Miscellanies 7.12.69
Summary: The one who knows treats everyone alike, helping those in need, even enemies and persecutors, with wise discernment; like God, he is no one's enemy, though the disobedient make themselves his enemies.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ταύτῃ. οὕτω δὲ ἔχων ὁ γνωστικὸς πρὸς τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχήν, πρὸς [τε] τοὺς πέλας, κἂν οἰκέτης ᾖ κἂν πολέμιος νόμῳ γενόμενος κἂν ὁστισοῦν, ἴσος καὶ ὅμοιος εὑρίσκεται. οὐ γὰρ ὑπερορᾷ τὸν ἀδελφὸν κατὰ τὸν θεῖον νόμον ὁμοπάτριον ὄντα καὶ ὁμομήτριον· ἀμέλει θλιβόμενον ἐπικουφίζει παραμυθίαις, παρορμήσεσι, ταῖς βιωτικαῖς χρείαις ἐπικουρῶν, διδοὺς τοῖς δεομένοις πᾶσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὁμοίως, δικαίως δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τῷ καταδιώκοντι καὶ μισοῦντι, εἰ τούτου δέοιτο. ὀλίγα φροντίζων τῶν λεγόντων διὰ φόβον αὐτῷ δεδωκέναι, εἰ μὴ διὰ φόβον, διʼ ἐπικουρίαν δὲ τοῦτο ποιοίη. οἱ γὰρ πρὸς ἐχθροὺς ἀφιλάργυροι καὶ ἀμνησιπόνηροι πόσῳ μᾶλλον πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους ἀγαπητικοί; ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐκ τούτου πρόεισιν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀκριβῶς εἰδέναι καὶ ὅτῳ ἄν τις μάλιστα καὶ ὁπόσον καὶ ὁπότε καὶ ὅπως ἐπιδῴη. τίς δʼ ἂν καὶ ἐχθρὸς εὐλόγως γένοιτο ἀνδρὸς οὐδεμίαν οὐδαμῶς παρέχοντος αἰτίαν ἔχθρας· καὶ μή τι, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐδενὶ μὲν ἀντικεῖσθαι λέγομεν τὸν θεὸν οὐδὲ ἐχθρὸν εἶναί τινος (πάντων γὰρ κτίστης, καὶ οὐδέν ἐστι τῶν ὑποστάντων ὃ μὴ θέλει). φαμὲν δʼ αὐτῷ ἐχθροὺς εἶναι τοὺς ἀπειθεῖς καὶ μὴ κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ πορευομένους. οἷον τοὺς διεχθρεύοντας αὐτοῦ τῇ διαθήκῃ. τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ γνωστικοῦ εὕροιμεν ἄν. αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ οὐδενὶ οὐδέποτε κατʼ οὐδένα τρόπον ἐχθρὸς ἂν γένοιτο. ἐχθροὶ δὲ εἶναι νοοῖντο αὐτῷ οἱ τὴν ἐναντίαν ὁδὸν τρεπόμενοι ἄλλως τε κἂν ἡ ἕξις ἡ μεταδοτικὴ παρʼ ἡμῖν δικαιοσύνη λέγηται· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ κατʼ ἀξίαν διακριτικὴ πρὸς τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον, ἐφʼ ὧν καθήκει κατʼ ἐπιστήμην γενέσθαι, ἀκροτάτης δικαιοσύνης εἶδος τυγχάνει. ἔστι μὲν οὖν ἃ καὶ κατὰ ἰδιωτισμὸν πρός τινων κατορθοῦται. οἷον ἡδονῶν ἐγκράτεια. ὡς γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἔκ τε τοῦ μὴ δύνασθαι »τυχεῖν ὧν ἐρᾷ τις« καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πρὸς ἀνθρώπων φόβου, εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ διὰ τὰς μείζονας ἡδονὰς ἀπέχονται τῶν ἐν τοῖς ποσὶν ἡδέων. οὕτως κἀν τῇ πίστει ἢ διʼ ἐπαγγελίαν ἢ διὰ φόβον θεοῦ ἐγκρατεύονταί τινες.
English · Claude translation
So much for that. The one who knows, being so disposed toward body and soul, is found equal and alike toward his neighbors, whether one is a servant, or has become an enemy by law, or anyone at all. For he does not despise his brother, who by the divine law has the same father and the same mother; certainly he relieves him in affliction with consolation and encouragement, helping him with the needs of life, giving to all who are in need, yet not equally, but justly and according to worth; and moreover even to the one who persecutes and hates him, if he should need it. He cares little for those who say he gave out of fear, if in fact he does it not out of fear but to help. For those who are free from love of money toward their enemies and bear them no grudge, how much more loving will they be toward their own? Such a person advances from this to knowing precisely to whom one should give most, how much, when, and how. And who could reasonably become the enemy of a man who gives no cause for enmity at all? Is it not so that, just as with God we say that God opposes no one and is no one's enemy (for he is creator of all, and nothing exists that he does not will), yet we say that his enemies are the disobedient and those who do not walk according to his commandments, those hostile, as it were, to his covenant, so we would find it also with the one who knows? For he himself would never in any way become anyone's enemy, but those who turn to the opposite way might be thought to be his enemies. This is especially so since the disposition to share is called righteousness among us; moreover, the disposition that distinguishes according to worth, giving more or less in the cases where this should be done with understanding, is a form of the highest righteousness. Now there are things that some people do rightly even in an ordinary way, such as self-control in pleasures. For as among the gentiles some abstain from the pleasures at their feet both because they cannot “obtain what they love” and out of fear of human beings, and others for the sake of greater pleasures, so also in the faith some practice self-control either because of the promise or out of fear of God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Matt 5:44 and Rom 12:20 (helping enemies); “there is nothing that he does not will” echoes Wis 11:24. The quoted phrase “obtain what they love” is unidentified. The bracketed τε is marked by Stählin for deletion.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text; stray periods in the digital text; wrong accent on εἶναι): εἰ μὴ διὰ φόβον. διʼ ἐπικουρίαν → εἰ μὴ διὰ φόβον, διʼ ἐπικουρίαν; καὶ μή τι. καθάπερ → καὶ μή τι, καθάπερ; πάντων γὰρ κτίστης. καὶ → πάντων γὰρ κτίστης, καὶ; ἐχθροὶ δὲ εῖναι → ἐχθροὶ δὲ εἶναι; πρὸς τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον. ἐφʼ ὧν καθήκει κατʼ ἐπιστήμην γενέσθαι. ἀκροτάτης → πρὸς τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον, ἐφʼ ὧν καθήκει κατʼ ἐπιστήμην γενέσθαι, ἀκροτάτης.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.12.69 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/12/69/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.12.69 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/12/69/).
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