Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 18.3

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

Summary: Neither beauty nor strength decides one's fate; the soul that uses the body is responsible.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:171

δύναται δέ τις καὶ αἰσχρὸς ἀσελγαίνειν καὶ κατὰ κάλλος σωφρονεῖν· οὐδὲ ἰσχὺς καὶ μέγεθος σώματος ζωοποιεῖ οὐδὲ τῶν μελῶν οὐδενία ἀπολλύει. ἀλλʼ ἡ τούτοις ψυχὴ χρωμένη τὴν αἰτίαν ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα παρέχεται.

English · Claude translation

An ugly man can be licentious, and a beautiful one self-controlled. Neither strength and size of body give life, nor does the insignificance of the limbs destroy; but the soul that uses them provides the cause in either direction.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:171 · 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

Notes

Translation notes

The Greek word translated “insignificance” (οὐδενία) is uncertain in the digital text.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 18.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/18/3/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 18.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/18/3/).

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