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| Rufinus' Preface to the Translation of Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.
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Rufinus’ Preface to
the Translation of Origen’s Commentary on the Epistle to the
Romans.
Addressed to Heraclius at
Aquileia about a.d. 407.
————————————
My intention was to press the
shore of the quiet land in the little bark in which I was sailing, and
to draw out a few little fishes from the pools of Greece: but you have
compelled me, brother Heraclius, to give my sails to the wind and go
forth into the deep sea; you persuade me to leave the work which lay
before me in the translation of the homilies written by the Man of
Adamant3443
| 3443 Or man of steel: (it might also be translated, The indomitable); a
name given to Origen, an account of the greatness of his labours. It is
said by Westcott (Dict. of Xtn. Biog. “Origen”) to have
been adopted by Origen himself, and to form part of his real
name. | in his old age, and to open to
you the fifteen volumes in which he discussed the Epistle of Paul to
the Romans. In these books, while he aims at representing the
Apostle’s thoughts, he is carried away into a sea of such depth
that one who follows him into it may well be afraid of being drowned in
the greatness of his thoughts as in the vastness of the waves. Then
also you do not consider this, that my breath is but scanty for filling
a grand trumpet of eloquence like his. And beyond all these
difficulties is this, that the books themselves have been interpolated.
In almost all the libraries (I grant that no one can tell how it
happened) some of the volumes are absent from the body of the work; and
to supply these, and to restore the continuity of the work in the Latin
version is beyond my talent, but would be, as you must know when you
make your demand, a special gift of God. You add, however, so that
nothing may be wanting to the labour I am undertaking, that I
had better
abbreviate this whole body of fifteen volumes, which in the Greek
reaches to the length of forty thousand lines or more, and bring it
within moderate compass. Your injunctions are hard indeed, and might be
thought to be imposed by one who did not care to consider what the
burden of such a work must be. I will, however, attempt it, hoping that
through your prayers, and the favour of the Lord, what seems impossible
to man may become possible. But we will now, if you please, listen to
the Preface which Origen himself prefixes to the work on which he was
entering.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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