PROLEGOMENA

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA

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CHAPTER I

THE LIFE OF EUSEBIUS

§ 1. Sources and Literature.

Acacius, the pupil and successor of Eusebius in the bishopric of Cæsarea, wrote a life of him (Socrates, Ecclesiastical History II. 4) which is unfortunately lost. He was a man of ability (Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History III. 2, IV. 23) and had exceptional opportunities to produce a full and accurate account of Eusebius’ life; the disappearance of his work is therefore deeply to be regretted.

Numerous references to Eusebius are found in the works of Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Athanasius, Jerome, and other writers of his own and subsequent ages, to many of which references will be made in the following pages. A collection of these notices, compiled by Valesius, is found in English translation on page 57 of this volume. The chief source for a knowledge of Eusebius’ life and character is found in his own works, which will be discussed on page 26. Of the numerous modern works that treat of the life of Eusebius, I will mention here only those I have found most valuable:

VALESIUS: De vita scriptisque Eusebii Diatribe (in his edition of Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History; English version in Crusè’s translation).

CAVE: Lives of the Fathers, II. 95–144 (ed. H. Cary, Oxford, 1840).

TILLEMONT: Ecclesiastical History, VII. pp. 39–75 (compare also his account of the Arians in vol. VI).

STROTH: Life and Writings of Eusebius (in his German translation of the Ecclesiastical History).

CLOSS: Life and Writings of Eusebius (in his translation of the same work).

DANZ: On Eusebius of Cæsarea, Writer of Ecclesiastical History, and the Rightful Estimation of his Historical Reliability, Chapter II: on matters pertaining to the life of Eusebius (pp. 33–75).

STEIN: Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea. His Life, Writings, and Dogmatic Character (Würzburg, 1859; full and valuable).

BRIGHT: In the introduction to his edition of Burton’s text of the Ecclesiastical History (excellent).

LIGHTFOOT (Bishop of Durham): Eusebius of Cæsarea, in Smith and Wace’s Dictionary of Christian Biography, vol. II. pp. 308–348. Lightfoot’s article is a magnificent monument of patristic patristic: relating to the early Christian Church fathers scholarship and contains the best and most exhaustive treatment of the life and writings of Eusebius ever written.

The student may finally refer to the larger histories of the Church (e.g., Schaff, vol. III. 871 ff. and 1034 ff.), which contain extended accounts of Eusebius.

§ 2. Eusebius’ Birth and Training. His Life in Cæsarea until the Outbreak of the Persecution.

Our author was commonly known among the ancients as Eusebius of Cæsarea or Eusebius Pamphili. The former designation arose from his long tenure as bishop of the church in Cæsarea; the latter from his intimate friendship with and devoted admiration for Pamphilus, a presbyter of Cæsarea and a martyr.