Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 5.14.116

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

Summary: Clement finds hints of the Father and the Son in lines of Homer, in Orpheus, and in Xenocrates' highest and lowest Zeus.

Greek text · Stählin 2:404–405

Ἤδη δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρος φαίνεται πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν διὰ τούτων, ὡς ἔτυχεν μαντείας εὐστόχου, λέγων· εἰ μὲν δὴ οὔτις σε βιάζεται οἶον ἐόντα, νοῦσον δʼ οὔπως ἔστι Διὸς μεγάλου ἀλέασθαι. οὐ γὰρ Κύκλωπες Διὸς αἰγιόχου ἀλέγουσιν. καὶ πρὸ τούτου Ὀρφεὺς κατὰ τοῦ προκειμένου φερόμενος εἴρηκεν· υἱὲ Διὸς μεγάλοιο, πάτερ Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο. Ξενοκράτης δὲ ὁ Καλχηδόνιος, τὸν μὲν ὕπατον Δία, τὸν δὲ νέατον καλῶν, ἔμφασιν πατρὸς ἀπολείπει καὶ υἱοῦ. καὶ τὸ παραδοξότατον, Ὅμηρος γιγνώσκειν φαίνεται τὸ θεῖον ὁ ἀνθρωποπαθεῖς εἰσάγων τοὺς θεούς· ὃν οὐδʼ οὕτως αἰδεῖται Ἐπίκουρος.

English · Claude translation

And now Homer too appears to speak of the Father and the Son in these words, as if hitting on a well-aimed divination: “If, then, no one is harming you, alone as you are, there is no way to escape sickness from great Zeus.” “For the Cyclopes do not care for aegis-bearing Zeus.” And before him Orpheus, carried toward the same subject, has said: “Son of great Zeus, father of aegis-bearing Zeus.” And Xenocrates of Chalcedon, calling one Zeus the highest and another the lowest, leaves an indication of Father and Son. And, most paradoxical of all, Homer, who brings in gods with human passions, appears to know the divine; and even so Epicurus does not respect him.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:404–405 · 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
  • Homer, Od. 9.410–411 (Homer, Odyssey) · quotation, high confidence
  • Homer, Od. 9.275 (Homer, Odyssey) · quotation, high confidence
  • Orpheus (attributed), Orph. frag. (Orpheus (attributed), Orphic poems (fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Trinity

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Homer, Od. 9.410–411 and 9.275, an Orphic verse, and Xenocrates, fragment 18 (Heinze).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.116 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/116/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.116 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/116/).

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