Miscellanies 1.2.21 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:14

καθάπερ οὖν ὁ τῆς ἄγρας ἐρωτικὸς ζητήσας, ἐρευνήσας, ἀνιχνεύσας, κυνοδρομήσας αἱρεῖ τὸ θηρίον, οὕτω καὶ τἀληθὲς γλυκύτητι φαίνεται ζητηθὲν καὶ πόνῳ πορισθέν. τί δή ποτʼ οὖν ὧδε διατετάχθαι φίλον ἔδοξεν εἶναι τοῖς ὑπομνήμασιν; ὅτι μέγας ὁ κίνδυνος τὸν ἀπόρρητον ὡς ἀληθῶς τῆς ὄντως φιλοσοφίας λόγον ἐξορχήσασθαι τούτοις, οἳ ἀφειδῶς πρὸς πάντα μὲν ἀντιλέγειν ἐθέλουσιν οὐκ ἐν δίκῃ, πάντα δὲ ὀνόματα καὶ ῥήματα ἀπορρίπτουσιν οὐδαμῶς κοσμίως, αὑτούς τε ἀπατῶντες καὶ τοὺς ἐχομένους αὐτῶν γοητεύοντες. Ἑβραῖοι μὲν γὰρ σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν, ᾗ φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, Ἕλληνες δὲ σοφίαν ζητοῦσι.

English · Claude translation

As, then, one passionate about hunting takes his quarry after seeking, searching, tracking, and running with hounds, so the truth appears sweet when it has been sought and procured with labor. Why, then, did it seem good to arrange the notes in this way? Because it is a great danger to divulge the truly secret word of the true philosophy to those who wish to contradict everything without restraint and unjustly, and who throw out all names and words in no orderly way, deceiving themselves and bewitching those who follow them. “For the Jews ask for signs,” as the apostle says, “and the Greeks seek wisdom.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:14 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.

Scripture

1 Cor 1:22 · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

The quotation is 1 Cor 1:22.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): ἐρωτικὸς ζητήσας. ἐρευνήσας → ἐρωτικὸς ζητήσας, ἐρευνήσας.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.2.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/2/21/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.2.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/2/21/).