Miscellanies 2.20.110 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:173

ὁ μὲν οὖν ἁπλοῦς λόγος τῆς καθʼ ἡμᾶς φιλοσοφίας τὰ πάθη πάντα ἐναπερείσματα τῆς ψυχῆς φησιν εἶναι τῆς μαλθακῆς καὶ εἰκούσης καὶ οἷον ἐναποσφραγίσματα τῶν πνευματικῶν δυνάμεων, πρὸς ἃς ἡ πάλη ἡμῖν. ἔργον γάρ, οἶμαι, ταῖς κακούργοις δυνάμεσιν ἐνεργεῖν τι τῆς ἰδίας ἕξεως παρʼ ἕκαστα πειρᾶσθαι εἰς τὸ καταγωνίσασθαι καὶ ἐξιδιοποιήσασθαι τοὺς ἀπειπαμένους αὐτάς. ἕπεται δʼ εἰκότως τοὺς μὲν καταπαλαίεσθαι, ὅσοι δὲ ἀθλητικώτερον τὸν ἀγῶνα μεταχειρίζονται πάμμαχον ἀγωνισάμενοι καὶ μέχρι τοῦ στεφάνου χωρήσαντες, αἱ προειρημέναι δυνάμεις ἐν πολλῷ τῷ λύθρῳ τότε δὴ ἀπαυδῶσι θαυμάζουσαι τοὺς νικηφόρους. Τῶν γὰρ κινουμένων τὰ μὲν καθʼ ὁρμὴν καὶ φαντασίαν κινεῖται, ὡς τὰ ζῷα, τὰ δὲ κατὰ μετάθεσιν, ὡς τὰ ἄψυχα. κινεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀψύχων τὰ φυτὰ μεταβατικῶς φασιν εἰς αὔξησιν, εἴ τις αὐτοῖς ἄψυχα εἶναι συγχωρήσει τὰ φυτά.

English · Claude translation

The simple account of our philosophy, then, says that all the passions are impressions on the soft and yielding soul, and as it were seal-marks of the spiritual powers against which our wrestling is. For it is the business, I think, of the evil-working powers to try at every point to produce something of their own state, so as to overcome and make their own those who have renounced them. Naturally, it follows that some are thrown in the wrestling; but those who carry on the contest more like athletes, fighting the whole fight and going on to the crown, then the powers mentioned, covered in much gore, give up, admiring the victors. For of things that move, some move by impulse and impression, like animals, others by transference, like lifeless things. And they say that among lifeless things plants too move by transition toward growth, if one will grant them that plants are lifeless.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:173 · 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

Eph 6:12 · allusion, high confidence
1 Cor 9:25 · allusion, medium confidence
2 Tim 4:8 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics, Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

The allusions are Eph 6:12 and 1 Cor 9:24–25 (2 Tim 4:7–8).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (wrong breathing on οἷον): καὶ οἶον ἐναποσφραγίσματα → καὶ οἷον ἐναποσφραγίσματα.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.110 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/110/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.110 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/110/).