Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 1 (Augustine: Confessions, Letters)

He became a presbyter while Agapius was bishop of Cæsarea. This is not unlikely, though we possess no proof of it (regarding Agapius, see below, Church History VII. 32, note 39). In his Life of Constantine, I. 19, Eusebius reports that he saw Constantine for the first time in Cæsarea, in the train of the Emperor Diocletian. In his Chronicle, Eusebius reports that Diocletian led an expedition against Egypt, which had risen in rebellion in the year 296 A.D., and Theophanes, in his Chronicle, says that Constantine accompanied him. It is therefore probable that it was at this time, when he was either on his way to or returning from Egypt, that Eusebius first saw Constantine in Cæsarea (see Tillemont’s History of the Emperors, IV. p. 34).

During these years of quiet, before the great persecution of Diocletian broke out in 303 A.D., Eusebius’ life must have been very pleasant. Pamphilus’ house seems to have been a sort of meeting place for Christian scholars, perhaps even a regular divinity school. We learn from Eusebius’ Martyrs in Palestine (Cureton’s edition, pp. 13 and 14) that he and a number of others, including the martyr Apphianus, were living together in one house at the time of the persecution, and that Apphianus was instructed in the Scriptures by Pamphilus and acquired virtuous habits and conduct from him. The great library of Pamphilus would make his house a natural center for theological study. Furthermore, the immense amount of work done by him—or under his direction—in reproducing copies of the Holy Scriptures and the works of Origen (see Jerome’s On Illustrious Men, 75 and 81, and Against Rufinus I. 9), as well as other similar literary employments, suggests that he had gathered around him a large circle of friends and students who assisted him in his labors and benefited from his counsel and instruction.

Amidst these associations, Eusebius passed his early manhood, and the intellectual stimulus thus provided surely played a large role in his future career. He was, above all, a literary man, and remained so to the end of his life. The pleasant companionship of these days, and the mutual interest and sympathy that must have bound those fellow-students and disciples of Pamphilus so closely together, perhaps contributed to the broad-minded spirit of sympathy and tolerance that characterized Eusebius in later years. He was always as far as possible from the character of a recluse. He seems to have been bound by very strong ties to the world and to his fellow men. If his earlier days had been filled with trials, hardships, the bitterness of disappointed hopes, unfulfilled ambitions, or harsh experiences of others’ selfishness and treachery, who can say that the whole course of his life might not have been changed? Perhaps his writings would have exhibited an entirely different spirit from the one that is now considered one of their greatest charms. Certainly, during these early years in Cæsarea, he had large opportunities to cultivate that natural trait of admiration for other men—a trait often so strong that it blinded him even to their faults—and that natural kindness which led him to see the good wherever it existed in his Christian brethren. At the same time, these associations must have significantly influenced the development of his apologetic (defensive or argumentative) temper. The pursuits of this small circle were apparently exclusively Christian; in that day, when Christianity stood always on the defensive, it would naturally become a sacred duty to contribute to that defense and to employ all their energies in the task. It has been noted that this apologetic temper is very visible in Eusebius’ writings. It is even more than that; we may say in general terms that everything he wrote was an apology for the faith. His History was written openly with an apologetic purpose, and his Chronicle was composed with the same end in view. Even when pronouncing a eulogy upon a deceased emperor, he seized every opportunity to draw arguments for the truth and grandeur of the Christian religion from that emperor’s career and the circumstances of his reign. His natural temperament and early training may have contributed to this habit of thought, but those years with Pamphilus and his friends in Cæsarea certainly emphasized and developed it.

Another characteristic that Pamphilus and his circle undoubtedly helped develop in our author was a certain superiority to the constraints of mere traditionalism, or perhaps it is better to say that they checked the opposite tendency toward...