Miscellanies 6.7.57
Summary: Every Greek philosopher had a teacher; tracing them back to the first men, the first teacher could be neither a man nor an angel, for angels too are created and had to learn.
Greek text · Stählin 2:460–461
ἂν οὖν τις τοῖς μερικοῖς ὡς τοῖς καθολικοῖς χρώμενος τύχῃ καὶ τὸ δοῦλον ὡς κύριον καὶ ἡγεμόνα τιμᾷ, σφάλλεται τῆς ἀληθείας οὐ συνιεὶς τὸ τῷ Δαβὶδ κατʼ ἐξομολόγησιν εἰρημένον· γῆν καὶ σποδὸν ὡσεὶ ἄρτον ἔφαγον. ἡ φιλαυτία δὲ καὶ ἡ οἴησις αὐτῷ γῆ ἐστι καὶ πλάνη. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, ἐκ μαθήσεως ἡ γνῶσις καὶ ἡ ἐπιστήμη. μαθήσεως δʼ οὔσης ζητεῖν ἀνάγκη τὸν διδάσκαλον. Κλεάνθης μὲν γὰρ Ζήνωνα ἐπιγράφεται καὶ Θεόφραστος Ἀριστοτέλη Μητρόδωρός τε Ἐπίκουρον καὶ Πλάτων Σωκράτην· ἀλλὰ κἂν ἐπὶ Πυθαγόραν ἔλθω καὶ Φερεκύδην καὶ Θάλητα καὶ τοὺς πρώτους σοφούς, ἵσταμαι τὸν τούτων διδάσκαλον ζητῶν· κἂν Αἰγυπτίους εἴπῃς κἂν Ἰνδοὺς κἂν Βαβυλωνίους κἂν τοὺς Μάγους αὐτούς, οὐ παύσομαι τὸν τούτων διδάσκαλον ἀπαιτῶν. ἀνάγω δέ σε καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν πρώτην γένεσιν ἀνθρώπων, κἀκεῖθεν ἄρχομαι ζητεῖν, τίς ὁ διδάσκαλος; ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὐδείς, οὐδέπω γὰρ μεμαθήκεσαν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἀγγέλων τις, οὔτε γάρ, ὡς μηνύουσιν οἱ ἄγγελοι καθὸ ἄγγελοι, οὕτως ἀκούουσιν ἄνθρωποι, οὔθʼ, ὡς ἡμῖν τὰ ὦτα, οὕτως ἐκείνοις ἡ γλῶττα. οὐδʼ ἂν ὄργανά τις δῴη φωνῆς ἀγγέλοις, χείλη λέγω καὶ τὰ τούτοις παρακείμενα καὶ φάρυγγα καὶ ἀρτηρίαν καὶ σπλάγχνα καὶ πνεῦμα καὶ πλησσόμενον ἀέρα. πολλοῦ γε δεῖ τὸν θεὸν ἐμβοᾶν, ἀπροσίτῳ ἁγιότητι καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων αὐτῶν κεχωρισμένον. ἤδη δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους μεμαθηκέναι παρειλήφαμεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ τούτων ἄρχοντας· γενητοὶ γάρ.
English · Claude translation
If, then, anyone treats partial things as universal, and honors the servant as lord and ruler, he misses the truth, not understanding what David said in confession: “I ate earth and ashes like bread.” For self-love and conceit are earth and error to him. If so, knowledge and understanding come from learning. And if there is learning, one must seek the teacher. Cleanthes claims Zeno as his teacher, Theophrastus Aristotle, Metrodorus Epicurus, and Plato Socrates; but if I go back to Pythagoras and Pherecydes and Thales and the first wise men, I come to a halt, seeking their teacher. And if you say the Egyptians, or the Indians, or the Babylonians, or the Magi themselves, I shall not stop asking for their teacher. I lead you back even to the first generation of men, and from there I begin to inquire: who is the teacher? No man, for they had not yet learned; nor any angel either, for men do not hear as angels, as angels, communicate, nor do angels have a tongue as we have ears. Nor would anyone ascribe organs of voice to angels, I mean lips and the parts next to them, throat and windpipe and chest and breath and air being struck. Far indeed is God from shouting aloud, separated by unapproachable holiness even from the archangels themselves. And we have been taught that the angels too, and their rulers, learned the truth; for they came into being.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Ps 102:9 (101:10 LXX), with “earth” added.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.7.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/7/57/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.7.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/7/57/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text