§ 2. THE DATE

This question is involved in conflicting internal evidence. Is the Demonstratio earlier or later than the History, which is generally dated A.D. 325? The passage ει γουν τι δυναται η ημετερα ιστοπια (Dem. 273 d) proves nothing, for we must translate with Lightfoot, not "my history," but "my personal observation." Neither can the passage in the History (H.E. i. 2 ad fin.) be safely regarded as referring to the Demonstratio. There is a direct reference to the Quaestiones ad Stephanum in Dem. 353 c, but this does not prove that the whole of the latter work was anterior to the Demonstratio, for the Quaestiones have a cross-reference to the Demonstratio in col. 912 - ωσπερ ουν συνεστησαμεν εν ταις ευαγγελικαις αποδειξεσιν. It is suggested by Lightfoot that this part of the Quaestiones, the epitome or εκλογη εν συντομω, was added at a later date, in which case the Demonstratio would come between the Quaestiones and the Epitome.

Evidence from the mention of contemporary events is again conflicting, if we are seeking the date of the work as a whole. There is an obvious contrast between passages that speak of the Church as still undergoing persecution, e. g. Dem. 119 b, ο και εστιν εις δευρο θεωρουντας ενεργουμενον, ef. 182 d (εισετι και νυν) and 82 c, and those which in the manner of the earlier Apologists represent it as progressing and flourishing - e.g. Dem. 103 c and Praep. Ev. 9 d.  The - xi -ii usual explanation of these discrepancies is to suppose that different sections of the work took shape at different times, the former towards the end of the Terror, the latter after its conclusion. (Gifford, Praeparatio, Tom. iii. pars. i. p. xii.)

But there seems nothing unreasonable in supposing that an historical writer, engaged in defending Christianity on the ground of its endurance and success, while surveying in one coup d'oeil the three centuries of its past struggle, might very naturally refer to a persecution, that had but recently relaxed its pressure, as present. If this be thought probable we may consider the whole work to have been written between A.D. 314 and A.D. 318. For the more than probable allusion in Praep. Ev. 135 c to the punishment by Licinius of the Antiochene theosophical impostors, described in H.E. ix. 11, would place the date after A.D. 314, whereas the theological language would seem to be too unguarded to allow it to be likely that it was penned near the time when the decision of the Arian controversy was imminent. And Arius was already attracting attention in A.D. 319. (Bright: Church of the Fathers, i. 56.)