Historia ecclesiastica (fragmenta ap. Photium)

FROM THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORIES OF PHILOSTORGIUS, AN EPITOME FROM THE VOICE OF PHOTIUS THE PATRIARCH

That his history is completed in twelve books, his name being formed by the initial letters of the books when put together in order. It begins with the "contention," as he calls it, of Arius against Alexander; which he also records as the cause of the heresy; and it comes down to the proclamation of Valentinian (who was the son of Placidia and Constantius) as emperor and the slaying of John the tyrant. The history is for him an encomium of the heretics and a slander and censure of the orthodox, rather than a history. 1.1 That he says he does not know who the author of the Maccabees is. However, he deems the first book worthy of acceptance, relating things that are in harmony with the prophecies of Daniel, and because it recounts very providentially how the wickedness of men drove the affairs of the Jews to the uttermost of evils, and how again the virtue of men restored them, and then they regained power against their enemies and the temple was cleansed of Greek pollutions. But the second, he says, does not indicate the same author; but is a synopsis of the things written by Jason of Cyrene in five books, which recount the war that Judas Maccabeus waged against both Antiochus Epiphanes and his son, surnamed Eupator. But the third he rejects, calling it monstrous and relating nothing similar to the first. The fourth, however, while he himself agrees was written by Josephus, he says is not so much a history as an encomium, relating the story of Eleazar and the seven Maccabean children. 1.2 That Philostorgius, while praising Eusebius Pamphili for other things and for all that pertains to the telling of history, says that he errs concerning piety. And the impious one, in recounting the error, says that he considered the divine to be unknowable and incomprehensible, and also says that he committed other such offenses. He also testifies that he stopped his own historical records at the succession of the sons of Constantine the Great. 1.3 That this impious one says that when the votes for the high priesthood were cast for Arius, he, preferring Alexander to himself, managed for them to pass to him. 1.4 That he says a certain presbyter named Alexander, surnamed Baucalis, because a mass of overgrown flesh heaped up on his back imitated the shape of an earthen vessel, which indeed the Alexandrians are accustomed to call *baukalae* in their local dialect, this man, holding the second rank after Arius, began the cause from which the dispute between Alexander the bishop and Arius broke out, and that from there the proclamation of the *homoousion* was contrived. 1.5 That, he says, Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, on account of his valor was appointed king of the upper Galatiae, in which are also the so-called Alps. And these places are difficult to enter and hard to access; and the Galatiae people now call Galliae. And the death of Constantius occurred in Britannia, the one called Albion. where his son Constantine, having marvelously escaped the plot of Diocletian, found him ill, attended to him as he was dying, and became successor to the kingdom. 1.6 That he also, agreeing with the others, records the victory over Maxentius as the cause of the conversion of Constantine the Great from the Hellenic religion to Christianity; during which also the sign of the cross appeared in the east, extending for a very great length, formed of dazzling light, and with stars running around it in the manner of a rainbow and towards

Historia ecclesiastica (fragmenta ap. Photium)

ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΩΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΩΝ ΦΙΛΟΣΤΟΡΓΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΤΟΜΗ ΑΠΟ ΦΩΝΗΣ ΦΩΤΙΟΥ ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΟΥ

Ὅτι ἐν δώδεκα λόγοις αὐτοῦ ἡ ἱστορία περαίνεται, ἀπαρτιζόντων αὐτοῦ τοὔνομα τῶν κατὰ τοὺς λόγους ἀρχομένων γραμμάτων ἐν τάξει συντιθεμένων. ἄρχεται μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀρείου πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον, ὡς οὗτος λέγει, «ἔριδος»· ἣν καὶ τῆς αἱρέσεως αἰτίανἀναγράφει· κάτεισι δὲ μέχρι τῆς Οὐαλεντινιανοῦ (ὃς ἦν παῖς Πλακιδίας καὶ Κωνσταντίου) εἰς βασιλέα ἀναρρήσεως καὶ τῆς Ἰωάννου τοῦ τυράννου ἀναιρέσεως. Ἡ δὲ ἱστορία τῶν αἱρετιζόντων ἐστὶν ἐγκώμιον αὐτῷ ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων διαβολὴ καὶ ψόγος μᾶλλον ἢ ἱστορία. 1.1 Ὅτι τῶν Μακκαβαϊκῶν φησι τὸν συγγραφέα ὅστις ποτέ ἐστιν ἀγνοεῖν. πλὴν τὸ μὲν πρῶτον βιβλίον ἀποδοχῆς ἀξιοῖ, συνᾴδοντα διηγούμενον ταῖς τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ προφητείαις, καὶ ὅτι λίαν προμηθῶς διέξεισιν ὅπως τε ἀνδρῶν μοχθηρία τὰ Ἰουδαίων ἤλασεν ἐπ' ἔσχατον κακῶν, ὅπως τε πάλιν ἀνδρῶν ἀνήνεγκεν ἀρετή, καὶ τότε κατὰ τῶν πολεμίων ἐπανείλοντο κράτος καὶ ὁ νεὼς τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἀνεκαθάρθη μολυσμάτων. τὸ δεύτερον δὲ μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν μέν φησι ἐνδείκνυσθαι συγγραφέα· σύνοψιν δὲ εἶναι τῶν ὑπὸ Ἰάσονος τοῦ Κυρηναίου ἐν πέντε λόγοις ἀναγεγραμμένων, ἃ τὸν πόλεμον ἀπαγγέλλει ὃν Ἰούδας ὁ Μακκαβαῖος πρὸς Ἀντίοχόν τε τὸν Ἐπιφανῆ καὶ τὸναὐτοῦ παῖδα τὸν ἐπίκλην Εὐπάτορα διεπολέμησεν. τὸ δὲ τρίτον ἀποδοκιμάζει, τερατῶδες καλῶν καὶ οὐδὲν ὅμοιον τῷ πρώτῳ διεξερχόμενον. τὸ μέντοι γε τέταρτον ὑπὸ Ἰωσήπου γεγράφθαι καὶ αὐτὸς συνομολογῶν, οὐχ ἱστορίαν μᾶλλον ἢ ἐγκώμιον εἶναί φησι, τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἐλεάζαρον καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ παῖδας τοὺς Μακκαβαίους διηγούμενον 1.2 Ὅτι τά τε ἄλλα καὶ ὅσα πρὸς ἱστορίας ἥκει λόγον ὁ Φιλοστόργιος τὸν Παμφίλου Εὐσέβιον ἐπαινῶν, περὶ τὴν εὐσέβειαν διαμαρτάνειν φησί. καὶ τὸ ἁμάρτημα ὁ δυσσεβὴς διηγούμενος, διότι ἄγνωστον τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον ἡγοῖτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτά φησιν αὐτὸν πλημμελεῖν. καταπαῦσαι δὲ αὐτὸν τὰς οἰκείας τῆς ἱστορίας μνήμας μέχρι τῆς τῶν παίδων διαδοχῆς τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου συνεπιμαρτύρεται. 1.3 Ὅτι οὗτος ὁ δυσσεβής φησι τὰς ψήφους τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης ἐπ' Ἄρειον φερομένας αὐτὸν μᾶλλον Ἀλέξανδρον προτιμήσαντα ἑαυτοῦ, περιελθεῖν αὐτῷ ταύτας καταπράξασθαι. 1.4 Ὅτι Ἀλέξανδρόν τινα πρεσβύτερον Βαύκαλιν ἐπονομαζόμενον, διὰ τὸ σαρκὸς ὑπερτραφοῦς ὄγκον ὑπὸ τῶν μεταφρένων αὐτοῦ σεσωρευμένον ἄγγους ὀστρακίνου ἐκμιμεῖσθαι σχῆμα, ἅπερ οὖν βαυκάλας ἐπιχωρίως Ἀλεξανδρεῖς εἰώθασιν ὀνομάζειν, τοῦτόν φησιν τὴν δευτέραν τάξιν μετ' Ἄρειον ἔχοντα ἄρξαι τῆς αἰτίας ἐξ ἧς ἡ διαφορὰ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ καὶ Ἀρείῳ συνερράγη, καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὁμοουσίου ἀνακήρυξιν ἐκεῖθεν ἐπιτεχνασθῆναι. 1.5 Ὅτι, φησί, Κωνστάντιος, ὁ τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου πατήρ, κατ' ἀνδραγαθίαν τῶν ἄνω Γαλατιῶν, ἐν αἷς καὶ αἱ καλούμεναι Ἄλπεις, βασιλεὺς ἀπεδείχθη. δυσέμβολα δὲ τὰ χωρία ταῦτα καὶ δυσπρόσοδα· τὰς δὲ Γαλατίας οἱ νῦν Γαλλίας ἐπονομάζουσιν. ἡ δὲ τελευτὴ Κωνσταντίου κατὰ Βρετανίαν γέγονεν, τὴν Ἀλουΐωνος καλουμένην. ἐν ᾗ καὶ νοσοῦντα καταλαβὼν αὐτὸν Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ παῖς, φυγὼν παραδόξως τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν ∆ιοκλητιανοῦ, τελευτῶντα ἐκήδευσε, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας κατέστη διάδοχος. 1.6 Ὅτι τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου μεταβολὴν ἐκ τῆς Ἑλληνίδος θρησκείας εἰς τὸν Χριστιανισμὸν καὶ οὗτος τοῖς ἄλλοις συμφθεγγόμενος αἰτίαν γενέσθαι ἀναγράφει τὴν κατὰ Μαξεντίου νίκην· καθ' ἣν καὶ τὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ σημεῖον κατὰ ἀνατολὰς ἐπὶ μήκιστον ὤφθη διῆκον, αἴγλης αὐτὸν καταπληττούσης διατυπουμένης, καὶ ἀστέρων αὐτὸν κύκλῳ περιθεόντων ἴριδος τρόπῳ καὶ πρὸς