This is the last of four volumes in Sources Chrétiennes (cccvi, ccccxviii, ccccxcv, dxvi) dedicated to the translation of the Ecclesiastical history of Sozomen. Bernard Grillet revised the translation by André-Jean Festugière (1898–1982) of the Greek text edited in the Berlin series Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte (l, 1960; 2nd edn, N. F. 4, 1995). The Greek text is reproduced, but without the critical apparatus. Guy Sabbah is responsible for the different introductions and the annotation, with the exception of books vii–viii which are annotated by Laurent Angliviel de la Beaumelle. The introduction to the present volume quickly presents the structure of books vii–ix before offering a synthetic treatment of the historical method, particularly the question of the sources and their use by Sozomen. Sabbah reacts against the tendency, recently illustrated by P. Van Nuffelen (Un Héritage de paix et de piété, Louvain 2004), of accusing Sozomen of relying too heavily on previous historians. The careful evaluation of the use of non-literary sources is of particular interest. The annotation is abundant, giving basic information such as prosopographical notices on a number of figures mentioned in the text, but also comparing Sozomen's narrative to parallel sources such as Socrates and Palladius. The notes go much further, particularly in this last volume, than the goal fixed by the series of helping the reader to go through the text. They constitute the only commentary, even if not continuous, currently available for Sozomen's Ecclesiastical history. Volume iv also provides a general index of names (persons, peoples and places).