Miscellanies 2.1.3
Summary: Clement cares for meaning, not polished Greek; truth hidden among Greek writings must be sought with effort, like a rose among thorns or a pearl in an oyster.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Stählin 2:114
ἔφαμεν δὲ πολλάκις ἤδη μήτε μεμελετηκέναι μήτε μὴν ἐπιτηδεύειν ἑλληνίζειν· ἱκανὸν γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο ἀποδημαγωγεῖν τῆς ἀληθείας τοὺς πολλούς, τὸ δὲ τῷ ὄντι φιλοσόφημα οὐκ εἰς τὴν γλῶσσαν, ἀλλʼ εἰς τὴν γνώμην ὀνήσει τοὺς ἐπαΐοντας. δεῖ δʼ, οἶμαι, τὸν ἀληθείας κηδόμενον οὐκ ἐξ ἐπιβολῆς καὶ φροντίδος τὴν φράσιν συνθεῖναι, πειρᾶσθαι δὲ ὀνομάζειν μόνον ὡς δύναται ὃ βούλεται· τοὺς γὰρ τῶν λέξεων ἐχομένους καὶ περὶ ταύτας ἀσχολουμένους διαδιδράσκει τὰ πράγματα. γεωργοῦ μὲν οὖν ἴδιον τὸ ἐν ἀκάνθαις φυόμενον ῥόδον ἀβλαβῶς λαβεῖν καὶ τεχνίτου τὸν ἐν ὀστρείου σαρκὶ κατορωρυγμένον μαργαρίτην ἐξευρεῖν, φασὶ δὲ καὶ τὰς ὄρνιθας ἡδίστην ἔχειν τὴν σαρκὸς ποιότητα, ὅτε οὐκ ἀφθόνου τροφῆς παρατεθείσης αὐταὶ αἱ δὲ σκαλεύουσαι τοῖς ποσὶν ἐκλέγονται μετὰ πόνου τὰς τροφάς. εἴ τις οὖν τοῦ ὁμοίου θεωρητικὸς ἐν πολλοῖς τοῖς πιθανοῖς τε καὶ Ἑλληνικοῖς τὸ ἀληθὲς διαλεληθέναι † ποθεῖ, καθάπερ ὑπὸ τοῖς μορμολυκείοις τὸ πρόσωπον τὸ ἀληθινόν, πολυπραγμονήσας θηράσεται. φησὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ ὁράματι τῷ Ἑρμᾷ ἡ δύναμις ἡ φανεῖσα· ὃ ἐὰν ἐνδέχηταί σοι ἀποκαλυφθῆναι, ἀποκαλυφθήσεται.
English · Claude translation
We have often said that we have neither practiced nor pursue writing good Greek; for this is enough to lead the many away from the truth, while the truly philosophical work will benefit the hearers not in their tongue but in their mind. The one who cares for truth, I think, should not compose his phrasing with design and effort, but try only to name, as well as he can, what he means; for things escape those who cling to words and busy themselves about them. It is the farmer's task to pick without harm the rose growing among thorns, and the craftsman's to find the pearl buried in the flesh of the oyster; and they say that birds have the sweetest flesh when, not being given abundant food, they scratch with their feet and pick out their food with labor. If, then, someone who contemplates the same thing … longs for the truth, which has escaped notice among many plausible Greek things, like the true face under masks, he will hunt it out with much searching. For the power that appeared to Hermas in the vision says: “Whatever can be revealed to you will be revealed.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Hermas, Vision 3.3.4. The text is corrupt in one place (dagger).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/1/3/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/1/3/).
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