Miscellanies 5.14.114 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:403

Εὐριπίδης δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς σκηνῆς τραγῳδῶν ὁρᾷς φησὶ τὸν ὑψοῦ τόνδʼ ἄπειρον αἰθέρα καὶ γῆν πέριξ ἔχοντα ὑγραῖς ἐν ἀγκάλαις; τοῦτον νόμιζε Ζῆνα, τόνδʼ ἡγοῦ θεόν. ἐν δὲ τῷ Πειρίθῳ δράματι ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ τάδε τραγῳδεῖ· σὲ τὸν αὐτοφυῆ, τὸν ἐν αἰθερίῳ ῥόμβῳ πάντων φύσιν ἐμπλέξαντα, ὃν πέρι μὲν φῶς, πέρι δʼ ὀρφναία νύξ αἰολόχρως ἄκριτός τʼ ἄστρων ὄχλος ἐνδελεχῶς ἀμφιχορεύει. ἐνταῦθα γὰρ τὸν μὲν αὐτοφυῆ τὸν δημιουργὸν νοῦν εἴρηκεν, τὰ δʼ ἑξῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ κόσμου τάσσεται, ἐν ᾧ καὶ αἱ ἐναντιότητες φωτός τε καὶ σκότους. ὅ τε Εὐφορίωνος Αἰσχύλος ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ σεμνῶς σφόδρα φησίν· Ζεύς ἐστιν αἰθήρ, Ζεὺς δὲ γῆ, Ζεὺς δʼ οὐρανός· Ζεύς τοι τὰ πάντα χὥτι τῶνδε τοι ὑπέρτερον.

English · Claude translation

And Euripides, writing tragedy on the same stage, says: “Do you see this boundless ether on high, holding the earth around in its moist embraces? Consider this Zeus, hold this to be God.” And in the drama Pirithous the same poet also writes this tragic passage: “You, the self-begotten, who in the whirl of the ether have woven the nature of all things, around whom light, and around whom dark, spangled night and the countless throng of stars dance unceasingly.” For here he has called the Maker, Mind, the self-begotten, while what follows applies to the world, in which there are also the opposites of light and darkness. And Aeschylus, son of Euphorion, says very solemnly of God: “Zeus is ether, Zeus is earth, Zeus is heaven; Zeus is all things, and whatever is higher than these.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:403 · 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

Euripides, fragment 941 (Euripides (plays and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Euripides, fragment 593 (Euripides (plays and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Aeschylus, fragment 70 (Aeschylus (plays and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

The quotations are Euripides, fragment 941 (Nauck), Pirithous (fragment 593 Nauck; the play is sometimes ascribed to Critias), and Aeschylus, Heliades (fragment 70 Nauck).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.114 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/114/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.114 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/114/).