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18 "And no one knoweth who the Son is, save the Father; and who the Father is, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him."-Luke x. 22.
19 Eusebius, in making is the Word who impresses the image of God on men, shows good philosophy and good theology.
20 There seems to be a clear hint of Philonism here, or Philonism as developed by the Neo-Platonists and the Christian Theologians. The history of the thought seems to begin in the Platonic ideas. These self-existing forms which impress themselves on the soul naturally become personalities to which the soul submits, and whose images are impressed on the soul. These personalized ideas are in the thought of Philo the thoughts or ideas of God, "powers" who do his will, like the Valkyr of the Northern mythology,-the personified thoughts or will of Odin. These objective ideas in organized whole were the Word.
The objectivity of ideas, placed in relation with "mind reading," "thought transference," and the like, and with the modern conceptions of the conservation of energy and transmission of force by vibrations, give an interesting suggestion of a material basis for the conception. If thought is accompanied by vibration of brain molecules, it is of course quite conceivable that that vibration be projected through any medium which can transmit vibration, whether the nerves of another person or the air. A person of supreme energy of will would make these vibrations more intense, and an Infinite personality would make tangible even perhaps to the point of that resistance which we call matter. The conception of one great central Personality issuing an organized related system of thoughts in various stages of embodiment, in one massive, constant forth-streaming of will, is most interesting. According to it, all will forms of the individual are true as they are in harmony with these norms. Where, however, the lesser wills project incongruous will forms, they are in conflict with the greater. According to it, the human soul is beaten upon by all ideas which have ever been projected, either in individual or in some combined total of force, and is formed according to what it submits itself to, whether to the lesser and mal-organizedor to the Great Norm.
21 Compare Prolegomena, Character. This peculiar self-control, it is to be remembered, was characteristic also of his father, and in a measure the product of the Neo-Platonic philosophy.
22 Literally, the "archetypal idea,"-the same phrase as that used by Philo, 1. 4 (ed. Lips., 1828, I. p. 7): i.e. that incorporeal model or image of God on which the corporeal world was formed.
23 This may be true: but compare Prolegomena, Character, for his practice, at least.
24 [Alluding (says Valesius) to the crowns of gold which the people of the several provinces were accustomed to present to the Roman emperors on such occasions as the present.-Bag.] In his prologue to the Life, Eusebius calls this very oration a weaving of tricennial crowns (or garlands). These crowns had their historical origin in the triumphal crowns under the Roman system. Cf. Rich, in Smith, Dict. Gr. and Rom. Ant. p. 361.
25 [It is perhaps difficult to find a better word to express the original aiwn.-Bag.]
26 Compare 1 Tim. i. 17 (marg.), "King of the ages" ("aeons," or according to this translation "eternity").
27 [Days, months, years, seasons, &c., are here intended. Valesius, ad loc.-Bag.]
30 From what source Eusebius draws this particular application of the Pythagorean principle is uncertain. This conception of the derivation of ten from four is found in Philo, de Mund. Opif. ch. 15, and indeed it is said (Ueberweg) that with the earliest Pythagoreans four and ten were the especially significant numbers in creation. This mixture of Neo-Pythagoreanism with Platonism and Philonism. was characteristic of the time.
31 [Monaj, para to menein wnomasmenh. The analogies from number in this chapter (which the reader will probably consider puerile enough) seem to be an imitation of some of the mystical speculations of Plato.-Bag.]
33 [Megan qeon kai plousion, para kai Ploutwna, ton qanaton anhgoreuon.-Bag.]
34 On these various names, compare Smith, Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Biog.
35 For account of the various details of persecution mentioned, compare the Church History.
37 [That is, stripping the images of those whose temples he destroyed, and apportioning the spoils among his Christian followers: See the next chapter, which is mostly a transcript of the 54th and 55th chapters of the Third Book of the Life of Constantine.-Bag.]
38 "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men."
39 He seems to disagree with the view of the heathen prophecy which his imperial hearer maintained in his Oration to the Saints.
40 For details respecting the following enumeration, compare the Life of Constantine, of which this is a résumé. This sentence and the preceding are taken almost word for word from ch. 16 of Bk. II.
41 Almost word for word from the Life, Bk. III. ch. 50.
42 [In the Life of Constantine (vide [Bk. III. ch. 41] supra), Eusebius mentions two caves only, and speaks of the churches built by Helena at Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives. He here alludes to the magnificent church erected by Constantine at the Lord's sepulchre, and ascribes to him those of Helena also, as having been raised at the emperor's expense. Valesius, ad loc.-Bag.]