Miscellanies 1.10.47
Summary: Word and deed need each other; sophistry must be rejected, for its victories are ruinous; Scripture denies that the knowledge of wickedness is wisdom, which belongs to the righteous.
Greek text · Stählin 2:31
ὡς δὲ τὸ εὖ πάσχειν περιαιρεῖται, ἐὰν τὸ εὖ ποιεῖν ἀφέλωμεν, οὕτως ἡ ὑπακοὴ καὶ πίστις ἀναιρεῖται μήτε τῆς ἐντολῆς μήτε τοῦ τὴν ἐντολὴν σαφηνιοῦντος συμπαραλαμβανομένων. νυνὶ δὲ ἀλλήλων ἕνεκα εὐποροῦμεν καὶ λόγων καὶ ἔργων. τὴν δὲ ἐριστικήν τε καὶ σοφιστικὴν τέχνην παραιτητέον παντελῶς, ἐπεὶ καὶ αἱ λέξεις αὐταὶ τῶν σοφιστῶν οὐ μόνον γοητεύουσι καὶ κλέπτουσι τοὺς πολλούς, βιαζόμεναι δὲ ἔσθʼ ὅτε Καδμείαν νίκην ἀπηνέγκαντο. παντὸς γὰρ μᾶλλον ἀληθὴς ὁ ψαλμὸς ἐκεῖνος· ὁ δίκαιος ζήσεται εἰς τέλος, ὅτι οὐκ ὄψεται καταφθοράν, ὅταν ἴδῃ σοφοὺς ἀποθνῄσκοντας. τίνας δὴ σοφοὺς λέγει; ἄκουσον ἐκ τῆς σοφίας Ἰησοῦ· οὐκ ἔστι σοφία πονηρίας ἐπιστήμη. ταύτην δὴ λέγει, ἣν ἐπενόησαν τέχναι λεκτικαί τε καὶ διαλεκτικαί. ζητήσεις οὖν σοφίαν παρὰ κακοῖς καὶ οὐχ εὑρήσεις. κἂν πύθῃ πάλιν· ποίαν ταύτην; στόμα δικαίου φήσει σοι ἀποστάξει σοφίαν. σοφία δὲ ὁμωνύμως τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἡ σοφιστικὴ λέγεται τέχνη.
English · Claude translation
As receiving benefit is removed if we take away doing good, so obedience and faith are destroyed if neither the commandment nor the one who explains the commandment is received. As it is, we are well supplied with words and deeds for the sake of one another. But the eristic and sophistic art must be rejected completely, since the very words of the sophists not only bewitch and rob the many, but, using force, sometimes win a Cadmean victory. For that psalm is truer than anything: “The righteous will live to the end, for he will not see corruption, when he sees the wise dying.” Which wise does he mean? Hear from the Wisdom of Jesus: “The knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom.” He means the wisdom that the arts of speech and dialectic invented. “You will seek wisdom among the wicked and will not find it.” And if you ask again, “What kind is this?” “The mouth of the righteous,” it will tell you, “will drip wisdom.” The sophistic art is called wisdom only by sharing the name with the truth.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- A “Cadmean victory” is one that ruins the victor. The quotations are Ps 49:9–10 (48:10–11 LXX), Sir 19:22, Prov 14:6, and Prov 10:31.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent on the relative ἣν): ταύτην δὴ λέγει, ἥν ἐπενόησαν → ταύτην δὴ λέγει, ἣν ἐπενόησαν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.10.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/10/47/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.10.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/10/47/).
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