Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume I/Church History of Eusebius/Book X/Chapter 1

The Peace granted us by God.

1. for all things be given unto God the Omnipotent Ruler and King of the universe, and the greatest thanks to Jesus Christ the Saviour and Redeemer of our souls, through whom we pray that peace may be always preserved for us firm and undisturbed by external troubles and by troubles of the mind.

2. Since in accordance with thy wishes, my most holy Paulinus, we have added the tenth book of the Church History to those which have preceded, we will inscribe it to thee, proclaiming thee as the seal of the whole work; and we will fitly add in a perfect number the perfect panegyric upon the restoration of the churches, &#949;&#7984;&#954;&#8057;&#964;&#969;&#962; &#948;&#8125; &#7952;&#957; &#7936;&#961;&#953;&#952;&#956;&#8183; &#964;&#949;&#955;&#949;&#8055;&amp; 251&#903; &#964;&#8056;&#957; &#964;&#8051;&#955;&#949;&#953;&#959;&#957; &#7952;&#957;&#964;&#945;&#8166;&#952;&#945; &#954;&#945;&#8054; &#960;&#945;&#957;&#951;&#947;&#965;&#961;&#953;&#954;&#8056;&#957; &#964;&#8134;&#962; &#964;&#8182;&#957; &#7952;&#954;&#954;&#955;&#951;&#963;&#953;&#8182;&#957; &#7936;&#957;&#945;&#957;&#949;&#8061;&#963;&#949;&#969;&#962; &#955;&#8057;&#947;&#959;&#957; &#954;&#945;&#964;&#945;&#964;&#8364;&#958;&#959;&#956;&#949;&#957;. The meaning of this sentence is very obscure. Valesius translates: Nec absurde ut opinor, absolutam omnibus numeris orationem panegyricam de ecclesiarum instauratione hic in perfecto numero collocabimus. Stroth, followed by Closs, renders: &#8220;Mit Recht werden wir hier auch eine vollst&#228;ndige feierliche Rede, von der Wiedererneuerung der Kirchen, als einen ordentlichen Theil miteinr&#252;cken.&#8221; Crus&#232; reads: &#8220;Justly, indeed, shall we here subjoin in a perfect number a complete discourse and panegyric on the renovation of the churches.&#8221; The &#8220;perfect number&#8221; seems to refer to the number of the book (the number ten being commonly so called in ancient times), to which he has referred in the previous clause. Could we regard the &#8220;perfect panegyric&#8221; as referring to the book as a whole, as Crus&#232; does, the sentence would be somewhat clearer; but the phrase seems to be a plain reference to the oration given in chap. 4, especially since Eusebius does not say &#964;&#8134;&#962; &#7952;&#954;&#954;&#955;&#951;&#963;&#8055;&#945;&#962;, but &#964;&#8182;&#957; &#7952;&#954;&#954;&#955;&#951;&#963;&#8054;&amp; 242&#903;&#957;, as in the title of that oration. I have preserved the play of words, &#964;&#949;&#955;&#949;&#8055;&amp; 251&#903;&#8212;&#964;&#8051;&#955;&#949;&#953;&#959;&#957;, in order to bring out Eusebius&#8217; thought more clearly, but it must be remarked that the word &#964;&#8051;&#955;&#949;&#953;&#959;&#957; does not imply praise of the quality of his oration on the author&#8217;s part. It is used rather in the sense of complete or final, because it celebrates a completed work, as the tenth book completes his History, and thus crowns the whole. obeying the Divine Spirit which exhorts us in the following words:

3. &#8220;Sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm hath saved him. The Lord hath made known his salvation, his righteousness hath he revealed in the presence of the nations.&#8221;

4. And in accordance with the utterance which commands us to sing the new song, let us proceed to show that, after those terrible and gloomy spectacles which we have described, we are now permitted to see and celebrate such things as many truly righteous men and martyrs of God before us desired to see upon earth and did not see, and to hear and did not hear.

5. But they, hastening on, obtained far better things, being carried to heaven and the paradise of divine pleasure. But, acknowledging that even these things are greater than we deserve, we have been astonished at the grace manifested by the author of the great gifts, and rightly do we admire him, worshiping him with the whole power of our souls, and testifying to the truth of those recorded utterances, in which it is said, &#8220;Come and see the works of the Lord, the wonders which he hath done upon the earth; he removeth wars to the ends of the world, he shall break the bow and snap the spear in sunder, and shall burn the shields with fire.&#8221;

6. Rejoicing in these things which have been clearly fulfilled in our day, let us proceed with our account.

7. The whole race of God&#8217;s enemies was destroyed in the manner indicated, and was thus suddenly swept from the sight of men. So that again a divine utterance had its fulfillment: &#8220;I have seen the impious highly exalted and raising himself like the cedars of Lebanon and I have passed by, and behold, he was not and I have sought his place, and it could not be found.&#8221;

8. And finally a bright and splendid day, overshadowed by no cloud, illuminated with beams of heavenly light the churches of Christ throughout the entire world. And not even those without our communion were prevented from sharing in the same blessings, or at least from coming under their influence and enjoying a part of the benefits bestowed upon us by God.