8.2.1
II. Συντετέλεσται δῆτα καθ’ ἡμᾶς ἅπαντα, ὁπηνίκα τῶν μὲν προσευκτηρίων τοὺς οἴκους ἐξ ὕφους εἰς ἔδαφος αὐτοῖς θεμελίοις καταρριπτουμένους, τὰς δ’ ἐνθέους καὶ ἱερὰς γραφὰς κατὰ μέσας ἀγορὰς πυρὶ παραδιδομένας αὐτοῖς ἐπείδομεν ὀφθαλμοῖς τούς τε τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ποιμένας αἰσχρῶς ὧδε κἀκεῖσε κρυπραζομένους, τοὺς δὲ ἀσχημόνως ἁλισκομένους καὶ πρὸς τῶν ἐχθρῶν καταπαιζομένους, ὅτε καὶ κατ’ ἄλλον προφητικὸν λόγον ἐξεχύθη ἐξουδένωσις ἐπ’ ἄρχοντας, καὶ ἐπλάνησεν αὐτοὺς ἐν ἀβάτῳ καὶ οὐχ ὁδῷ. ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν οὐχ ἡμέτερον διαγράφειν τὰς ἐπὶ τέλει σκυθρωπὰς συμφοράς, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰς πρόσθεν τοῦ διωγμοῦ διαστάσεις τε αὐτῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ ἀτοπίας οὐχ ἡμῖν οἰκεῖον μνήμη παραδιδόναι· δι’ δ’ καὶ πλέον οὐδὲν ἱστορῆσαι περὶ αὐτῶν διέγνωμεν ἢ δι’ ὧν ἂν τὴν θείαν δικαιώσαιμεν κρίσιν. οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ τῶν πρὸς τοῦ διωγμοῦ πεπειραμένων ἢ τῶν εἰς ἅπαν τῆς σωτηρίας νεναυαγηκότων αὐτῇ τε γνώμη τοῖς τοῦ κλύδωνος ἐναπορριφέντων βυθοῖ μνήμην ποιήσασθαι προήχθημεν, μόνα δ’ ἐκεῖνα τῆ καθόλου προσθήσομεν ἱστορίᾳ, ἃ πρώτοις μὲν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τοῖς μεθ’ ἡμᾶς γένοιτ’ ἂν πρὸς ὠφελείας. ἴωμεν οὗν ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀγῶνας τῶν τοῦ θείου λόγου μαρτύρων ὲν ἐπιτομῇ διαγράφοντες.
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II. All things in truth were fulfilled in our day, when we saw with our very eyes the houses of prayer cast down to their foundations from top to bottom, and the inspired and sacred Scriptures committed to the flames in the midst of the market-places, and the pastors of the churches, some shamefully hiding themselves here and there, while others were ignominiously captured and made a mockery by their enemies; when also, according to another prophetic word, He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the waste, where there is no way.
8.2.2
Ἔρος τοῦτο ἦν ἐννεακαιδέκατον τῆς Διοκλητιανοῦ βασιλείας, Δύστρος μήν, λέγοιτο δ’ ἄη οὗτος Μάρτιος κατὰ Ῥωμαίους, ἐν ᾧ τῆς τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους ἑορτῆς ἐπελαυνούσης πανταχόσε βασιλικὰ γράμματα, τὰς μὲν ἐκκλησία εἰς ἔδαφος φέρειν, τὰς δὲ γραφὰς ἀφανεῖς πυρὶ γενέσθαι προστάττοντα, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐπειλημμένους ἀτίμους, τοὺς δ’ ἐν οἰκετίαις, εἰ ἐπιμένοιεν τῆ τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ προθέσει, ἐλευθερίας προαγορεύοντα. καὶ ἡ μὲν πρώτη καθ’ ἡμῶν γραφὴ τοιαύτη τις ἢν· με οὐ πολὺ δὲ ἑτέρων ἐπιφοιτησάντων γραμμάτων, προσετάττετο τοὺς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν προέδρους πάντας τοὺς κατὰ πάντα τόπον πρῶτα μὲν δεσμοῖς παραδίδοσθαι, εἶθ’ ὕστερον πάσῃ μηχανῆ θύειν παραδίδοσθαι,
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But as to these, it is not our part to describe their melancholy misfortunes in the issue, even as we do not think it proper to hand down to memory their dissensions and unnatural conduct to one another before the persecution. Therefore we resolved to place on record nothing more about them than what would justify the divine judgement. Accordingly, we determined not even to mention those who have been tried by the persecution, or have made utter shipwreck of their salvation, and of their own free will were plunged in the depths of the billows; but we shall add to the general history only such things as may be profitable, first to ourselves, and then to those that come after us. Let us proceed, therefore, from this point to give a summary description of the sacred conflicts of the martyrs for the divine Word. It was the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian, and the month Dystrus, or March, as the Romans would call it, in which, as the festival of the Saviour's Passion was coming on, an imperial letter was everywhere promulgated, ordering the razing of churches to the ground and the destruction by fire of the Scriptures, and proclaiming that those who held high positions would lose all civil rights, while those in households, if they persisted in their profession of Christianity, would be deprived of their liberty. Such was the first document against us. But not long afterwards we were further visited with other letters, and in them the order was given that the presidents of the churches should all, in every place, first be committed to prison, and then afterwards compelled by every kind of device to sacrifice.