Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 1.15.67

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

Summary: Plato, unlike Epicurus, recognizes barbarian philosophers; barbarians honored their lawgivers as gods, believing good souls came down to give laws and philosophy, the greatest gift of the gods.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Stählin 2:42

οὕτως οἴεται ὁ Πλάτων καὶ βαρβάρων φιλοσόφους τινὰς εἶναι, ὁ δὲ Ἐπίκουρος ἔμπαλιν ὑπολαμβάνει μόνους φιλοσοφῆσαι Ἕλληνας δύνασθαι. ἔν τε τῷ Συμποσίῳ ἐπαινῶν Πλάτων τοὺς βαρβάρους ὡς διαφερόντως ἀσκήσαντας † μόνους ἀληθῶς φησι καὶ ἄλλοι ἄλλοθι πολλαχοῦ καὶ ἐν Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις, ὧν καὶ ἱερὰ πολλὰ ἤδη γέγονε διὰ τοὺς τοιούτους παῖδας. δῆλοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ βάρβαροι διαφερόντως τιμήσαντες τοὺς αὐτῶν νομοθέτας τε καὶ διδασκάλους θεοὺς προσειπόντες. ψυχὰς γὰρ ἀγαθὰς κατὰ Πλάτωνα καταλιπούσας τὸν ὑπερουράνιον τόπον ὑπομεῖναι ἐλθεῖν εἰς τόνδε τὸν τάρταρον καὶ σῶμα ἀναλαβούσας τῶν ἐν γενέσει κακῶν ἁπάντων μετασχεῖν ὑπολαμβάνουσι, κηδομένας τοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένους, αἳ νόμους τε ἔθεσαν καὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἐκήρυξαν, οὗ μεῖζον ἀγαθὸν τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει οὔτʼ ἦλθέν ποτε ἐκ θεῶν οὔτʼ ἀφίξεται.

English · Claude translation

So Plato thinks that there are philosophers among the barbarians too, while Epicurus, on the contrary, supposes that only Greeks can philosophize. And in the Symposium, praising the barbarians as having practiced it outstandingly, Plato says … “and others elsewhere in many places, among Greeks and among barbarians, for whom many temples have already arisen on account of such children.” The barbarians have clearly especially honored their lawgivers and teachers, calling them gods. For they suppose, according to Plato, that good souls, leaving the region above the heavens, endured to come into this Tartarus, and, taking a body, shared in all the evils of generation, caring for the human race; and they laid down laws and proclaimed philosophy, “than which no greater good ever came or will come to the human race from the gods.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:42 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Plato, Symposium 209e; Timaeus 47a–b (Plato (works)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Plato, Symposium 209e, and Timaeus 47a–b. The text is corrupt in one place (dagger).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.15.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/15/67/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.15.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/15/67/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage