Jerome, Saint, Epistolae

Confundatur Origenes inter cetera flagitiorum genera, quae confingit, magicis quoque artibus patrocinium tribuens. nam in tractatibus suis his locutus est uerbis: ars magica non mihi uidetur alicuius rei subsistentis uocabulum, sed et, si sit, non est operis mali nec quod haberi possit contemptui.

Let Origen be confounded, among the other kinds of outrage that he invents, for granting his patronage to the magic arts as well. For in his treatises he spoke in these words: ‘The magic art does not seem to me to be the name of any really existing thing; but even if it is, it is not a work of evil, nor something that could be held in contempt.’