Book 1: Maccabees judgments, Arius, and Constantine
He says he does not know who the author of the Maccabean books is. Yet he judges the first book worthy of acceptance, as narrating in agreement with the prophecies of Daniel (Daniel 8; Daniel 11), and as relating with great foresight how the wickedness of men drove the affairs of the Jews to the extreme of evils, and how again the virtue of men raised them up, and then they won power against their enemies and the temple was cleansed of Hellenic pollutions.
The second book, he says, does not show the same author; it is a synopsis of what Jason of Cyrene wrote in five discourses, reporting the war that Judas Maccabeus fought against Antiochus Epiphanes and against his son surnamed Eupator. The third he rejects, calling it monstrous and relating nothing like the first. The fourth he himself agrees was written by Josephus, yet he says it is not so much a history as an encomium, narrating the affairs of Eleazar and the seven Maccabean boys.
Of Phlegon, as Philostorgius says: the disasters that fell upon the Jews Phlegon and Dio mention only briefly, inserting them as a digression in their own narratives; for of those things that draw toward piety and the other virtue, neither this writer nor they are shown to have taken any care. Josephus, on the contrary, seems fearful and cautious lest he give offense to the Greeks.
As for the rest, and so far as history is concerned, Philostorgius praises Eusebius the son of Pamphilus, yet says that he errs concerning piety. Explaining the fault, the writer — himself of the opposite party — says that Eusebius held the divine to be unknown and incomprehensible, and that he goes wrong in other such matters as well. He also bears witness that Eusebius brought his own historical memoirs down only as far as the succession of the sons of Constantine the Great.
This same writer says that when the votes for the high priesthood were going toward Arius, Arius preferred Alexander to himself and arranged that they should come round to him. He says that a certain Alexander, a presbyter nicknamed Baukalis — so called because a mass of overgrown flesh heaped on his back resembled the shape of an earthen jar, which people in those parts are accustomed to call baukalai — held the second rank and began the cause from which the quarrel between bishop Alexander and Arius broke out, and that from there the proclamation of the homoousion was devised.
Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, he says, was appointed king for valor in the upper Gauls, in which are also the so-called Alps — hard countries to enter and approach; what were once called Galatiai people now name Galliai (Gaul). Constantius died in the place called Eboracum (York); there Constantine his son, having fled Diocletian's plot in a remarkable escape, found him sick, buried him at his death, and was established as successor to the kingdom.
He also records, agreeing with the others, that Constantine the Great's change from Hellenic worship to Christianity had as its cause the victory over Maxentius.
Greek
Ὅτι τῶν Μακκαβαϊκῶν φησι τὸν ὅστις ποτέ ἐστιν ἀγνοεῖν. πλὴν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον βιβλίον ἀποδοχῆ- ἀξιοῖ, συνάδοντα διηγούμενον ταῖς τοῦ Δανιὴλ προφητείαις, καὶ ὅτι λίαν προμηϑῶς διέξεισιν ὕπως τε ἀνδρῶν μοχϑηρία τὰ Ἰουδαίων ἤλασεν ἐπ᾿ ἔσχατον καχῶν, ὅπως πάλιν ἀνδρῶν ἀνήνεγκεν ἀρετή, καὶ τότε κατὰ τῶν πολεμίων ἐπανείλοντο χράτος καὶ ὁ νεὼς τῶν Ἡλληνικῶν ἀνεκα- ϑάρϑη μολυσμάτων. τὸ δεύτερον δὲ μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν μέν φησι ἐν- δείχνυσϑαι συγγραφέα" σύνοψιν δὲ εἶναι τῶν ὑπὸ ᾿Ιάσονος τοῦ ναίου ἐν πέντε λόγοις ἀναγεγραμμένων, ἃ τὸν πόλεμον ἀπαγγέλλει ὃν Ἰούδας ὃ Μακκαβαῖος πρὸς ᾿Ιντίοχόν τὸν ᾿Ππιφανῆ καὶ τὸν αὐτοῦ παῖδα τὸν ἐπίκλην Πὐπάτορα διεπολέμησεν. τὸ δὲ τρίτον ἀπο- δοκιμάζει. τερατῶδες καλῶν καὶ οὐδὲν ὅμοιον τῷ πρώτῳ διεξερχύ- μένον. τὸ μέντοι τέταρτον ὑπὸ Ἰωσήπου γεγράρϑαι καὶ αὐτὸς συνομολογῶν, οὐχ ἱστορίαν μᾶλλον ἢ ἐγκώμιον εἶναί φησι, τὰ περὶ τὸν ᾿Πλεάζαρον καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ παῖδας τοὺς Μακκαβαίους διηγού- Ἐκ τῆς πρώτης ἱστορίας τὸν συγγραφέα τὸν συνάϑοντα διηγούμενον ἀνδρῶν μοχϑηρία μοχϑηρίᾳ ἀρετῇ ἐπ᾽ ἔσχατον ἀρετὴ καὶ τὸ τε τό τεῦ ἃ] ἢ δά. τὰ τὸ Φλέγων Τούτου τοῦ Φλέγοντος, ὥς φησι φΦιλοστόργιος. ᾿ὕσον τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ᾿Ιουδαίους συμπεσόντα διὰ πλείο- νὸς ἐπεξελϑεῖν τοῦ πλάτους, Φλέγοντος καὶ Δίωνος βραχέως ἐπιμνὴ- σϑέντων παρενϑήκην αὐτὰ τοῦ οἰχείου λόγου ποιησαμένων" ἐπεὶ τῶν γε εἰς εὐσέβειαν χαὶ τὴν ἄλλη» ἀρετὴν ἑλκόντων οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν οὐδ᾽ οὗτος δείκνυται πεφροντικώς, ὅνπερ οὐδ᾽ ἐχεῖνοι τρόπον. τοὐ- ναντίον μὲν οὖν ὃ Ἰώσηπος καὶ δεδοικότι ἔοικε καὶ εὐλαβουμένῳ ὡς μὴ προσχρούσειεν Ἕλλησι. [ὥς] φησι Φιλοστόργιος Ἰώσηπον Ἰοῦστον; τὰ κατὰ Τοὐναντίον μὲν οὖν ὁ Ἰώ- ον. Ὅτι τά ἄλλα καὶ ὅσα πρὸς ἱστορίας ἥκει λόγον Φιλο- στόργιος τὸν Παμφίλου Εὐσέβιον ἐπαινῶν, περὶ τὴν εὐσέβειαν διαμαρ- τάνειν φησί. καὶ τὸ ἁμάρτημα ὁ δυσσεβὴς διηγούμενος, διότι ἄγνω- στον τὸ ϑεῖον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον ἡγοῖτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτά φησιν αὐτὸν πλημμελεῖν. καταπαῦσαι δὲ αὐτὸν τὰς οἰκείας τῆς ἷστο- ρίας μνήμας μέχρι τῆς τῶν παίδων διαδοχῆς τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταν- τίνου συνεπιμαρτύρεται. Ὅτι οὗτος ὁ δυσσεβής φησι τὰς ψήφους τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης ἐπ᾿ Ἄρειον φερομένας αὐτὸν μᾶλλον» ᾿Αλέξανδρον προτιμήσαντα ἑαυτοῦ, 1ὸ περιελϑεῖν αὐτῷ ταύτας καταπράξασϑαι. Ὅτι ᾿Αλέξανόρόν τινὰ πρεσβύτερον Βαύκαλιν ἐπονομαζόμενον, ᾿ διὰ τὸ σαρχὺς ὑπερτραφοῦς ὄγκον ὑπὸ τῶν μεταφρένων αὐτοῦ σε- σωρευμένον ἄγγους ὀστρακίνου ἐχμιμεῖσϑαι σχῆμα, ἅπερ οὖν βαυ- κάλας ἐπιχωρίως εἰώϑασιν ὀνομάζειν, τοῦτόν φησιν τὴν δευτέραν» τάξιν μετ᾽ ἔχοντα ἄρξαι τῆς αἰτίας ἐξ ἧς ἡ διαφορὰ ᾿᾿λεξάνδρῳ τῷ ἐπισχύπῳ καὶ ᾿Αρείῳ συνερράγη. καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὁμοου- σίου ἀνακήρυξιν ἐκεῖϑεν ἐπιτεχνασϑῆναι. ὅ. Ὅτι, φησί, Κωνστάντιος, ὃ τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου πατήρ, ἀνδραγαϑίαν τῶν ἄνω Γαλατιῶν, ἐν αἷς καὶ αἱ καλούμεναι Ἄλπεις, βασιλεὺς ἀπεδείχϑη. δυσέμβολα δὲ τὰ χωρία ταῦτα καὶ δυσ- πρόσοδα᾽ τὰς δὲ Γαλατίας οἱ νῦν Γαλλίας ἐπονομάζουσιν. ἡ δὲ τελευτὴ ἹΚωνσταντίου κατὰ γέγονεν, τὴν ᾿Ἰλουίωνος καλου- μένην. ἐν ἣ καὶ νοσοῦντα καταλαβὼν αὐτὸν Κωνσταντῖνος παῖς, φυγὼν παραδύξος τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν Διοκλητιανοῦ, τελευτῶντα ἐκήδευσε, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας κατέστη διάδοχος. Νωνσταντῖνος ἃ ἐπαινέσας κατεπράξατο καταπράξασϑαι αὐτὸς μᾶλλον Ἠλέξανδρον προτιμήσα!) τὸ] τὸν σαρκὸς ὄγκον ὑπὸ ὑπὲρ ὑπὸ ὑπὲρ Β τῶν μεταιρρένων τῷ μεταφρένῳ πὰ σεσωρευμένον ἐσωρευμένον ἐχμιμῆσϑαι ἀλουιῶνοσ, ἐωνοσ θ.Ὅτι τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίρου μεταβυλὴν ἐκ τῆς “Πλληνίδος ϑορησκείας εἰς τὸν Χριστιανισμὸν χαὶ οὗτος τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐσυμλφϑεγγόμενος αἰτίαν γενέσϑαι ἀναγράφει τὴν κατὰ Δαξεντίου νίκην" ἣν
About this text
Philostorgius, Ecclesiastical History: the opening of the first book — from the judgments of the Maccabees through Constantine’s conversion.
English densified from locked Bidez 1913 tess OCR Greek for tip Book 1; apparatus stripped; OCR damage (e.g. Δικαίᾳ/Νικαίᾳ) disclosed; tip scope only; Pass B tracks locked Greek open (Maccabees/Daniel), not a modern Photius-preservation frame.
Catalogue & scope
densify Book 1 opening; check PG 65
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.