Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.2.7

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

Summary: Like a farm that yields everything, the Miscellanies offer mixed fruits; the reader must winnow them to pick out the wheat.

Greek text · Stählin 2:250–251

αὐτίκα οἱ Στρωματεῖς ἡμῶν, κατὰ τὸν γεωργὸν Τιμοκλέους τοῦ κωμικοῦ σῦκα, ἔλαιον, ἰσχάδας, μέλι προσοδεύουσι, καθάπερ ἐκ παμφόρου χωρίου. διʼ ἣν εὐκαρπίαν ἐπιφέρει· σὺ μὲν εἰρεσιώνην, οὐ γεωργίαν λέγεις, ἐπιφωνεῖν γὰρ εἰώθεσαν Ἀθηναῖοι· εἰρεσιώνη σῦκα φέρει καὶ πίονας ἄρτους καὶ μέλι ἐν κοτύλῃ καὶ ἔλαιον ἀναψήσασθαι. χρὴ τοίνυν πολλάκις ὡς ἐν τοῖς πλοκάνοις διασείοντας καὶ ἀναρριπτοῦντας τὴν πολυμιγίαν τῶν σπερμάτων τὸν πυρὸν ἐκλέγειν.

English · Claude translation

For example, our Miscellanies, like the farmer of Timocles the comic poet, bring in figs, olive oil, dried figs, honey, as if from a field that bears everything. Because of this abundance of fruit he adds: “You speak of a harvest wreath, not of farming”; for the Athenians used to exclaim: “The harvest wreath brings figs and rich loaves, and honey in a cup, and oil to rub oneself with.” One must often, then, as in winnowing baskets, shake and toss the mixture of seeds to pick out the wheat.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:250–251 · 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; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
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.
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Timocles (fragment) and the Athenian eiresiōnē song.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.2.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/2/7/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.2.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/2/7/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage