Miscellanies 6.8.67 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:465

Ἤδη δὲ καὶ καθολικῷ λόγῳ πάντα τὰ ἀναγκαῖα καὶ λυσιτελῆ τῷ βίῳ θεόθεν ἥκειν εἰς ἡμᾶς λέγοντες οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοιμεν, τὴν δὲ φιλοσοφίαν καὶ μᾶλλον Ἕλλησιν, οἷον διαθήκην οἰκείαν αὐτοῖς, δεδόσθαι, ὑποβάθραν οὖσαν τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν φιλοσοφίας, κἂν οἱ φιλοσοφοῦντες τὰ Ἑλλήνων ἐθελοκωφῶσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἐξευτελίζοντες τὴν φωνὴν τὴν βαρβάρων ἢ καὶ ὑφορώμενοι τὸν ἐπηρτημένον τῷ πιστῷ κατὰ τοὺς πολιτικοὺς νόμους τοῦ θανάτου κίνδυνον. ὥσπερ δὲ ἐν τῇ βαρβάρῳ φιλοσοφίᾳ, οὕτως καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ ἐπεσπάρη τὰ ζιζάνια πρὸς τοῦ τῶν ζιζανίων οἰκείου γεωργοῦ. ὅθεν αἵ τε αἱρέσεις παρʼ ἡμῖν συνανεφύησαν τῷ γονίμῳ πυρῷ οἵ τε τὴν Ἐπικούρου ἀθεότητα καὶ τὴν ἡδονὴν καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα παρὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον ἐπέσπαρται τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ φιλοσοφίᾳ κηρύσσοντες νόθοι τῆς θεόθεν δωρηθείσης γεωργίας Ἕλλησιν ὑπάρχουσι καρποί.

English · Claude translation

Speaking now in general terms, we would not be wrong to say that all things necessary and profitable for life come to us from God, and that philosophy was given especially to the Greeks, like a covenant of their own, being a foundation for the philosophy according to Christ, even if those who practice Greek philosophy willfully shut their ears to the truth, despising the speech of the barbarians or fearing the danger of death that hangs over the believer under the civil laws. But as in the barbarian philosophy, so in the Greek, tares were sown by the tares' own farmer. Hence both the heresies among us grew up along with the fruitful wheat, and those who preach the godlessness and pleasure of Epicurus, and whatever else contrary to right reason has been sown in Greek philosophy, are bastard fruits of the husbandry given by God to the Greeks.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:465 · 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

Matt 13:25 · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Heresy, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

The allusion is Matt 13:25. “Barbarian philosophy” is Clement's term for the Hebrew Scriptures and the teaching that comes from them, including the church's; the civil laws that threaten believers with death refer to the persecution of Christians.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.8.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/8/67/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.8.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/8/67/).