Miscellanies 5.8.52
Summary: The unclean birds stand for plunderers, the unjust, and the greedy, whom we must avoid; the Psalms, 1 Clement, and Theognis teach that companions shape us; the horse and rider cast into the sea are desire and the soul that gives it rein.
Greek text · Stählin 2:361–362
ναὶ μὴν ὅταν λέγῃ οὐ φάγῃ τὸν ἀετόν, τὸν ὀξύπτερον καὶ τὸν ἰκτῖνον καὶ τὸν κόρακα, οὐ κολληθήσῃ, φησίν, οὐδὲ ὁμοιωθήσῃ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τούτοις, οἳ οὐκ ἴσασι διὰ πόνου καὶ ἱδρῶτος πορίζειν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν τροφήν, ἀλλʼ ἐν ἁρπαγῇ καὶ ἀνομίᾳ βιοῦσιν· ἀετὸς μὲν γὰρ ἁρπαγήν, ὀξύπτερος δὲ ἀδικίαν καὶ πλεονεξίαν ὁ κόραξ μηνύει. γέγραπται δέ· μετὰ ἀνδρὸς ἀθῴου ἀθῷος ἔσῃ καὶ μετὰ ἐκλεκτοῦ ἐκλεκτὸς ἔσῃ καὶ μετὰ στρεβλοῦ διαστρέψεις. κολλᾶσθαι οὖν τοῖς ἁγίοις προσήκει, ὅτι οἱ κολλώμενοι αὐτοῖς ἁγιασθήσονται. ἐντεῦθεν ὁ Θέογνις γράφει· ἐσθλῶν μὲν γὰρ ἄπʼ ἐσθλὰ μαθήσεαι· ἢν δὲ κακοῖσι συμμίσγῃς, ἀπολεῖς καὶ τὸν ἐόντα νόον. ὅταν τε αὖ ἐν τῇ ᾠδῇ λέγῃ ἐνδόξως γὰρ δεδόξασται, ἵππον καὶ ἀναβάτην ἔρριψεν εἰς θάλασσαν, τὸ πολυσκελὲς καὶ κτηνῶδες καὶ ὁρμητικὸν πάθος, τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, σὺν καὶ τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἡνιόχῳ τὰς ἡνίας ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ἐπιδεδωκότι ἔρριψεν εἰς θάλασσαν, εἰς τὰς κοσμικὰς ἀταξίας ἀποβαλών.
English · Claude translation
Indeed, when it says, “You shall not eat the eagle, the hawk, the kite, and the raven,” it says, “You shall not cling to or become like such men, who do not know how to provide their food by toil and sweat, but live by plunder and lawlessness.” For the eagle indicates plunder, the hawk injustice, and the raven greed. And it is written: “With the innocent man you will be innocent, and with the chosen you will be chosen, and with the crooked you will be perverse.” It is fitting, then, to cling to the saints, because “those who cling to them will be sanctified.” From this Theognis writes: “From the good you will learn good things; but if you mix with the bad, you will lose even the mind you have.” And when again it says in the song, “For he has gloriously triumphed; horse and rider he threw into the sea,” the many-legged, beastly, and impetuous passion, desire, together with the charioteer mounted on it who has given the reins to pleasures, he threw into the sea, casting them into the disorders of the world.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Barn. 10.4, Ps 18:25–26 (17:26–27 LXX), 1 Clem. 46.2 (an unwritten saying), Theognis 35–36, and Exod 15:1.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong sigma in the digital text): ἢν δὲ κακοῖσι συμμίςγῃς → ἢν δὲ κακοῖσι συμμίσγῃς.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.8.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/8/52/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.8.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/8/52/).
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