Miscellanies 6.15.130
Summary: Proverbs 1 lists the forms of prophetic speech—proverb, parable, riddle, wisdom, instruction—and the Greek dialects, named from Hellen, are many generations younger than Hebrew.
Greek text · Stählin 2:497
λέγεται δʼ οὖν εἶδος τῆς προφητείας ἡ παροιμία κατὰ τὴν βάρβαρον φιλοσοφίαν λέγεταί τε καὶ παραβολὴ τό τε αἴνιγμα ἐπὶ τούτοις. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ σοφία λέγεται, καὶ ὡς ἕτερον αὐτῆς ἡ παιδεία λόγοι τε αὖ φρονήσεως καὶ στροφαὶ λόγων καὶ δικαιοσύνη ἀληθὴς διδασκαλία τε αὖ τοῦ κατευθῦναι κρῖμα καὶ πανουργία ἀκάκοις κατὰ τὴν παιδείαν περιγινομένη αἴσθησίς τε καὶ ἔννοια τῷ νεοκατηχήτῳ γινομένη. ὁ τούτων ἀκούσας, φησί, τῶν προφητῶν σοφὸς σοφώτερος ἔσται, κυβέρνησιν δὲ ὁ νοήμων κτήσεται καὶ νοήσει παραβολὴν καὶ σκοτεινὸν λόγον ῥήσεις τε σοφῶν καὶ αἰνίγματα. εἰ δὲ ἀπὸ Ἕλληνος τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ κατʼ ἐπίκλησιν Δευκαλίωνος τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς συνέβη κεκλῆσθαι διαλέκτους, ἐκ τῶν χρόνων, ὧν φθάσαντες παρεστήσαμεν, ῥᾴδιον συνιδεῖν ὅσαις γενεαῖς τῆς Ἑβραίων φωνῆς αἱ παρʼ Ἕλλησι μεταγενέστεραι διάλεκτοι ὑπάρχουσι.
English · Claude translation
In the barbarian philosophy, then, the proverb is said to be a kind of prophecy, and so is the parable, and the riddle besides these. Moreover, wisdom too is spoken of, and instruction as something different from it, and again words of prudence, turns of speech, true righteousness, and teaching how to direct judgment, and shrewdness that comes to the innocent through instruction, and perception and understanding that come to the newly instructed. “The one who hears these,” it says—the prophets—“being wise will become wiser, and the one who understands will acquire guidance, and will understand a parable and a dark word, and the sayings of the wise and riddles.” And if the Greek dialects came to be so named from Hellen, the son of Zeus, who was called son of Deucalion, it is easy to see from the dates we set out earlier by how many generations the dialects among the Greeks are later than the Hebrew language.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Prov 1:2–6 (Clement adds “the prophets”). The chronology referred to is Strom. 1.21. Hellen is usually the son of Deucalion; Clement notes a tradition making him son of Zeus.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.15.130 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/15/130/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.15.130 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/15/130/).
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