Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.8.69

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

Summary: Virtue must be pursued regardless of others' opinion; as Epicurus wrote to Menoeceus, it is never too early or too late to philosophize, for young and old alike.

Greek text · Stählin 2:279

εἰ δὴ τῶν ἀδιαφόρων ἔνια τοιαύτην εἴληχε τιμὴν ὥστε καὶ ἀκόντων τινῶν αἱρετὰ εἶναι δοκεῖν, πολὺ δὲ πλέον τὴν ἀρετὴν περιμάχητον νομιστέον, μὴ εἰς ἄλλο τι ἀφορῶντας, ἀλλὰ εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ καλῶς πραχθῆναι δυνάμενον, ἐάν τε ἑτέρως δοκῇ τισιν ἐάν τε καὶ μή. καλῶς οὖν καὶ Ἐπίκουρος Μενοικεῖ γράφων· μήτε νέος τις ὢν μελλέτω φιλοσοφεῖν, μήτε γέρων ὑπάρχων κοπιάτω φιλοσοφῶν. οὔτε γὰρ ἄωρος οὐδείς ἐστιν οὔτε πάρωρος πρὸς τὸ κατὰ ψυχὴν ὑγιαίνειν. ὁ δὲ λέγων μήπω τοῦ φιλοσοφεῖν ὑπάρχειν ὥραν ἢ παρεληλυθέναι τὴν ὥραν ὅμοιός ἐστι τῷ λέγοντι πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν ἢ μήπω παρεῖναι τὴν ὥραν ἢ μηκέτʼ εἶναι τὴν ὥραν. ὥστε φιλοσοφητέον καὶ νεωτέρῳ καὶ γέροντι, τῷ μὲν ὅπως γηράσκων νεάζῃ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς διὰ τὴν χάριν τῶν γεγονότων, τῷ δὲ ὅπως νέος ἅμα καὶ παλαιὸς ᾖ διὰ τὴν ἀφοβίαν τῶν μελλόντων.

English · Claude translation

If, then, some indifferent things have obtained such honor that they seem choiceworthy even against some people's will, much more must virtue be considered worth fighting for, looking to nothing else than what can be done well, whether it seems otherwise to some or not. Well, then, did Epicurus write to Menoeceus: “Let no one delay philosophizing while young, nor grow weary of philosophizing when old. For no one is too early or too late for the health of the soul. The one who says that the time for philosophizing has not yet come or has passed is like one who says that the time for happiness has not yet come or is no longer. So both young and old must philosophize: the one so that, growing old, he may be young in good things by gratitude for what has been; the other so that he may be at once young and old by fearlessness of what is to come.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:279 · 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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus 122.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.69 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/69/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.69 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/69/).

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