Sophia Scriptura

Exhortation to the Greeks 6.69

Clement of Alexandria · Exhortation to the Greeks · ca. 190–200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Plato calls God the king and cause of all good things; Moses's law of just weights shows God as the true measure of all.

Greek text · Stählin 1:52–53

ταύτῃ πῃ καὶ Πλάτων διανοούμενος τὸν θεὸν αἰνίττεται »περὶ τὸν πάντων βασιλέα πάντʼ ἐστί, κἀκεῖνο αἴτιον ἁπάντων τῶν καλῶν.« τίς οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν πάντων; θεὸς τῆς τῶν ὄντων ἀληθείας τὸ μέτρον. ὥσπερ οὖν τῷ μέτρῳ καταληπτὰ τὰ μετρούμενα, οὑτωσὶ δὲ καὶ τῷ νοῆσαι τὸν θεὸν μετρεῖται καὶ καταλαμβάνεται ἡ ἀλήθεια. ὁ δὲ ἱερὸς ὄντως Μωυσῆς »οὐκ ἔσται«, φησίν, »ἐν τῷ μαρσίππῳ σου στάθμιον καὶ στάθμιον μέγα ἢ μικρόν, οὐδὲ ἔσται ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου μέτρον μέγα ἢ μικρόν, ἀλλʼ ἢ στάθμιον ἀληθινὸν καὶ δίκαιον ἔσται σοι,« στάθμιον καὶ μέτρον καὶ ἀριθμὸν τῶν ὅλων ὑπολαμβάνων τὸν θεόν· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄδικα καὶ ἄνισα εἴδωλα οἴκοι ἐν τῷ μαρσίππῳ καὶ ἐν τῇ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ῥυπώσῃ ψυχῇ κατακέκρυπται· τὸ δὲ μόνον δίκαιον μέτρον, ὁ μόνος ὄντως θεός, ἴσος ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχων, μετρεῖ τε πάντα καὶ σταθμᾶται, οἱονεὶ τρυτάνῃ τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἀρρεπῶς περιλαμβάνων καὶ ἀνέχων φύσιν.

English · Claude translation

Plato too, thinking along these lines, hints at God: “All things are around the King of all, and he is the cause of all things beautiful.” Who then is the King of all things? God, the measure of the truth of what exists. Just as the things measured are grasped by the measure, so too truth is measured and grasped by the understanding of God. And Moses, who is truly holy, says: “There shall not be in your bag weight and weight, large or small, nor shall there be in your house a measure large or small, but you shall have a true and just weight,” taking God to be the weight and measure and number of all things. For the unjust and unequal idols are hidden at home in the bag, and in the soul that is, so to speak, filthy; but the only just measure, the only true God, always equal, remaining the same and unchanging, measures and weighs all things, encompassing and holding up the nature of the universe without leaning, as with the balance of his justice.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:52–53 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 12. 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), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); 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)
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Plato, Ep. 2.312e (Plato (works)) · quotation, high confidence
  • Wis 11:20 (Wisdom of Solomon) · echo, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The Plato quotation is Letter 2, 312e. The law is Deut 25:13–15. “Measure and number and weight” echoes Wis 11:20.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): δίκαιον ἔσται σοι, « στάθμιον → δίκαιον ἔσται σοι,« στάθμιον.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 6.69 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/6/69/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 6.69 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/6/69/).

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