On Illustrious Men

75. Pamphilus the presbyter

LXXV. PAMPHILUS THE PRESBYTER amphilus, a priest,1 a close friend of Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea,2 was on fire with such love for the sacred library,3 that he copied with his own hand the greatest part of the volumes of Origen4 which are contained to this very day in the library of Caesarea. 2. But I have discovered, written by his own hand, twenty-five volumes of the Commentaries of Origen On the Twelve Prophets,5 which I embrace and hold on to with such joy that I believe I am in possession of the riches of Croesus. 3. If it is a joy to possess one letter of a martyr, how much more to possess so many thousands of his which he seems to me to have signed by the traces of his blood! 4. He wrote, before Eusebius wrote, a Defense of Origen,6 and died at Caesarea in Palestine during the persecution of Maximinus .7 notes 1. Pamphilus was a disciple of Pierius in Alexandria; the latter was nicknamed “Origen Junior.” See Q 2, 145, and DVI 76.1. 2. Eusebius named himself Eusebius Pamphili, i.e., the spiritual son of Pamphilus, and wrote a biography of him, now lost; see Q 3, 309–10. Nothing survives of this “special work on him” by Eusebius; cf. Eus., h.e. 7.32.25, quoted in Q 2, 144–45. 3. bibliotheca: h.e. 6.32.3; H. Y. Gamble, Books, 155–59, 231. 4. Cf. h.e. 6.32.3. 5. In duodecim prophetas: see Jerome, DVI 135.2. 6. Rufinus, Latin translation of Apology for Origen, PG 17, 541–616 (only Book 1); Jerome, Adv. Rufinum 3.12, FOTC 53, 176–79; E. Junod, “L’auteur de l’Apologie pour Origène traduite par Rufin: les témoignages contradictoires de Rufin et de Jérôme à propos de Pamphile et d’Eusèbe,” FS H. Crouzel (Paris, 1992), 165–79. 7. He was imprisoned and died as a martyr in the seventh year of the persecution of Diocletian, on February 16, 310. See h.e. 7.32.25 and 8.13.6. ON ILLUSTRIOUS MEN 107 ...