Eusebius of Caesarea · a new plain-English translation from the Greek
1| The only-begotten Word of God, reigning together with his Father, endures from ages without beginning to ages without limit or end. His friend, supplied with royal outpourings from above and made strong by bearing the title of that divine name, rules over all on earth through long cycles of years.
2| Then again, the Savior of all things makes the whole heaven and universe, and the kingdom on high, fit for his Father; while his friend leads his subjects on earth to the only-begotten and saving Word himself and renders them suited for his kingdom.
3| The common Savior of all things, by an invisible and divine power, drives the rebel powers that once flew about through this air above the earth and fastened upon the souls of men far away from his flock, as a good shepherd drives off savage beasts; while his friend, adorned from above by him with trophies over his enemies, subdues the visible enemies of the truth by the law of war and brings them to their senses.
4| The Word, who is before the world and Savior of all things, hands on rational and saving seeds to his followers and so makes them rational and at the same time possessed of knowledge of his Father's kingdom; while his friend, like an interpreter of the Word of God, calls all of humankind to the knowledge of the Higher Power, crying aloud in the hearing of all and proclaiming with a great voice to everyone on earth the laws of true piety.
5| The Savior of all things opens wide the heavenly gates to the Father's kingdom for those who pass from here to there; while his friend, in zeal for the Higher Power, has cleansed the earthly kingdom of every stain of godless error and invites companies of holy and pious men within the imperial palace, taking care to bring safe to harbor the whole fleet of those he steers, crew and all. And he alone of all who have ever led the Roman empire, honored by God, the King of all, with three full cycles of ten years, celebrates this festival not, as the men of old did, to spirits of the underworld, nor to the phantoms of demons who lead peoples astray, nor with the deceits and nonsense of godless men; instead he renders his thanks to the very One who has honored him, conscious of the good things bestowed on him. He does not, as the men of old did, defile the imperial palace with blood and gore, nor appease the demons of the underworld with smoke and fire and sacrifices of whole burnt animals. He offers the sacrifice that is dear and pleasing to the King of all himself: his own royal soul, and a mind fit for him alone. This is the offering our emperor has been taught to make with fair omens, using reasonings purified in the understanding, without fire and without blood. He strengthens the cause of piety with the unerring convictions of his soul, honors theology with magnificent speech, and in his imperial deeds emulates the love of humanity of the Higher Power. He is wholly devoted to him, and dedicates himself as a great gift, the firstfruits of the world entrusted to him. This is the greatest offering of all, which the emperor presents with fair omens before all else. And like a good shepherd he sacrifices, not "offering glorious hecatombs of firstborn lambs," but bringing the souls of the rational flock he tends to the knowledge and worship of God.
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