Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 5.14.117

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

Summary: Homer shows that no mortal can catch or grasp a god, as Isaiah asks to whom God could be compared or what image could represent him.

Greek text · Stählin 2:405

φησὶ γοῦν· τίπτε με, Πηλέος υἱέ, ποσὶν ταχέεσσι διώκεις, αὐτὸς θνητὸς ἐών, θεὸν ἄμβροτον; οὐδέ νυ πώ με ἔγνως ὡς θεός εἰμι. οὐχ ἁλωτὸν γὰρ εἶναι θνητῷ οὐδὲ καταληπτὸν τὸ θεῖον οὔτε ποσὶν οὔτε χερσὶν οὔτε ὀφθαλμοῖς οὐδʼ ὅλως τῷ σώματι δεδήλωκεν. τίνι ὡμοιώσατε κύριον; ἢ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὡμοιώσατε αὐτόν; φησὶν ἡ γραφή. μὴ εἰκόνα ἐποίησε τέκτων, ἢ χρυσοχόος χωνεύσας χρυσίον περιεχρύσωσεν αὐτόν; καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις.

English · Claude translation

At any rate he says: “Why, son of Peleus, do you pursue me with swift feet, being yourself a mortal, me an immortal god? Not yet have you recognized that I am a god.” For he has shown that the divine cannot be caught or grasped by a mortal, not by feet or hands or eyes, nor by the body at all. “To whom have you likened the Lord? Or with what likeness have you likened him?” says the Scripture. “Has a craftsman made an image, or has a goldsmith melted gold and gilded him over?” and what follows.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:405 · 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.
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Homer, Il. 22.8–10 (Homer, Iliad) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Homer, Il. 22.8–10, and Isa 40:18–19.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.117 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/117/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.117 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/117/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage