Miscellanies 5.14.103
Summary: Clement reads Plato's “king of all” with a second and a third as a hint of the Trinity, and Plato's tale of Er, whom he identifies with Zoroaster, as a hint of the resurrection or the soul's ascent; Empedocles speaks of a final change of all things into fire.
Greek text · Stählin 2:395–396
ὥστε καὶ ἐπὰν εἴπῃ περὶ τὸν πάντων βασιλέα πάντα ἐστὶ κἀκείνου ἕνεκεν τὰ πάντα κἀκεῖνο αἴτιον ἁπάντων τῶν καλῶν, δεύτερον δὲ περὶ τὰ δεύτερα καὶ τρίτον περὶ τὰ τρίτα, οὐκ ἄλλως ἔγωγε ἐξακούω ἢ τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα μηνύεσθαι· τρίτον μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, τὸν υἱὸν δὲ δεύτερον, διʼ οὗ πάντα ἐγένετο κατὰ βούλησιν τοῦ πατρός. ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ δεκάτῳ τῆς Πολιτείας Ἠρὸς τοῦ Ἀρμενίου, τὸ γένος Παμφύλου, μέμνηται, ὅς ἐστι Ζωροάστρης· αὐτὸς γοῦν ὁ Ζωροάστρης γράφει· τάδε συνέγραψα Ζωροάστρης ὁ Ἀρμενίου, τὸ γένος Πάμφυλος, ἐν πολέμῳ τελευτήσας, ὅσα ἐν Ἅιδῃ γενόμενος ἐδάην παρὰ θεῶν. τὸν δὴ Ζωροάστρην τοῦτον ὁ Πλάτων δωδεκαταῖον ἐπὶ τῇ πυρᾷ κείμενον ἀναβιῶναι λέγει· τάχα μὲν οὖν τὴν ἀνάστασιν, τάχα δὲ ἐκεῖνα αἰνίσσεται, ὡς διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ζῳδίων ἡ ὁδὸς ταῖς ψυχαῖς γίνεται εἰς τὴν ἀνάληψιν, αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ εἰς τὴν γένεσίν φησι τὴν αὐτὴν γίγνεσθαι κάθοδον. ταύτῃ ὑποληπτέον καὶ τὰ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἆθλα γενέσθαι δώδεκα, μεθʼ ἃ τῆς ἀπαλλαγῆς παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου τοῦδε τυγχάνει ἡ ψυχή. οὐ παραπέμπομαι καὶ τὸν Ἐμπεδοκλέα, ὃς φυσικῶς οὕτως τῆς τῶν πάντων ἀναλήψεως μέμνηται, ὡς ἐσομένης ποτὲ εἰς τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς οὐσίαν μεταβολῆς.
English · Claude translation
So that when he says, “Around the king of all are all things, and for his sake are all things, and he is the cause of all good things; and the second around the second things, and the third around the third,” I understand nothing else than that the holy Trinity is indicated; for the third is the Holy Spirit, and the Son is the second, through whom all things came to be according to the will of the Father. The same Plato, in the tenth book of the Republic, mentions Er the son of Armenius, a Pamphylian by race, who is Zoroaster. At any rate Zoroaster himself writes: “These things I, Zoroaster son of Armenius, a Pamphylian by race, having died in war, wrote, whatever I learned from the gods when I was in Hades.” This Zoroaster, Plato says, came back to life on the twelfth day as he lay on the pyre. Perhaps, then, he hints at the resurrection; or perhaps at this, that the way for souls to their ascent is through the twelve signs of the zodiac, and he himself says that the descent into birth takes place by the same way. In this sense we must understand that the labors of Heracles were twelve, after which the soul attains release from this whole world. I do not pass over Empedocles either, who, speaking as a natural philosopher, mentions the taking up of all things, as there is to be at some time a change into the substance of fire.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and references are Plato, Second Letter 312e, John 1:3, Republic 10.614b–c and 614b (Er returns to life on the twelfth day), and a pseudepigraphal writing ascribed to Zoroaster (unidentified). The Empedocles reference is uncertain. Corrected a repeated word (αὐτὸς) in the digital text.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word repeated in the digital text): αὐτὸς αὐτὸς γοῦν → αὐτὸς γοῦν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.103 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/103/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.103 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/103/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text