Nicaea Library › Library

Eusebius: Preparation for the Gospel, Part 1

Eusebius of Caesarea · translated by E. H. Gifford · c. 313; translation 1903

Books 1–9 of Eusebius's great apology: the pagan theologies and oracles weighed and found wanting, and the Hebrew Scriptures shown to be older and truer. Preserves many lost Greek authors.

Edition: Internet Archive · archive.org

Free to read, with no account needed. Public domain or openly licensed, with every source named.

Read it free online Download for Windows (free)

From the opening: Book IX (continued)

who have made mention of the Jews, ἃ third account of the Essenes by Porphyry, quotations by Josephus from Hecataeus of Abdera, Clearchus the Peripatetic, Choerilus the poet, Abydenus, author of the Assyrian History, the Sibyl, and others on the Deluge and Tower of Babel. 'l'he remaining twenty-six chapters of the book are chiefly occupied by several important extracts from the work of Alexander Polyhistor, Concerning the Jews, which include long passages from the Iambiec poems of Theodotus and Ezekiel on events in Jewish history, the spurious letters of Solomon to Vaphres king of Egypt, and Suron (Hiram) of Tyre; with descriptions of Jerusalem and other matters by various authors.

In the next group, Books X-XII, Eusebius gives examples from Clement, Porphyry, and Diodorus of the plagiarism of Greek authors both from each other and, as they argue, from the much older Scriptures of the Hebrews. The testimony to their antiquity is drawn from the Chronography of Africanus, and from Tatian, Clement, and Josephus.

In Book XI Eusebius proposes to show the agreement of Plato, as the representative of Greek Philosophy, with the Hebrew Scriptures. Adopting the threefold division of Ethics, Dialectic, and Physics, he notices the moral teaching of the sacred writers, their literary methods, accurate reasoning, and correct use of significant names, their knowledge of the natural world, and their contemplation of the ‘ true being’ of things unseen (chapters 1-9). He then quotes the comments of Numenius, and his saying, What else is Plato than Moses speaking Attic Greek 3, and Plutarch’s treatise on the Et at Delphi (10, 11).

Other points of comparison are the ineffable nature of God, His unity, the Second Cause as contemplated by Philo, Plotinus, Numenius, and Amelius, the Third Divine Power of the Ps.-Platonie Epinomis (chapters 12-20).

The nature of the Good and of the Ideas, as stated by Plato in the Republic and Timaeus, is illustrated by

THE CONTENTS xxiii

quotations from Numenius, Philo, and Clement of Alexandria (21-25). The existence of evil powers, the immortality of the soul and the Divine image, as taught in the Alcibiades and Phaedo, and illustrated from Porphyry's answer to Boéthus On the Soul, the creation of the world and of the heavenly bodies, the goodness of God's works, their changes and dissolution, the resurrection of the dead,and the final judgement,are…

Keep reading in the library →

Contents (241 sections)

  1. Opening
  2. Title page
  3. Introduction
  4. Book IX (continued)
  5. The Contents
  6. Part I
  7. Part II
  8. The Preparation for the Gospel
  9. Book I
  10. Book I (continued)
  11. Book I (continued)
  12. Book I (continued)
  13. Book I (continued)
  14. Book I (continued)
  15. Book I (continued)
  16. Book I (continued)
  17. Chapter IV
  18. Book I
  19. Book I (continued)
  20. Book I (continued)
  21. Book I (continued)
  22. Book I (continued)
  23. Book I (continued)
  24. Book I (continued)
  25. Book I (continued)
  26. Book I (continued)
  27. Book I (continued)
  28. Book I (continued)
  29. Book I (continued)
  30. Book I (continued)
  31. Book I (continued)
  32. Book I (continued)
  33. Book I (continued)
  34. Book I (continued)
  35. Book I (continued)
  36. Book II
  37. Preface
  38. Book II
  39. Book II (continued)
  40. Book II (continued)
  41. Book II (continued)
  42. Book II (continued)
  43. Book II (continued)
  44. Book II (continued)
  45. Book II (continued)
  46. Book II (continued)
  47. Book II (continued)
  48. Book II (continued)
  49. Book II (continued)
  50. Book II (continued)
  51. Book II (continued)
  52. Book II (continued)
  53. Book II (continued)
  54. Book II (continued)
  55. Book II (continued)
  56. Book II (continued)
  57. Book II (continued)
  58. Book III
  59. Book III (continued)
  60. Book III (continued)
  61. Book III (continued)
  62. Book III (continued)
  63. Book III (continued)
  64. Book III (continued)
  65. Book III (continued)
  66. Book III (continued)
  67. Book III (continued)
  68. Book III (continued)
  69. Book III (continued)
  70. Book III (continued)
  71. Book III (continued)
  72. Book III (continued)
  73. Book III (continued)
  74. Chapter XII
  75. Book III (continued)
  76. Book III (continued)
  77. Book III (continued)
  78. Book IV
  79. Book IV (continued)
  80. Book IV (continued)
  81. Book IV (continued)
  82. Book IV (continued)
  83. Book IV (continued)
  84. Book IV (continued)
  85. Book IV (continued)
  86. Book IV (continued)
  87. Book IV (continued)
  88. Book IV (continued)
  89. Book IV (continued)
  90. Book IV (continued)
  91. Book IV (continued)
  92. Book IV (continued)
  93. Book IV (continued)
  94. Book IV (continued)
  95. Book IV (continued)
  96. Book IV (continued)
  97. Book IV (continued)
  98. Book IV (continued)
  99. Book V
  100. Book V (continued)
  101. Book V (continued)
  102. Book V (continued)
  103. Book V (continued)
  104. Book V (continued)
  105. Book V (continued)
  106. Book V (continued)
  107. Book V (continued)
  108. Book V (continued)
  109. Book V (continued)
  110. Book V (continued)
  111. Book V (continued)
  112. Chapter XV
  113. Book V (continued)
  114. Book V (continued)
  115. Book V (continued)
  116. Book V (continued)
  117. Book V (continued)
  118. Book V (continued)
  119. Book V (continued)
  120. Book V (continued)
  121. Book V (continued)
  122. Book V (continued)
  123. Book V (continued)
  124. Book V (continued)
  125. Book V (continued)
  126. Chapters XXXV–XXXVI
  127. Book VI
  128. Book VI (continued)
  129. Book VI (continued)
  130. Book VI (continued)
  131. Book VI (continued)
  132. Book VI (continued)
  133. Book VI (continued)
  134. Book VI (continued)
  135. Book VI (continued)
  136. Book VII (continued)
  137. Book VI (continued)
  138. Book VI (continued)
  139. Book VI (continued)
  140. Book VI (continued)
  141. Book VI (continued)
  142. Book VI (continued)
  143. Book VI (continued)
  144. Book VI (continued)
  145. Book VI (continued)
  146. Book VI (continued)
  147. Book VI (continued)
  148. Book VI (continued)
  149. Book VI (continued)
  150. Book VI (continued)
  151. Book VI (continued)
  152. Book VI (continued)
  153. Book VI (continued)
  154. Book VI (continued)
  155. Book VI (continued)
  156. Book VI (continued)
  157. Book VI (continued)
  158. Book VI (continued)
  159. Book VI (continued)
  160. Book VI (continued)
  161. Chapter I
  162. Book VII (continued)
  163. Chapters IV–V
  164. Book VII (continued)
  165. Book VII (continued)
  166. Book VII (continued)
  167. Book VII (continued)
  168. Book VII (continued)
  169. Chapter XI
  170. Book VII (continued)
  171. Book VII (continued)
  172. Book VII (continued)
  173. Book VII (continued)
  174. Book VII (continued)
  175. Book VII (continued)
  176. Book VII (continued)
  177. Chapters XXI–XXII
  178. Book VII (continued)
  179. Book VII (continued)
  180. Book VII (continued)
  181. Book VII (continued)
  182. Book VII (continued)
  183. Book VIII
  184. Preface
  185. Book VIII (continued)
  186. Book VIII (continued)
  187. Chapter V
  188. Book VIII (continued)
  189. Book VIII (continued)
  190. Book VIII (continued)
  191. Book VIII (continued)
  192. Book VIII (continued)
  193. Book VIII (continued)
  194. Book VIII (continued)
  195. Book VIII (continued)
  196. Book VIII (continued)
  197. Book VIII (continued)
  198. Book VIII (continued)
  199. Book VIII (continued)
  200. Book VIII (continued)
  201. Book VIII (continued)
  202. Book VIII (continued)
  203. Book VIII (continued)
  204. Book VIII (continued)
  205. Book VIII (continued)
  206. Book VIII (continued)
  207. Book VIII (continued)
  208. Book VIII (continued)
  209. Book VIII (continued)
  210. Book VIII (continued)
  211. Book VIII (continued)
  212. Book IX
  213. Book IX (continued)
  214. Book IX (continued)
  215. Book IX (continued)
  216. Book IX (continued)
  217. Book IX (continued)
  218. Book IX (continued)
  219. Book IX (continued)
  220. Book IX (continued)
  221. Book IX (continued)
  222. Book IX (continued)
  223. Book IX (continued)
  224. Book IX (continued)
  225. Book IX. Chap. XXII
  226. Book IX (continued)
  227. Book IX (continued)
  228. Book IX (continued)
  229. Book IX (continued)
  230. Book IX (continued)
  231. Book IX (continued)
  232. Book IX (continued)
  233. Book IX (continued)
  234. King Solomon to Vaphres King of Egypt, His Father's Friend, Greeting
  235. Chapter XXXIII — King Vaphres to Solomon the Great King, Greeting
  236. King Solomon to Suron King of Tyre and Sidon and Phoenicia, His Father's Friend…
  237. Book IX (continued)
  238. Chapters XXXVI–XXXIX
  239. Book IX (continued)
  240. Book IX (continued)
  241. Book IX (continued)

How to cite it

Chicago
Eusebius of Caesarea. Eusebius: Preparation for the Gospel, Part 1. Translated by E. H. Gifford. Internet Archive, c. 313; translation 1903. https://archive.org/details/p1evangelicaepra03euse
MLA
Eusebius of Caesarea. Eusebius: Preparation for the Gospel, Part 1. Translated by E. H. Gifford, Internet Archive, c. 313; translation 1903. https://archive.org/details/p1evangelicaepra03euse
APA
Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 313; translation 1903). Eusebius: Preparation for the Gospel, Part 1 (E. H. Gifford, Trans.). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/p1evangelicaepra03euse

More from More Church Fathers