Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume II/Socrates/Introduction/History of Socrates' Work

A. Uses made before the First Printed Edition of the Greek Text.

Ecclesiastical History was used, according to the best authorities, by Sozomen in the composition of his parallel history.

It was certainly used by Liberatus, the Carthaginian deacon, in his Breviarium causs&#230; Nestorianorum et Eutychianorum, and by Theodorus Anagnostes (Lector) in his Ecclesiastical History.

It was also quoted in the second Council of Nic&#230;a, under the name of Rufinus, and also under its author&#8217;s name.

Epiphanius, surnamed Scholasticus, translated the history of Socrates, together with those of Sozomen and Theodoret, under the auspices of Cassiodorus, about the beginning of the sixth century. This translation, under the name of Histori&#230; Ecclesiastic&#230; Tripartit&#230;, consists of twelve books, and was printed at Paris, without date, by Regnault in 8vo; afterwards also at B&#226;le in 1523, 1528, 1533, 1539, and 1568. It was revised by, and published in Frankfort on the Main in 1588, together with the history of Eusebius, which was translated and continued by Rufinus. It is also found in the new edition of Cassiodorus printed at Rouen by. in 1679 and in Venice, 1729. It served as a basis for a French translation by (Gille Gourlin), published in Paris in 1538 (cited by ), and of a German translation by at Strasburg, 1545.

B. Editions.

There are two independent editions of Socrates&#8217; Ecclesiastical History, each of which has served as a basis for reprints, secondary editions, and translations. These are:

''Collectaneum ex hist. eccl.'' LL. II.; ''Hist. EccI.'' LL. IX.; ''Hist. Eccl.'' LL. VI. Lut. Paris, ex off. Rob. Stephani 1544 pridie Cal. Jul.
 * Hist. EccI. LL. X.; ejd. de Vita Constantini LL. V.; Hist. Eccl. LL. VII.;  Episc. Cyrensis Hist. EccI. LL. V.;

a. Upon this edition is based a Latin translation by, B&#226;le 1544, 1549, 1557, 1594, and one by, bishop of Chichester, Paris 1571, Cologne 1581, B&#226;le 1570; with notes by and by ; incorporated into the Bibliotheca Patrum, ed. Cologne 1618 as Vol. V. and ed. Lyons 1677 as Vol. VII.

b. The Greek text of Stephens and the Latin translation of Christophorson were published together in Geneva, 1612.

c. An English translation of Socrates&#8217; Ecclesiastical History was made by ,

and is contained in his Ancient Ecclesiastical Histories of the first six hundred years after Christ, written in the Greek tongue by three learned Historiographers, Eusebius, Socrates and Evagrius. London 1577. [This work also contains Dorotheus&#8217; Lives of the Prophets, Apostles, and Seventy Disciples reprinted in 1585 and 1650.]

2. The second independent edition of Socrates is that which has been received as standard and served as a basis for all subsequent uses, viz.:

Historia Ecclesiastica Socratis, Scholastici, Hermi&#230;, Sozomeni, &amp;c., ed. . Paris 1668. Valesius ostensibly revised the text of Stephens, but as a matter of fact he made a new collation of the used by Stephens, and compared this with  in the Vatican, so that his edition amounts to an entirely new work. He also made a new Latin translation and appended numerous notes. This edition was reprinted in Mayence in 1677. Its Latin portion was reprinted in Paris also in 1677. The reprint of Mayence was reproduced under a new title, as if in Amsterdam in 1675.

a. appended additional notes, and together with the Latin translation of Valesius, published the work in Cambridge in three vols. 1720. Reading&#8217;s edition was reprinted at Turin in 1746. Valesius&#8217; original edition was again reprinted in Oxford by in 1844 and Cura  in London, also in 1844. It was revised and published in Oxford in 3 vols. by in 1853, and again in 1860 and in 1879. Again it was incorporated into Patrologia Gr&#230;ca as Vol. LXVII. (Petit Montrouge) in 1859, and finally the Greek text alone was revised and published in a single volume by in Oxford 1878.

b. The translations based on Valesius&#8217; edition exclusive of those in Latin mentioned above are as follows:

In French by : Histoire de l&#8217;Eglise &#233;crite par Eus&#232;be, Socrate, Sozom&#232;ne, Theodoret, &amp;c. 4 vols. Paris 1675, and 6 vols. Amsterdam 1686. [Containing also Photius&#8217; abstract of Philostorgius.]

In English by :

The History of the Church as written in Greek by Eusebius, Socrates, and Evagrius [contains also the four books of the Life of Constantine, Constantine&#8217;s Oration to the Convention of the Saints, and Eusebius&#8217; speech in praise of Constantine], translated from the edition of Valesius, with a translation also of Valesius&#8217; notes and his account of the lives and writings of those historians. Cambridge 1683, 1692, 1709.

By : The Ecclesiastical Histories of Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret.&#8230;abridged from the originals. London 1707, 3rd ed. 1729.

And [E. Walford]

The Greek Ecclesiastical Historians of the first six centuries of the Christian Era in 6 vols. [Socrates Scholasticus&#8217; History forms Vol. III. of this series]. London, Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1843&#8211;46. This translation was reprinted in Bohn&#8217;s Ecclesiastical Library, 4 vols., 1851 and 1888, and by Bagster in 1868.