Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 12.5

Clement of Alexandria · Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? · ca. 190–210 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: One who lacks necessities is inevitably distracted from higher things by the struggle to obtain them.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:167

τῆς μετανοίας συνουσίᾳ. ἀνέφικτον γὰρ καὶ ἀμήχανον δεόμενον τῶν πρὸς τὸ βιοτεύειν ἀναγκαίων μὴ οὐ κατακλᾶσθαι τὴν γνώμην καὶ ἀσχολίαν ἄγειν ἀπὸ τῶν κρειττόνων, ὁπωσοῦν καὶ ὁθενοῦν ταῦτα πειρώμενον ἐκπορίζειν.

English · Claude translation

the company of regret. For it is unattainable and impossible for one who lacks the necessities of life not to be broken in mind and distracted from better things, trying to procure them by any means and from any source.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:167 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text: As printed in Stählin, GCS 17. 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), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); 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)
Topics: Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 12.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/12/5/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 12.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/12/5/).

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