of the early church. Many prominent figures of the first three
centuries are known to us only from its pages. Many fragments,
priceless on account of the light which they shed upon movements
of far-reaching consequence, have been preserved in it alone.
Eusebius often fails to appreciate the significance of the events
which he records; in many cases he draws unwarranted conclusions
from the given premises; he sometimes misinterprets
his documents and misunderstands men and movements; but
usually he presents us with the material upon which to form
our own judgment, and if we differ with him we must at the same
time thank him for the data that enable us independently to
reach other results. But the work is not merely a thesaurus,
it is a history in a true sense, and it has an intrinsic value of its
own, independent of its quotations from other works. Eusebius
possessed extensive sources of knowledge no longer accessible
to us. The number of books referred to as read is enormous.
He also had access to the archives of state, and gathered from
them information beyond the reach of most. But the value of
his work is due, not simply to the sources employed, but also to
the use made of them. Upon this matter there has been, it is
true, some diversity of opinion among modern scholars, but it is
now generally admitted, and can be abundantly shown, that he
was not only diligent in gathering material, but also far more
thorough-going than most writers of antiquity in discriminating
between trustworthy and untrustworthy reports, frank in acknowledging
his ignorance, scrupulous in indicating his authorities
in doubtful cases, less credulous than most of his contemporaries,
and unfailingly honest. His principal faults are his carelessness
and inaccuracy in matters of chronology, his lack of artistic
skill in the presentation of his material, his desultory method of
treatment, and his failure to look below the surface and grasp the
real significance and vital connexion of events. He commonly
regards an occurrence as sufficiently accounted for when it is
ascribed to the activity of God or of Satan. But in spite of its
defects the Church History is a monumental work, which need only
be compared with its continuations by Socrates, Sozomen,
Theodoret, Rufinus and others, to be appreciated at its true
worth.
In addition to the Church History we have from Eusebius’ pen a Chronicle in two books (c. 303; later continued down to 325), the first containing an epitome of universal history, the second chronological tables exhibiting in parallel columns the royal succession in different nations, and accompanied by notes marking the dates of historical events. A revised edition of the second book with a continuation down to his own day was published in Latin by St Jerome, and this, together with some fragments of the original Greek, was our only source for a knowledge of the Chronicle until the discovery of an Armenian version of the whole work, which was published by Aucher in 1818 (Latin translation in Schoene’s edition), and of two Syriac versions published in Latin translation respectively in 1866 (by Roediger in Schoene’s edition) and in 1884 (by Siegfried and Gelzer). Other historical works still extant are the Martyrs of Palestine and the Life of Constantine. The former is an account of martyrdoms occurring in Palestine during the years 303 to 310, of most of which Eusebius himself was an eye-witness. The work exists in a longer and a shorter recension, the former in a Syriac version (published with English translation by Cureton, 1861), the latter in the original Greek attached to the Church History in most MSS. (printed with the History in the various editions). The Life of Constantine, in four books, published after the death of the emperor, which occurred in 337, is a panegyric rather than a sober history, but contains much valuable material. Of Eusebius’ apologetic works we still have the Contra Hieroclem, Praeparatio evangelica, Demonstratio evangelica, and Theophania. The first is a reply to a lost work against the Christians written by Hierocles, a Roman governor and contemporary of Eusebius. The second and third, taken together, are the most elaborate and important apologetic work of the early church. The former, in fifteen books, aims to show that the Christians are justified in accepting the sacred writings of the Hebrews, and in rejecting the religion and philosophy of the Greeks. The latter, in twenty books, of which only the first ten and fragments of the fifteenth are extant, endeavours to prove from the Hebrew Scriptures themselves that the Christians are right in going beyond the Jews and adopting new principles and practices. The former is thus a preparation for the latter, and the two together constitute a defence of Christianity against all the world, heathen as well as Jews. In grandeur of conception, comprehensiveness of treatment, and breadth of learning, this apology surpasses all other similar works of antiquity. The Praeparatio is also valuable because of its large number of quotations from classical literature, many of them otherwise unknown to us. The Theophania, though we have many fragments of the original Greek, is extant as a whole only in a Syriac version first published by Lee in 1842. Its subject is the manifestation of God in the incarnation of the Word, and it aims to give with an apologetic purpose a brief exposition of the divine authority and influence of Christianity. Of Eusebius’ dogmatic and polemic writings, we still have two works against his contemporary, Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra, the one known as Contra Marcellum, the other as De theologia ecclesiastica. The former and briefer aims simply to expose the errors of Marcellus, whom Eusebius accuses of Sabellianism, the latter to refute them. We also have parts of a General Introduction (Ἡ καθόλου στοιχειώδης εἰσαγωγή), which consisted of ten-books (the sixth to the ninth books and a few other fragments still extant), under the title of Prophetical Extracts (Προφητικαὶ ἐκλογαί). Although this formed part of a larger work it was complete in itself and circulated separately. It contains prophetical passages from the Old Testament relating to the person and work of Christ, accompanied by explanatory notes. Of Biblical and exegetical works we have a considerable part of Eusebius’ Commentaries on the Psalms and on Isaiah, which are monuments of learning, industry and critical acumen, though marred by the use of the allegorical method characteristic of the school of Origen; also a work on the names of places mentioned in Scripture, or the Onomasticon, the only one extant of a number of writings on Old Testament topography; and an epitome and some fragments of a work in two parts on Gospel Questions and Solutions, the first part dealing with the genealogies of Christ given in Matthew and Luke, the second with the apparent discrepancies between the various gospel accounts of the resurrection. Other important works which have perished wholly or in large part, and some orations and minor writings still extant, it is not necessary to refer to more particularly. (See Preuschen’s list in Harnack’s Alt-christliche Litteraturgeschichte, i. 2, p. 55 sq. Preuschen gives thirty-eight titles, besides orations and letters, but it is doubtful whether all of the Commentaries mentioned really existed.)
Bibliography.—The only edition of Eusebius’ extant works which can lay claim even to relative completeness is that of Migne (Patrologia graeca, tom, xix.-xxiv.). The publication of a new critical edition was begun in 1902 in the Berlin Academy’s Greek Fathers (Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte, Leipzig). Many of Eusebius’ works have been published separately. Thus the Church History, first by Stephanus (Paris, 1554); by Valesius with copious notes, together with the Life of Constantine, the Oration in Praise of Constantine, and the Histories of Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, &c. (best edition that of Reading (Cambridge, 1720), in three volumes, folio); by Heinichen (1827, second edition 1868–1870 in three volumes, a very useful edition, containing also the Life of Constantine and the Oration in Praise of Constantine, with elaborate notes); by Burton (1838; a handy reprint in a single volume by Bright, 1881), and by many others. The most recent and best edition is that of Schwartz in the Berlin Academy’s Greek Fathers, of which the first half has appeared, accompanied by the Latin version of Rufinus edited by Mommsen. The history was early put into Syriac (edited by Bedjan, Leipzig, 1897; also by Wright, McLean and Merx, London, 1898), Armenian (edited by Djarian, Venice, 1877), and Latin, and has been translated into many modern languages, the latest English version being that of McGiffert, in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, volume i. (New York, 1890). Of the Chronicle, the best edition is by Schoene in two volumes (Berlin, 1866–1875). The Life of Constantine and the Oration in Praise of Constantine are published by Valesius, Heinichen and others in their editions of the Church History, also in the first volume of the Berlin Academy’s edition (ed. by Heikel), and an English translation by Richardson in the volume containing McGiffert’s translation of the Church History. Gaisford published the Prophetical Extracts (Oxford, 1842), the Praeparatio evangelica (1843), the Demonstratio evangelica (1852), and the works against Hierocles and Marcellus (1852); and the works against Marcellus have appeared in the edition of the Berlin Academy (vol. iv.). The Onomasticon has been published frequently, among others by Lagarde (Göttingen, 1870; 2nd ed., 1887), and is contained in the edition of the Berlin Academy (vol. iii.). The Theophania was first published by Lee (Syriac version, 1842; English translation, 1843). A German translation of the Syriac version, with the extant fragments of the original Greek, is given in the edition of the Berlin Academy (vol. iii.).
Acacius, the pupil of Eusebius and his successor in the see of Caesarea, wrote a life of him which is unfortunately lost. His own writings contain little biographical material, but we get information from Athanasius, Philostorgius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Jerome’s De vir. ill., and Photius. Among the many modern accounts in church histories, histories of Christian literature, encyclopaedias, &c., may be mentioned a monograph by Stein, Eusebius Bischof von Caesarea (Würzburg, 1859), meagre but useful as far as it goes; the magnificent article by Lightfoot in the Dictionary of Christian Biography; the account by McGiffert in his translation of the Church History; Erwin Preuschen’s article in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklop. (3rd ed., 1898); the treatment of the Chronology of Eusebius writings in Harnack’s Alt-christliche Litteraturgeschichte, ii. 2, p. 106 sq.; and Bardenhewer’s Patrologie, p. 2260 f. The many
