Traduction
Masquer
The Church History of Eusebius
Chapter XX.--The Relatives of our Saviour.
1. "Of the family of the Lord there were still living the grandchildren of Jude, who is said to have been the Lord's brother according to the flesh. 1
2. Information was given that they belonged to the family of David, and they were brought to the Emperor Domitian by the Evocatus. 2 For Domitian feared the coming of Christ as Herod also had feared it. And he asked them if they were descendants of David, and they confessed that they were. Then he asked them how much property they had, or how much money they owned. And both of them answered that they had only nine thousand denarii, 3 half of which belonged to each of them;
4. and this property did not consist of silver, but of a piece of land which contained only thirty-nine acres, and from which they raised their taxes 4 and supported themselves by their own labor." 5
5. Then they showed their hands, exhibiting the hardness of their bodies and the callousness produced upon their hands by continuous toil as evidence of their own labor.
6. And when they were asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, of what sort it was and where and when it was to appear, they answered that it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly and angelic one, which would appear at the end of the world, when he should come in glory to judge the quick and the dead, and to give unto every one according to his works.
7. Upon hearing this, Domitian did not pass judgment against them, but, despising them as of no account, he let them go, and by a decree put a stop to the persecution of the Church.
8. But when they were released they ruled the churches because they were witnesses 6 and were also relatives of the Lord. 7 And peace being established, they lived until the time of Trajan. These things are related by Hegesippus.
9. Tertullian also has mentioned Domitian in the following words: 8 "Domitian also, who possessed a share of Nero's cruelty, attempted once to do the same thing that the latter did. But because he had, I suppose, some intelligence, 9 he very soon ceased, and even recalled those whom he had banished."
10. But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years, 10 and Nerva had succeeded to the empire, the Roman Senate, according to the writers that record the history of those days, 11 voted that Domitian's honors should be cancelled, and that those who had been unjustly banished should return to their homes and have their property restored to them.
11. It was at this time that the apostle John returned from his banishment in the island and took up his abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient Christian tradition. 12
-
This Jude was the brother of James, "the brother of the Lord," who is mentioned in Jude 1, and is to be distinguished from Jude (Thaddeus-Lebbaeus), one of the Twelve, whose name appears in the catalogues of Luke (Luke vi. 14 and Acts i. 13) as the son of James (not his brother, as the A.V. translates: the Greek words are 'Ioudas 'Iakobou). For a discussion of the relationship of these men to Christ, see above, Bk. I. chap. 12, note 14. Of the son of Jude and father of the young men mentioned in this chapter we know nothing. ↩
-
According to Andrew's Lexicon, "An Evocatus was a soldier who, having served out his time, was called upon to do military duty as a volunteer." This suspiciousness is perfectly in keeping with the character of Domitian. The same thing is told also of Vespasian, in chap. 12; but in his case the political situation was far more serious, and revolutions under the lead of one of the royal family might most naturally be expected just after the terrible destruction. The same act is also mentioned in connection with Trajan, in chap. 32, and there is no reason to doubt its truthfulness, for the Jews were well known as a most rebellious and troublesome people. ↩
-
A denarius was a Roman silver coin, in value about sixteen, or, according to others, about nineteen, cents. ↩
-
"Taxes or tributes were paid commonly in the products of the land" (Val.). ↩
-
Most editors (including Valesius, Heinichen, Crusè, &c.) regard the quotation from Hegesippus as extending through §8; but it really ends here, and from this point on Eusebius reproduces the sense in his own words (and so Bright gives it in his edition). This is perfectly clear, for in the first place, the infinitive epideiknunai occurs in the next sentence, a form possible only in indirect discourse: and secondly, as Lightfoot has pointed out, the statement of §8 is repeated in chap. 32, §6, and there in the exact language of Hegesippus, which differs enough from the language of §8 to show that the latter is a free reproduction. ↩
-
m?rturas. On the use of this word, see chap. 32, note 15. ↩
-
Compare Renan's Les Evangiles, p. 466. ↩
-
Tertullian, Apol. chap. 5. ↩
-
ti suneseos. Lat. sed qua et homo. ↩
-
Domitian reigned from Dec. 13, 81 a.d., to Sept. 18, 96. ↩
-
See Dion Cassius, LXVIII. 1 sq., and Suetonius' Domitian, chap. 23. ↩
-
Literally, "the word of the ancients among us" (ho ton par' hemin archaion logos). On the tradition itself, see chap. 1, note 6. ↩
Traduction
Masquer
Histoire ecclésiastique
HAPITRE XX : LES PARENTS DE NOTRE SAUVEUR
[1] « II y avait encore de la race du Sauveur les petits- fils de Jude qui lui-même était appelé son frère selon la chair : on les dénonça comme descendants de David. l'evocatus les amena à Domitien ; celui-ci craignait la venue du Christ, comme Hérode.1 [2] L'empereur leur demanda s'ils étaient de la race de David ; ils l'avouèrent ; il s'enquit alors de leurs biens et de leur fortune : ils dirent qu'ils ne possédaient ensemble l'un et l'autre que neuf mille deniers, dont chacun avait la moitié; ils ajoutèrent qu'ils n'avaient pas cette somme en numéraire, mais qu'elle était l'évaluation d'une terre de trente-neuf plèthres, pour laquelle ils payaient l'impôt et qu'ils cultivaient pour vivre.
[3] Puis ils montrèrent leurs mains et, comme preuve qu'ils travaillaient eux-mêmes, ils alléguèrent la rudesse de leurs membres, et les durillons incrustés dans leurs propres mains, indice certain d'un labeur continu. [4] Interrogés sur le Christ et son royaume, sur la nature de sa royauté, sur le lieu et l'époque de son apparition, ils firent cette réponse, que le règne du Christ n'était ni du monde ni de la terre, mais céleste et angé- 287 lique, qu'il se réaliserait à la fin des temps, quand le Christ venant dans sa gloire jugerait les vivants et les morts et rendrait à chacun selon ses œuvres. [5] Domitien ne vit rien là qui fût contre eux ; il les dédaigna comme des gens simples, les renvoya libres et un édit fit cesser la persécution contre l'Eglise. [6] Une fois délivrés, ils dirigèrent les églises, à la fois comme martyrs et parents du Seigneur, et vécurent après a paix jusqu'au temps de Trajan.
[7] Tel est le récit d'Hégésippe. Du reste, celui de Tertullien nous raconte la même chose sur Domitien :
« Domitien essaya un jour de faire la même chose que celui-ci ; il était la monnaie de Néron pour la cruauté ; mais comme il avait, je pense, quelque intelligence, il s'arrêta bien vite et rappela même ceux qu'il avait bannis. »
[8] Après Domitien qui régna quinze ans, Nerva obtint l'empire [96] ; les honneurs de Domitien furent abolis, le sénat des Romains vota une loi qui permit à ceux qui étaient injustement exilés de revenir chez eux et même de recouvrer leurs biens ; c'est ce que racontent les historiens qui ont écrit les événements de cette époque. [9] Alors l'apôtre Jean put donc, lui aussi, quitter l'île où il était relégué, pour s'établir à Éphèse ; c'est ce que rapporte une tradition de nos anciens.
-
ὁ ἠουοκᾶτος : les vétérans qui faisaient partie des euocati avaient des fonctions administratives inférieures ; on connaît un euocatus Palatinus, c'était une sorte d'huissier du palais. RUFIN : Hos Reuocatus quidam nomine, qui ad hoc missus fuerat, perducit ad Domitianum Caesarem : c'est la méprise qui a fait d'expeditus un nom de saint; mais elle est étrange chez un écrivain romain. — Hégésippe emploie 507 encore deux mots tirés du latin, ἐδηλατόρευσαν, de delator, mais sans correspondant exact, et δηνάρια, fréquent chez les historiens grecs. ↩