεις καὶ κρύψεις καὶ ἐπιτολὰς ἑλιττομένους, ἢ εἰς τὰς τῆς σελήνης αὐξήσεις καὶ μειώσεις, ἢ εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου πορείαν, ἢ τό γε νυκτερινὸν ἡμισφαίριον, ἢ τὸ ἡμερινὸν, ἢ τόν γε ποταμόν· καὶ ὅλως πάντα εἰς τὰ φυσικὰ, καὶ οὐδὲν εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ ζώσας οὐσίας ἑρμηνεύοντας. ὧν οἱ πλείους καὶ τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἀστέρων ἀνῆψαν κινήσεως, οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις ἀνάγκῃ, ἣν εἱμαρμένην λέγουσι, πάντα καταδήσαντες, καὶ πάντα τούτοις ἀνάψαντες τοῖς θεοῖς. οὕτω λυτῆρας τῆς εἱμαρμένης μόνους ἔν τε ἱεροῖς καὶ ξοάνοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις θεραπεύουσι.”
heōra gar tous ton hēlion dēmiourgon phamenous kai ta peri Osirin kai tēn Isin, kai pantas tous hieratikous mythous, ē eis tous asteras kai tas toutōn phanseis kai krypseis kai epitolas helittomenous, ē eis tas tēs selēnēs auxēseis kai meiōseis, ē eis tēn tou hēliou poreian, ē to ge nykterinon hēmisphairion, ē to hēmerinon, ē ton ge potamon; kai holōs panta eis ta physika, kai ouden eis asōmatous kai zōsas ousias hermēneuontas. hōn hoi pleious kai to ephʼ hēmin ek tēs tōn asterōn anēpsan kinēseōs, ouk oidʼ hopōs desmois alytois anankę̄, hēn heimarmenēn legousi, panta katadēsantes, kai panta toutois anapsantes tois theois. houtō lytēras tēs heimarmenēs monous en te hierois kai xoanois kai tois allois therapeuousi.”
For he saw that those who said the sun was the creator, and the stories of Osiris and Isis, and all the priestly myths, either turned upon the stars and their appearances, disappearances, and risings, or upon the waxing and waning of the moon, or the course of the sun, or the night or day hemisphere, or the river; and that they interpreted everything in terms of natural things and nothing in terms of incorporeal and living beings. Most of them even made our free will depend on the motion of the stars, binding all things, I know not how, with the indissoluble bonds of necessity, which they call fate, and attaching everything to these gods; and these alone they worship as deliverers from fate, in temples and with images and the rest."
Notes and citation
Summary: The Egyptian priests explained everything by the stars and fate and worshipped the gods as deliverers from fate.
- The last sentence is defective in the digital text (οὕτω λυτῆρας); translated by sense.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization): οἶ πλείους → οἱ πλείους.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.2 (Dindorf 1:112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.3Dindorf 1:112–113
Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τῆς δηλωθείσης ἐπιστολῆς κείσθω, σαφῶς διαγορεύοντα ὅτι καὶ ἡ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἀπόρρητος θεολογία οὐδὲ ἄλλους πλὴν τῶν κατʼ οὐρανὸν ἀστέρων τῶν τε ἀπλανῶν καλουμένων καὶ τῶν ὀνομαζομένων πλανητῶν ἐθεολόγει, δημιουργόν τε τῶν ὅλων εἰσῆγεν οὐτιναοῦν ἀσώματον, οὐδὲ λόγον δημιουργικὸν, οὐδὲ μὴν θεὸν, οὐδὲ θεοὺς, οὐδέ τινας νοερὰς καὶ ἀφανεῖς δυνάμεις, μόνον δὲ τὸν ὁρώμενον ἥλιον· διὸ καὶ μόνοις τοῖς ἄστροις τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἀνετίθεσαν αἰτίαν, τὰ πάντα εἱμαρμένης ἐξάπτοντες καὶ τῆς τῶν ἄστρων κινήσεως τε καὶ φορᾶς, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν ἥδε παρʼ αὐτοῖς κεκράτηκεν ἡ δόξα.
Tauta men oun apo tēs dēlōtheisēs epistolēs keisthō, saphōs diagoreuonta hoti kai hē tōn Aigyptiōn aporrētos theologia oude allous plēn tōn katʼ ouranon asterōn tōn te aplanōn kaloumenōn kai tōn onomazomenōn planētōn etheologei, dēmiourgon te tōn holōn eisēgen outinaoun asōmaton, oude logon dēmiourgikon, oude mēn theon, oude theous, oude tinas noeras kai aphaneis dynameis, monon de ton horōmenon hēlion; dio kai monois tois astrois tēn tōn holōn anetithesan aitian, ta panta heimarmenēs exaptontes kai tēs tōn astrōn kinēseōs te kai phoras, hōsper amelei eiseti kai nyn hēde parʼ autois kekratēken hē doxa.
Let these extracts from the letter cited stand, declaring plainly that the secret theology of the Egyptians too proclaimed as gods none other than the stars in heaven, both the so-called fixed stars and those named planets, and introduced as creator of the universe no incorporeal being whatever, no creative Word, no God, no gods, no intellectual and invisible powers, but only the visible sun. Therefore they ascribed the cause of the universe to the stars alone, hanging all things on fate and on the motion and course of the stars, as indeed this opinion still prevails among them even now.
Notes and citation
Summary: Egyptian theology recognized no incorporeal creator, only the stars and fate.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.3 (Dindorf 1:112–113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.4Dindorf 1:113
εἰ τοίνυν εἰς μόνα τὰ ὁρώμενα τοῦ κόσμου στοιχεῖα καὶ οὐδὲν εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ ζώσας οὐσίας ἡρμήνευται τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, τὰ δὲ στοιχεῖα καὶ πάντα τὰ ὁρατὰ σώματα τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ ἄψυχα καὶ ἄλογα ῥευστά τε τῇ φύσει καὶ φθαρτὰ συνέστηκε, θέα εἰς οἶα πάλιν αὐτῶν καταπέπτωκεν ἡ θεολογία, τὴν ἄψυχον οὐσίαν καὶ τὰ νεκρὰ καὶ ἄλογα σώματα θειάζουσα, μάλιστα ὅτε εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ νοερὰς οὐσίας οὐδὲν αὐτοῖς ἀνεφέρετο, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ νοῦν καὶ λόγον δημιουργικὸν τῶν ὅλων.
ei toinyn eis mona ta horōmena tou kosmou stoicheia kai ouden eis asōmatous kai zōsas ousias hērmēneutai tois Aigyptiois, ta de stoicheia kai panta ta horata sōmata tǭ idiǭ logǭ apsycha kai aloga rheusta te tę̄ physei kai phtharta synestēke, thea eis oia palin autōn katapeptōken hē theologia, tēn apsychon ousian kai ta nekra kai aloga sōmata theiazousa, malista hote eis asōmatous kai noeras ousias ouden autois anephereto, oude epi noun kai logon dēmiourgikon tōn holōn.
If, then, the Egyptians interpreted everything in terms of the visible elements of the world alone and nothing in terms of incorporeal and living beings, and if the elements and all visible bodies are by their own nature lifeless and irrational, flowing and perishable, see into what their theology has fallen once more, deifying lifeless substance and dead, irrational bodies, especially since they referred nothing to incorporeal and intellectual beings, nor to a creative mind and word of the universe.
Notes and citation
Summary: Egyptian theology deified lifeless matter and knew no creative mind.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.4 (Dindorf 1:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.5Dindorf 1:113
ἐπεὶ δὲ προωμολογήθη διὰ τῶν πρόσθεν εἰς Ἕλληνας παρʼ Αἰγυπτίων τὰ τῆς θεολογίας μετακεκομίσθαι, ὥρα τούτοις στοιχεῖν καὶ Ἕλληνας, καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ Αἰγυπτίοις φυσιολογεῖν, ἀπελέγχεσθαί τε αὐτοὺς οὐδὲν πλέον τῆς ἀψύχου ὕλης θεοποιοῦντας. ταῦτα γὰρ ἦν τὰ σεμνὰ Αἰγυπτίων κατὰ τὴν τοῦ δεδηλωμένου συγγραφέως γραφὴν, ὅστις πάλιν ἐν οἷς ἐπέγραψε Περὶ τῆς τῶν ἐμψύχων ἀποχῆς τοιαῦτα περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν διέξεισιν
epei de proōmologēthē dia tōn prosthen eis Hellēnas parʼ Aigyptiōn ta tēs theologias metakekomisthai, hōra toutois stoichein kai Hellēnas, kai ta auta Aigyptiois physiologein, apelenchesthai te autous ouden pleon tēs apsychou hylēs theopoiountas. tauta gar ēn ta semna Aigyptiōn kata tēn tou dedēlōmenou syngrapheōs graphēn, hostis palin en hois epegrapse Peri tēs tōn empsychōn apochēs toiauta peri tōn autōn diexeisin
And since it was agreed earlier that the Greeks received their theology from the Egyptians, it is time to conclude that the Greeks too follow them, give the same natural explanations as the Egyptians, and are convicted of deifying nothing more than lifeless matter. For these were the dignified doctrines of the Egyptians according to the writing of the author mentioned, who again, in the work he entitled On Abstinence from Animal Food, goes through such things about the same matters:
Notes and citation
Summary: The Greeks, following the Egyptians, also deify lifeless matter; Eusebius quotes Porphyry's On Abstinence.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.5 (Dindorf 1:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.6Dindorf 1:113–114
‟ Ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης ὁρμώμενοι τῆς ἀσκήσεως καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸ θεῖον οἰκειώσεως ἔγνωσαν ὡς οὐ διʼ ἀνθρώπου μόνου τὸ θεῖον διῆλθεν, οὔτε ψυχὴ ἐν μόνῳ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐπὶ γῆς κατεσκήνωσεν, ἀλλὰ σχεδὸν ἡ αὐτὴ διὰ πάντων διῆλθε τῶν ζῴων. διὸ εἰς τὴν θεοποιίαν παρέλαβον πᾶν ζῷον, καὶ ὁμοίως που ἀνέμιξαν θηρία καὶ ἀνθρώπους, καὶ πάλιν ὀρνέων σώματα καὶ ἀνθρώπων.
‟ Apo de tautēs hormōmenoi tēs askēseōs kai tēs pros to theion oikeiōseōs egnōsan hōs ou diʼ anthrōpou monou to theion diēlthen, oute psychē en monǭ anthrōpǭ epi gēs kateskēnōsen, alla schedon hē autē dia pantōn diēlthe tōn zǭōn. dio eis tēn theopoiian parelabon pan zǭon, kai homoiōs pou anemixan thēria kai anthrōpous, kai palin orneōn sōmata kai anthrōpōn.
"Starting from this discipline and their intimacy with the divine, they recognized that the divine did not pass through man alone, nor did the soul dwell on earth in man alone, but that nearly the same soul passed through all living creatures. Therefore they took every living creature into their deification, and likewise mingled wild beasts and men, and again the bodies of birds and men.
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry says the Egyptians held that the same soul dwells in all animals and therefore deified them.
- Porphyry, On Abstinence 4.9 (sections 3.4.6–14).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (leaked marginal letter in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined; line-break hyphen rejoined; accents corrected): διʼ d ἀνθρώπου → διʼ ἀνθρώπου; σὠ- μάτα → σώματα; ἀνέ- μιξαν → ἀνέμιξαν.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.6 (Dindorf 1:113–114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.7Dindorf 1:114
εἴκασται γάρ τις παρʼ αὐτοῖς μέχρι τραχήλου ἀνθρωποειδὴς, τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον ὀρνέου ἢ λέοντος ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς ζῴου κεκτημένος· καὶ πάλιν αὖ κεφαλὴ ἀνθρώπειος, καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν ζῴων μέρη, πῇ μὲν ὑποκείμενα, πῇ δὲ ἐπικείμενα· διʼ ὧν δηλοῦσιν ὅτι κατὰ γνώμην θεῶν καὶ ταῦτα ἀλλήλοις κοινωνεῖ, καὶ σύντροφα ἡμῖν καὶ τιθασά ἐστι τῶν θηρίων τὰ ἄγρια οὐκ ἄνευ τινὸς θείας βουλήσεως.
eikastai gar tis parʼ autois mechri trachēlou anthrōpoeidēs, to de prosōpon orneou ē leontos ē allou tinos zǭou kektēmenos; kai palin au kephalē anthrōpeios, kai allōn tinōn zǭōn merē, pę̄ men hypokeimena, pę̄ de epikeimena; diʼ hōn dēlousin hoti kata gnōmēn theōn kai tauta allēlois koinōnei, kai syntropha hēmin kai tithasa esti tōn thēriōn ta agria ouk aneu tinos theias boulēseōs.
For one figure among them is represented as human up to the neck, but has the face of a bird or a lion or some other animal; and again there is a human head with parts of other animals, in one place below and in another above. By these they show that by the will of the gods these too have fellowship with one another, and that the wild among the beasts are reared with us and tamed not without some divine will.
Notes and citation
Summary: Composite human-animal images show the kinship of all creatures by divine will.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization slip; iota subscript lost in digitization): τῆ μὲν → πῇ μὲν; πῆ δὲ → πῇ δὲ.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.7 (Dindorf 1:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.8Dindorf 1:114
ὅθεν καὶ ὁ λέων ὡς θεὸς θρησκεύεται, καὶ μέρος τι τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ὃ καλοῦσι νομόν, ἐπώνυμον ἔχει Λεοντοπολίτην, ἄλλο δὲ Βουσιρίτην, ἄλλο δὲ Κυνοπολίτην. τὴν γὰρ ἐπὶ πάντα δύναμιν διὰ τῶν συννόμων ζῴων ὧν ἕκαστος τῶν θεῶν παρέσχεν ἐθρήσκευσαν.
hothen kai ho leōn hōs theos thrēskeuetai, kai meros ti tēs Aigyptou, ho kalousi nomon, epōnymon echei Leontopolitēn, allo de Bousiritēn, allo de Kynopolitēn. tēn gar epi panta dynamin dia tōn synnomōn zǭōn hōn hekastos tōn theōn pareschen ethrēskeusan.
Hence the lion too is worshipped as a god, and a part of Egypt, which they call a nome, has the name Leontopolite, another Busirite, another Cynopolite. For they worshipped the power over all things through the animals associated with each of the gods, which each god provided.
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals like the lion are worshipped and give their names to districts of Egypt.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.8 (Dindorf 1:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.9Dindorf 1:114
ὕδωρ δὲ καὶ πῦρ σέβονται, τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν στοιχείων, ὡς ταῦτα αἰτιώτατα τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, καὶ ταῦτα δεικνύντες ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς, ὥς που ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐν τῇ ἀνοίξει τοῦ ἁγίου Σαράπιδος ἥ τε θεραπεία διὰ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος γίνεται, λείβοντος τοῦ ὑμνῳδοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ πῦρ φαίνοντος, ὁπηνίκα ἑστὼς ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐδοῦ τῇ πατρίῳ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων φωνῇ ἐγείρει τὸν θεόν.
hydōr de kai pyr sebontai, ta kallista tōn stoicheiōn, hōs tauta aitiōtata tēs sōtērias hēmōn, kai tauta deiknyntes en tois hierois, hōs pou eti kai nyn en tę̄ anoixei tou hagiou Sarapidos hē te therapeia dia pyros kai hydatos ginetai, leibontos tou hymnǭdou to hydōr, kai to pyr phainontos, hopēnika hestōs epi tou oudou tę̄ patriǭ tōn Aigyptiōn phōnę̄ egeirei ton theon.
They revere water and fire, the most beautiful of the elements, as most responsible for our preservation, and display these in the temples; as even now, at the opening of the temple of holy Sarapis, the worship is performed with fire and water, the singer pouring out the water and showing the fire, when he stands on the threshold and awakens the god in the ancestral language of the Egyptians.
Notes and citation
Summary: Water and fire are revered and used in the worship of Sarapis.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.9 (Dindorf 1:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.10Dindorf 1:114
ταῦτʼ οὖν σέβονται τὰ μέτοχα, καὶ μάλιστα πλέον τούτων ἐσέφθησαν τὰ ὡς ἐπὶ πλέον τῶν ἱερῶν μετέχοντα. τοιαῦτα δὲ πάντα τὰ ζῷα, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἄνθρωπον σέβουσι κατὰ Ἄναβιν κώμην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τούτῳ θύεται καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν βωμῶν τὰ ἱερὰ ἐκκάεται·
tautʼ oun sebontai ta metocha, kai malista pleon toutōn esephthēsan ta hōs epi pleon tōn hierōn metechonta. toiauta de panta ta zǭa, epei kai anthrōpon sebousi kata Anabin kōmēn, en hę̄ kai toutǭ thyetai kai epi tōn bōmōn ta hiera ekkaetai;
These, then, they revere as having a part in the rites, and they have honored most of all those that have the fullest part in the sacrifices. Such are all animals, since they even worship a man at the village of Anabis, where a man is sacrificed to and the sacred offerings are burned on the altars for him;
Notes and citation
Summary: At Anabis a man is worshipped and receives sacrifices.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.10 (Dindorf 1:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.11Dindorf 1:114
ὁ δὲ μετʼ ὀλίγον φάγοι ἂν τὰ ἴδια αὐτῷ ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ παρεσκευασμένα. ὡς οὖν ἀνθρώπου ἀφεκτέον, οὕτω καὶ τῶν ἄλλων.
ho de metʼ oligon phagoi an ta idia autǭ hōs anthrōpǭ pareskeuasmena. hōs oun anthrōpou aphekteon, houtō kai tōn allōn.
and a little later he would eat what had been prepared for him as for a man. As, then, we must abstain from man, so also from the other animals.
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry concludes that as we must not eat man, so we must not eat other animals.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (leaked marginal letter in digitization): μετʼ ὀλίγον c φάγοι → μετʼ ὀλίγον φάγοι.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.11 (Dindorf 1:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.12Dindorf 1:114–115
ἔτι δὲ ἐκ περιττῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸ θεῖον συντροφίας κατέλαβόν τισι τῶν θεῶν προσφιλῆ τῶν ζῴων τινὰ μᾶλλον ἀνθρώπων, ὡς ἡλίῳ ἱέρακα, σύμπασαν μὲν τὴν φύσιν ἐξ αἵματος ἔχοντα καὶ πνεύματος, οἰκτείροντα δὲ καὶ ἄνθρωπον, καὶ κωκύοντα ἐπὶ νεκρῷ κειμένῳ, γῆν τε ἐπαμώμενον. Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα φησίν
eti de ek perittēs sophias kai tēs peri to theion syntrophias katelabon tisi tōn theōn prosphilē tōn zǭōn tina mallon anthrōpōn, hōs hēliǭ hieraka, sympasan men tēn physin ex haimatos echonta kai pneumatos, oikteironta de kai anthrōpon, kai kōkyonta epi nekrǭ keimenǭ, gēn te epamōmenon. Kai meta brachea phēsin
Further, from their exceeding wisdom and their familiarity with the divine, they perceived that some animals are dearer to some of the gods than men are, as the hawk to the sun, having its whole nature from blood and spirit, pitying man and wailing over a dead body lying unburied, and scattering earth upon it." And a little after he says:
Notes and citation
Summary: Some animals, like the hawk, are dear to particular gods.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined; accent corrected): πνεύ- μάτος → πνεύματος.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.12 (Dindorf 1:114–115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-12). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.13Dindorf 1:115
‟ Κάνθαρον δὲ ἀμαθὴς μὲν βδελυχθείη ἂν ἀγνώμων ὑπάρχων τῶν θείων, Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ ἐσέφθησαν ὡς εἰκόνα ἡλίου ἔμψυχον. κάνθαρος γὰρ πᾶς ἄρρην, καὶ ἀφιεὶς τὸν θορὸν ἐν τέλματι καὶ ποιήσας σφαιροειδῆ, τοῖς ὀπισθίοις ἀνταναφέρει ποσὶν, ὡς ἥλιος οὐρανὸν καὶ περίοδον ἡμερῶν ἐκδέχεται σεληνιακήν.
‟ Kantharon de amathēs men bdelychtheiē an agnōmōn hyparchōn tōn theiōn, Aigyptioi de esephthēsan hōs eikona hēliou empsychon. kantharos gar pas arrēn, kai aphieis ton thoron en telmati kai poiēsas sphairoeidē, tois opisthiois antanapherei posin, hōs hēlios ouranon kai periodon hēmerōn ekdechetai selēniakēn.
"The beetle an ignorant man, unacquainted with divine things, would loathe; but the Egyptians revered it as a living image of the sun. For every beetle is male, and, discharging its seed in the mud and making it into a ball, it rolls it back with its hind feet, as the sun turns the heaven, and it awaits a lunar period of days.
Notes and citation
Summary: The beetle was revered as a living image of the sun.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.13 (Dindorf 1:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-13). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.4.14Dindorf 1:115
οὕτω δὲ καὶ περὶ κριοῦ τι φιλοσοφοῦσι, καὶ ἄλλο τι περὶ κροκοδείλου, περί τε γυπὸς καὶ ἴβεως, καὶ ὅλως καθʼ ἕκαστον τῶν ζῴων· ὡς ἐκ φρονήσεως καὶ τῆς ἄγαν θεοσοφίας ἐπὶ τὸ σέβας ἐλθεῖν καὶ τῶν ζῴων.’’
houtō de kai peri kriou ti philosophousi, kai allo ti peri krokodeilou, peri te gypos kai ibeōs, kai holōs kathʼ hekaston tōn zǭōn; hōs ek phronēseōs kai tēs agan theosophias epi to sebas elthein kai tōn zǭōn.’’
So too they philosophize somewhat about the ram, and something else about the crocodile, the vulture, and the ibis, and in general about each of the animals; so that it was from wisdom and exceeding divine knowledge that they came to the worship of the animals as well."
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry claims animal worship came from Egyptian wisdom.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Abst. (Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.4.14 (Dindorf 1:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-4-14). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
Preparation 3, chapter 5
3.5.1Dindorf 1:115
Τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς γενναίας τῶν σοφῶν Αἰγυπτίων φυσιολογίας τέθειται ὁ δεδηλωμένος, Αἰγυπτίων διασαφήσας ἡμῖν τὰ ἀπόρρητα, ὅτι τε ὕδωρ καὶ πῦρ σέβουσι, καὶ μία λογικῶν καὶ ἀλόγων οὐ μόνον σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ψυχῆς οὐσία κέκριται εἶναι παρʼ αὐτοῖς, ὡς εὐλόγως αὐτῷ δοκεῖν θεοὺς ἀνηγορεῦσθαι τὰ θηρία.
Toiauta kai ta peri tēs gennaias tōn sophōn Aigyptiōn physiologias tetheitai ho dedēlōmenos, Aigyptiōn diasaphēsas hēmin ta aporrēta, hoti te hydōr kai pyr sebousi, kai mia logikōn kai alogōn ou monon sōmatōn, alla kai psychēs ousia kekritai einai parʼ autois, hōs eulogōs autǭ dokein theous anēgoreusthai ta thēria.
Such are the things the author cited has set down about the noble natural philosophy of the wise Egyptians, making clear to us the secrets of the Egyptians: that they revere water and fire, and that among them one substance, not only of bodies but also of soul, has been judged to belong to rational and irrational creatures, so that it seems reasonable to him that the beasts have been proclaimed gods.
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry's account shows that the Egyptians worshipped water, fire, and animals as sharing one soul with man.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.5.1 (Dindorf 1:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-5-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.5.2Dindorf 1:115
καίτοι πῶς οὐ παραλογώτατον εἰς θεοποιίαν παραλαμβάνειν τὴν ἄλογον καὶ θηριώδη φύσιν, διὰ τὸ τῆς ἴσης, ὥς φασιν, ἀνθρώποις μετέχειν ψυχῆς; ἐχρῆν γὰρ, εἴπερ ἄρα, ἀνθρώπους καὶ αὐτὰ ἡγεῖσθαι, καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπείας αὐτοῖς δόξης τε καὶ τιμῆς μεταδιδόναι.
kaitoi pōs ou paralogōtaton eis theopoiian paralambanein tēn alogon kai thēriōdē physin, dia to tēs isēs, hōs phasin, anthrōpois metechein psychēs? echrēn gar, eiper ara, anthrōpous kai auta hēgeisthai, kai tēs anthrōpeias autois doxēs te kai timēs metadidonai.
And yet how could it be anything but most unreasonable to take irrational and beastlike nature into deification because it shares, as they say, in a soul equal to that of men? They ought rather, if anything, to have regarded these too as men, and given them a share of human esteem and honor.
Notes and citation
Summary: If animals had human souls, they should be treated as men, not as gods.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.5.2 (Dindorf 1:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-5-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.5.3Dindorf 1:115–116
οἱ δὲ τοῦτο μὴ πράξαντες, τὰ πρὸς αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως ἄλογα θηρία γενόμενα, καὶ ταύτην εἰληχότα τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν, καὶ οὐδὲ τῆς ἀνθρώπων προσρήσεως ἠξιωμένα, οὐδʼ ὁμοίως ἀνθρώποις ἠξίωσαν ἀποδέξασθαι· τὴν ἀνωτάτω δὲ τοῦ παμβασιλέως προσηγορίαν καὶ τοῦ τῶν ἁπάντων δημιουργοῦ θεοῦ φέροντες εἰς τὴν θηρίων φύσιν καταβεβλήκασι, καὶ θεοὺς ἐπεφήμισαν ἃ μηδὲ τῆς ἀνθρώπων πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ κατηξίωται προσηγορίας.
hoi de touto mē praxantes, ta pros autēs tēs physeōs aloga thēria genomena, kai tautēn eilēchota tēn epōnymian, kai oude tēs anthrōpōn prosrēseōs ēxiōmena, oudʼ homoiōs anthrōpois ēxiōsan apodexasthai; tēn anōtatō de tou pambasileōs prosēgorian kai tou tōn hapantōn dēmiourgou theou pherontes eis tēn thēriōn physin katabeblēkasi, kai theous epephēmisan ha mēde tēs anthrōpōn pros autou tou theou katēxiōtai prosēgorias.
But they did not do this. The beasts, made irrational by nature itself and having received this name, not even counted worthy of the title of men, they did not think fit to receive even as equal to men; but they took the supreme name of the universal King and of God the creator of all things and brought it down to the nature of beasts, and proclaimed gods those which God himself has not counted worthy even of the name of men.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Egyptians gave the name of God to beasts not even worthy of the name of men.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.5.3 (Dindorf 1:115–116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-5-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.5.4Dindorf 1:116
ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀκήκοας καὶ τῆς θεοσοφίας τῆς μυστικῆς, διʼ ἣν οἱ θαυμάσιοι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων λύκους καὶ κύνας καὶ λέοντας ἐσεβάσθησαν· ἔγνως καὶ τοῦ κανθάρου τὸ θαῦμα καὶ ἱέρακος τὴν ἀρετήν· μὴ δὴ γέλα τοῦ λοιποῦ τοὺς θεοὺς, ἐλέει δὲ τῆς πολλῆς εὐηθείας καὶ ἀβλεψίας τὸ τρισάθλιον ἀνθρώπων γένος.
epi toutois akēkoas kai tēs theosophias tēs mystikēs, diʼ hēn hoi thaumasioi tōn Aigyptiōn lykous kai kynas kai leontas esebasthēsan; egnōs kai tou kantharou to thauma kai hierakos tēn aretēn; mē dē gela tou loipou tous theous, eleei de tēs pollēs euētheias kai ablepsias to trisathlion anthrōpōn genos.
Besides this you have heard of the mystical divine wisdom for which the admirable Egyptians worshipped wolves, dogs, and lions; you have learned the wonder of the beetle and the virtue of the hawk. Do not laugh at the gods any more, but pity the thrice-wretched human race for its great simplicity and blindness.
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius invites pity rather than laughter for such blindness.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization): οἶ θαυμάσιοι → οἱ θαυμάσιοι.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.5.4 (Dindorf 1:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-5-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.5.5Dindorf 1:116
καὶ δὴ σκόπει πάντα περιαθρῶν οἵων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν πάρεστι δοτὴρ ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, τοσαύτης νόσου μακρᾶς τε καὶ πολυχρονίου πηρώσεως καὶ τὰς Αἰγυπτίων ψυχὰς διὰ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας λελυτρωμένος, ὡς τοὺς πλείους ἤδη τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον καὶ ταύτης ἀπηλλάχθαι τῆς νόσου.
kai dē skopei panta periathrōn hoiōn hēmin agathōn paresti dotēr ho Christos tou theou, tosautēs nosou makras te kai polychroniou pērōseōs kai tas Aigyptiōn psychas dia tēs euangelikēs autou didaskalias lelytrōmenos, hōs tous pleious ēdē tōn katʼ Aigypton kai tautēs apēllachthai tēs nosou.
And consider, looking all around, what good things the Christ of God has given us, who has redeemed even the souls of the Egyptians, through his gospel teaching, from so great a disease and so long and lasting a blindness, so that most of the people in Egypt have now been freed from this disease too.
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ's gospel has freed most Egyptians from this long blindness.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization): μακρὰς → μακρᾶς.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.5.5 (Dindorf 1:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-5-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
Preparation 3, chapter 6
3.6.1Dindorf 1:116
Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις, ἃ καὶ παλαίτερα τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἁπάντων μνημονεύεται. ἔχεις τοιγαροῦν πρὸς τῇ μυθικῇ καὶ τὴν φυσικωτέραν θεολογίαν Ἑλλήνων ὁμοῦ καὶ Αἰγυπτίων, τῶν πάλαι τὴν πολύθεον δεισιδαιμονίαν συστησαμένων, παρʼ οἷς ὅτι μηδέν τι τῶν ἀληθῶς θείων ἀσωμάτων τε καὶ νοερῶν οὐσιῶν ἐγνωρίζετο μεμάθηκας.
Alla gar toiauta kai ta parʼ Aigyptiois, ha kai palaitera tōn Hellēnikōn hapantōn mnēmoneuetai. echeis toigaroun pros tę̄ mythikę̄ kai tēn physikōteran theologian Hellēnōn homou kai Aigyptiōn, tōn palai tēn polytheon deisidaimonian systēsamenōn, parʼ hois hoti mēden ti tōn alēthōs theiōn asōmatōn te kai noerōn ousiōn egnōrizeto memathēkas.
Such, then, are the doctrines of the Egyptians, which are recorded as older than all the Greek ones. You have, therefore, besides the mythical theology, the more physical theology of both the Greeks and the Egyptians, who in ancient times established polytheistic superstition; and you have learned that among them nothing of the truly divine incorporeal and intellectual beings was known.
Notes and citation
Summary: Neither Greek nor Egyptian physical theology knew any truly divine incorporeal beings.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.6.1 (Dindorf 1:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-6-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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3.6.2Dindorf 1:116
πλὴν ἀλλὰ δεδόσθω καὶ συγκεχωρήσθω τουτοισὶ τοῖς μετεωρολέσχαις λέγειν ἀληθῆ, καὶ ἐπιτυγχάνειν ἐν τῇ τῶν ἀλληγορουμένων φυσιολογίᾳ γινέσθω τε αὐτοῖς ὁ ἥλιος ποτὲ μὲν Ἀπόλλων, καὶ πάλιν Ὦρος, καὶ Ὄσιρις πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς, καὶ μυρία ἄλλα ὅσα καὶ θέλοιεν· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἡ σελήνη, ἢ Ἶσις ἢ Ἄρτεμις, καὶ ὅσα ἄν τις ἐξαριθμεῖν βούλοιτο·
plēn alla dedosthō kai synkechōrēsthō toutoisi tois meteōroleschais legein alēthē, kai epitynchanein en tę̄ tōn allēgoroumenōn physiologią ginesthō te autois ho hēlios pote men Apollōn, kai palin Ōros, kai Osiris palin ho autos, kai myria alla hosa kai theloien; hōsper oun kai hē selēnē, ē Isis ē Artemis, kai hosa an tis exarithmein bouloito;
But let it be granted and conceded to these star-gazers that they speak the truth and succeed in their natural philosophy of allegories: let the sun be for them now Apollo, and again Horus, and again the same one Osiris, and countless other things, as many as they wish; and likewise the moon either Isis or Artemis, and as many names as one might wish to count;
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius grants for argument's sake that the gods' names signify the sun and moon.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (breathing misread and leaked marginal letter in digitization): ᾿Απόλλων, c καὶ → Ἀπόλλων, καὶ.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.6.2 (Dindorf 1:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-6-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.6.3Dindorf 1:116–117
μὴ γὰρ ἔστω ταῦτα θνητῶν ἀνδρῶν, ἀλλʼ αὐτῶν τῶν ἐπουρανίων φωστήρων σημαντικαὶ προσηγορίαι· τὸν ἥλιον ἄρα καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ κόσμου μέρη ὡς θεοὺς προσκυνητέον.
mē gar estō tauta thnētōn andrōn, allʼ autōn tōn epouraniōn phōstērōn sēmantikai prosēgoriai; ton hēlion ara kai tēn selēnēn kai tous asteras kai ta loipa tou kosmou merē hōs theous proskynēteon.
for let these not be names of mortal men, but significant names of the heavenly luminaries themselves: then the sun, the moon, the stars, and the other parts of the world must be worshipped as gods.
Notes and citation
Summary: Even so, the result is worship of the heavenly bodies.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.6.3 (Dindorf 1:116–117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-6-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.6.4Dindorf 1:117
καὶ ταύτῃ τοιγαροῦν ἡ γενναία τῶν Ἑλλήνων φιλοσοφία ὥσπερ διὰ μηχανῆς πέφηνεν εἰς ὕψος μὲν ἀνάγουσα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ λόγου, κάτω δὲ περιστρέφουσα ἀμφὶ τὴν αἰσθητὴν καὶ φαινομένην τοῦ θεοῦ δημιουργίαν τὴν τῶν σοφῶν διάνοιαν, καὶ πλέον οὐδὲν ἀλλʼ ἢ πῦρ καὶ τὴν θερμὴν οὐσίαν, τά τε μέρη τοῦ κόσμου, διὰ τῶν οὐρανίων φωστήρων, ἔστω δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑγρὰν καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν καὶ τὴν σύγκρασιν τῶν σωμάτων θειάζουσα.
kai tautę̄ toigaroun hē gennaia tōn Hellēnōn philosophia hōsper dia mēchanēs pephēnen eis hypsos men anagousa tēn epangelian tou logou, katō de peristrephousa amphi tēn aisthētēn kai phainomenēn tou theou dēmiourgian tēn tōn sophōn dianoian, kai pleon ouden allʼ ē pyr kai tēn thermēn ousian, ta te merē tou kosmou, dia tōn ouraniōn phōstērōn, estō de kai tēn hygran kai tēn xēran kai tēn synkrasin tōn sōmatōn theiazousa.
And in this way the noble philosophy of the Greeks has appeared, as if by stage machinery, raising the promise of its doctrine on high, but turning the minds of the wise round and down toward the sensible and visible creation of God, and deifying nothing more than fire and the hot substance, and the parts of the world through the heavenly luminaries, and, let us grant, also the moist and the dry and the mixture of bodies.
Notes and citation
Summary: Greek philosophy promises much but deifies only fire and the material parts of the world.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): λό- γου → λόγου.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.6.4 (Dindorf 1:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-6-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.6.5Dindorf 1:117
πῶς οὖν οὐ μέγα καὶ θαυμάσιον τὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ εὐαγγέλιον, πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων παιδεῦον τὸν ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης θεὸν καὶ δεσπότην καὶ δημιουργὸν τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου, αὐτὸν τὸν ἀνωτάτω καὶ ἐπέκεινα τῶν ὅλων, ταῖς προσηκούσαις ἐννοίαις εὐσεβεῖν;
pōs oun ou mega kai thaumasion to tou sōtēros hēmōn Iēsou tou Christou tou theou euangelion, pan genos anthrōpōn paideuon ton hēliou kai selēnēs theon kai despotēn kai dēmiourgon tou sympantos kosmou, auton ton anōtatō kai epekeina tōn holōn, tais prosēkousais ennoiais eusebein?
How, then, is not the gospel of our Savior Jesus, the Christ of God, great and wonderful, which teaches every race of men to worship with fitting thoughts the God and Lord of the sun and moon and creator of the whole universe, him who is the most high and beyond all things;
Notes and citation
Summary: The gospel teaches all people to worship the Creator of the sun and moon.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (words joined in digitization): τὸνἡλίου → τὸν ἡλίου.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.6.5 (Dindorf 1:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-6-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.6.6Dindorf 1:117–118
καὶ οὐ τὰ τῶν σωμάτων στοιχεῖα, ἀλλὰ τὸν ζωῆς αὐτῆς καὶ τροφὸν καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν ταμίαν ὑμνεῖν, μέρη τε τοῦ κόσμου τὰ ὁρώμενα καὶ πᾶν τὸ καταληπτὸν σαρκὸς αἰσθήσει, ὡς ἂν τῆς φθαρτῆς ὄντα φύσεως, οὐδαμῶς καταπλήττεσθαι, τὸν δʼ ἐν τούτοις ἅπασιν ἀόρατον, καὶ τὸν καθόλου τε καὶ κατὰ μέρος δημιουργικὸν νοῦν μόνον ἀποθαυμάζειν, καὶ θεολογεῖν μίαν μόνην ἐκείνην τὴν διήκουσαν καὶ διακοσμοῦσαν τὰ πάντα θείαν δύναμιν, ἀσώματον οὖσαν καὶ νοερὰν τὴν φύσιν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἄρρητον εἰπεῖν καὶ ἀκατάληπτον, διὰ πάντων, διʼ ὧν καὶ ἐνεργεῖ παραφαινομένην, διήκουσάν τε ἀσωμάτως καὶ ἀσυμπλόκως τὰ πάντα ἐπιπορευομένην, καὶ διὰ πάντων οὐκ οὐρανίων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, τῶν τε καθόλου στοιχείων καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ μέρους, τὴν τῆς θεότητος διαρκῆ μεγαλουργίαν ἐπιδεικνυμένην, πᾶσί τε ἀφανῶς καὶ ἡμῖν ἀνεπαισθήτως ἐπιστατοῦσαν, καὶ λόγοις ἀνεκφράστου σοφίας τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον διακυβερνῶσαν.
kai ou ta tōn sōmatōn stoicheia, alla ton zōēs autēs kai trophon kai pantōn tōn agathōn tamian hymnein, merē te tou kosmou ta horōmena kai pan to katalēpton sarkos aisthēsei, hōs an tēs phthartēs onta physeōs, oudamōs kataplēttesthai, ton dʼ en toutois hapasin aoraton, kai ton katholou te kai kata meros dēmiourgikon noun monon apothaumazein, kai theologein mian monēn ekeinēn tēn diēkousan kai diakosmousan ta panta theian dynamin, asōmaton ousan kai noeran tēn physin, mallon de arrēton eipein kai akatalēpton, dia pantōn, diʼ hōn kai energei paraphainomenēn, diēkousan te asōmatōs kai asymplokōs ta panta epiporeuomenēn, kai dia pantōn ouk ouraniōn monon, alla kai tōn epi gēs, tōn te katholou stoicheiōn kai tōn epi merous, tēn tēs theotētos diarkē megalourgian epideiknymenēn, pasi te aphanōs kai hēmin anepaisthētōs epistatousan, kai logois anekphrastou sophias ton sympanta kosmon diakybernōsan.
and to hymn not the elements of bodies but the nourisher of life itself and the steward of all good things; to be in no way struck with awe at the visible parts of the world and all that can be grasped by the senses of the flesh, since they are of perishable nature, but to admire only him who is invisible in all of these, the creative Mind of the whole and of the parts; and to proclaim as God that one divine power alone which pervades and orders all things, incorporeal and intellectual by nature, or rather ineffable and incomprehensible, appearing through all things through which it also works, pervading all things incorporeally and without mingling, and displaying through all things, not only heavenly but also earthly, both the universal elements and the particular ones, the sustaining mighty works of the Godhead; presiding over all invisibly and imperceptibly to us, and steering the whole world by the reasons of an inexpressible wisdom.
Notes and citation
Summary: The gospel teaches the worship of the one incorporeal divine power that pervades and governs all things.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined; stray punctuation in digitization): ἐνεργεῖ. παραφαινομένην → ἐνεργεῖ παραφαινομένην; ἀφα- νῶς → ἀφανῶς.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.6.6 (Dindorf 1:117–118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-6-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.6.7Dindorf 1:118
Τοσούτων ἡμῖν ἀποδεδειγμένων εἰς ἔλεγχον τῆς ἀσυστάτου σοφίας ἢ θεολογίας, τῆς τε λεγομένης μυθικωτέρας καὶ τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας δὴ καὶ φυσικωτέρας, ἣν οἱ παλαιοὶ Ἕλληνές τε καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι σεμνύνοντες ἀπεδείχθησαν, ὥρα καὶ τῶν νέων τῶν δὴ καθʼ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπαγγελλομένων ἐπαθρῆσαι τὰ καλλωπίσματα· οἵδε γὰρ τὰ περὶ νοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῶν ὅλων καὶ τὰ περὶ ἀσωμάτων ἰδεῶν νοερῶν τε καὶ λογικῶν δυνάμεων τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸν Πλάτωνα μακροῖς ποθʼ ὕστερον χρόνοις ἐφευρημένα καὶ λογισμοῖς ὀρθοῖς ἐπινενοημένα συμπλέξαι τῇ τῶν παλαιῶν θεολογίᾳ πεπειραμένοι μείζονι τύφῳ τὴν περὶ τῶν μύθων ἐπαγγελίαν ἐξῆραν. ἄκουε δʼ οὖν καὶ τῆς τούτων φυσιολογίας, μεθʼ οἴας ἐξενήνεκται τῷ Πορφυρίῳ ἀλαζονείας·
Tosoutōn hēmin apodedeigmenōn eis elenchon tēs asystatou sophias ē theologias, tēs te legomenēs mythikōteras kai tēs hypsēloteras dē kai physikōteras, hēn hoi palaioi Hellēnes te kai Aigyptioi semnynontes apedeichthēsan, hōra kai tōn neōn tōn dē kathʼ hēmas autous philosophein epangellomenōn epathrēsai ta kallōpismata; hoide gar ta peri nou dēmiourgou tōn holōn kai ta peri asōmatōn ideōn noerōn te kai logikōn dynameōn tois amphi ton Platōna makrois pothʼ hysteron chronois epheurēmena kai logismois orthois epinenoēmena symplexai tę̄ tōn palaiōn theologią pepeiramenoi meizoni typhǭ tēn peri tōn mythōn epangelian exēran. akoue dʼ oun kai tēs toutōn physiologias, methʼ oias exenēnektai tǭ Porphyriǭ alazoneias;
Since we have shown so much in refutation of the inconsistent wisdom or theology, both the so-called more mythical and the loftier and more physical one, which the ancient Greeks and Egyptians have been shown to glorify, it is time to look at the ornaments of the newcomers who profess to philosophize in our own time. These, attempting to weave into the theology of the ancients the doctrines about a creative Mind of the universe and about incorporeal ideas and intellectual and rational powers, which were discovered by Plato's school long ages afterward and conceived by right reasoning, have exalted their profession about the myths with greater pretension. Listen, then, to their natural philosophy too, with what boastfulness it has been put forth by Porphyry:
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius turns to the Neoplatonists, especially Porphyry, who combine Platonic ideas with the old myths.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization; breathing misread in digitization): οἶ παλαιοὶ → οἱ παλαιοὶ; οἳδε → οἵδε.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.6.7 (Dindorf 1:118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-6-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
Preparation 3, chapter 7
3.7.1Dindorf 1:118
‟ Φθέγξομαι οἷς θέμις ἐστὶ, θύρας δʼ ἐπίθεσθε βέβηλοι, σοφίας θεολόγου νοήματα δεικνὺς, οἷς τὸν θεὸν καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰς δυνάμεις διὰ εἰκόνων συμφύλων αἰσθήσει ἐμήνυσαν ἄνδρες τὰ ἀφανῆ φανεροῖς ὑποτυπώσαντες πλάσμασι, τοῖς καθάπερ ἐκ βίβλων τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ἀναλέγειν τὰ περὶ θεῶν μεμαθηκόσι γράμματα θαυμαστὸν δὲ οὐδὲν ξύλα καὶ λίθους ἡγεῖσθαι τὰ ξόανα τοὺς ἀμαθεστάτους, καθὰ δὴ καὶ τῶν γραμμάτων οἱ ἀνόητοι λίθους μὲν ὁρῶσι τὰς στήλας, ξύλα δὲ τὰς δέλτους, ἐξυφασμένην δὲ πάπυρον τὰς βίβλους.”
‟ Phthenxomai hois themis esti, thyras dʼ epithesthe bebēloi, sophias theologou noēmata deiknys, hois ton theon kai tou theou tas dynameis dia eikonōn symphylōn aisthēsei emēnysan andres ta aphanē phanerois hypotypōsantes plasmasi, tois kathaper ek biblōn tōn agalmatōn analegein ta peri theōn memathēkosi grammata thaumaston de ouden xyla kai lithous hēgeisthai ta xoana tous amathestatous, katha dē kai tōn grammatōn hoi anoētoi lithous men horōsi tas stēlas, xyla de tas deltous, exyphasmenēn de papyron tas biblous.”
"'I speak to those for whom it is lawful; close the doors, you profane,' showing the thoughts of a theological wisdom, by which men have made known God and the powers of God through images akin to sense, sketching invisible things in visible forms, for those who have learned to read in the statues, as in books, what is written about the gods. It is no wonder that the most ignorant think the images are wood and stones, just as those who do not know letters see the pillars as stones, the tablets as wood, and books as woven papyrus."
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry claims that statues express the invisible gods in visible forms, which the ignorant mistake for wood and stone.
- Porphyry, On Images (sections 3.7.1–4).
- The opening line imitates the Orphic formula of initiation.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent lost in digitization; accent misread in digitization; letter lost and accent misread in digitization): οἶς θέμις → οἷς θέμις; δεικὺς, οἶς → δεικνὺς, οἷς; βιβλους → βίβλους.
Extrabiblical texts: Orpheus (attributed), Orph. frag. (Orpheus (attributed), Orphic poems (fragments); allusion); Porphyry, Imag. (Porphyry, On Images; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.7.1 (Dindorf 1:118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-7-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.7.2Dindorf 1:118–119
Τοιαῦτα δὲ ὡς ἐν προοιμίῳ κατακοσμήσας ἄκουε οἷα προιὼν ἐξῆς γράφει πρὸς λέξιν ‟ Φωτοειδοῦς δὲ ὄντος τοῦ θείου καὶ ἐν πυρὸς αἰθερίου περιχύσει διάγοντος, ἀφανοῦς τε τυγχάνοντος αἰσθήσει περὶ θνητὸν βίον ἀσχόλῳ, διὰ μὲν τῆς διαυγοῦς ὕλης, οἷον κρυστάλλου ἢ Παρίου λίθου ἢ καὶ ἐλέφαντος, εἰς τὴν τοῦ φωτὸς αὐτοῦ ἔννοιαν ἐνῆγε, διὰ δὲ τῆς τοῦ χρυσοῦ εἰς τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς διανόησιν, καὶ τὸ ἀμίαντον αὐτοῦ, ὅτι χρυσὸς οὐ μιαίνεται.
Toiauta de hōs en prooimiǭ katakosmēsas akoue hoia proiōn exēs graphei pros lexin ‟ Phōtoeidous de ontos tou theiou kai en pyros aitheriou perichysei diagontos, aphanous te tynchanontos aisthēsei peri thnēton bion ascholǭ, dia men tēs diaugous hylēs, hoion krystallou ē Pariou lithou ē kai elephantos, eis tēn tou phōtos autou ennoian enēge, dia de tēs tou chrysou eis tēn tou pyros dianoēsin, kai to amianton autou, hoti chrysos ou miainetai.
Having adorned his preface in this way, listen to what he writes next as he proceeds, word for word: "Since the divine is of the nature of light and dwells in a surrounding of ethereal fire, and is invisible to sense busied with mortal life, by means of transparent material, such as crystal or Parian marble or ivory, he led men to the notion of its light; and by gold to the conception of its fire, and of its undefiled nature, since gold is not defiled.
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry explains that transparent stone and gold represent the light and fire of the divine.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization): οἶον κρυστάλλου → οἷον κρυστάλλου.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Imag. (Porphyry, On Images; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.7.2 (Dindorf 1:118–119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-7-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.7.3Dindorf 1:119
πολλοὶ δὲ αὖ καὶ μέλανι λίθῳ τὸ ἀφανὲς αὐτοῦ τῆς οὐσίας ἐδήλωσαν, καὶ ἀνθρωποειδεῖς μὲν ἀπετύπουν τοὺς θεοὺς ὅτι λογικὸν τὸ θεῖον, καλοὺς δὲ, ὅτι κάλλος ἐν ἐκείνοις ἀκήρατον· διαφόροις δὲ σχήμασι καὶ ἡλικίαις, καθέδραις τε καὶ στάσεσι καὶ ἀμφιάσεσι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄρρενας, τὰς δὲ θηλείας, καὶ παρθένους, καὶ ἐφήβους, ἢ γάμου πεῖραν εἰληφότας, εἰς παράστασιν αὐτῶν τῆς διαφορᾶς.
polloi de au kai melani lithǭ to aphanes autou tēs ousias edēlōsan, kai anthrōpoeideis men apetypoun tous theous hoti logikon to theion, kalous de, hoti kallos en ekeinois akēraton; diaphorois de schēmasi kai hēlikiais, kathedrais te kai stasesi kai amphiasesi, kai tous men arrenas, tas de thēleias, kai parthenous, kai ephēbous, ē gamou peiran eilēphotas, eis parastasin autōn tēs diaphoras.
Many again showed the invisibility of its substance by black stone; and they represented the gods in human form because the divine is rational, and beautiful because in them there is pure beauty; in various shapes and ages, sitting and standing and clothed, some male and some female, maidens and youths, or those who have experienced marriage, to represent their differences.
Notes and citation
Summary: Statues' materials, forms, and poses symbolize the gods' qualities.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): στά- σεσι → στάσεσι.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Imag. (Porphyry, On Images; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.7.3 (Dindorf 1:119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-7-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.7.4Dindorf 1:119
ὅθεν πᾶν τὸ λευκὸν τοῖς οὐρανίοις θεοῖς ἀπένειμαν, σφαῖράν τε καὶ τὰ σφαιρικὰ πάντα ἰδίως τε κόσμῳ καὶ ἡλίῳ καὶ σελήνῃ, ἔσθʼ ὅπου δὲ καὶ τύχῃ καὶ ἐλπίδι· κύκλον δὲ καὶ τὰ κυκλικὰ αἰῶνι καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν κινήσει ταῖς τε ἐν αὐτῷ ζώναις καὶ τοῖς κύκλοις· κύκλων δὲ τμήματα τοῖς σχηματισμοῖς τῆς σελήνης· πυραμίδας δὲ καὶ ὀβελίσκους τῇ πυρὸς οὐσίᾳ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῖς Ὀλυμπίοις θεοῖς· ὥσπερ αὖ κῶνον μὲν ἡλίῳ, γῇ δὲ κύλινδρον, σπορᾷ δὲ καὶ γενέσει φάλητα, καὶ τὸ τρίγωνον σχῆμα διὰ τὸ μόριον τῆς θηλείας.”
hothen pan to leukon tois ouraniois theois apeneiman, sphairan te kai ta sphairika panta idiōs te kosmǭ kai hēliǭ kai selēnę̄, esthʼ hopou de kai tychę̄ kai elpidi; kyklon de kai ta kyklika aiōni kai tę̄ kata ton ouranon kinēsei tais te en autǭ zōnais kai tois kyklois; kyklōn de tmēmata tois schēmatismois tēs selēnēs; pyramidas de kai obeliskous tę̄ pyros ousią, kai dia touto tois Olympiois theois; hōsper au kōnon men hēliǭ, gę̄ de kylindron, sporą de kai genesei phalēta, kai to trigōnon schēma dia to morion tēs thēleias.”
Hence they assigned everything white to the heavenly gods, and the sphere and all spherical things particularly to the cosmos, the sun, and the moon, and sometimes also to Fortune and Hope; the circle and circular things to eternity and to the motion of the heaven and its zones and circles; segments of circles to the phases of the moon; pyramids and obelisks to the substance of fire, and therefore to the Olympian gods; as again the cone to the sun, the cylinder to the earth, the phallus to sowing and generation, and the triangular figure because of the female part."
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry assigns colors and shapes symbolically to the gods.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Imag. (Porphyry, On Images; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.7.4 (Dindorf 1:119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-7-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.7.5Dindorf 1:119–120
Ταῦτα ὁ θαυμαστὸς φιλόσοφος, ὧν τί ἂν γένοιτο ἀσχημονέστερον τὰ αἰσχρὰ σεμνολογοῦσιν, τί δὲ βιαιότερον τὰς ἀψύχους ὕλας, χρυσὸν καὶ λίθον καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, εἰκόνας φέρειν τοῦ φωτὸς τῶν θεῶν καὶ τῆς οὐρανίου καὶ αἰθερίου φύσεως δηλώματα φάσκειν; ὅτι δὲ τῶν νέων ἐστὶ ταῦτα σοφίσματα, μηδʼ ὄναρ τῶν παλαιῶν εἰς ἐνθύμησιν ἐλθόν, γνοίης ἂν μαθὼν ὅτι καὶ ἀπόβλητα ἦν παρὰ τοῖς προτέροις τὰ διὰ χρυσοῦ καὶ τῆς νομιζομένης πολυτελεστέρας ὕλης ξόανα. λέγει δʼ οὖν Πλούταρχος ὧδέ πη κατὰ λέξιν
Tauta ho thaumastos philosophos, hōn ti an genoito aschēmonesteron ta aischra semnologousin, ti de biaioteron tas apsychous hylas, chryson kai lithon kai ta toiauta, eikonas pherein tou phōtos tōn theōn kai tēs ouraniou kai aitheriou physeōs dēlōmata phaskein? hoti de tōn neōn esti tauta sophismata, mēdʼ onar tōn palaiōn eis enthymēsin elthon, gnoiēs an mathōn hoti kai apoblēta ēn para tois proterois ta dia chrysou kai tēs nomizomenēs polytelesteras hylēs xoana. legei dʼ oun Ploutarchos hōde pē kata lexin
So says the admirable philosopher. What could be more unseemly than his solemn language about shameful things, and what more forced than to say that lifeless materials, gold and stone and the like, bear images of the light of the gods and are signs of their heavenly and ethereal nature? That these are sophistries of the newcomers, which never came into the minds of the ancients even in a dream, you would know on learning that images of gold and of the material thought more costly were rejected by the earlier men. At any rate Plutarch says, word for word, somewhat as follows:
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius calls Porphyry's symbolism a modern sophistry and cites Plutarch on the earliest images.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.7.5 (Dindorf 1:119–120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-7-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
Preparation 3, chapter 8
3.8.1Dindorf 1:120
‟Ἡ δὲ τῶν ξοάνων ποίησις ἀρχαῖον ἔοικεν εἶναί τι καὶ παλαιὸν, εἴ γε ξύλινον μὲν ἦν τὸ πρῶτον εἰς Δῆλον ὑπὸ Ἐρυσίχθονος Ἀπόλλωνι ἐπὶ τῶν θεωριῶν ἄγαλμα, ξύλινον δὲ τὸ τῆς Πολιάδος ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτοχθόνων ἱδρυθὲν, ὃ μέχρι νῦν Ἀθηναῖοι διαφυλάττουσιν. Ἥρας δὲ καὶ Σάμιοι ξύλινον εἶχον ἕδος, ὥς φησι Καλλίμαχος Οὔπω Σκέλμιον ἔργον ἐύξοον, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τεθμὸν δηναιὸν γλυφάνων ἄξοος ἦσθα σανίς. ὧδε γὰρ ἱδρύοντο θεοὺς τότε· καὶ γὰρ Ἀθήνης ἐν Λίνδῳ Δαναὸς λᾶαν ἔθηκεν ἕδος. λέγεται δὲ Πείρας ὁ πρῶτος Ἀργολίδος Ἥρας ἱερὸν εἱσάμενος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα Καλλίθυιαν ἱέρειαν καταστήσας, ἐκ τῶν περὶ Τίρυνθα δένδρων ὄγχνην τεμὼν εὐκτέανον Ἥρας ἄγαλμα μορφῶσαι. πέτραν μὲν γὰρ εἰς θεοῦ κόπτειν εἰκόνα σκληρὰν καὶ δύσεργον καὶ ἄψυχον οὐκ ἐβούλοντο, χρυσὸν δὲ καὶ ἄργυρον ἡγοῦντο γῆς ἀκάρπου καὶ διεφθαρμένης χρώματα νοσώδη καὶ κηλῖδας ἐξανθεῖν ὥσπερ μώλωπας ὑπὸ πυρὸς ῥαπισθείσης· ἐλέφαντι δὲ παίζοντες μὲν ἴσθʼ ὅπου προσεχρῶντο, ποικίλματι τρυφῆς.”
‟Hē de tōn xoanōn poiēsis archaion eoiken einai ti kai palaion, ei ge xylinon men ēn to prōton eis Dēlon hypo Erysichthonos Apollōni epi tōn theōriōn agalma, xylinon de to tēs Poliados hypo tōn autochthonōn hidrythen, ho mechri nyn Athēnaioi diaphylattousin. Hēras de kai Samioi xylinon eichon hedos, hōs phēsi Kallimachos Oupō Skelmion ergon euxoon, allʼ epi tethmon dēnaion glyphanōn axoos ēstha sanis. hōde gar hidryonto theous tote; kai gar Athēnēs en Lindǭ Danaos laan ethēken hedos. legetai de Peiras ho prōtos Argolidos Hēras hieron heisamenos tēn heautou thygatera Kallithuian hiereian katastēsas, ek tōn peri Tiryntha dendrōn onchnēn temōn eukteanon Hēras agalma morphōsai. petran men gar eis theou koptein eikona sklēran kai dysergon kai apsychon ouk eboulonto, chryson de kai argyron hēgounto gēs akarpou kai diephtharmenēs chrōmata nosōdē kai kēlidas exanthein hōsper mōlōpas hypo pyros rhapistheisēs; elephanti de paizontes men isthʼ hopou prosechrōnto, poikilmati tryphēs.”
"The making of images seems to be something ancient and old, if the first statue sent to Delos by Erysichthon for Apollo on the sacred embassies was of wood, and of wood too the image of Polias set up by the original inhabitants, which the Athenians preserve to this day. The Samians too had a wooden seat of Hera, as Callimachus says: 'Not yet the work of Scelmis, well carved, but after the ancient custom you were a plank untouched by chisels. For so they set up gods then; for Danaus too placed a stone as the seat of Athena in Lindus.' Peiras, they say, who first founded the temple of Argive Hera and made his own daughter Callithyia priestess, cut down a fine pear tree from the trees around Tiryns and shaped an image of Hera. For they did not wish to cut stone into the image of a god, as hard, difficult to work, and lifeless; and they thought that gold and silver were diseased colors and stains of barren and corrupted earth breaking out, like bruises from the strokes of fire. Ivory they sometimes used in play, as an ornament of luxury."
Notes and citation
Summary: Plutarch says the earliest images were of wood, since stone, gold, and silver were thought unfit for gods.
- Plutarch, fragment on the Daedala (158 Sandbach), quoting Callimachus, Aetia frag. 100–101 (Pfeiffer).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (breathing misread in digitization): ‟῾Η δὲ → ‟Ἡ δὲ.
Extrabiblical texts: Plutarch, Daedala frag. (Plutarch; quotation); Callimachus, Aet. frag. 100 (Callimachus (hymns and fragments); quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.8.1 (Dindorf 1:120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-8-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.8.2Dindorf 1:120–121
Ταῦτα ὁ Πλούταρχος· καὶ τούτου δὲ πολὺ πρότερον ὁ Πλάτων οὐδὲν εἶναι σεμνὸν οὐδὲ προσεοικὸς θείᾳ φύσει ἐν χρυσῷ καὶ λίθοις καὶ ἐλέφαντι τοῖς τε ἐξ ὕλης ἀψύχου κατασκευάσμασιν εὖ μάλα εἰδὼς, ἐπάκουσον ἐν τοῖς Νόμοις ὁποῖα διατάττεται “Γῆ μὲν οὖν ἑστία τε οἰκήσεως ἱερὰ πᾶσι πάντων θεῶν· μηδεὶς οὖν δευτέρως ἱερὰ καθιερούτω θεοῖς. χρυσὸς δὲ καὶ ἄργυρος ἐν ἄλλαις πόλεσιν ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ ἐν ἱεροῖς ἐπίφθονόν ἐστι κτῆμα, ἐλέφας δὲ ἀπολελοιπότος ψυχὴν σώματος οὐκ εὐαγὲς ἀνάθημα· σίδηρος δὲ καὶ χαλκὸς πολέμων ὄργανα.’’ Ταῦτα δὲ σαφῆ περιέχειν ἡγοῦμαι τῆς προτεθείσης ἀνατροπὴν φυσιολογίας, ἧς φέρε καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπιθεωρήσωμεν. ἐπάκουσον οὖν οἷά φησιν
Tauta ho Ploutarchos; kai toutou de poly proteron ho Platōn ouden einai semnon oude proseoikos theią physei en chrysǭ kai lithois kai elephanti tois te ex hylēs apsychou kataskeuasmasin eu mala eidōs, epakouson en tois Nomois hopoia diatattetai “Gē men oun hestia te oikēseōs hiera pasi pantōn theōn; mēdeis oun deuterōs hiera kathieroutō theois. chrysos de kai argyros en allais polesin idią te kai en hierois epiphthonon esti ktēma, elephas de apoleloipotos psychēn sōmatos ouk euages anathēma; sidēros de kai chalkos polemōn organa.’’ Tauta de saphē periechein hēgoumai tēs protetheisēs anatropēn physiologias, hēs phere kai ta loipa epitheōrēsōmen. epakouson oun hoia phēsin
So says Plutarch. And Plato, long before him, knowing well that there is nothing dignified or resembling the divine nature in gold, stones, ivory, and things made of lifeless matter, listen to what he ordains in the Laws: "The earth, then, and the hearth of every dwelling are sacred to all the gods; let no one, then, consecrate sacred objects to the gods a second time. Gold and silver, in other cities, both privately and in temples, are an invidious possession; ivory, from a body that has left its soul, is not a pure offering; iron and bronze are instruments of war." I think these words contain a clear refutation of the natural philosophy set out before. Come, let us examine the rest of it too. Listen, then, to what he says:
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato too held that gold, silver, ivory, and bronze are unfit offerings for the gods.
- Plato, Laws 12.955e–956a.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization; stray mark in digitization): Πλάτωνʼ → Πλάτων; οἶά φησιν → οἷά φησιν.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Leg. 955e (Plato (works); quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.8.2 (Dindorf 1:120–121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-8-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
Preparation 3, chapter 9
3.9.1Dindorf 1:121
‟Ὅρα δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφίαν οὑτωσὶ διασκοπούμενος. τὸν γὰρ Δία τὸν νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου ὑπολαμβάνοντες, ὃς τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐδημιούργησεν ἔχων τὸν κόσμον, ἐν μὲν ταῖς θεολογίαις ταύτῃ περὶ αὐτοῦ παραδεδώκασιν οἱ τὰ Ὀρφέως εἰπόντες·
‟Hora de tēn tōn Hellēnōn sophian houtōsi diaskopoumenos. ton gar Dia ton noun tou kosmou hypolambanontes, hos ta en autǭ edēmiourgēsen echōn ton kosmon, en men tais theologiais tautę̄ peri autou paradedōkasin hoi ta Orpheōs eipontes;
"See the wisdom of the Greeks by examining it in this way. Taking Zeus to be the mind of the world, which created the things in it, holding the world within itself, those who composed the Orphic verses have handed down this about him in their theologies:
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry introduces the Orphic hymn presenting Zeus as the mind of the world.
- Porphyry, On Images (sections 3.9.1–5), quoting the Orphic hymn to Zeus.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Imag. (Porphyry, On Images; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.1 (Dindorf 1:121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.2Dindorf 1:121–122
Ζεὺς πρῶτος γένετο, Ζεὺς ὕστατος ἀργικέραυνος, Ζεὺς κεφαλὴ, Ζεὺς μέσσα, Δῖός δʼ ἐκ πάντα τέτυκται. Ζεὺς ἄρσην γένετο, Ζεὺς ἄφθιτος ἔπλετο νύμφη. Ζεὺς πυθμὴν γαίης τε καὶ οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος. Ζεὺς βασιλεὺς, Ζεὺς αὐτὸς ἁπάντων ἀρχιγένεθλος. ἓν κράτος, εἶς δαίμων γένετο, μέγας ἀρχὸς ἁπάντων, ἓν δὲ δέμας βασίλειον, ἐν ᾧ τάδε πάντα κυκλεῖται, πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα καὶ αἰθὴρ, νύξ τε καὶ ἦμαρ, καὶ Μῆτις, πρῶτος γενέτωρ καὶ Ἕρως πολυτερπής· πάντα γὰρ ἐν μεγάλῳ Ζῆνός τάδε σώματι κεῖται. τοῦ δή τοι κεφαλὴν μὲν ἰδεῖν καὶ καλὰ πρόσωπα οὐρανὸς αἰγλήεις, ὃν χρύσεαι ἀμφὶς ἔθειραι ἄστρων μαρμαρέων περικαλλέες ἠερέθονται, ταύρεα δʼ ἀμφοτέρωθε δύο χρύσεια κέρατα, ἀντολίη τε δύσις τε, θεῶν ὁδοὶ Οὐρανιώνων, ὄμματα δʼ ἠέλιός τε καὶ ἀντιόωσα σελήνη. νοῦς δέ οἱ ἀψευδὴς, βασιλήϊος, ἄφθιτος αἰθὴρ, ᾧ δὴ πάντα κυκλεῖ καὶ φράζεται, οὐδέ τις ἐστὶν αὐδὴ, οὔτʼ ἐνοπὴ, οὔτε κτύπος, οὐδὲ μὲν ὄσσα, ἣ λήθει Διὸς οὖας ὑπερμενέος Κρονίωνος. ὧδε μὲν ἀθανάτην κεφαλὴν ἔχει ἠδὲ νόημα· Σῶμα δέ οἱ περιφεγγὲς, ἀπείριτον, ἀστυφέλικτον, ὄβριμον, ὀβριμόγυιον, ὑπερμενὲς ὧδε τέτυκται. Ὦμοι μὲν καὶ στέρνα καὶ εὐρέα νῶτα θεοῖο ἀὴρ εὐρυβίης, πτέρυγες δέ οἱ ἐξεφύοντο, τῇς ἐπὶ πάντα ποτᾶθʼ, ἱερὴ δέ οἱ ἔπλετο νηδὺς, γαῖα τε παμμήτειρʼ ὁρέων τʼ αἰπεινὰ κάρηνα· μέσση δὲ ζώνη βαρυηχέος οἶδμα θαλάσσης καὶ πόντου· πυμάτη δὲ βάσις, χθονὸς ἔνδοθι ῥίζαι, Τάρταρά τʼ εὐρώεντα καὶ ἔσχατα πείρατα γαίης. Πάντα δʼ ἀποκρύψας αὖθις φάος ἐς πολυγηθὲς μέλλεν ἀπὸ κραδίης προφέρειν πάλι, θέσκελα ῤέζων.
Zeus prōtos geneto, Zeus hystatos argikeraunos, Zeus kephalē, Zeus messa, Dios dʼ ek panta tetyktai. Zeus arsēn geneto, Zeus aphthitos epleto nymphē. Zeus pythmēn gaiēs te kai ouranou asteroentos. Zeus basileus, Zeus autos hapantōn archigenethlos. hen kratos, eis daimōn geneto, megas archos hapantōn, hen de demas basileion, en hǭ tade panta kykleitai, pyr kai hydōr kai gaia kai aithēr, nyx te kai ēmar, kai Mētis, prōtos genetōr kai Herōs polyterpēs; panta gar en megalǭ Zēnos tade sōmati keitai. tou dē toi kephalēn men idein kai kala prosōpa ouranos aiglēeis, hon chryseai amphis etheirai astrōn marmareōn perikallees ēerethontai, taurea dʼ amphoterōthe dyo chryseia kerata, antoliē te dysis te, theōn hodoi Ouraniōnōn, ommata dʼ ēelios te kai antioōsa selēnē. nous de hoi apseudēs, basilēïos, aphthitos aithēr, hǭ dē panta kyklei kai phrazetai, oude tis estin audē, outʼ enopē, oute ktypos, oude men ossa, hē lēthei Dios ouas hypermeneos Kroniōnos. hōde men athanatēn kephalēn echei ēde noēma; Sōma de hoi periphenges, apeiriton, astyphelikton, obrimon, obrimoguion, hypermenes hōde tetyktai. Ōmoi men kai sterna kai eurea nōta theoio aēr eurybiēs, pteryges de hoi exephyonto, tę̄s epi panta potathʼ, hierē de hoi epleto nēdys, gaia te pammēteirʼ horeōn tʼ aipeina karēna; messē de zōnē baryēcheos oidma thalassēs kai pontou; pymatē de basis, chthonos endothi rhizai, Tartara tʼ eurōenta kai eschata peirata gaiēs. Panta dʼ apokrypsas authis phaos es polygēthes mellen apo kradiēs propherein pali, theskela rezōn.
'Zeus was first, Zeus last, lord of the bright lightning; Zeus the head, Zeus the middle, and from Zeus all things were made. Zeus became male, Zeus was an immortal bride. Zeus is the foundation of the earth and of the starry heaven. Zeus is king, Zeus himself the first begetter of all. One power, one deity he became, great ruler of all; one royal body, in which all these things revolve: fire and water and earth and ether, night and day, and Metis, first begetter, and delightful Eros. For all these things lie in the great body of Zeus. His head and fair face, to look upon, are the shining heaven, around which his golden locks, the beautiful glittering stars, float in the air; on either side two golden bull's horns, the rising and the setting, the paths of the heavenly gods; his eyes the sun and the moon that faces it. His mind is the unerring, royal, imperishable ether, by which he moves and considers all things; nor is there any voice, nor cry, nor sound, nor rumor, that escapes the ear of the mighty son of Cronus. So he has an immortal head and thought. His body is radiant, boundless, unshaken, mighty, strong-limbed, of surpassing power, made thus: the shoulders, chest, and broad back of the god are the wide-ruling air, and wings grew from him, with which he flies over all things; his holy belly is the earth, mother of all, and the lofty peaks of the mountains; his middle girdle the swell of the deep-roaring sea and the main; the lowest base, the roots within the earth, the dank Tartarus and the farthest bounds of the earth. And having hidden all things, he was again to bring them forth from his heart into the gladsome light, working wonders.'
Notes and citation
Summary: The Orphic hymn describes Zeus as the whole universe, with heaven as his head and the ether as his mind.
- Orphic fragment 168 (Kern).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent misplaced in digitization; accent misread in digitization; breathing and accent lost in digitization; stray bracket in digitization; stray letter in digitization; stray mark and breathing misread in digitization): ‘ἐν κράτος → ἓν κράτος; ‘ὲν δὲ δέμας → ἓν δὲ δέμας; ἐν ᾡ τάδε → ἐν ᾧ τάδε; ὢ ταύρεα → ταύρεα; ἀψευδ]ὴς → ἀψευδὴς; κτύοπος → κτύπος; Ωμοι → Ὦμοι; στγέρνα → στέρνα; πέιρατα → πείρατα.
Extrabiblical texts: Orpheus (attributed), Orph. frag. 168 (Orpheus (attributed), Orphic poems (fragments); quotation); Porphyry, Imag. (Porphyry, On Images; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.2 (Dindorf 1:121–122; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.3Dindorf 1:122
Ζεὺς οὖν ὁ πᾶς κόσμος, ζῷον ἐκ ζῴων καὶ θεὸς ἐκ θεῶν· Ζεὺς δὲ, καθὸ νοῦς, ἀφʼ οὗ προφέρει πάντα καὶ δημιουργεῖ τοῖς νοήμασι.
Zeus oun ho pas kosmos, zǭon ek zǭōn kai theos ek theōn; Zeus de, katho nous, aphʼ hou propherei panta kai dēmiourgei tois noēmasi.
Zeus, then, is the whole world, living being from living beings and god from gods; but Zeus as mind, from which he brings forth all things and creates by his thoughts.
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry interprets Zeus as the world and as the creative mind.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Imag. (Porphyry, On Images; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.3 (Dindorf 1:122; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.4Dindorf 1:122
Τῶν δὴ θεολόγων τὰ δὴ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦτον ἐξηγησαμένων τὸν τρόπον, εἰκόνα μὲν τοιαύτην δημιουργεῖν, οἵαν ὁ λόγος ἐμήνυσεν, οὔθʼ οἷόν τε ἦν οὔτʼ, εἴ τις ἐπενόησε, τὸ ζωτικὸν καὶ νοερὸν καὶ προνοητικὸν διὰ τῆς σφαίρας ἐδείκνυεν.
Tōn dē theologōn ta dē peri tou theou touton exēgēsamenōn ton tropon, eikona men toiautēn dēmiourgein, hoian ho logos emēnysen, outhʼ hoion te ēn outʼ, ei tis epenoēse, to zōtikon kai noeron kai pronoētikon dia tēs sphairas edeiknyen.
When the theologians had explained the things about God in this way, it was neither possible to make an image such as the account indicated, nor, if anyone had devised one, would it have shown by a sphere the living, intelligent, and provident nature.
Notes and citation
Summary: No image could adequately portray such a god.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Imag. (Porphyry, On Images; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.4 (Dindorf 1:122; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.5Dindorf 1:122–123
ἀνθρωπόμορφον δὲ τοῦ Διὸς τὸ δείκηλον πεποιήκασιν, ὅτι νοῦς ἦν καθʼ ὃν ἐδημιούργει καὶ λόγοις σπερματικοῖς ἀπετέλει τὰ πάντα· κάθηται δὲ, τὸ ἑδραῖον τῆς δυνάμεως αἰνιττόμενος· γυμνὰ δὲ ἔχει τὰ ἄνω, ὅτι φανερὸς ἐν τοῖς νοεροῖς καὶ τοῖς οὐρανίοις τοῦ κόσμου μέρεσίν ἐστι· σκέπεται δὲ αὐτῷ τὰ πρόσθια, ὅτι ἀφανὴς τοῖς κάτω κεκρυμμένοις· ἔχει δὲ τῇ μὲν λαιᾷ τὸ σκῆπτρον, καθʼ ὃ μάλιστα τῶν τοῦ σώματος μερῶν τὸ ἡγεμονικώτατόν τε καὶ νοερώτατον ὑποικουρεῖ σπλάγχνον, ἡ καρδία· βασιλεὺς γὰρ τοῦ κόσμου ὁ δημιουργικὸς νοῦς· προτείνει δὲ τῇ δεξιᾷ ἢ ἀετὸν, ὅτι κρατεῖ τῶν ἀεροπόρων θεῶν, ὡς τῶν μεταρσίων ὀρνέων ὁ ἀετὸς, ἢ νίκην, ὅτι νενίκηκεν αὐτὸς πάντα.”
anthrōpomorphon de tou Dios to deikēlon pepoiēkasin, hoti nous ēn kathʼ hon edēmiourgei kai logois spermatikois apetelei ta panta; kathētai de, to hedraion tēs dynameōs ainittomenos; gymna de echei ta anō, hoti phaneros en tois noerois kai tois ouraniois tou kosmou meresin esti; skepetai de autǭ ta prosthia, hoti aphanēs tois katō kekrymmenois; echei de tę̄ men laią to skēptron, kathʼ ho malista tōn tou sōmatos merōn to hēgemonikōtaton te kai noerōtaton hypoikourei splanchnon, hē kardia; basileus gar tou kosmou ho dēmiourgikos nous; proteinei de tę̄ dexią ē aeton, hoti kratei tōn aeroporōn theōn, hōs tōn metarsiōn orneōn ho aetos, ē nikēn, hoti nenikēken autos panta.”
So they have made the image of Zeus in human form, because he was mind, by which he created and completed all things by seminal reasons. He is seated, hinting at the steadfastness of his power; he has his upper parts bare, because he is manifest in the intellectual and heavenly parts of the world; his front parts are covered, because he is invisible to things hidden below. He holds the scepter in his left hand, on the side where the heart, the most commanding and most intelligent of the organs of the body, dwells; for the creative mind is king of the world. In his right hand he holds out either an eagle, because he rules the gods who travel through the air, as the eagle rules the birds on high, or a Victory, because he himself has conquered all things."
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry explains each feature of the statue of Zeus as a symbol.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (capital misread in digitization; final sigma misplaced in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined; repeated letter in digitization): μέρεςίν → μέρεσίν; Κεκρυμμένοις → κεκρυμμένοις; σπλλάγχνον → σπλάγχνον; καρ- δία → καρδία.
Extrabiblical texts: Porphyry, Imag. (Porphyry, On Images; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.5 (Dindorf 1:122–123; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.6Dindorf 1:123
Ταῦτά σοι ὁ Πορφύριος, ὧν τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ἀποδεδομένων ἠρέμα καὶ ἐπὶ σχολῆς ἐπιθεωρῆσαι καλὸν τίνα ποτὲ ἄρα τὸν Δία φασὶν εἷναι τὰ ἔπη. ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲ ἄλλον ἡγοῦμαι ἢ τὸν ὁρώμενον κόσμον ἐκ παντοίων συνεστῶτα μερῶν, τῶν τε κατʼ οὐρανὸν καὶ αἰθέρα καὶ τῶν ἐν τούτοις φαινομένων ἄστρων, ὥσπερ ἐν μεγάλου σώματος κεφαλῇ προτεταγμένων, τῶν τε ἐν ἀέρι καὶ γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ καὶ τοῖς παραπλησίοις.
Tauta soi ho Porphyrios, hōn ton eirēmenon tropon apodedomenōn ērema kai epi scholēs epitheōrēsai kalon tina pote ara ton Dia phasin heinai ta epē. egō men gar oude allon hēgoumai ē ton horōmenon kosmon ek pantoiōn synestōta merōn, tōn te katʼ ouranon kai aithera kai tōn en toutois phainomenōn astrōn, hōsper en megalou sōmatos kephalę̄ protetagmenōn, tōn te en aeri kai gę̄ kai thalattę̄ kai tois paraplēsiois.
Such is what Porphyry offers you. Since they have been given in the way described, it is well to examine quietly and at leisure whom the verses say Zeus is. I think he is none other than the visible world, composed of all kinds of parts: those in heaven and the ether, and the stars that appear in them, set first as in the head of a great body, and those in the air, the earth, the sea, and the like.
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius argues that the Orphic Zeus is simply the visible world.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.6 (Dindorf 1:123; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.7Dindorf 1:123
μέρη γοῦν κόσμου καὶ γῆ καὶ ὄρη καὶ βουνοὶ, εἱλεῖταί τε αὐτῶν ἐν μέσῳ ζώνης τρόπον ἡ θάλαττα, καὶ πῦρ δὲ καὶ ὕδωρ νύξ τε καὶ ἡμέρα τῆς αὐτῆς εἶεν ἂν τοῦ κόσμου φύσεως μέρη. ταῦτα δʼ ἄντικρυς τὸν ὁρώμενον ὑποφαίνειν ἡγοῦμαι κόσμον, εἰ μή τι καὶ σφάλλομαι, καὶ τὸ ὅλον ἐκ μερῶν συνεστὼς διδάσκει.
merē goun kosmou kai gē kai orē kai bounoi, heileitai te autōn en mesǭ zōnēs tropon hē thalatta, kai pyr de kai hydōr nyx te kai hēmera tēs autēs eien an tou kosmou physeōs merē. tauta dʼ antikrys ton horōmenon hypophainein hēgoumai kosmon, ei mē ti kai sphallomai, kai to holon ek merōn synestōs didaskei.
Earth, mountains, and hills are parts of the world, and the sea winds round in the midst of them like a girdle; fire and water, night and day, would be parts of the same nature of the world. These, unless I am mistaken, plainly indicate the visible world, and teach that the whole is composed of parts.
Notes and citation
Summary: The hymn's 'parts' of Zeus are parts of the visible world.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.7 (Dindorf 1:123; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.8Dindorf 1:123
λέγει δʼ οὖν Πάντα γὰρ ἐν μεγάλῳ Ζῆνός τάδε σώματι κεῖται. καὶ τίνα τὰ πάντα διασαφεῖ πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα καὶ αἰθὴρ, νύξ τε καὶ ἦμαρ. τοῦ δή τοι κεφαλὴν μὲν ἰδεῖν καὶ καλὰ πρόσωπα οὐρανὸς αἰγλήεις, ὃν χρύσεαι ἀμφὶς ἔθειραι ἄστρων μαρμαρέων περικαλλέες ἠερέθονται,
legei dʼ oun Panta gar en megalǭ Zēnos tade sōmati keitai. kai tina ta panta diasaphei pyr kai hydōr kai gaia kai aithēr, nyx te kai ēmar. tou dē toi kephalēn men idein kai kala prosōpa ouranos aiglēeis, hon chryseai amphis etheirai astrōn marmareōn perikallees ēerethontai,
At any rate he says: 'For all these things lie in the great body of Zeus.' And he makes clear what 'all things' are: 'fire and water and earth and ether, night and day.' 'His head and fair face, to look upon, are the shining heaven, around which his golden locks, the beautiful glittering stars, float in the air,'
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius quotes the hymn's own lines to show it means the material world.
Extrabiblical texts: Orpheus (attributed), Orph. frag. 168 (Orpheus (attributed), Orphic poems (fragments); quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.8 (Dindorf 1:123; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.9Dindorf 1:123–124
καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα· ἐν οἷς ἐπιφέρει τὸν νοῦν τοῦ Δῖός λέγων εἶναι τὸν αἰθέρα καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο, κατὰ τοὺς Στωϊκοὺς τὴν πυρώδη καὶ θερμὴν οὐσίαν τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν φάσκοντας εἶναι τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ τὸν θεὸν εἶναι σῶμα, καὶ τὸν δημιουργὸν αὐτὸν οὐδʼ ἕτερον τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς δυνάμεως. κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ γὰρ οἶμαι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν εἰρῆσθαι Νοῦς δέ οἱ ἀψευδὴς βασιλήϊος, ἄφθιτος αἰθὴρ, ᾧ δὴ πάντα κυκλεῖ καὶ φράζεται.
kai ta toutois akoloutha; en hois epipherei ton noun tou Dios legōn einai ton aithera kai ouden allo, kata tous Stōïkous tēn pyrōdē kai thermēn ousian to hēgemonikon phaskontas einai tou kosmou, kai ton theon einai sōma, kai ton dēmiourgon auton oudʼ heteron tēs tou pyros dynameōs. kata ta auta gar oimai kai en tois epesin eirēsthai Nous de hoi apseudēs basilēïos, aphthitos aithēr, hǭ dē panta kyklei kai phrazetai.
and what follows. In these he adds that the mind of Zeus is the ether and nothing else, in agreement with the Stoics, who say that the fiery and hot substance is the ruling part of the world, that God is a body, and that the creator himself is nothing other than the power of fire. For in the same sense, I think, it is said in the verses: 'His mind is the unerring, royal, imperishable ether, by which he moves and considers all things.'
Notes and citation
Summary: The hymn's view that Zeus's mind is the ether matches the Stoic doctrine that God is fiery body.
Extrabiblical texts: Orpheus (attributed), Orph. frag. 168 (Orpheus (attributed), Orphic poems (fragments); quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.9 (Dindorf 1:123–124; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.10Dindorf 1:124
διʼ ὧν ἀνεπικαλύπτως ζῷον μέγα τὸν κόσμον ὑποθέμενος, καὶ τοῦτον Δία προσειπὼν, νοῦν μὲν αὐτοῦ τὸν αἰθέρα, σῶμα δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ κόσμου μέρη ἀπεφήνατο εἶναι.
diʼ hōn anepikalyptōs zǭon mega ton kosmon hypothemenos, kai touton Dia proseipōn, noun men autou ton aithera, sōma de ta loipa tou kosmou merē apephēnato einai.
By these words, assuming without disguise that the world is a great living being, and calling it Zeus, he declared its mind to be the ether and its body the other parts of the world.
Notes and citation
Summary: The hymn makes the world a living being whose mind is the ether.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.10 (Dindorf 1:124; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.11Dindorf 1:124
τοιοῦτος μέν τις ὁ διὰ τῶν ἐπῶν ὑπογραφόμενος τυγχάνει Ζεύς. ὁ δὲ τῶν ἐπῶν ἐξηγητὴς ἀρξάμενος μὲν τοῖς ἔπεσιν ἀκολούθως λέγει, Ζεὺς οὖν ὁ πᾶς κόσμος, ζῷον ἐκ ζῴων, θεὸς ἐκ θεῶν· σαφῶς τὸν θεολογούμενον Δία οὐδὲ ἄλλον ἢ τὸν ὁρώμενον καὶ αἰσθητὸν κόσμον δηλοῦσθαι διὰ τῶν ἐπῶν ἑρμηνεύσας.
toioutos men tis ho dia tōn epōn hypographomenos tynchanei Zeus. ho de tōn epōn exēgētēs arxamenos men tois epesin akolouthōs legei, Zeus oun ho pas kosmos, zǭon ek zǭōn, theos ek theōn; saphōs ton theologoumenon Dia oude allon ē ton horōmenon kai aisthēton kosmon dēlousthai dia tōn epōn hermēneusas.
Such is the Zeus sketched in the verses. And the interpreter of the verses, beginning in agreement with them, says: 'Zeus, then, is the whole world, living being from living beings, god from gods,' clearly interpreting the Zeus proclaimed as god in the verses to be nothing other than the visible and perceptible world.
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry himself admits that the hymn's Zeus is the visible world.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): λέ- γει → λέγει.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.11 (Dindorf 1:124; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.12Dindorf 1:124
Αἰγυπτίων δὲ ὁ λόγος, παρʼ ὧν καὶ Ὀρφεὺς τὴν θεολογίαν ἐκλαβὼν τὸν κόσμον εἶναι τὸν θεὸν ᾤετο, ἐκ πλειόνων θεῶν τῶν αὐτοῦ μερῶν, (ὅτι καὶ τὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου θεολογοῦντες ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν ἀπεδείχθησαν, ) συνεστῶτα, καὶ τούτου πλέον οὐδὲν τὰ παρατεθέντα τῶν ἐπῶν ῥήματα διεσάφησεν.
Aigyptiōn de ho logos, parʼ hōn kai Orpheus tēn theologian eklabōn ton kosmon einai ton theon ǭeto, ek pleionōn theōn tōn autou merōn, (hoti kai ta merē tou kosmou theologountes en tois prosthen apedeichthēsan, ) synestōta, kai toutou pleon ouden ta paratethenta tōn epōn rhēmata diesaphēsen.
This is the doctrine of the Egyptians, from whom Orpheus received his theology and thought that the world was God, composed of many gods, its parts (for it was shown earlier that they deified the parts of the world); and the words of the verses quoted made nothing more than this clear.
Notes and citation
Summary: Orpheus took from the Egyptians the idea that the world, composed of divine parts, is God.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.12 (Dindorf 1:124; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-12). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.13Dindorf 1:124
ὁ δὲ μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἑρμηνείαν δευτέραν ἐξ αὑτοῦ προστίθησι, τὸν τῶν ὅλων ποιητὴν θεὸν τὸν δημιουργικὸν νοῦν τοῦτον φάσκων εἶναι τὸν τεθεολογημένον.
ho de meta tēn prōtēn hermēneian deuteran ex hautou prostithēsi, ton tōn holōn poiētēn theon ton dēmiourgikon noun touton phaskōn einai ton tetheologēmenon.
But after the first interpretation he adds a second of his own, saying that the god proclaimed is the creative mind, the maker of the universe.
Notes and citation
Summary: Porphyry then adds that Zeus is the creative mind.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined): προσ- τίθησι → προστίθησι.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.13 (Dindorf 1:124; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-13). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.14Dindorf 1:124
πῶς δʼ ἂν αὐτὸν τοῦτον ἐθεολόγει, ὃν μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔγνω ὁ τῶν ἐπῶν ποιητὴς, εἴτε ὁ Θρᾷξ εἴη Ὀρφεὺς εἴτε τις ἄλλος; εἰ δὴ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίων ἢ καὶ τῶν πρώτων Ἑλλήνων ἥκοντα ἦν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ τῆς θεολογίας, οἳ δέ γε ἀπεδείχθησαν οὐδὲν νοητὸν ἐπιστάμενοι, οὐδʼ ἐν ἀφανεῖ καὶ ἀσωμάτῳ οὐσίᾳ περιεχόμενον, εἴ τῳ ἱκανὸς πιστώσασθαι ὁ Πλάτων, ὁμολογῶν ἐν Κρατύλῳ τοὺς πρώτους τῶν ἀνθρώπων περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τούτους μόνους θεοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι, οὕσπερ νῦν πολλοὶ τῶν βαρβάρων, ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ γῆν καὶ ἄστρα καὶ οὐρανόν.
pōs dʼ an auton touton etheologei, hon mēde tēn archēn egnō ho tōn epōn poiētēs, eite ho Thrąx eiē Orpheus eite tis allos? ei dē parʼ Aigyptiōn ē kai tōn prōtōn Hellēnōn hēkonta ēn eis auton ta tēs theologias, hoi de ge apedeichthēsan ouden noēton epistamenoi, oudʼ en aphanei kai asōmatǭ ousią periechomenon, ei tǭ hikanos pistōsasthai ho Platōn, homologōn en Kratylǭ tous prōtous tōn anthrōpōn peri tēn Hellada toutous monous theous hēgeisthai, housper nyn polloi tōn barbarōn, hēlion kai selēnēn kai gēn kai astra kai ouranon.
But how could the poet of the verses, whether Orpheus the Thracian or someone else, have proclaimed as god one whom he did not know at all? If his theology came to him from the Egyptians or from the first Greeks, they have been shown to know nothing intelligible, nothing contained in an invisible and incorporeal being, if Plato is a sufficient authority for anyone, when he admits in the Cratylus that the first men in Greece held as gods only those which many barbarians hold now: sun and moon and earth and stars and heaven.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Orphic poet could not have known an incorporeal creative mind, since his sources knew none.
- Plato, Cratylus 397c.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent misread in digitization; line-break hyphen rejoined): οἶ δέ γε → οἳ δέ γε; περιε- χόμενον → περιεχόμενον.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Crat. 397c (Plato (works); quotation)
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.14 (Dindorf 1:124; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-14). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.
3.9.15Dindorf 1:124–125
καὶ ὁ Χαιρήμων δὲ μικρῷ ἔμπροσθεν ἐμαρτύρει οὐδʼ ἄλλο τι πρὸ τοῦ ὁρωμένου κόσμου τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ἡγεῖσθαι, οὐδʼ ἄλλους θεοὺς πλὴν τῶν πλανητῶν καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀστέρων, πάντα τε εἰς τὰ ὁρώμενα τοῦ κόσμου μέρη καὶ οὐδὲν εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ ζώσας οὐσίας ἑρμηνεύοντας.
kai ho Chairēmōn de mikrǭ emprosthen emartyrei oudʼ allo ti pro tou horōmenou kosmou tous Aigyptious hēgeisthai, oudʼ allous theous plēn tōn planētōn kai tōn loipōn asterōn, panta te eis ta horōmena tou kosmou merē kai ouden eis asōmatous kai zōsas ousias hermēneuontas.
And Chaeremon too testified a little earlier that the Egyptians believed in nothing prior to the visible world, nor in any gods except the planets and the other stars, interpreting everything in terms of the visible parts of the world and nothing in terms of incorporeal and living beings.
Notes and citation
Summary: Chaeremon confirms that the Egyptians knew only the visible world.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen rejoined; line-break hyphen rejoined; breathing corrected): Χαι- ῥήμων → Χαιρήμων; λοι- πῶν → λοιπῶν; ἑρ- μηνεύοντας → ἑρμηνεύοντας.
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Praep. ev. 3.9.15 (Dindorf 1:124–125; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-praeparatio/3-4-1/#p-3-9-15). (abbreviation not yet checked)
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-eusebius-praeparatio-3-9-15) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Dindorf's Teubner text (1867; digital text First1KGreek, CC BY-SA 4.0), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of E. H. Gifford (1903); differences checked against the Greek.