Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.18.95

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

Summary: The law forbids destroying fruit trees, even an enemy's, and commands tending young trees for three years, offering the firstfruits to God in the fourth.

Greek text · Stählin 2:164–165

Δαψιλευόμενος δὲ τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ ὁ χρηστὸς λόγος μηδὲ ὅσα τῆς ἡμέρου ὕλης ἐστί, δενδροτομεῖν ταῦτα προσῆκον εἶναι διδάσκει, μηδὲ μὴν κείρειν ἐπὶ λύμῃ στάχυν πρὸ τοῦ θερισμοῦ, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ συνόλως καρπὸν ἥμερον διαφθείρειν μήτε τὸν γῆς μήτε τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς· οὐδὲ γὰρ τὴν τῶν πολεμίων χώραν τέμνειν ἐᾷ. ναὶ μὴν καὶ γεωργικοὶ παρὰ τοῦ νόμου καὶ ταῦτα ὠφέληνται· κελεύει γὰρ τὰ νεόφυτα τῶν δένδρων ἐπὶ τριετίαν ἑξῆς τιθηνεῖσθαι τάς τε περιττὰς ἐπιφύσεις ἀποτέμνοντας, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ βαρυνόμενα πιέζεσθαι καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ κατακερματιζομένης τῆς τροφῆς διʼ ἔνδειαν ἐξασθενεῖν, γυροῦν τε καὶ περισκάπτειν, ὡς μηδὲν παραβλαστάνον κωλύῃ τὴν αὔξησιν. τόν τε καρπὸν οὐκ ἐᾷ δρέπεσθαι ἀτελῆ ἐξ ἀτελῶν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τριετίαν ἔτει τετάρτῳ καθιερώσοντα τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τῷ θεῷ μετὰ τὸ τελεωθῆναι τὸ δένδρον.

English · Claude translation

The good Word, lavish in its humanity, teaches that it is not fitting to cut down even what belongs to cultivated trees, nor to crop the ear of grain for mischief before harvest, nor in general to destroy cultivated fruit, whether of the earth or of the soul; for it does not allow even the land of enemies to be ravaged. Indeed farmers too have been helped by the law in this: for it commands that newly planted trees be tended for three years in a row, cutting off the superfluous growths, so that they may not be weighed down and pressed, and may not weaken from lack when their nourishment is divided up; and that they be dug and trenched around, so that nothing sprouting beside them may hinder their growth. And it does not allow the fruit to be picked unripe from unripe trees, but after three years, in the fourth year, consecrating the firstfruits to God after the tree has matured.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:164–165 · 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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Deut 20:19–20 and Lev 19:23–24.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.95 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/95/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.95 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/95/).

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