Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men 61
61 Hippolytus the bishop PL 23, 671
Hippolytus, bishop of some church (the name of the city I have not been able to learn) wrote A reckoning of the Paschal feast and chronological tables which he worked out up to the first year of the Emperor Alexander. He also discussed the cycle of sixteen years, which the Greeks called ἐκκαιδεκαετηρίδα and gave the cue to Eusebius, who composed on the same Paschal feast a cycle of nineteen years, that is ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίδα. He wrote some commentaries on the Scriptures, among which are the following: On the six days of creation, On Exodus, On the Song of Songs, On Genesis, On Zechariah, On the Psalms, On Isaiah, On Daniel, On the Apocalypse, On the Proverbs, On Ecclesiastes, On Saul, On the Pythonissa, On the Antichrist, On the resurrection, Against Marcion, On the Passover, Against all heresies, and an exhortation On the praise of our Lord and Saviour, in which he indicates that he is speaking in the church in the presence of Origen. Ambrosius, who we have said was converted by Origen from the heresy of Marcion, to the true faith, urged Origen to write, in emulation of Hyppolytus, commentaries on the Scriptures, offering him seven, and even more secretaries, and their expenses, and an equal number of copyists, and what is still more, with incredible zeal, daily exacting work from him, on which account Origen, in one of his epistles, calls him his “Taskmaster.”
Hippolytus, cujusdam Ecclesiae episcopus, nomen quippe urbis scire non potui, rationem Paschae temporumque Canones scripsit, usque ad primum annum Alexandri imperatoris, et sedecim annorum circulum, quem Graeci ἑκκαιδεκαετηρίδα vocant, reperit, et Eusebio, qui super eodem Pascha Canonem, decem et novem annorum circulum, id est, ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίδα 901 composuit, occasionem dedit. Scripsit nonnullos in Scripturas commentarios, e quibus hos reperi: in ἑξαήμερον, et in Exodum, in Canticum Canticorum, in Genesim, et in Zachariam: de Psalmis, et in Isaiam, de Daniele, de Apocalypsi, de Proverbiis, de Ecclesiaste, de Saul et Pythonissa, de Antichristo, de Resurrectione, contra Marcionem, de Pascha, adversum omnes haereses, et Προσομιλίαν de laude Domini Salvatoris, in qua, praesente Origene, se loqui in Ecclesia significat. In hujus aemulationem Ambrosius, quem de Marcionis haeresi ad veram fidem correctum diximus, cohortatus est Origenem, in Scripturas commentarios scribere, praebens ei septem et eo amplius notarios, eorumque expensas, et librariorum parem numerum, quodque his majus est, incredibili studio quotidie ab eo opus exigens. Unde in quadam epistola ἐργοδιώκτην eum Origenes vocat.
Ἱππόλυτος, οὐκ οἶδα ποίας Ἐκκλησίας ἐπίσκοπος, ἢ τίνος πόλεως τὴν προσηγορίαν μαθεῖν οὐκ ἠδυνήθην, συνέγραψε λόγον τοῦ πάσχα, καὶ τοὺς χρονικοὺς κανόνας ἕως πρώτου ἐνιαυτοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ βασιλέως, δεκαὲξ λέγω δὴ ἐνιαυτῶν κύκλον, ὃν οἱ λεγόμενοι Γραικοὶ, ἑκκαιδεκαετηρίδα καλοῦσιν, Εὐσεβίῳ τῷ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πάσχα ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίδα συντάξαντι πρόφασιν παρεσχηκώς. Ἔγραψεν εἰς τὰς θείας γραφὰς ὑπομνήματα, 902 ἀφ' ὧν τάδε εὗρον, εἰς τὴν ἑξαήμερον, εἰς τὴν Ἔξοδον, εἰς τὰ Ἄσματα τῶν ᾀσμάτων, εἰς τὴν Γένεσιν, εἰς Ζαχαρίαν, περὶ Ψαλμῶν, εἰς Ἠσαΐαν, περὶ Δανιὴλ, περὶ Ἀποκαλύψεως, περὶ Παροιμιῶν, περὶ Ἐκκλησιαστοῦ, περὶ Σαοὺλ καὶ Πύθωνος, περὶ τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου, περὶ Ἀναστάσεως, κατὰ Μαρκίωνος, περὶ τοῦ Πάσχα, κατὰ πασῶν τῶν Αἱρέσεων, προσομιλιῶν ( Leg. προσομιλίαν) περὶ τῶν Ἐπαίνων τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐν οἷς παρόντος Ὠριγένους ἑαυτὸν ὡμιληκέναι κατὰ μίμησιν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ δηλοῖ. Ἀμβρόσιος, ὅντινα ἀπὸ τῆς πλάνης Μαρκίωνος εἰς τὴν ἀληθινὴν πίστιν ἐπιστρέψαι προείρηται, προετρέψατο Ὠριγένη τὰς θείας ὑπομνηματίσαι γραφὰς, παρεσχηκὼς αὐτῷ ἑπτὰ καὶ πλείους νοταρίους, καὶ τὰς τούτων δαπάνας, καὶ καλλιγράφους τὸν ἶσον ἀριθμόν, καὶ ὅπερ ἐστὶ μεῖζον ἀνυποίστῳ σπουδῇ ἐκάστοτε ἔργον παρ' αὐτοῦ ἀπαιτῶν, διὸ ἐν μιᾷ ἐπιστολῇ, ἐργοδιώκτην αὐτὸν Ὠριγένης καλεῖ.