Preface to the Two Books of Ecclesiastical History
Tyrannius Rufinus (344–411)
Preface to the Two Books of Ecclesiastical History, Added by Rufinus to His Translation of Eusebius
Addressed to Chromatius, Bishop of Aquileia, a.d. 401
(For the occasion of writing, and the date, see Prolegomena, p. 412.)
It is the custom, they say, of skilful physicians, when they perceive that some epidemic disease is near at hand in one of our cities, to provide some kind of medicine, whether solid or liquid, which men may use as a preventative to defend themselves from the destruction which is hanging over them. You have imitated this method of the doctors, my venerable Father, Chromatius, at the moment when the gates of Italy were broken through by Alaric the commander of the Goths, and thus a disease and plague poured in upon us, which made havoc of the fields and cattle and men throughout the land. You then sought a remedy against the cruelty and destruction, so that the minds of then which were languishing might be drawn away from the contagion of the prevailing malady, and might preserve their balance through an interest in better pursuits. This you have done by enjoining on me the task of translating into Latin the ecclesiastical history which was written in the Greek…
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