Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.20.124

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

Summary: The law sets out the finest examples to nourish our love of freedom; the righteous of old were ordinary people who gave themselves wholly to God, and it was counted to them as faith.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Stählin 2:180

εὖ γοῦν ἡ τραγῳδία ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἅιδου γράφει· πρὸς δʼ οἷον ἥξεις δαίμονα ὡς ἔρωτα, † ὃς οὔτε τοὐπιεικὲς οὔτε τὴν χάριν ᾔδει, μόνον δʼ ἔστεργε τὴν ἁπλῶς δίκην. καὶ γὰρ εἰ μηδέπω ποιεῖν τὰ μὴ προσταττόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου οἷοί τέ ἐστε, ἀλλά τοι συνορῶντες, ὡς ὑποδείγματα ἡμῖν ἔκκειται κάλλιστα ἐν αὐτῷ, τρέφειν καὶ αὔξειν τὸν ἔρωτα τῆς ἐλευθερίας δυνάμεθα· καὶ τῇδε ὠφελοίμεθʼ ἄν, κατὰ δύναμιν προθυμότερον τὰ μὲν προκαλούμενοι, τὰ δὲ μιμούμενοι, τὰ δὲ καὶ δυσωπούμενοι. οὔτε γὰρ οἱ παλαιοὶ δίκαιοι κατὰ νόμον βιώσαντες ἀπὸ δρυὸς ἦσαν παλαιφάτου οὐδʼ ἀπὸ πέτρης. τῷ γοῦν βουληθῆναι γνησίως φιλοσοφεῖν ὅλους αὑτοὺς φέροντες ἀνέθεσαν τῷ θεῷ καὶ εἰς πίστιν ἐλογίσθη.

English · Claude translation

The tragedy, at any rate, writes well about Hades: “To what a god you will come … who knew neither fairness nor grace, but loved only justice pure and simple.” For even if you are not yet able to do what is not commanded by the law, yet, perceiving that the finest examples are set out for us in it, we can nourish and increase the love of freedom; and in this way we would be helped, as far as we can, more eagerly, being challenged by some, imitating others, and shamed by others. For the righteous of old who lived according to the law were not “from an oak of ancient story, nor from a rock.” At any rate, by their willingness to philosophize genuinely, they offered themselves wholly to God, and it was “counted to them as faith.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:180 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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
  • Gen 15:6 · allusion, high confidence
  • Rom 4:3 · allusion, medium confidence
Extrabiblical texts
  • Homer, Od. 19.163 (Homer, Odyssey) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The text of the tragic quotation is corrupt (dagger); it is Euripides (fragment 912 Nauck?). The other quotations are Homer, Odyssey 19.163, and Gen 15:6 (Rom 4:3).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.124 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/124/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.124 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/124/).

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