Miscellanies 1.26.168 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:104–105

πολιτείαν γοῦν διηκόνησεν ἀγαθήν· ἣ δέ ἐστι τροφὴ ἀνθρώπων καλὴ κατὰ κοινωνίαν. αὐτίκα τὴν δικαστικὴν μετεχειρίζετο, ἐπιστήμην οὖσαν διορθωτικὴν τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων ἕνεκεν τοῦ δικαίου. σύστοιχος δὲ αὐτῇ ἡ κολαστική, τοῦ κατὰ τὰς κολάσεις μέτρου ἐπιστημονική τις οὖσα. κόλασις δὲ δικαία οὖσα διόρθωσίς ἐστι ψυχῆς. ἔστι δὲ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν τῷ Μωυσεῖ ἡ πᾶσα ἀγωγὴ παιδευτικὴ μὲν τῶν οἵων τε γενέσθαι καλῶν κἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν, θηρευτικὴ δὲ τῶν ὁμοίων τούτοις, ἥτις ἂν εἴη στρατηγική. ἡ δὲ χρηστικὴ τοῖς θηρευθεῖσι λόγῳ κατὰ τρόπον σοφία εἴη ἂν νομοθετική· κτᾶσθαί τε γὰρ καὶ χρῆσθαι ταύτης ἴδιον βασιλικωτάτης οὔσης. μόνον γοῦν τὸν σοφὸν οἱ φιλόσοφοι βασιλέα, νομοθέτην, στρατηγόν, δίκαιον, ὅσιον, θεοφιλῆ κηρύττουσιν. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τὸν Μωυσέα εὕροιμεν, ὡς ἐξ αὐτῶν δείκνυται τῶν γραφῶν, εὖ μάλα πεπεισμένως ἂν ἀγορεύοιμεν σοφόν τῷ ὄντι τὸν Μωυσέα.

English · Claude translation

At any rate he served a good constitution; and a constitution is a good rearing of human beings in community. Thus he practiced the judicial art, which is a knowledge corrective of wrongdoing for the sake of justice. Coordinate with it is the punitive art, a knowledge of the measure of punishments. And punishment, when it is just, is a correction of the soul. In a word, the whole training of Moses is educative of those able to become noble and good men, and a hunting for those like them, which would be generalship. And the wisdom that uses properly, by reason, those who have been caught would be legislative; for to acquire and to use it belongs to this, which is the most kingly. At any rate the philosophers proclaim only the wise man king, lawgiver, general, just, holy, and dear to God. If we find these in Moses, as is shown from the Scriptures themselves, we would say with great conviction that Moses was truly wise.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:104–105 · 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.

Topics

Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

The portrait of the wise man as king and lawgiver is Stoic.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (misspelling in the digital text): τοῖς θηρευθεῖσαι λόγῳ → τοῖς θηρευθεῖσι λόγῳ.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.26.168 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/26/168/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.26.168 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/26/168/).