Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 1.24.162

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

Summary: Moses' tactic of attacking from the desert was imitated by Miltiades at Marathon, who led the Athenians by night along a trackless way to surprise the Persians.

Greek text · Stählin 2:101–102

ναὶ μὴν καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους τοὺς τῆς χώρας προκαθεζομένους τροπωσάμενος ἀπέκτεινεν ἐξ ἐρήμου καὶ τραχείας ὁδοῦ (τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ ἀρετὴ τοῦ στρατηγικοῦ) ἐπιθέμενος αὐτοῖς. ἐμπειρίας γὰρ καὶ στρατηγίας ἔργον ἦν τὸ τὴν χώραν τῶν πολεμίων λαβεῖν. Τοῦτο συνιδὼν Μιλτιάδης ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγὸς ὁ τῇ ἐν Μαραθῶνι μάχῃ νικήσας τοὺς Πέρσας ἐμιμήσατο τόνδε τὸν τρόπον· ἤγαγε τοὺς Ἀθηναίους νύκτωρ διʼ ἀνοδίας βαδίσας καὶ πλανήσας τοὺς τηροῦντας αὐτὸν τῶν βαρβάρων· ὁ γὰρ Ἱππίας ὁ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἀποστὰς ἐπήγαγε τοὺς βαρβάρους εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν καὶ τοὺς ἐπικαίρους τῶν τόπων προκαταλαβόμενος ἐφύλαττεν διὰ τὸ τῆς χώρας ἔχειν τὴν ἐμπειρίαν. ἔργον μὲν οὖν ἦν τὸν Ἱππίαν λαθεῖν, ὅθεν εἰκότως ὁ Μιλτιάδης συγχρησάμενος ἀνοδίᾳ τε καὶ νυκτὶ ἐπιθέμενος τοῖς Πέρσαις, ὧν Δᾶτις ἡγεῖτο, τὰ τὸν ἀγῶνα μετʼ ἐκείνων ὧν αὐτὸς ἡγεῖτο κατώρθωσεν.

English · Claude translation

Indeed, he also routed and killed the enemies who occupied the land, attacking them from a desert and rough road (for such is the excellence of the general). For it was a work of experience and generalship to take the land of the enemy. Miltiades, the general of the Athenians, who conquered the Persians in the battle at Marathon, having understood this, imitated this method: he led the Athenians at night by a trackless way and deceived the barbarians who were watching him. For Hippias, the renegade from the Athenians, had brought the barbarians into Attica and, having seized the strategic places in advance, was guarding them because he knew the country. It was a task, then, to escape Hippias' notice; hence Miltiades, fittingly using a trackless way and night, attacked the Persians, whom Datis led, and won the contest with those he led.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:101–102 · 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
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusion is to Israel's conquests (Num 21).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.24.162 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/24/162/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.24.162 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/24/162/).

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