Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History, Books I–X

NPNF historical edition · Translated text

Book IV — Chapter XXVIII — Musanus and His Writings.

Chapter XXVIII.—Musanus and His Writings.

And as for Musanus, ^{Edition note 1} whom we have mentioned among the foregoing writers, a certain very elegant discourse is extant, which was written by him against some brethren that had gone over to the heresy of the so-called Encratites, ^{Edition note 2} which had recently sprung up, and which introduced a strange and pernicious error. It is said that Tatian was the author of this false doctrine.

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Edition notes

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Edition note 1

Of this Musanus, we know only what Eusebius tells us here, for Jerome ( de vir. ill. 31) and Theodoret ( Hær. Fab. I. 21) simply repeat the account of Eusebius. It is clear from Eusebius’ language, that he had not himself seen this work of Musanus; he had simply heard of it. Here, and in chap. 21, Eusebius assigns the activity of Musanus to the reign of Marcus Aurelius, making him a contemporary of Melito, Apolinarius, Irenæus, &c. But in the Chron. he is put much later. The Armenian version, under the year of Abr. 2220 (the eleventh year of Septimius), has the entry Musanus noster scriptor cognoscebatur.

Jerome, under the same year (2220 of Abr., but twelfth year of Severus) has Musanus nostræ filosofiæ scriptor agnoscitur; while Syncellus, under the year of Abr. 2231 (fourth year of Caracalla) has Μουσιανὸς ἐκκλησιαστικὸς συγγραφευς ἐγνωρίζετο . All of them, therefore, speak of Musanus (or Musianus) as a writer, but do not specify any of his works. The dates in the Chron. (whichever be taken as original) and in the History are not mutually exclusive; at the same time it is clear that Eusebius was not working upon the same information in the two cases. We have no means of testing the correctness of either statement.

Open note in the edition commentary

Edition note 2

On Tatian and the Encratites, see the next chapter.

Open note in the edition commentary