Miscellanies 2.21.128
Summary: Continuing the survey: the Cyrenaics make virtue serve pleasure; the Aristotelians make the goal life according to virtue but require the three kinds of goods, so the poor, the sick, and slaves cannot be happy.
Greek text · Stählin 2:182
Ἐπίκουρος μὲν οὖν καὶ οἱ Κυρηναϊκοὶ τὸ πρῶτον οἰκεῖόν φασιν ἡδονὴν εἶναι· ἕνεκα γὰρ ἡδονῆς παρελθοῦσα, φασίν, ἡ ἀρετὴ ἡδονὴν ἐνεποίησε. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς περὶ Καλλιφῶντα ἕνεκα μὲν τῆς ἡδονῆς παρεισῆλθεν ἡ ἀρετή, χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν κάλλος κατιδοῦσα ἰσότιμον ἑαυτὴν τῇ ἀρχῇ, τουτέστι τῇ ἡδονῇ, παρέσχεν. Οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀριστοτέλη τέλος ἀποδιδόασιν εἶναι τὸ ζῆν κατʼ ἀρετήν, οὔτε δὲ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν οὔτε τὸ τέλος παντὶ τῷ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἔχοντι παρεῖναι· βασανιζόμενον γὰρ καὶ τύχαις ἀβουλήτοις περιπίπτοντα τὸν σοφὸν καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν ἀσμένως ἐθέλοντα διαφεύγειν μὴ εἶναι μήτε μακάριον μήτʼ εὐδαίμονα. δεῖ γὰρ καὶ χρόνου τινὸς τῇ ἀρετῇ· οὐ γὰρ ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ περιγίνεται, ἣ καὶ ἐν τελείῳ συνίσταται, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἔστιν, ὥς φασι, παῖς εὐδαίμων ποτέ· τέλειος δʼ ἂν εἴη χρόνος ὁ ἀνθρώπινος βίος. συμπληροῦσθαι τοίνυν τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ἐκ τῆς τριγενείας τῶν ἀγαθῶν. οὔτʼ οὖν ὁ πένης οὔθʼ ὁ ἄδοξος, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὁ ἐπίνοσος, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἂν οἰκέτης ᾖ τις, κατʼ αὐτοὺς.
English · Claude translation
Epicurus and the Cyrenaics, then, say that pleasure is the first thing proper to us; for virtue, they say, came in for the sake of pleasure and produced pleasure. According to Calliphon's followers, virtue entered for the sake of pleasure, but later, seeing its own beauty, made itself equal in honor to its origin, that is, to pleasure. Aristotle's followers declare that the goal is to live according to virtue, but that neither happiness nor the goal is present to everyone who has virtue; for the wise man who is tortured and falls into unwanted misfortunes, and for this reason gladly wishes to escape from life, is neither blessed nor happy. For virtue also needs some time; for it is not gained in one day, and it consists in a complete life, since, as they say, a child is never happy; and a complete time would be a human lifetime. Happiness, then, is completed from the three kinds of goods. So, according to them, neither the poor man nor the man without reputation, nor the sick man, nor anyone who is a slave, is happy.
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Notes
Translation notes
- “The three kinds of goods” are goods of the soul, of the body, and external goods.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on ἂν; stray period in the digital text; wrong breathing on εἶναι): ἕνεκα γὰρ ἡδονῆς παρελθοῦσα. φασίν, → ἕνεκα γὰρ ἡδονῆς παρελθοῦσα, φασίν,; μὴ εἷναι μήτε μακάριον → μὴ εἶναι μήτε μακάριον; ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἄν οἰκέτης → ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἂν οἰκέτης.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.21.128 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/21/128/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.21.128 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/21/128/).
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