Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.7.44

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

Summary: Unbelievers think martyrdom the most violent death, not knowing it is the gate of true life; even their own writers, Theano and Plato, teach rewards and punishments after death.

Greek text · Stählin 2:268

Τοῖς δὲ ἀθλίοις τῶν ἀνθρώπων θάνατος εἶναι ὁ βιαιότατος ἡ διʼ αἵματος μαρτυρία τοῦ κυρίου δοκεῖ, οὐκ εἰδόσι τῆς ὄντως οὔσης ζωῆς ἀρχὴν εἶναι τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ θανάτου πύλην. καὶ οὔτε τὰς τιμὰς τὰς μετὰ θάνατον τῶν ὁσίως βεβιωκότων οὔτε τὰς κολάσεις τῶν ἀδίκως καὶ ἀσελγῶς πεπολιτευμένων συνεῖναι βούλονται, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων μόνον λέγω γραφῶν (σχεδὸν γὰρ πᾶσαι αἱ ἐντολαὶ ταῦτα μηνύουσιν), ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τῶν οἰκείων ἐθέλουσιν ὑπακοῦσαι λόγων. Θεανὼ γὰρ ἡ Πυθαγορικὴ γράφει· ἦν γὰρ ἂν τῷ ὄντι τοῖς κακοῖς εὐωχία ὁ βίος πονηρευσαμένοις ἔπειτα τελευτῶσιν, εἰ μὴ ἦν ἀθάνατος ἡ ψυχή, ἕρμαιον ὁ θάνατος καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Φαίδωνι εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν ὁ θάνατος τοῦ παντὸς ἀπαλλαγή, ἕρμαιον ἂν ἦν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.

English · Claude translation

To wretched men, martyrdom by blood for the Lord seems the most violent death, since they do not know that such a gate of death is the beginning of the truly existing life. And they do not wish to understand either the honors after death of those who have lived holily or the punishments of those who have lived unjustly and licentiously; I do not mean from our Scriptures only (for almost all the commandments indicate these things), but they will not even listen to their own writers. For Theano the Pythagorean writes: “Life would indeed be a feast for the wicked, who having done evil then die, if the soul were not immortal; death would be a windfall.” And Plato in the Phaedo: “For if death were a release from everything, it would be a windfall,” and so on.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:268 · 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.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Plato, Phaedo 107c (Plato (works)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Martyrdom, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Theano (fragment) and Plato, Phaedo 107c.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.7.44 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/7/44/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.7.44 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/7/44/).

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