Miscellanies 2.15.62 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Voluntary acts spring from appetite, choice, or thought; Clement distinguishes sin, mishap, and wrong; sin comes from ignorance or weakness, but accepting instruction and obeying the commandments are in our power.

Greek text · Stählin 2:146

Τὸ δʼ ἑκούσιον ἢ τὸ κατʼ ὄρεξίν ἐστιν ἢ τὸ κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἢ τὸ κατὰ διάνοιαν. αὐτίκα παράκειταί πως ταῦτα ἀλλήλοις, ἁμάρτημα, ἀτύχημα, ἀδίκημα. καὶ ἔστιν ἁμάρτημα μὲν φέρε εἰπεῖν τὸ τρυφητικῶς καὶ ἀσελγῶς βιοῦν, ἀτύχημα δὲ τὸ φίλον ὡς πολέμιον ὑπʼ ἀγνοίας βαλεῖν, ἀδίκημα δὲ ἡ τυμβωρυχία ἢ ἡ ἱεροσυλία. τὸ δὲ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐκ τοῦ ἀγνοεῖν κρίνειν ὅ τι χρὴ ποιεῖν συνίσταται, ἢ τοῦ ἀδυνατεῖν ποιεῖν, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ βόθρῳ περιπίπτει τις ἤτοι ἀγνοήσας ἢ ἀδυνατήσας ὑπερβῆναι διʼ ἀσθένειαν σώματος. ἀλλʼ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν γε ἥ τε πρὸς τὴν παιδείαν ἡμῶν παράστασις ἥ τε πρὸς τὰς ἐντολὰς ὑπακοή.

English · Claude translation

The voluntary is either what is according to appetite, or according to choice, or according to thought. Now these lie somehow close to one another: a sin, a mishap, a wrong. A sin, for example, is living luxuriously and licentiously; a mishap is striking a friend, through ignorance, as an enemy; a wrong is robbing tombs or temples. Sinning arises from ignorance in judging what one ought to do, or from inability to do it, as indeed someone falls into a pit either not knowing of it or unable to get over it through bodily weakness. But it rests with us, at any rate, to present ourselves for our training and to obey the commandments.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:146 · 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.

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.15.62 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/15/62/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.15.62 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/15/62/).