Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.18.90

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The law commands helping an enemy's burdened animal and returning his stray, training us not to rejoice at enemies' misfortunes but to pray for them; forgetting wrongs ends enmity and leads to concord.

Greek text · Stählin 2:161

Τί δέ; καὶ ἐχθρῶν ὑποζύγια ἀχθοφοροῦντα συνεπικουφίζειν καὶ συνεγείρειν προστάσσει πόρρωθεν διδάσκων ἡμᾶς ὁ κύριος ἐπιχαιρεκακίαν μὴ ἀσπάζεσθαι μηδὲ ἐφήδεσθαι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς, ἵνα τούτοις ἐγγυμνασαμένους ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐχθρῶν προσεύχεσθαι διδάξῃ. οὔτε γὰρ φθονεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς τοῦ πέλας ἀγαθοῖς λυπεῖσθαι προσῆκεν οὐδὲ μὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς τοῦ πλησίον κακοῖς ἡδονὴν καρποῦσθαι. κἂν πλανώμενον μέντοι, φησίν, ἐχθροῦ τινος ὑποζύγιον εὕρῃς, τὰ τῆς διαφορᾶς παραλιπὼν ὑπεκκαύματα ἀπαγαγὼν ἀπόδος. τῇ γὰρ ἀμνηστίᾳ ἕπεται ἡ καλοκἀγαθία, καὶ ταύτῃ ἡ τῆς ἔχθρας διάλυσις. ἐντεῦθεν εἰς ὁμόνοιαν καταρτιζόμεθα, ἣ δὲ εἰς εὐδαιμονίαν χειραγωγεῖ. κἄν τινα ἐξ ἔθους ἐχθρὸν ὑπολάβῃς, παραλογιζόμενον δὲ τοῦτον ἀλόγως ἤτοι ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἢ καὶ θυμῷ καταλάβῃς, ἐπίστρεψον αὐτὸν εἰς καλοκἀγαθίαν.

English · Claude translation

What then? It also commands us to help lighten and raise up the burdened beasts of our enemies, the Lord teaching us from afar not to welcome rejoicing at another's misfortune nor to take pleasure in our enemies' troubles, so that, having been trained in these things, he may teach us to pray for our enemies. For it is not fitting to envy and grieve at a neighbor's good things, nor to take pleasure in a neighbor's evils. “And if you find the beast of burden of some enemy of yours wandering,” it says, leaving aside the kindlings of the quarrel, “lead it back and return it.” For nobility follows forgetting wrongs, and from this comes the end of enmity. From this we are fitted for concord, and concord leads by the hand to happiness. And if you regard someone as an enemy from habit, but find him misled irrationally by desire or anger, turn him to nobility.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:161 · 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
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Exod 23:4–5 (Deut 22:4) and Matt 5:44.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.90 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/90/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.90 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/90/).

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