Eusebius Book 3, Section 8

3.8.1

VIII. καὶ δὴ λαβὼν ἀνάγνωθι τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἕκτην τῶν Ἱστοριῶν αὐτῷ δεδηλωμένα ἐν τούτοις.

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VIII. Take, then, and read what is related in the sixth book of the Jewish War. “Now at that time impostors and lying prophets perverted the miserable people, but they gave neither attention nor credence to the clear marvels which foretold approaching desolation, but as though they had been thunderstruck and had neither eyes nor soul, they neglected the declarations of God. At one time a star stood over the city like a sword, and a comet which lasted for a year. At another time, before the insurrection, and the disturbance which led to the war, when the people were assembled for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the eighth of April, at the ninth hour of the night, a light shone on the altar and on the temple so brightly that it seemed to be full day, and this lasted for half an hour. To the inexperienced this seemed a good sign, but was at once interpreted by the scribes before the events which actually followed. And at the same feast a cow, which had been led by the priest for the sacrifice, gave birth to a lamb in the middle of the temple. And the eastern gate of the inner building, which was of bronze and very massive and was closed at evening time with difficulty by twenty men, and rested on beams bound with iron and had bars sunk deep, was seen at night at the sixth hour to have opened of itself. And after the feast, not many days later, on the twenty-first of May, a demonic phantom of incredible size, and what will be related would have seemed a fairy-tale had it not been told by those who saw it, and been attended by suffering worthy of the portent. For before sunset there appeared in the air over the whole country chariots and armed troops coursing through the clouds and surrounding the cities. And at the feast called Pentecost the priests passed into the temple at night, as was their custom, for their services, and said that they first perceived movement and noise and after that a sudden cry, ‘We go hence.’ But what was terrible, a man of the people named Jesus, the son of Ananias, a countryman, four years before the war, when the city was in complete peace and prosperity, came to the feast when it was the custom for all to make booths for God, and began suddenly to cry out opposite the temple, ‘A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against bridegrooms and brides, a voice against all the people.’ With this cry he went through all the narrow streets night and day. But some of the notables of the people were annoyed at the ill omen, seized the man and abused him with many stripes. But he uttered no word in his own behalf, nor in private to those present, but went on with the same cry as before. But the rulers thought that the man's action was inspired by some demon, as it indeed was, and brought him to the Roman governor; there, though he was flayed to the bone with scourges, he uttered no plea and shed no tear, but raising his voice with all his power, answered to every blow, ‘Woe, woe to Jerusalem.’”

3.8.2

“Τὸν γοῦν ἄθλιον δῆμον οἱ μὲν ἀπατεῶνες καὶ καταψευδόμενοι του θεοῦ τηνικαῦτα παρέπειθον, τοῖς δ’ ἐναργέσι καὶ προσημαίνουσι τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐρημίαν τέρασιν οὔτε προσεῖχον οὔτ’ ἐπίστευον, ἀλλ’ ὡς ἐμβεβροντημένοι καὶ μήτε ὄμματα μήτε ψυχὴν ἔχοντες τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ κηρυγμάτων παρήκουον, τοῦτο μὲν ὅθ’ ὑπὲρ τὴν πόλιν ἄστρον ἔστη ῥομφαίᾳ παραπλήσιον καὶ παρατείνας ἐπ’ ἐνιαυτὸν κομήτης, τοῦτο δ’ ἡνίκα πρὸ τῆς ἀποστάσεως καὶ τοῦ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον κινήματος, ἀθροιζομένου τοῦ λαοῦ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀζύμων ἑορτήν, ὀγδόη Ξανθικοῦ μηνὸς κατὰ νυκτὸς ἐνάτην ὥραν, τοσοῦτον φῶς περιέλαμψεν τὸν βωμὸν καὶ τὸν ναόν, ὡς δοκεῖν ἡμέραν εἶναι λαμπράν, καὶ τοῦτο παρέτεινεν ἐφ’ ἡμίσειαν ὥραν· ὃ τοῖς μὲν ἀπείροις ἀγαθὸν ἐδόκει εἶναι, τοῖς δὲ ἱερογραμματεῦσι πρὸ τῶν ἀποβεβηκότων εὐθέως ἐκρίθη. καὶ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἑορτὴν βοῦς μὲν ἀχθεῖσα ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως πρὸς τὴν θυσίαν ἔτεκεν ἄρνα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ μέσῳ· ἡ δ’ ἀνατολικὴ πύλη τοῦ ἐνδοτέρω χαλκῆ μὲν οὖσα καὶ στιβαρωτάτη, κλειομένη δὲ περὶ δείλην μόλις ὑπ’ ἀνθρώπων εἴκοσι, καὶ μοχλοῖς μὲν ἐπερειδομένη σιδηροδέτοις, κατάπηγας δ’ ἔχουσα βαθυτάτους, ὤφθη κατὰ νυκτὸς ὥραν ἕκτην αὐτομάτως ἠνοιγμένη. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἡμέραις οὐ πολλαῖς ὕστερον, μιᾷ καὶ εἰκάδι Ἀρτεμισίου μηνός, φάσμα τι δαιμόνιον ὤφθη μεῖζον πίστεως, τέρας δ’ ἂν ἔδοξεν εἶναι τὸ ῥηθησόμενον, εἰ μὴ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς θεασαμένοις ἱστόρητο καὶ τὰ ἐπακολουθήσαντα πάθη τῶν σημείων ἢν ἄξια· πρὸ γὰρ ἡλίου δύσεως ὤφθη μετέωρα περὶ πᾶσαν τὴν χώραν ἅρματα καὶ φάλαγγες ἔνοπλοι διᾴττουσαι τῶν νεφῶν καὶ κυκλούμεναι τὰς πόλεις. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἑορτήν, ἢ πεντηκοστὴ καλεῖται, νύκτωρ οἱ ἱερεῖς παρελθόντες εἰς τὸ ἱερόν, ὥσπερ αὐτοῖς ἔθος ἢν, πρὸς τὰς λειτουργίας, πρῶτον μὲν κινήσεως ἔφασαν ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι καὶ κτύπου, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φωνῆς ἀθρόας μεταβαίνομεν ἐντεῦθεν. ’ 1 τὸ δὲ τούτων φοβερώτερον, Ἰησοῦς γάρ τις ὄνομα, υἱὸς Ἀνανίου, τῶν ἰδιωτῶν, ἄγροικος, πρὸ τεσσάρων ἐτῶν τοῦ πολέμου, τὰ μάλιστα τῆς πόλεως εἰρηνευομένης καὶ εὐθηνούσης, ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ τὴν ἑορτήν, ἐπεὶ σκηνοποιδῖσθαι πάντας ἔθος ἦν τῷ θεῷ, κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐξαπίνης ἀναβοᾶν ἤρξατο φωνὴ ἀπ’ ἀνατολῆς, φωνὴ ἀπὸ δύσεως, φωνὴ ἀπὸ τῶν τεσσάρων ἀνέμων, φωνὴ ἐπὶ Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ τὸν ναόν, φωνὴ ἐπὶ νυμφίους καὶ νύμφας, φωνὴ ἐπὶ πάντα τὸν λαόν.’ τοῦτο μεθ’ ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτωρ κατὰ πάντας τοὺς στενωποὺς περιῄει κεκραγώς. τῶν δ’ ἐπισήμων τινὲς δημοτῶν ἀγανακτήσαντες πρὸς τὸ κακόφημον, συλλαμβάνουσι τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ πολλαῖς αἰκίζονται πληγαῖς· ὃ δ’ οὔθ’ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ φθεγξάμενος οὔτε ἰδίᾳ πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας, ἃς καὶ πρότερον φωνὰς βοῶν διετέλει. νομίσαντες δ’ οἱ ἄρχοντες, ὅπερ ἢν, δαιμονιώτερον εἷναι τὸ κίνημα τἀνδρός, ἀνάγουσιν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις ἔπαρχον· ἔνθα μάστιξιν μέχρις ὀστέων ξαινόμενος οὔθ’ ἱκέτευσεν οὔτ’ ἐδάκρυσεν, ἀλλ’ ὡς ἐνῆν μάλιστα τὴν φωνὴν ὀλοφυρτικῶς παρεγκλίνων, πρὸς ἑκάστην ἀπεκρίνατο πληγήν αἰ αἰ Ἱεροσολύμοις.1'"

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The same writer has a still more remarkable account, in which he alleges that an oracle was found in “sacred scripture” to the effect that at that time one from their country should rule the world, and he himself considered that this was fulfilled by Vespasian. Yet he did not reign over the whole world, but only such part as was subject to the Romans; and it would be more justly referred to Christ, to whom it was said by the Father, “Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the ends of the earth for thy possession.” It was of his holy apostles that at that very time “the sound went forth into all the earth and their words unto the end of the earth.”

3.8.3

Ἕτερον δ’ ἔτι τούτου παραδοξότερον ὁ αὐτὸς ἱστορεῖ, χρησμόν τινα φάσκων ἐν ἱεροῖς γράμμασιν εὑρησθαι περιέχοντα ὡς κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας τις αὐτῶν ἄρξει τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὃν αὐτὸς μὲν ἐπὶ Οὐεσπασιανὸν πεπληρῶσθαι ἐξείληφεν· ἀλλ’ οὐχ ἁπάσης γε οὗτος ἀλλ’ ἢ μόνης ἦρξεν τῆς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους· δικαιότερον δ’ ἂν ἐπὶ τὸν χριστὸν ἀναχθείη, πρὸς ὃν εἴρητο ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς “ αἴτησαι παρ’ ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν ἀοῦ, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς,’ οὗ δὴ κατ’ αὐτὸ δὴ ἐκεῖνο τοῦ καιροῦ “ εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος” τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων “ καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν.”

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