Miscellanies 5.14.130 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:414

Πάλιν, τοῦ Μωυσέως εἰς μόχθους καὶ πόνους διὰ τὴν παράβασιν τέξεσθαι τὴν γυναῖκα προφητεύσαντος, ποιητής τις οὐκ ἄσημος γράφει· οὐδέ ποτʼ ἦμαρ παύσονται καμάτου καὶ ὀιζύος, οὐδέ τι νύκτωρ στεινόμενοι· χαλεπὰς δὲ θεοὶ δώσουσι μερίμνας. ἔτι Ὅμηρος μέν, εἰπὼν αὐτὸς δὲ χρύσεια πατὴρ ἐτίταινε τάλαντα, δίκαιον τὸν θεὸν μηνύει· Μένανδρος δὲ ὁ κωμικός, ἀγαθὸν ἑρμηνεύων τὸν θεόν, φησίν· ἅπαντι δαίμων ἀνδρὶ συμπαρίσταται εὐθὺς γενομένῳ μυσταγωγὸς τοῦ βίου ἀγαθός· κακὸν γὰρ δαίμονα οὐ νομιστέον εἶναι, βίον βλάπτοντα χρηστόν. εἶτα ἐπιφέρει· ἅπαντα δʼ ἀγαθὸν εἶναι τὸν θεόν, ἤτοι πάντα θεὸν ἀγαθὸν λέγων ἤ, ὅπερ καὶ μᾶλλον, ἐν πᾶσι τὸν θεὸν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι.

English · Claude translation

Again, when Moses had prophesied that because of the transgression the woman would give birth in toil and pain, a poet of no small note writes: “Never by day will they cease from labor and woe, nor at night, worn down as they are; and the gods will give them grievous cares.” Further, Homer, saying, “And the Father himself stretched out the golden scales,” indicates that God is just; and Menander the comic poet, interpreting God as good, says: “A daemon stands beside every man as soon as he is born, a good guide into the mysteries of life; for one must not think that there is an evil daemon, harming a good life.” Then he adds: “that God is good in all respects,” saying either that every god is good, or, which is more likely, that God is good in all things.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:414 · 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

Gen 3:16 · allusion, high confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Hesiod, Op. 176–178 (Hesiod, Works and Days) · quotation, high confidence
Homer, Il. 8.69 (Homer, Iliad) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

The references are Gen 3:16, Hesiod, Works and Days 176–178 (“a poet of no small note”), Homer, Il. 8.69 (compare 22.209), and Menander (fragment 714 Kassel–Austin; the number is uncertain). The last clause of the Menander quotation is ambiguous in Greek, as Clement notes.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.130 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/130/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.130 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/130/).