Miscellanies 2.18.80
Summary: Keeping the commandments secures life; the virtues imply one another, so the one who truly has one has all; self-control, joined with courage, prudence, and justice, makes us like the Lord as far as mortals can be.
Greek text · Stählin 2:154–155
Φυλακὴ δὲ τῶν ἐντολῶν, τήρησις οὖσα αὐτῶν ἀβλαβής, περιποίησίς ἐστιν ἀσφαλείας βίου. καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄνευ ἀνδρείας καρτερικὸν εἶναι οὐδὲ μὴν ἄνευ σωφροσύνης ἐγκρατῆ. ἀντακολουθοῦσι δὲ ἀλλήλαις αἱ ἀρεταί, καὶ παρʼ ᾧ αἱ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀκολουθίαι, παρὰ τούτῳ καὶ ἡ σωτηρία, τήρησις οὖσα τοῦ εὖ ἔχοντος. εἰκότως ἔτι περὶ τούτων διαλαβόντες τῶν ἀρετῶν περὶ πασῶν ἂν εἴημεν ἐσκεμμένοι, ὅτι ὁ μίαν ἔχων ἀρετὴν γνωστικῶς πάσας ἔχει διὰ τὴν ἀντακολουθίαν. αὐτίκα ἡ ἐγκράτεια διάθεσίς ἐστιν ἀνυπέρβατος τῶν κατὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον φανέντων. ἐγκρατεύεται δὲ ὁ κατέχων τὰς παρὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον ὁρμὰς ἢ ὁ κατέχων αὑτὸν ὥστε μὴ ὁρμᾶν παρὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον. σωφροσύνη δὲ αὕτη οὐκ ἄνευ ἀνδρείας, ἐπειδὴ ἐξ ἐντολῶν γίνεται ἑπομένη τῷ διατεταγμένῳ θεῷ φρόνησίς τε καὶ ἡ μιμητικὴ τῆς θείας διαθέσεως δικαιοσύνη, καθʼ ἣν ἐγκρατευόμενοι καθαροὶ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν καὶ τὴν ἑπομένην ἀκολούθως τῷ θεῷ πρᾶξιν στελλόμεθα, ἐξομοιούμενοι τῷ κυρίῳ κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἡμῖν, ἐπικήροις τὴν φύσιν ὑπάρχουσιν.
English · Claude translation
the keeping of the commandments, being their harmless observance, is the securing of safety in life. And it is not possible to be enduring without courage, nor self-controlled without self-restraint. The virtues follow one another; and with the one in whom the virtues follow one another is salvation too, being the preservation of what is well. Fittingly, then, having discussed these virtues, we would have examined them all, since the one who has one virtue in the way of knowledge has all, because they follow one another. For example, self-control is a disposition that does not transgress what appears according to right reason. The self-controlled person is one who restrains the impulses contrary to right reason, or restrains himself so as not to be moved contrary to right reason. And this self-restraint is not without courage, since from the commandments comes prudence, following God who has given the orders, and justice, which imitates the divine disposition; by which, exercising self-control, we are sent forth pure to godliness and to the conduct that follows God, being made like the Lord as far as is possible for us who are mortal by nature.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The mutual implication of the virtues is a Stoic doctrine.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misspelling in the digital text): καἰ παρʼ ᾧ αἱ τῶν ἀρετῶν → καὶ παρʼ ᾧ αἱ τῶν ἀρετῶν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.80 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/80/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.80 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/80/).
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