age received will not defray more than half the entire expense of the publication. He trusts, however, that its value as a history, and its merits as a version, together with the pains and expense incurred, to render the volume worthy of public approbation, will secure the success of a laudable enterprize. It is his wish to give that which he is persuaded the Christian community will be gratified to receive the history of the primitive Church, by Eusebius, accessible to common readers, and executed and finished with fidelity.

Deeming it exceedingly important to the interests of religion, that the eye of Christians, generally, should be directed to primitive times, the undersigned contemplates the publication of some of the choicer works of that period. Should the patronage of Christian denominations, generally, warrant the undertaking, a regular series of the entire works, and parts of works, of primitive Christianity, as nearly in their chronological order as may be, adapted to the use of parish, congregational, and other public libraries, will, as soon as the important arrangements necessary to its being executed in good faith can be made, be commenced. THE PUBLISHER.

Philadelphia, March 22d, 1833.

The following history ends A. D. 324. The Council of Nice met A. D. 325. The Author's life and eulogy of Constantine, and that Emperor's address to the Council, are therefore, together with the history of Socrates, highly important and useful works, without which a proper acquaintance with that important period of the Church cannot be acquired.

ANNOTATIONS

ON THE

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF EUSEBIUS PAMPHILUS.

BY VALESIUS.

TRANSLATED* BY THE REV. S. E. PARKER,

AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLES PROSODY,' 'QUANTITY,' AND VERSIFICATION,' IN DR. REES'S CYCLOPÆDIA.

ACCORDING to the testimony of Socrates,† a book relative to the life of Eusebius, was written by Acacius, the scholar of that prelate, and his successor in the see of Cæsarea. This book, however, through that negligence in antiquity to which the loss of many others is to be ascribed, is not now extant; but from the testimonies of the several writers that have mentioned Eusebius, no exertions of ours shall be wanting to supply the defect.

It appears that Eusebius was born in Palestine, about the close of the reign of Gallienus. One proof of which is, that by the ancients, particularly by Basilius and Theodoret, he is frequently termed a Palestinian. It is not impossible, indeed, that he might have received that name from his being the bishop of Cæsarea, yet probability is in favour of his having derived it from his country. In short, he himself affirms, that he was educated, and when a youth, dwelt in Palestine, and that there he first saw Constantine, when journeying through Palestine in the suit of Diocletian Augustus. Eusebius, too, after repeating the contents of a law, written in favour of the Christians, by Constantine to the Palestinians, observes, "This letter of the Emperor's is the first sent to us."

On the authority of Eusebius himself, it may be affirmed, that he

* In this version, the sense, more than the expression of Valesius, is regarded. † Eccles. Hist. lib. 2. c. 4.

+ In his first book concerning the life of Constantine, chap. 19.

§ Life of Constantine, book ii, chap. 43, where see note a. Cambr. edit. 1692.

was born in the last part of the reign of Gallienus; for, in his Ecclesiastic History, he informs us, that Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, lived in his own age.* Eusebius, therefore, since Dionysius died in the twelfth year of the reign of Gallienus, must have been born before, if he lived within the time of that prelate. The same inference, also, follows, from his stating,† that Paul of Samosata, had revived the heresy of Artemon, in his‡ age. And in his history of the occurrences during the reign of Gallienus, before he begins the narrative of the error and condemnation of Paul of Samosata, he observes, "but now, after the history of these things, we will transmit to posterity an account of our own age.”

Whom he had for his parents is uncertain; neither do we know by what authorities, Nicephorus Callistus is warranted in affirming, that his mother was the sister of Pamphilus the martyr. Eusebius of Cæsarea, in Arius's letter,§ is termed brother to Eusebius of Nicomedia. Though he possibly might, on account of his friendship, have received this appellation, yet it is more probable that he was nearly related to the Nicomedian bishop; especially since, Eusebius of Cæsarea only, though many others there are mentioned, is termed by Arius, brother to that prelate. Besides the Nicomedian Eusebius was a native of Syria, and bishop first of Berytus: nor was it then the usage, that foreigners and persons unknown, should be promoted to the government of churches.

Neither is it known what teachers he had in secular learning; but in sacred literature, he had for his preceptor Dorotheus, the eunuch, presbyter of the Antiochian church, of whom he makes honourable mention, in his Seventh Book. Notwithstanding Eusebius there says only, that he had heard Dorotheus expounding the Holy Scriptures with propriety, in the Antiochian church, we are not inclined to object to any one hence inferring, with Trithemius, that Eusebius was Dorotheus's disciple. Theotecnus being at that time dead, the bishopric of the church of Cæsarea was administered by Agapius, a person of eminent piety and great liberality to the poor. By him Eusebius was admitted into the clerical office, and with Pamphilus, a presbyter of distinction at that time in the Cæsarean church, he

See lib. 3. c. 28.

Eccles. Hist. book v. chap. 28.

+ Eusebius's.

§ Arius's letter to Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, will be found in Theodoret's Eccles. Hist. lib. 1. c. 5. edit. Val. Chap. 1. p. 2.

entered into the firmest friendship. Pamphilus was, as Photius relates, a Phoenician, born at Berytus, and scholar of Pierius, a presbyter of the Alexandrian church. Who, since he was animated with the most singular attachment to sacred literature, and was with the utmost zeal collecting all the books, especially Origen's, of the ecclesiastic writers, founded a very celebrated school and library at Cæsarea, of which school Eusebius seems to have been the first master. Indeed, it is affirmed by Eusebius, that Apphianus, who suffered martyrdom in the third year of the persecution, had been instructed by him in the sacred Scriptures, in the city of Cæsarea. From that time Eusebius's intimacy with Pamphilus was so great, and his attention to him, as his inseparable companion till his death such, that from this attachment he acquired the name of Pamphilus. Neither did that attachment terminate with the death of the latter, but survived with the former, who ever mentioned his deceased friend in the most respectful and affectionate manner; this, indeed, is exemplified by the three books, eulogized by St. Jerome, and written by Eusebius, coneerning the life of Pamphilus, and by many passages in his Ecclesiastic History, and in his account of the martyrs of Palestine. In his Second Book, also, against Sabellius, written by Eusebius, after the Nicene Council, he frequently commends Pamphilus, though he suppresses his name. In the commencement of that discourse, Eusebius observes, "I think that my ears are as yet affected by the memory of that blessed man; for I seem to be yet hearing him utter that devout word, the only begotten Son of God,' a phrase he constantly employed; for it was the remembrance of the only begotten to the glory of the unborn Father. Now we have heard the apostle commanding that presbyters ought to be honoured with a double honour, those especially who have laboured in the word and doctrine." And at page 29, he thus again speaks of his friend: "With these things from the memory of that blessed man, I am not elated, but wish I could so speak, as if, together with you, I were always hearing from him. And the words now cited may be pleasing to him, for it is the glory of good servants to speak truth concerning the Lord, and it is the honour of those fathers, who have taught well, if their doctrines be repeated." Some, it is true, "may insinuate, that these were

* In his book concerning the martyrs of Palestine.

Again, in the same book, p. 37: "These words we always heard from that blessed man, for they were often thus spoken by him.”

phrases, the creatures of his lips, and no proof of the feelings of his heart. I remember, however, in what a satisfactory manner, I have heard with you, his solemn asseveration, that there was not one thing on his tongue and another in his heart." Shortly after, he says: "But now on account of the memory and honour of this our father, so good, so laborious, and so vigilant for the church, let these facts be briefly stated by us. For we have not mentioned yet his family, his education or learning, nor narrated the other incidents of his life, and its leading or principal object." These passages in Eusebius were pointed out to us by the most learned Franciscus Ogerius. Hence it may be satisfactorily inferred, that it was not any family alliance, but the bond of amity that connected Eusebius with Pamphius. Eusebius, though he mentions Pamphilus so frequently, and boasts so highly of his friendship, yet never speaks of him as a relative. The testimony of Eusebius alone is sufficient to decide that Pamphilus, though his friend, was not his kinsman. Since in the close of his Seventh Book of Ecclesiastic History, where he is making mention of Agapius, bishop of Cæsarea, he says: "In his time, we became acquainted with Pamphilus, a most eloquent man, and in his life and practices truly a philosopher,† and in the same church, ennobled with the honour of the presbytery." Since

"Propositum" is the word employed by Valesius, doubtless in that acceptation in which its precise sense is so easily appreciated by the classic reader in Horace, Car. lib. iii. ode iii. line i. "Justum et tenacem propositi virum, non civium ardor prava jubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solidâ," &c. Should not Christians have, universally, a far more vivid perception of this beautiful picture of mind than heathens? St. Paul had; see Philip. chap. iii. ver 13 & 14.

†The term philosopher, in the modern sense in which it is commonly understood, by no means expresses the precise meaning of the word propos, here used by Eusebius. By Isocrates, it is frequently employed to express an eloquent per son, or teacher of eloquence. Its generic sense is a lover of wisdom. Wisdom by the Sophists, was of course confined to their own doctrines. But according to the sense in which Josephus and other Grecian writers employed the word s, the lover of wisdom, seems not to be searching for wisdom, either in the doctrines of the Sophists, or in the Cartesian vortices, but in the volumes of inspired truth. This character, then, is equivalent to what in modern language is called a theolo gian, in which sense, I have no doubt, Eusebius is here to be understood. Hence Pamphilus was a character not only devoted to the attainment of that wisdom, which is developed in the sacred code, but his life and practices were such as to recommend it to others; consequently, a true theologian.-Translator.