Jerome – Letter 80
| Document: | Letter 80 (Rufinus) |
| Incipit: | Scio quam plurimos fratrum |
| Addressee: | Macharius |
| Date: | Unknown |
| Earliest ms.: | Verona, Italy: Biblioteca Capitolare, XV (13), f. 8th century. (Lambert, I: p. 792) |
| Latin Text: | CSEL 55, pp. 102-105 |
| English Translation: | Fremantle, pp. 168-170 |
| Notes: | Rufinus on his return from Bethlehem to Rome published a Latin version of Origen’s treatise περι ᾽Αρχῶν, On First Principles. To this he prefixed the preface which is here printed among Jerome’s letters. Professing to take as his model Jerome’s own translations of Origen’s commentaries which he greatly praises, he declares that, following his example, he has paraphrased the obscure passages of the treatise and has paraphrased the obscure passages of the treatise and has omitted as due to interpolators such parts as seem heretical. This preface with its insincere praise of Jerome (whose name, however, is not mentioned) and its avowed manipulation of Origen’s text caused much perplexity at Rome (see Letters 81, 83, and 84), and gave rise to the controversy between Rufinus and Jerome. – Fremantle |
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