Institutiones
Cassiodorus's handbook on sacred and secular learning for the monks of Vivarium, describing his effort to establish a Christian school at Rome and containing the famous evaluation of Origen.
Preface and Praise of Sacred Scripture
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Chapter IV: The Judgments and Examples of the Fathers
— Preface quoted: Cassiodorus and Pope Agapetus tried to establish a Christian school at Rome
"I strove," he says, "together with the most blessed Agapetus of the city of Rome, that, just as the institution is reported to have long existed at Alexandria, and is now said to be diligently practiced at the city of Nisibis among the Syrian Hebrews, so by pooling resources in the city of Rome, accredited Doctors might rather be received into a Christian school"
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The Author's Method (paragraph 48)
— Cassiodorus cited: "Where Origen is good, no one is better; where bad, no one is worse"
"And therefore he incurred that censure: "Where Origen is good, no one is better; where bad, no one is worse." So Cassiodorus."