Miscellanies 4.18.114
Summary: Rewards differ: the knower receives what eye has not seen, the simple believer a hundredfold; Clement recalls a self-styled Gnostic who taught that desire alone is not sin unless it is acted out, even in imagination.
Greek text · Stählin 2:298
εἰκότως γοῦν καὶ τὰ τούτων ἆθλα διάφορα· τῷ μὲν γνωστικῷ ἡτοίμασται ἃ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδεν οὐδὲ οὖς ἤκουσεν οὐδὲ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου ἀνέβη. τῷ δὲ ἁπλῶς πεπιστευκότι μαρτυρεῖ ἑκατονταπλασίονα ὧν ἀπολέλοιπεν, ἣν ἐπαγγελίαν εἰς σύνεσιν ἀνθρώπων πίπτειν συμβέβηκεν. Ἐνταῦθα γενόμενος ἀνεμνήσθην τινὸς φάσκοντος ἑαυτὸν γνωστικόν. ἐξηγούμενος γὰρ τὸ ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω, ὁ ἐμβλέψας τῇ γυναικὶ πρὸς ἐπιθυμίαν ἤδη μεμοίχευκεν οὐ ψιλὴν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἠξίου κρίνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ ἐὰν τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τὸ κατʼ αὐτὴν ἔργον περαιτέρω τῆς ἐπιθυμίας χωροῦν ἐν αὐτῇ ἐκτελῆται· εἰ γὰρ ὄναρ τῇ φαντασίᾳ, συγκαταχρῆται ἤδη καὶ τῷ σώματι.
English · Claude translation
Fittingly, then, their prizes too differ. For the one who knows are prepared “what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered the heart of man”; but to the one who has simply believed he testifies a hundredfold of what he has left, a promise that happens to fall within human understanding. Having reached this point, I remembered someone who claimed to be one who knows. Explaining “But I say, the one who looks at a woman with desire has already committed adultery,” he held that desire alone is not judged, but only if, through desire, the deed corresponding to it, going beyond the desire, is accomplished in it; for if it is in a dream, in imagination, it already makes use of the body too.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are 1 Cor 2:9, Matt 19:29, and Matt 5:28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (breathing and accent missing on ἆθλα): καὶ τὰ τούτων ἀθλα διάφορα → καὶ τὰ τούτων ἆθλα διάφορα.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.18.114 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/18/114/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.18.114 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/18/114/).
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