Miscellanies 7.3.15
Summary: God needs nothing and cannot be bribed; people who deny God because of injustice or misfortune, or who think the gods can be bought with sacrifices, have failed to see human freedom and God's steady goodness.
Greek text · Stählin 2
οὔτʼ οὖν ἐνδεὲς οὐδὲ μὴν φιλήδονον φιλοκερδές τε ἢ φιλοχρήματον τὸ θεῖον. πλῆρες ὂν καὶ πάντα παρέχον παντὶ τῷ γενητῷ καὶ ἐνδεεῖ, οὔτε θυσίαις οὐδὲ μὴν ἀναθήμασιν οὐδʼ αὖ δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ κηλεῖται [τὸ θεῖον] ἢ παράγεται τοιούτοις τισίν, ἀλλʼ ὅμοιον τοῖς καλοῖς κἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσι φαίνεται, οἳ τὸ δίκαιον οὐκ ἄν ποτε προδῷεν ἢ φόβου ἕνεκεν ἀπειλουμένου ἢ δώρων ὑποσχέσει μειζόνων. ὅσοι δʼ οὐ καθεοράκασι τὸ αὐθαίρετον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ψυχῆς καὶ ἀδούλωτον πρὸς ἐκλογὴν βίου, δυσχεραίνοντες τοῖς γινομένοις πρὸς τῆς ἀπαιδεύτου ἀδικίας, οὐ νομίζουσιν εἶναι θεόν. ἴσοι τούτοις κατὰ τὴν δόξαν οἵ τῇ τῶν ἡδονῶν ἀκρασίᾳ καὶ ταῖς ἐξαισίοις λύπαις καὶ ταῖς ἀβουλήτοις τύχαις περιπίπτοντες καὶ πρὸς τὰς συμφορὰς ἀπαυδῶντες, οὔ φασιν εἶναι θεόν, ἢ ὄντα μὴ εἶναι πανεπίσκοπον. ἄλλοι δέ εἰσιν οἳ πεπεισμένοι παραιτητοὺς εἶναι θυσίαις καὶ δώροις τοὺς νομιζομένους θεούς. συναιρομένους ὡς εἰπεῖν αὐτῶν ταῖς ἀκολασίαις. καὶ οὐδʼ ἐθέλουσι πιστεύειν μόνον εἶναι τὸν ὄντως θεὸν τὸν ἐν ταυτότητι τῆς δικαίας ἀγαθωσύνης ὄντα.
English · Claude translation
The divine, then, is neither needy nor fond of pleasure, of gain, or of money. Being full, and supplying all things to everything that has come into being and is in need, it is not charmed by sacrifices or offerings, nor again by glory and honor, nor led astray by any such things, but it appears like good and noble men, who would never betray justice either for fear of a threat or at the promise of greater gifts. But those who have not perceived the self-determination of the human soul and its freedom from slavery in choosing a way of life, being vexed at what is done by uneducated injustice, think there is no God. Equal to these in opinion are those who, falling into incontinence in pleasures, into extraordinary griefs and unwelcome misfortunes, and giving up in the face of calamities, say that there is no God, or that if there is, he does not oversee everything. And there are others who are persuaded that those thought to be gods can be won over by sacrifices and gifts, as if they were, so to speak, accomplices in their licentiousness; and they will not believe that the only one who truly is God is he who is constant in just goodness.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The three errors (there are no gods; they do not care; they can be bought off) follow Plato, Laws 10.885b and 905d–907b. The bracketed “the divine” is marked by Stählin for deletion.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): ἀδικίας. οὐ νομίζουσιν → ἀδικίας, οὐ νομίζουσιν; δόξαν οἵ. τῇ → δόξαν οἵ τῇ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.3.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/3/15/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.3.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/3/15/).
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