Dialogue Against the Marcionites, Exhortation to Martyrdom (Wettstein 1674)

...nor indeed should one seek to cast a veil over these things, which are neither few in number nor of small importance, in every respect; for it does not sufficiently excuse him that he sought the principles of certain errors from the philosophy of the Gentiles, especially Plato, as has been well noted by learned men. I believe, however, that the excellent things he possesses are worthy of meeting all eyes and being worn thin by the hands of the learned. For who would think otherwise than those most shining Lights of the Church, Victorinus, Hilary, Ambrose, and Jerome, men who were most diligent in translating the works of Origen into the Latin language and in pouring them forth from the East into the entire West? Indeed, even after them, although Origen was already being accused on all sides, this very reason nonetheless moved Cassiodorus, who was solicitous for the benefits of the Church and the collection of the ancient and orthodox expositors of Holy Scripture, to add the Homilies and Commentaries of Origen to all the best works, as he himself testifies in Book 1 of Divine Readings. And if anywhere, certainly in these συντάγμασι syntagmata/treatises, the man's immense erudition, his skill in the Scriptures, and his zeal for vindicating and defending the truth are detected, along with a singular ἀγχινοίᾳ sagacity/sharpness of mind, so that they have seemed most worthy of the light by their own great merit. There is no obscurity of allegories here, commonly imputed to Origen; they are used more rarely in these, and that too, aptly. And although he indulges in his own opinions in some places, he nevertheless had many followers, so that he cannot appear to have erred in them alone; or the nature of his errors is such that they are easily recognized and avoided. To which end, according to the measure of my own ability, I have added notes at the end of these minor works, sometimes brief, sometimes more expansive, as the occasion required.

Moreover, more than one opportunity arose and offered itself to me for editing these three minor works of Origen. The first author of this endeavor was the Reverend and most illustrious Johann Rudolf Wettstein, Doctor of Sacred Theology, Ordinary Professor of the New Testament, and Senior of the venerable Faculty, a parent to be honored by me with filial observance. From his library, he provided a manuscript codex containing Origen's Dialogue against the Marcionites and the Letter to Africanus, together with the Panegyric of Gregory Thaumaturgus, the Oration of Emperor Justinian to Menas against the impious (as he calls him) Origen, and also the Dialogue of Zacharias, Bishop of Mitylene, called Ammonius; all in Greek, though not written by a single hand. By his favor, I also received Origen's Exhortation to Martyrdom, which I had long ago transcribed by my own hand from the public Library of the University of Basel for the sake of the most illustrious Envoy of the King of France to the Swiss, Monsieur de Labarde.