Miscellanies 3.2.6
Summary: Epiphanes argues from the sun, sky, and nature, which God gives equally to all creatures, that divine justice is community with equality.
Greek text · Stählin 2:197–198
λέγει τοίνυν οὗτος ἐν τῷ Περὶ δικαιοσύνης τὴν δικαιοσύνην τοῦ θεοῦ κοινωνίαν τινὰ εἶναι μετʼ ἰσότητος. ἴσος γέ τοι πανταχόθεν ἐκταθεὶς οὐρανὸς κύκλῳ τὴν γῆν περιέχει πᾶσαν, καὶ πάντας ἡ νὺξ ἐπʼ ἴσης ἐπιδείκνυται τοὺς ἀστέρας, τόν τε τῆς ἡμέρας αἴτιον καὶ πατέρα τοῦ φωτὸς ἥλιον ὁ θεὸς ἐξέχεεν ἄνωθεν ἴσον ἐπὶ γῆς ἅπασι τοῖς βλέπειν δυναμένοις, οἳ δὲ κοινῇ πάντες βλέπουσιν, ἐπεὶ μὴ διακρίνει πλούσιον ἢ πένητα, δῆμον ἢ ἄρχοντα, ἄφρονάς τε καὶ τοὺς φρονοῦντας, θηλείας ἄρσενας, ἐλευθέρους δούλους. ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τῶν ἀλόγων παρὰ τοῦτο ποιεῖταί τι, πᾶσι δὲ ἐπʼ ἴσης τοῖς ζῴοις κοινὸν αὐτὸν ἐκχέας ἄνωθεν ἀγαθοῖς τε καὶ φαύλοις τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἐμπεδοῖ μηδενὸς δυναμένου πλεῖον ἔχειν μηδὲ ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὸν πλησίον, ἵνʼ αὐτὸς κἀκείνου τὸ φῶς διπλασιάσας ἔχῃ. ἥλιος κοινὰς τροφὰς ζῴοις ἅπασιν ἀνατέλλει, δικαιοσύνης τε τῆς κοινῆς ἅπασιν ἐπʼ ἴσης δοθείσης, καὶ εἰς τὰ τοιαῦτα βοῶν γένος ὁμοίως γίνεται ὡς αἱ βόες καὶ συῶν ὡς οἱ σύες καὶ προβάτων ὡς τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα· δικαιοσύνη γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀναφαίνεται ἡ κοινότης. ἔπειτα κατὰ κοινότητα πάντα ὁμοίως κατὰ γένος σπείρεται, τροφή τε κοινὴ χαμαὶ νεμομένοις ἀνεῖται πᾶσι τοῖς κτήνεσι καὶ πᾶσιν ἐπʼ ἴσης, οὐδενὶ νόμῳ κρατουμένη, τῇ δὲ παρὰ τοῦ διδόντος καὶ κελεύσαντος χορηγίᾳ συμφώνως ἅπασι δικαιοσύνη παροῦσα.
English · Claude translation
He says, then, in his work On Justice, that the justice of God is a kind of fellowship with equality. “The heaven, stretched out equally on every side, surrounds the whole earth in a circle, and the night shows all the stars equally; and God poured out from above the sun, the cause of the day and father of light, equally on the earth for all who are able to see, and they all see in common, since he does not distinguish rich or poor, people or ruler, fools and the wise, females, males, free, slaves. Nor does he do anything different for the irrational animals, but, pouring it out from above equally for all living things, he establishes justice for good and bad alike, since no one can have more or take from his neighbor, so as to double the light and have his neighbor's too. The sun makes common food spring up for all living things, justice in common being given to all equally; and for such purposes the race of oxen is born alike as the oxen, of pigs as the pigs, of sheep as the sheep, and so all the rest; for in them community appears as justice. Then all things are sown alike according to kind by community; and common food is released on the ground for all the cattle that graze, and for all equally, ruled by no law, justice being present to all harmoniously by the provision of the one who gives and commands.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The long quotation is from Epiphanes, On Justice, preserved only here. The allusions are Matt 5:45 and Jas 1:17 (“father of light”).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent on τοῦ): τῇ δὲ παρὰ τοὺ διδόντος → τῇ δὲ παρὰ τοῦ διδόντος.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.2.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/2/6/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.2.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/2/6/).
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