Miscellanies 2.20.105 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:170–171

Πάσης τοίνυν ἀρετῆς μεμνημένος ὁ θεῖος νόμος ἀλείφει μάλιστα τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν, θεμέλιον ἀρετῶν κατατιθέμενος ταύτην, καὶ δὴ προπαιδεύει ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν περιποίησιν τῆς ἐγκρατείας ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ζῴων χρήσεως, ἀπαγορεύων μεταλαμβάνειν τῶν ὅσα φύσει πίονα καθάπερ τὸ τῶν συῶν γένος εὐσαρκότατον τυγχάνον· τρυφητιῶσι γὰρ ἡ τοιαύτη χρῆσις χορηγεῖται. λέγεται γοῦν τινα τῶν φιλοσοφούντων ἐτυμολογοῦντα τὴν ὗν θῦν εἶναι φάναι, ὡς εἰς θύσιν καὶ σφαγὴν μόνον ἐπιτήδειον· δεδόσθαι γὰρ τῷδε τῷ ζῴῳ ψυχὴν πρὸς οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ ἕνεκα τοῦ τὰς σάρκας σφριγᾶν. τῶν τε ἰχθύων ὁμοίως ἀπηγόρευσε μεταλαμβάνειν, στέλλων ἡμῶν τὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἐκείνων οἷς μήτε πτερύγια μήτε λεπίδες εἰσίν· εὐσαρκίᾳ γὰρ καὶ πιότητι τῶν ἄλλων ἰχθύων οὗτοι διαφέρουσιν.

English · Claude translation

The divine law, then, mindful of every virtue, trains man above all for self-control, laying this down as the foundation of the virtues; and it trains us beforehand for the acquiring of self-control from our use of animals, forbidding us to partake of those that are naturally fat, like the race of pigs, which is the fleshiest; for such use is supplied to the luxurious. It is said, at any rate, that one of the philosophers, deriving the name, said that the pig (hys) is thys, as being fit only for sacrifice (thysis) and slaughter; for a soul was given to this animal for no other reason than to keep its flesh fresh. Likewise it forbade us to eat fish that have neither fins nor scales, restraining our desires for them; for these excel the other fish in fleshiness and fatness.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:170–171 · 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

Lev 11:7 · allusion, high confidence
Lev 11:10 · allusion, high confidence
Deut 14:8 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics, Fasting

Notes

Translation notes

The allusions are Lev 11:7–12 (Deut 14:8–10). The pun on hys and thysis and the saying that the pig's soul serves as salt are Stoic (Chrysippus).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): θῦν εἶναι φάναι. ὡς εἰς θύσιν → θῦν εἶναι φάναι, ὡς εἰς θύσιν.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.105 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/105/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.105 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/105/).