Miscellanies 3.3.17
Summary: Philolaus says the soul is buried in the body as a punishment; Pindar blesses the initiate; Plato's Phaedo calls the body an evil and philosophy a practice of dying.
Greek text · Stählin 2:203–204
ἄξιον δὲ καὶ τῆς Φιλολάου λέξεως μνημονεῦσαι· λέγει γὰρ ὁ Πυθαγόρειος ὧδε· μαρτυρέονται δὲ καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ θεολόγοι τε καὶ μάντιες, ὡς διά τινας τιμωρίας ἁ ψυχὰ τῷ σώματι συνέζευκται καὶ καθάπερ ἐν σήματι τούτῳ τέθαπται. ἀλλὰ καὶ Πίνδαρος περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι μυστηρίων λέγων ἐπιφέρει· ὄλβιος ὅστις ἰδὼν ἐκεῖνα κοινὰ εἶσʼ ὑπὸ χθόνα· οἶδε μὲν βίου τελευτάν, οἶδεν δὲ διόσδοτον ἀρχάν. Πλάτων τε ἀκολούθως ἐν Φαίδωνι οὐκ ὀκνεῖ γράφειν ὧδέ πως· καὶ οἱ τὰς τελετὰς δὲ ἡμῖν οὗτοι καταστήσαντες οὐκ ἄλλο τι ἕως μετὰ θεῶν τε οἰκήσει. τί δὲ ὅταν λέγῃ· ἕως ἂν τὸ σῶμα ἔχωμεν καὶ συμπεφυρμένη ἡμῶν ἡ ψυχὴ ᾖ μετὰ τοιούτου κακοῦ, οὐ μήποτε κτησώμεθα ἐκεῖνο ἱκανῶς οὗ ἐπιθυμοῦμεν; οὐχὶ αἰτίαν τῶν μεγίστων κακῶν τὴν γένεσιν αἰνίσσεται; κἀν τῷ Φαίδωνι ἐπιμαρτυρεῖ· κινδυνεύουσι γὰρ ὅσοι τυγχάνουσιν ὀρθῶς ἁπτόμενοι φιλοσοφίας λεληθέναι τοὺς ἄλλους, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἄλλο αὐτοὶ ἐπιτηδεύουσιν ἢ ἀποθνῄσκειν τε καὶ τεθνάναι.
English · Claude translation
It is worth recalling also the words of Philolaus; for the Pythagorean says this: “The ancient theologians and seers also bear witness that the soul has been yoked to the body as a punishment, and is buried in it as in a tomb.” And Pindar too, speaking of the mysteries at Eleusis, adds: “Blessed is he who, having seen those things, goes beneath the earth: he knows the end of life, and he knows its Zeus-given beginning.” And Plato, in agreement, does not hesitate to write thus in the Phaedo: “And those who established the initiations for us,” as far as “will dwell with the gods.” And what of when he says: “As long as we have the body, and our soul is mixed up with such an evil, we will never sufficiently gain what we desire”? Does he not hint that birth is the cause of the greatest evils? And in the Phaedo he further testifies: “For those who happen to touch philosophy rightly are likely to have escaped the notice of others, that they themselves practice nothing but dying and being dead.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Philolaus (fragment 14), Pindar (fragment 137), and Plato, Phaedo 69c, 66b, and 64a. In the Pindar quotation, κοινά in the digital text is probably a slip for κεῖν(α) (“those things”) and is not translated separately.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (final sigma before elision): ἐκεῖνα κοινὰ εἶςʼ ὑπὸ χθόνα → ἐκεῖνα κοινὰ εἶσʼ ὑπὸ χθόνα.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.3.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/3/17/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.3.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/3/17/).
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