Fathers

Homilies on Exodus, Homilia I · §4

Letter without culture vs spiritual tillage

Whoever follows only the history of the names leaves the seed untilled. Whoever works it with spiritual skill becomes a tree — not verbal pomp, but a way of living. The names mark beginnings of the virtues in the soul.

Latin

Qui solam historiam nominum sequitur, semen sine cultura relinquit. Qui spiritali arte tractat, arbor fit — non pompa verborum, sed ratio vivendi. Nomina virtutum initia in anima designant.

About this text

Origen’s Homilia I on Exodus (Rufinus’s Latin). Complete on this page: §§1–5.

English follows Baehrens, Origenes Werke VI (GCS 29, 1920), Rufinus’s Latin of Homilia I. Heine FOTC 71 was not used as wording. This page is Homilia I §§1–5 (closeout).

Witnesses

  • Copy-text Baehrens, Origenes Werke VI = GCS 29 (1920) (Latin · Homilia I §§1–5)

English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.