Origen's preface to Against Celsus, his eight-book reply -- written at the request of his patron Ambrosius -- to the pagan philosopher Celsus's lost polemic against Christianity, The True Word (Greek Alethes Logos, c. AD 175-180). Celsus's own work does not otherwise survive; nearly everything known of it comes from Origen quoting it here before responding. Not scripture. Translated by Frederick Crombie (1872, Ante-Nicene Christian Library).