The Swinging Scribe?

From Eberhard Nestle's Introduction To The Textual Criticism Of The New Testament:

"For the preparation of his Bible, Origen procured the services... of girls who could write beautifully" (p. 50)

Seriously, why girls?  Maybe it's the fact that he's procuring them, or maybe it's the euphemistic use of servicing, or maybe it's the focus on beauty, but when Origen surrounds himself in all these girls in this way, doesn't it start to sound a little like maybe the scribes weren't the only ones dipping their pen into the ink?  Could this be Origen's harem -- the first ancient scriptoriharem!?