Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.7.52

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

Summary: Plato says the just man is happy even under torture; the one who knows has happiness in himself, not in fortune, and no dishonor, exile, or death can tear him from his love of God.

Greek text · Stählin 2:272

τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ τοῦ Πλάτωνος ἐν Πολιτείᾳ, κἂν στρεβλῶται ὁ δίκαιος κἂν ἐξορύττηται τὼ ὀφθαλμώ, ὅτι εὐδαίμων ἔσται. οὔκουν ἐπὶ τῇ τύχῃ τὸ τέλος ἕξει ποτὲ ὁ γνωστικὸς κείμενον, ἀλλʼ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ τὸ εὐδαιμονεῖν ἂν εἴη καὶ τὸ μακαρίῳ εἶναι βασιλικῷ τε φίλῳ τοῦ θεοῦ· κἂν ἀτιμίᾳ τις περιβάλλῃ τοῦτον φυγῇ τε καὶ δημεύσει καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θανάτῳ, οὐκ ἀποσπασθήσεταί ποτε τῆς ἐλευθερίας καὶ κυριωτάτης πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀγάπης, ἣ πάντα στέγει καὶ πάντα ὑπομένει· καλῶς πάντα τὴν θείαν διοικεῖν πρόνοιαν πέπεισται ἡ ἀγάπη.

English · Claude translation

Such too are Plato's words in the Republic: that even if the just man is racked and has his eyes dug out, he will be happy. So the one who knows will never have his end lying in fortune; but being happy and blessed and a royal friend of God will rest with him. And even if someone surrounds him with dishonor, exile, confiscation, and above all death, he will never be torn away from his freedom and his most sovereign love for God, which “bears all things and endures all things.” Love is persuaded that divine providence governs all things well.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:272 · 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.
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Plato, Republic 2.361e–362a (Plato (works)) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions and quotations are Plato, Republic 2.361e–362a, and 1 Cor 13:7.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.7.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/7/52/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.7.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/7/52/).

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