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having said only the saying from the forty-ninth psalm, passing over the entire distinction, as the psalm says, “But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare my statutes, and take up my covenant in your mouth?”; folding the book, he handed it over and sat down with weeping and tears, with everyone weeping together with him. 3. Some time after this, when many were urging and compelling him, he met a certain Ambrose, one of the distinguished men in the royal courts; and some said this Ambrose was a Marcionite, others a Sabellian; he therefore instructed him to turn away from the heresy and to anathematize it and to accept the faith of the holy church of God; for at that time this Origen was of the orthodox and catholic faith. And the aforementioned Ambrose, since he had been of another heresy 2.406 and was a man learned and diligent in the divine readings of the divine scriptures, on account of the depth of the thoughts in the divine books, asked this Origen to explain to him. And he, wishing for his sake and at his urging to become an interpreter, so to speak, of all scripture and to expound it, applied himself, and in Tyre of Phoenicia, as the story goes, for twenty-eight years *, with a surpassing way of life and leisure and labor *, while Ambrose supplied 2.407 food for him and for the tachygraphers and his servants, and paper and the other expenses, and Origen accomplished the labor concerning the scripture in vigils and in the greatest leisure. Whence, having first diligently endeavored 2.408 to collect the six interpretations, of Aquila, Symmachus, the seventy-two, and Theodotion, and of the fifth and sixth editions, he published the books, with a side-by-side comparison of each Hebrew word and of the Hebrew letters themselves together; and in a parallel column opposite, using a second page for a composition of the Hebrew word, but with Greek letters, he made yet another composition; so that these are and are called the Hexapla, and for the Greek interpretations there came to be two parallel comparisons, of the Hebrew by nature with Hebrew letters and of the Hebrew with Greek letters, so that the whole Old Testament was through the so-called Hexapla and through the two Hebrew texts. 2.409 The man had ambitiously undertaken this entire treatise with labor; but his fame did not last unquenched to the end. For his great experience resulted in a great fall for him. For from this very purpose, wishing to leave nothing of the divine scriptures uninterpreted, he enveloped himself in the inducement of sin and expounded deadly sayings, from which the so-called Origenists, not the first ones of the shameful practice *; for I cannot say about those, as I have already said before, whether they had their origin from this Origen, also called Adamantius, or had some other leader, also called Origen. And they say that this Origen devised something for himself concerning his little body. For some say that he had cut a sinew so as not to be troubled by pleasure nor to be inflamed and set on fire in the movements of the body. But others say not so, but that he devised some drug to apply to his members and to dry them up. And others dare to report other things about him, as that he also found some medicinal herb for the sake of memory. And we have not quite believed the exaggerated things said about him, yet we have not omitted to state the things that are said. 4. And the heresy that sprang from him, existing first in the country of the Egyptians, is now found among those very men who are most eminent and seem to have undertaken the solitary life, among those by nature 2.410 withdrawing into the deserts and choosing a life of poverty; and this too is a dreadful heresy and more wicked than all the old ones, which also thinks similar things along with them. For whether baseness

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ῥητὸν μόνον τὸ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τοῦ τεσσαρακοστοῦ ἐνάτου ἐπειπών, τὴν πᾶσαν διαστολὴν παρελθών, ὡς λέγει ὁ ψαλμός, «τῷ δὲ ἁμαρτωλῷ εἶπεν ὁ θεός· ἵνα τί σὺ ἐκδιηγῇ τὰ δικαιώματά μου καὶ ἀναλαμβάνεις τὴν διαθήκην μου διὰ στόματός σου»; πτύξας τὸ βιβλίον ἐπέδωκε καὶ ἐκάθισε μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ καὶ δακρύων, τῶν πάντων ὁμοῦ σὺν αὐτῷ κλαιόντων. 3. Μετὰ χρόνον ἀπ' ἐντεῦθεν προτρεπομένων αὐτὸν πολλῶν καὶ ἀναγκαζόντων, Ἀμβροσίῳ τινὶ συντυχὼν τῶν διαφανῶν ἐν αὐλαῖς βασιλικαῖς τινὲς δὲ τοῦτον τὸν Ἀμβρόσιον ἔφασαν οἱ μὲν Μαρκιωνιστήν, οἱ δὲ Σαβελλιανόν κατήχησε γοῦν τὸν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς αἱρέσεως ἐκκλῖναι καὶ ἀναθεματίσαι καὶ τὴν πίστιν ἀναδέξασθαι τῆς ἁγίας θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας· ἦν γὰρ τότε ὁ αὐτὸς Ὠριγένης τῆς ὀρθῆς καὶ καθολικῆς πίστεως. ὁ δὲ προειρημένος Ἀμβρόσιος ἐπειδὴ ἀπὸ ἄλλης αἱρέσεως 2.406 ὑπῆρχε καὶ οἷα ἀνὴρ λόγιος καὶ σπουδαῖος περὶ τὰς θείας ἀναγνώσεις τῶν θείων γραφῶν, διὰ τὴν ἐν ταῖς θείαις βίβλοις βαθύτητα τῶν νοημάτων ἠξίωσε τὸν αὐτὸν Ὠριγένην φράσαι αὐτῷ. ὁ δὲ βουλόμενος εἰς ἐκείνου καθῆκον καὶ προτροπὴν πάσης γραφῆς ὡς εἰπεῖν ἑρμηνεὺς γενέσθαι καὶ ἐξηγήσασθαι ἐπετήδευσε καὶ ἐν τῇ Τύρῳ τῆς Φοινίκης, ὡς λόγος ἔχει, εἴκοσι ὀκτὼ ἔτη *, πολιτείᾳ μὲν ὑπερβαλλούσῃ καὶ σχολῇ καὶ καμάτῳ *, τοῦ μὲν Ἀμβροσίου τὰ πρὸς τροφὰς αὐτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς ὀξυγράφοις καὶ τοῖς ὑπηρετοῦσιν αὐτῷ ἐπαρ2.407 κοῦντος, χάρτην τε καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τῶν ἀναλωμάτων, καὶ τοῦ Ὠριγένους ἔν τε ἀγρυπνίαις καὶ ἐν σχολῇ μεγίστῃ τὸν κάματον τὸν περὶ τῆς γραφῆς διανύοντος. ὅθεν τὸ πρῶτον αὐτοῦ ἐπιμελῶς φιλοτιμη2.408 σαμένου συναγαγεῖν τῶν ἓξ ἑρμηνειῶν, Ἀκύλα Συμμάχου τῶν τε ἑβδομήκοντα δύο καὶ Θεοδοτίωνος, πέμπτης τε καὶ ἕκτης ἐκδόσεως τὰς βίβλους ἐξέδωκεν, μετὰ παραθέσεως ἑκάστης λέξεως Ἑβραϊκῆς καὶ αὐτῶν ὁμοῦ τῶν Ἑβραϊκῶν στοιχείων· ἐκ παραλλήλου δὲ ἄντικρυς, δευτέρᾳ σελίδι χρώμενος κατὰ σύνθεσιν Ἑβραϊκῆς μὲν τῆς λέξεως, δι' Ἑλληνικῶν δὲ τῶν γραμμάτων ἑτέραν πάλιν πεποίηκε σύνθεσιν· ὡς εἶναι μὲν ταῦτα καὶ καλεῖσθαι Ἑξαπλᾶ, ἐπὶ δὲ τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς ἑρμηνείας γενέσθαι δύο ὁμοῦ παραθέσεις, Ἑβραϊκῆς φύσει δι' Ἑβραϊκῶν στοιχείων καὶ Ἑβραϊκῆς δι' Ἑλληνικῶν στοιχείων,ὥστε εἶναι τὴν πᾶσαν παλαιὰν διαθήκην δι' Ἑξαπλῶν καλουμένων καὶ διὰ τῶν δύο τῶν Ἑβραϊκῶν ῥημάτων. 2.409 Ταύτην ὁμοῦ πᾶσαν τὴν πραγματείαν ὁ ἀνὴρ μετὰ καμάτου πεφιλοτίμητο· ἀλλὰ οὐκ εἰς τέλος τὸ κλέος αὐτοῦ ἄσβεστον διήνυσε. συμβέβηκε γὰρ αὐτῷ τὸ τῆς πολυπειρίας εἰς μέγα πτῶμα. ἐξ αὐτοῦ γὰρ τοῦ σκοποῦ, βουλόμενος μηδὲν τῶν θείων γραφῶν ἐᾶσαι ἀνερμήνευτον, εἰς ἐπαγωγὴν ἑαυτὸν περιέβαλεν ἁμαρτίας καὶ θανάσιμα ἐξηγήσατο ῥήματα, ἐξ οὗπερ οἱ Ὠριγενιασταὶ καλούμενοι, οὐχ οἱ πρῶτοι οἱ τὴν αἰσχρουργίαν *· οὐ γὰρ ἔχω περὶ ἐκείνων λέγειν, ὡς καὶ ἤδη προεῖπον, εἰ ἐκ τούτου τοῦ Ὠριγένους, τοῦ καὶ Ἀδαμαντίου, ἐσχήκασι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἢ ἕτερόν τινα ἀρχηγὸν ἐσχήκασιν, καὶ αὐτὸν Ὠριγένην λεγόμενον. φασὶ δὲ καὶ τοῦτον τὸν Ὠριγένην ἐπινενοηκέναι τι ἑαυτῷ κατὰ τὸ σωμάτιον. οἱ μὲν γὰρ λέγουσιν αὐτὸν νεῦρον ἀποτετμηκέναι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἡδονῇ ὀχλεῖσθαι μηδὲ ἐν ταῖς κινήσεσι ταῖς σωματικαῖς φλέγεσθαί τε καὶ πυρπολεῖσθαι. ἄλλοι δὲ οὐχί φασιν, ἀλλ' ἐπενόησέ τι φάρμακον ἐπιθεῖναι τοῖς μορίοις καὶ ἀποξηρᾶναι. ἕτεροι δὲ καὶ ἄλλα εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναφέρειν τολμῶσιν, ὡς ὅτι καὶ βοτάνην τινὰ ηὗρεν ἰατρικὴν μνήμης ἕνεκα. καὶ τὰ μὲν ὑπέρογκα περὶ αὐτοῦ λεγόμενα οὐ πάνυ πεπιστεύκαμεν, ὅμως τὰ λεγόμενα ἐξειπεῖν οὐ παρελίπομεν. 4. Ἡ δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ φῦσα αἵρεσις πρῶτον μὲν ἐν τῇ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων χώρᾳ ὑπάρχουσα, τὰ νῦν δὲ παρ' αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἐξοχωτάτοις καὶ δοκοῦσι τὸν μονήρη βίον ἀναδεδέχθαι εὑρίσκεται, παρὰ τοῖς φύσει 2.410 κατὰ τὰς ἐρημίας ἀναχωροῦσί τε καὶ τὴν ἀκτημοσύνην ἑλομένοις· δεινὴ δὲ καὶ αὕτη καὶ πασῶν τῶν παλαιῶν μοχθηροτέρα, ἡ καὶ σὺν ἐκείνοις τὰ ὅμοια φρονοῦσα. κἄν τε γὰρ αἰσχρότητα