Miscellanies 8.7.22
Summary: The skeptics say that suspension of judgment arises from the instability of human opinion and from the conflict among things, which fill life with disputes and libraries with contradictory books.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Τὰ ποιητικὰ τῆς ἐποχῆς αἴτια δύο ἐστὶν τὰ ἀνωτάτω, ἓν μὲν τὸ πολύτροπον καὶ ἄστατον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης γνώμης. ὅπερ γεννητικὸν εἶναι πέφυκεν τῆς διαφωνίας ἤτοι τῆς ἀλλήλων πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἢ τῆς ἑαυτῶν πρὸς ἑαυτούς, δεύτερον δὲ ἡ ἐν τοῖς οὖσι διαφωνία, ἣ καὶ εἰκότως ἐμποιητικὴ καθέστηκε τῆς ἐποχῆς. μήτε γὰρ πάσαις ταῖς φαντασίαις πιστεύειν δυνηθέντες διὰ τὴν μάχην μήτε πάσαις ἀπιστεῖν διὰ τὸ καὶ τὴν λέγουσαν πάσας ἀπίστους ὑπάρχειν ἐξ ἁπασῶν οὖσαν συμπεριγράφεσθαι πάσαις μήτε τισὶ μὲν πιστεύειν, τισὶ δὲ ἀπιστεῖν διὰ τὴν ἰσότητα, κατήχθημεν εἰς ἐποχήν. τούτων δὲ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀρχικωτάτων τῆς ἐποχῆς τὸ μὲν ἀβέβαιον τῆς διανοίας γεννητικόν ἐστι διαφωνίας, ἡ δὲ διαφωνία προσεχὲς αἴτιον τῆς ἐποχῆς, ὅθεν πλήρης μὲν ὁ βίος δικαστηρίων τε καὶ βουλευτηρίων καὶ ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ καθόλου τῆς περὶ τὰ λεγόμενα ἀγαθὰ καὶ κακὰ αἱρέσεως καὶ φυγῆς, ἅπερ ἠπορημένης ἐστὶ διανοίας καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀντικειμένων πραγμάτων ἰσοσθένειαν μετοκλαζούσης τεκμήρια. πλήρεις δʼ αἱ θῆκαι τῶν βιβλίων καὶ αἱ συντάξεις καὶ αἱ πραγματεῖαι τῶν διαφωνούντων ἐν τοῖς δόγμασι καὶ πεπεικότων ἑαυτοὺς τὴν ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἀλήθειαν γινώσκειν.
English · Claude translation
The causes that produce suspension of judgment are, at the highest level, two: one is the changeable and unstable character of human judgment, which by nature produces disagreement, whether of people with one another or of each with himself; the second is the disagreement in things, which reasonably is productive of suspension. For since we were able neither to trust all impressions, because of their conflict, nor to distrust them all, because the one that says all are untrustworthy, being one of them all, is included together with them all, nor to trust some and distrust others, because of their equality, we have been brought to suspension. Of these very chief causes of suspension, the instability of the mind produces disagreement, and disagreement is the proximate cause of suspension. Hence life is full of lawcourts and councils and assemblies, and in general of choosing and avoiding the things called good and bad, which are marks of a mind in perplexity and wavering before the equal force of opposing things. And the book-chests are full of the treatises and works of those who disagree in their doctrines and have persuaded themselves that they know the truth in things.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- This chapter states the skeptics' case in their own voice (“we have been brought to suspension”); it is probably an excerpt from a skeptical source, not Clement's own conclusion (compare 8.5.15–16). “Impressions” renders φαντασίαι. The digital text reads ἰσοθένειαν, apparently for ἰσοσθένειαν (“equal force”). “Assemblies” renders ἐκκλησίαι, here civic assemblies.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misspelling in the digital text (ἰσοσθένειαν)): πραγμάτων ἰσοθένειαν → πραγμάτων ἰσοσθένειαν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.7.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/7/22/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.7.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/7/22/).
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