forced to acknowledge that the fortunes of Israel can at least speak to us with an intelligible voice. Rufinus himself may have felt the peculiar charm of the book, for he selected it for translation in answer to a general request of Chromatius to render something from Greek literature for the edification of the church. The homilies cover the whole narrative up to the settling of the land (c. xxii.).
Among passages of special interest are those on the help we gain from the old fathers (ib. iii. 1); the broad parallel between the Christian life and the history of the Exodus (ib. iv. 1); the Christian realizing Christ's victory (ib. vii. 2); growing wisdom (ib. iii. 2).
JUDGES.—Greek: (1) Notes from Catenae. (2) Additional notes. Latin: 9 Homilies, trans. by Rufinus.
RUTH.—Greek: A note on i. 4.
The Homilies on Judges are of much less interest than those on Joshua. A passage on martyrdom—the baptism of blood—is worthy of notice (Hom. vii. 2). In Hom. ix. 1 Origen seems to refer to the persecution of Maximin, which was but lately ended.
I. and II. SAMUEL, I. and II. KINGS (I.–IV. Kings). Greek: (1) Hom. on I. Sam. xxviii. (2) Notes from Catenae and Fragments. (3) Additional notes. Latin: Homily on I. Sam. i. 2 (de Helchana et Fenenna), delivered at Jerusalem (§ 1: nolite illud in nobis requirere quod in papa Alexandro habetis). The translator is not known. The remains of Origen's writings on the later historical books are very slight. The homily on the witch of Endor provoked violent attacks. In this Origen maintained, in accordance with much early Christian and Jewish opinion, that the soul of Samuel was truly called up from Hades. Among others Eustathius of Antioch assailed Origen in unmeasured terms.
THE HAGIOGRAPHA. JOB.—Origen composed many homilies on Job (Eustath. Antioch, de Engastr. 391), which were rendered freely into Latin by Hilary of Poictiers (Hier. de Vir. Ill. 100; Ep. adv. Vigil. 61, 2). The scattered Notes which remain are not sufficient to enable us to estimate their value. There remain: Greek: (1) Notes from Catenae. (2) Additional notes. Latin: Fragment quoted from a homily of Hilary by August. Lib. ii. c. Jul. § 27, and assumed to be translated from Origen.
THE PSALMS engaged Origen's attention before he left Alexandria. At that time he had written commentaries on Pss. i–xxv. (Eus. H. E. vi. 24). He completed the book afterwards. Jerome expressly states that he "left an explanation of all the Psalms in many volumes" (Ep. cxii. § 20); and his extant books contain numerous references to his commentaries on psalms (cf. Hier. Ep. xxxiv. § 1).
Besides these detailed commentaries, he illustrated the Psalter by short Notes ("a handbook": "enchiridion ille vocabat," Auct. ap. Hier. Tom. vii. App.), and by Homilies.
The Homilies which are preserved in Rufinus's Latin trans. belong to the latest period of Origen's life, c. 241–247 (Hom. 1 in Ps. xxxvi. § 2; Hom. 1 in Ps. xxxvii. § 1). They give a continuous practical interpretation of the 3 psalms (v. inf.), and are a very good example of this style of exposition. One passage on the permanent effects of actions on the doer may be specially noticed (Hom. ii. § 2). The Greek fragments preserved in the Catenae offer numerous close coincidences with the Latin Homilies, and no doubt represent the general sense of Origen's comments. Cf. Comm. In Rom. iv. § 1 ("cum de Psalmis per ordinem dictaremus"); id. § 11; Hom. in Jer. xv. 6. There remain: Greek: (1) Fragments from the Τόμοι and Homilies. (2) Additional fragments and notes from Catenae. (3) Additional notes. Latin: 9 Homilies on Pss. xxxvi. xxxvii. xxxvii. (trans. by Rufinus).
PROVERBS.—There remain: Greek: (1) Fragments. (2) Notes from Catenae. Latin: Fragments.
ECCLESIASTES.—Notes on iii. 3, 7, 16 f.
LAMENTATIONS.—Origen wrote commentaries on the Lamentations before 231, of which five books had come down to the time of Eusebius (H. E. vi. 24). The Greek notes are probably derived from these.
CANTICLES.—Jerome speaks of the work on Canticles with enthusiasm: "In his other books Origen," he says, "surpassed every one else, in this he surpassed himself" (Prol. In Hom. in Cant.). There remain: Greek: (1) Fragments of his early work. (2) Extracts by Procopius. Latin: Two Homilies (trans. by Jerome). Prologue and four books on Canticles, trans. by Rufinus.
THE PROPHETS. ISAIAH.—Origen interpreted Isaiah in each of the three forms which he used; in Books (τόμοι), in Notes, and in Homilies. Thirty books of his Commentaries remained when Eusebius wrote his History extending to c. xxx. 6 (Eus. H. E. vi. 32). Some of these had perished in the time of Jerome, who speaks of the work as abounding in allegories and interpretation of names (Prol. in Lib. v. in Es). There remain: Latin: Two fragments of the "Books." Nine Homilies. The Homilies were addressed to a popular audience, including catechumens, but they lack the ease of the latest discourses and follow no exact order. Subjects: The call of the prophet; The virgin's son; The seven women; The vision of God; The mission of the prophet; The prophet and his children. In a passage of characteristic excellence (Hom. vi. 4) Origen describes the "greater works" of Christ's disciples.
JEREMIAH.—Cassiodorus enumerates 45 homilies of Origen on Jeremiah "in Attic style" (de Instit. Div. Litt. § 3). They were written in a period of tranquillity, and therefore probably after the close of the persecution of Maximin, c. 245 (Hom. iv. 3). There remain: Greek: (1) 19 Homilies (with Jerome's version of 12). Fragment of Hom. xxxix. (2) Notes from Catenae. Latin: Two Homilies, trans. by Jerome.
The Homilies generally give a full interpretation of the text, accommodating the language of the prophet to the circumstances of the Christian church. But Origen's total want of historical feeling makes itself felt perhaps more in his treatment of this book than elsewhere, for the teaching of Jeremiah is practically unintelligible without a true sense of the tragic crisis in which he was placed. There are, however, many separate passages of the Homilies of considerable
