Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.20.112

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

Summary: The Basilidians call the passions “appendages,” spirits of animals and plants attached to the soul, whose characteristics make the soul's desires like those of beasts.

Greek text · Stählin 2:174

Οἱ δʼ ἀμφὶ τὸν Βασιλείδην προσαρτήματα τὰ πάθη καλεῖν εἰώθασι, πνεύματά τέ τινα ταῦτα κατʼ οὐσίαν ὑπάρχειν προσηρτημένα τῇ λογικῇ ψυχῇ κατά τινα τάραχον καὶ σύγχυσιν ἀρχικὴν ἄλλας τε αὖ πνευμάτων νόθους καὶ ἑτερογενεῖς φύσεις προσεπιφύεσθαι ταύταις, οἷον λύκου, πιθήκου, λέοντος, τράγου, ὧν τὰ ἰδιώματα περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν φανταζόμενα τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ψυχῆς τοῖς ζῴοις ἐμφερῶς ἐξομοιοῦν λέγουσιν· ὧν γὰρ ἰδιώματα φέρουσι, τούτων τὰ ἔργα μιμοῦνται, καὶ οὐ μόνον ταῖς ὁρμαῖς καὶ φαντασίαις τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων προσοικειοῦνται, ἀλλὰ καὶ φυτῶν κινήματα καὶ κάλλη ζηλοῦσι διὰ τὸ καὶ φυτῶν ἰδιώματα προσηρτημένα φέρειν,

English · Claude translation

The followers of Basilides are accustomed to call the passions “appendages,” saying that these are in substance certain spirits attached to the rational soul through some original disturbance and confusion; and that other spurious and alien natures of spirits grow on to these again, such as those of a wolf, an ape, a lion, a goat; and they say that their characteristics, appearing around the soul, make the desires of the soul like those of the animals. For they imitate the deeds of those whose characteristics they bear; and they are assimilated not only to the impulses and impressions of irrational animals, but also emulate the movements and beauties of plants, because they bear the characteristics of plants attached to them,

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:174 · 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
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • Clement reports the Basilidian doctrine of “appendages” (προσαρτήματα).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.112 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/112/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.112 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/112/).

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