Why My Translation of On First Principles Was Needed

In the matter of the books On First Principles, you even owe me some gratitude. You say that you cut out anything offensive and put something better in its place. I have set things out just as they stood in the Greek. In this way both things come to light: your faith, and the heresy of the man you translated. The leading Christians of Rome wrote to me, “Answer your accuser; if you keep silent, you will be held to have agreed with his charges.” All of them with one voice demanded that I bring to light the subtle errors of Origen, and make known the poison of the heretics to the ears of the Romans, to put them on their guard. How can this injure you? Do you have a monopoly on translating these books? Are there no others who take part in this work? When you translated parts of the Septuagint, did you mean to forbid everyone else to translate it after your version had been published? Why, I too have translated many books from the Greek. You are fully free to make a second translation of them as you please, for both the good and the bad in them must be laid to the charge of their author. And this would hold in your case too, had you not said that you had cut out the heretical parts and translated only what was plainly good. This is a difficulty you have made for yourself, and it cannot be solved except by confessing that you have erred, as all men err, and condemning your former opinion. [a]