Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 1.10.49

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The one who knows seeks no display; one hearer suffices; Pindar commends silence, and Paul warns against wordy disputes and empty chatter.

Greek text · Stählin 2:32

οὔκουν πλατύνειν τὰ φυλακτήρια χρή ποτε κενοδοξίαν ζηλοῦντας, ἀρκεῖ τῷ γνωστικῷ κἂν εἶς μόνος ἀκροατὴς εὑρεθῇ. ἔστι γοῦν ἀκοῦσαι καὶ Πινδάρου τοῦ Βοιωτίου γράφοντος· μὴ πρὸς ἅπαντας ἀναρρῆξαι τὸν ἀρχαῖον λόγον· ἔσθʼ ὅτε πιστόταται σιγᾶς ὁδοί, κέντρον δὲ μάχας ὁ κρατιστεύων λόγος. διατείνεται οὖν εὖ μάλα ὁ μακάριος ἀπόστολος παραινῶν ἡμῖν μὴ λογομαχεῖν τε διʼ οὐδὲν χρήσιμον ἐπὶ καταστροφῇ τῶν ἀκουόντων, τὰς δὲ βεβήλους κενοφωνίας περιίστασθαι. ἐπὶ πλεῖον γὰρ προκόπτουσιν ἀσεβείας, καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν ὡς γάγγραινα νομὴν ἕξει.

English · Claude translation

So we must never broaden our phylacteries out of zeal for vainglory; for the one who knows, it is enough if even a single hearer is found. We can hear Pindar the Boeotian too, writing: “Do not blurt out the ancient word before all; sometimes the paths of silence are most trustworthy, and the word that prevails is a goad to battle.” So the blessed apostle insists very strongly, exhorting us not to fight about words, to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers, and to avoid profane empty chatter. “For they will advance further in ungodliness, and their word will spread like gangrene.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:32 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 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 (1906–1909); 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) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions and quotations are Matt 23:5, Pindar (fragment 180), and 2 Tim 2:14, 16–17.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.10.49 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/10/49/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.10.49 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/10/49/).

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