Miscellanies 5.9.58
Summary: Epicureans, Stoics, and Aristotelians also had secret teachings, and the mysteries hid doctrines in myths; so much more should holy contemplation be veiled; yet Scripture and Plato's myths are not to be allegorized word by word, only in their general meaning.
Greek text · Stählin 2:365
Οὐ μόνοι ἄρα οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι καὶ Πλάτων τὰ πολλὰ ἐπεκρύπτοντο, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Ἐπικούρειοί φασί τινα καὶ παρʼ αὐτοῦ ἀπόρρητα εἶναι καὶ μὴ πᾶσιν ἐπιτρέπειν ἐντυγχάνειν τούτοις τοῖς γράμμασιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Στωϊκοὶ λέγουσι Ζήνωνι τῷ πρώτῳ γεγράφθαι τινά, ἃ μὴ ῥᾳδίως ἐπιτρέπουσι τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἀναγινώσκειν, μὴ οὐχὶ πεῖραν δεδωκόσι πρότερον, εἰ γνησίως φιλοσοφοῖεν. λέγουσι δὲ καὶ οἱ Ἀριστοτέλους τὰ μὲν ἐσωτερικὰ εἶναι τῶν συγγραμμάτων αὐτοῦ, τὰ δὲ κοινά τε καὶ ἐξωτερικά. ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ τὰ μυστήρια θέμενοι, φιλόσοφοι ὄντες, τὰ αὑτῶν δόγματα τοῖς μύθοις κατέχωσαν, ὥστε μὴ εἶναι ἅπασι δῆλα· εἶθʼ οἳ μέν, ἀνθρωπίνας κατακρύψαντες δόξας, τοὺς ἀμαθεῖς ἐκώλυσαν ἐντυγχάνειν, τὴν δὲ τῶν ὄντων ὄντως ἁγίαν καὶ μακαρίαν θεωρίαν οὐ παντὸς μᾶλλον ἐπικεκρύφθαι συνέφερεν; πλὴν οὔτε τὰ τῆς βαρβάρου φιλοσοφίας οὔθʼ οἱ μῦθοι οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ οἱ παρὰ Πλάτωνι ἐν Πολιτείᾳ Ἠρὸς τοῦ Ἀρμενίου καὶ ἐν Γοργίᾳ Αἰακοῦ καὶ Ῥαδαμάνθυος καὶ ἐν Φαίδωνι ὁ τοῦ Ταρτάρου καὶ ἐν Πρωταγόρᾳ ὁ Προμηθέως καὶ Ἐπιμηθέως πρός τε τούτοις ὁ τοῦ πολέμου τῶν Ἀτλαντικῶν καὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐν τῷ Ἀτλαντικῷ, οὐχ ἁπλῶς κατὰ πάντα τὰ ὀνόματα ἀλληγορητέοι, ἀλλʼ ὅσα τῆς διανοίας τῆς καθόλου σημαντικά, καὶ δὴ ταῦτα ἐξεύροιμεν ἂν διὰ συμβόλων ὑπὸ παρακαλύμματι τῇ ἀλληγορίᾳ μηνυόμενα.
English · Claude translation
Not only, then, did the Pythagoreans and Plato conceal many things, but the Epicureans too say that they have some secrets from Epicurus, and do not allow everyone to read those writings. The Stoics too say that some things were written by Zeno the first which they do not readily allow students to read, unless they have first given proof whether they philosophize genuinely. And the followers of Aristotle say that some of his writings are esoteric, others common and exoteric. And those who established the mysteries, being philosophers, buried their own doctrines in myths so that they would not be plain to all. Then, if some, having concealed human opinions, prevented the ignorant from reading them, was it not more fitting above all that the truly holy and blessed contemplation of what really is should be concealed? However, neither the things of the barbarian philosophy, nor the Pythagorean myths, nor those in Plato, of Er the Armenian in the Republic, of Aeacus and Rhadamanthus in the Gorgias, of Tartarus in the Phaedo, of Prometheus and Epimetheus in the Protagoras, and besides these of the war of the Atlanteans and the Athenians in the Atlanticus, are to be allegorized simply in every word, but only in what signifies the general meaning; and these we would find indicated through symbols under the veil of allegory.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Plato, Republic 10.614b, Gorgias 523e–524a, Phaedo 112a–114c, Protagoras 320d–322a, and Critias (Clement calls it the Atlanticus).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.9.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/9/58/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.9.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/9/58/).
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