This study seeks to analyse Eusebius’ Praeparatio Evangelica in terms of a fourfold taxonomy of modes textual violence: the relationship of the text’s composition to historical acts of violence, its narration of acts of violence, its adoption of violent language for otherwise not (necessarily) violent actions or practices, and its violence against the integrity of its opponents’ identities, thought, and writings. While the first two modes are more limited, the latter two modes of textual violence are exquisitely expressed – and yet simultaneously deeply complicated – by Eusebius’ apologetic work. De Certeau’s notion of a tactics of textual poaching, in particular, prompts a cautious reconsideration of how quotation of one’s opponents might (or might not) work as a mode of textual violence.