Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.8.5 (85.5)

Summary: The white ones are placed on the outside for strength.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:238

εἶτα κατενόει τοὺς ἡμίσεις λευκούς, ἡμίσεις δὲ μέλανας· καὶ πολλοὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν εὑρέθησαν μέλανες. ἐκέλευσε δὲ καὶ τούτους ἀρθῆναι μετὰ τῶν ἀποβεβλημένων. οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ πάντες ἤρθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν παρθένων· λευκοὶ γὰρ ὄντες ἡρμόσθησαν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν τῶν παρθένων εἰς τὴν οἰκοδομήν· ἐξώτεροι δὲ ἐτέθησαν, ὅτι ὑγιεῖς εὑρέθησαν, ὥστε δύνασθαι αὐτοὺς κρατεῖν τοὺς εἰς τὸ μέσον τεθέντας· ὅλως γὰρ ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐδὲν ἐκολοβώθη.

English · Claude translation

Then he examined those half white and half black; and many of them were found black. And he ordered these too to be taken away with the rejected ones. But all the rest were taken up by the virgins; for being white they were fitted into the building by the virgins themselves; and they were put on the outside, because they were found sound, so that they could hold together those put in the middle; for nothing at all of them had been cut short.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:238 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 138–305 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 25, 1913), and from the ancient Latin version where Lake prints it because the Greek is lost (from Sim. 9.30.3); made independently of existing English translations.

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 9.8.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/8/5/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 9.8.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/8/5/).