Miscellanies 2.22.131
Summary: Plato makes the goal twofold, the Good itself and likeness to it in virtuous men; happiness is likeness to God, being just and holy with prudence; so some Christians say the image is given at creation and the likeness at perfection.
Greek text · Stählin 2:185
Ναὶ μὴν Πλάτων ὁ φιλόσοφος διττὸν εἶναι τὸ τέλος φησίν, τὸ μὲν μεθεκτόν τε καὶ πρῶτον ἐν αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχον τοῖς εἴδεσιν, ὃ δὴ καὶ τἀγαθὸν προσονομάζει, τὸ δὲ μετέχον ἐκείνου καὶ τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ δεχόμενον ὁμοιότητα, ὃ περὶ ἀνθρώπους γίνεται τοὺς μεταποιουμένους ἀρετῆς τε καὶ τῆς ἀληθοῦς φιλοσοφίας. διὸ καὶ Κλεάνθης ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ Περὶ ἡδονῆς τὸν Σωκράτην φησὶ παρʼ ἕκαστα διδάσκειν ὡς ὁ αὐτὸς δίκαιός τε καὶ εὐδαίμων ἀνὴρ καὶ τῷ πρώτῳ διελόντι τὸ δίκαιον ἀπὸ τοῦ συμφέροντος καταρᾶσθαι ὡς ἀσεβές τι πρᾶγμα δεδρακότι· ἀσεβεῖς γὰρ τῷ ὄντι οἱ τὸ συμφέρον ἀπὸ τοῦ δικαίου τοῦ κατὰ νόμον χωρίζοντες. αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Πλάτων τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν τὸ εὖ τὸν δαίμονα ἔχειν, δαίμονα δὲ λέγεσθαι τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν ἡγεμονικόν, τὴν δὲ εὐδαιμονίαν τὸ τελειότατον ἀγαθὸν καὶ πληρέστατον λέγει. ἔσθʼ ὅτε δὲ βίον ὁμολογούμενον καὶ σύμφωνον αὐτὴν ἀποκαλεῖ, καὶ ἔσθʼ ὅτε τὸ κατʼ ἀρετὴν τελειότατον, τοῦτο δὲ ἐν ἐπιστήμῃ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τίθεται καὶ ἐν ἐξομοιώσει τῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ὁμοίωσιν ἀποφαινόμενος δίκαιον καὶ ὅσιον μετὰ φρονήσεως εἶναι. ἢ γὰρ οὐχ οὕτως τινὲς τῶν ἡμετέρων τὸ μὲν κατʼ εἰκόνα εὐθέως κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν εἰληφέναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὸ καθʼ ὁμοίωσιν δὲ ὕστερον κατὰ τὴν τελείωσιν μέλλειν ἀπολαμβάνειν ἐκδέχονται;
English · Claude translation
Plato the philosopher, indeed, says that the goal is twofold: the one that is shared in and exists first in the Ideas themselves, which he calls the Good; and the one that shares in that and receives likeness from it, which arises in men who lay claim to virtue and true philosophy. That is why Cleanthes too, in the second book of On Pleasure, says that Socrates taught on every occasion that the just man and the happy man are the same, and cursed the first who separated the just from the advantageous as having done an impious thing; for truly impious are those who separate the advantageous from the just according to law. And Plato himself says that happiness (eudaimonia) is having one's daimon well, and that the ruling part of our soul is called the daimon, and that happiness is the most perfect and complete good. Sometimes he calls it a life in agreement and harmony, and sometimes the most perfect life according to virtue; and he places this in the knowledge of the good and in likeness to God, declaring the likeness to be becoming just and holy with prudence. For do not some of our own writers understand that man received “according to the image” at once, at his creation, but will receive “according to the likeness” later, at his perfection?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Plato, Theaetetus 176b, Timaeus 90a–c, and Gen 1:26. The distinction between image and likeness is found in Irenaeus (Haer. 5.6.1).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.22.131 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/22/131/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.22.131 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/22/131/).
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