Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 5.14.109

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

Summary: Xenophanes taught that God is one, not like mortals, and mocked the human habit of picturing the gods in their own image.

Greek text · Stählin 2:399–400

Εὖ γοῦν καὶ Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος, διδάσκων ὅτι εἷς καὶ ἀσώματος ὁ θεός, ἐπιφέρει· εἷς θεός, ἔν τε θεοῖσι καὶ ἀνθρώποισι μέγιστος, οὔ τι δέμας θνητοῖσιν ὁμοίιος οὐδὲ νόημα. καὶ πάλιν· ἀλλʼ οἱ βροτοὶ δοκοῦσι γεννᾶσθαι θεούς, τὴν σφετέρην δὲ ἐσθῆτα ἔχειν φωνήν τε δέμας τε. καὶ πάλιν· ἀλλʼ εἴ τοι χεῖρας γʼ εἶχον βόες ἠὲ λέοντες, ὡς γράψαι χείρεσσι καὶ ἔργα τελεῖν ἅπερ ἄνδρες, ἵπποι μέν θʼ ἵπποισι, βόες δέ τε βουσὶν ὁμοίας καί κε θεῶν ἰδέας ἔγραφον καὶ σώματʼ ἐποίουν τοιαῦθʼ οἷόν περ καὶ αὐτοὶ δέμας εἶχον ὁμοῖον.

English · Claude translation

Well, too, does Xenophanes of Colophon, teaching that God is one and incorporeal, add: “One God, greatest among gods and men, not at all like mortals in body or in thought.” And again: “But mortals suppose that gods are born, and have their own clothing, voice, and body.” And again: “But if oxen or lions had hands, so as to draw with their hands and make works as men do, horses would draw the forms of the gods like horses, and oxen like oxen, and would make their bodies such as each of them had.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:399–400 · 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
  • Xenophanes (Xenophanes (fragments)) · quotation, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Xenophanes, fragments 23, 14, and 15 (Diels–Kranz).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.109 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/109/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.109 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/109/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage