Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.6.36

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

Summary: The meek are those who have ended the war of anger and desire within; there are many rewards and dwelling places according to one's life; the laborers in the vineyard show both differing merit and equal salvation.

Greek text · Stählin 2:264

ὅτι δὲ πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν παίδευσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνήγαγεν, μακάριοι φησὶν οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσι τὴν γῆν. πραεῖς δέ εἰσιν οἱ τὴν ἄσπειστον μάχην τὴν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ καταπεπαυκότες θυμοῦ καὶ ἐπιθυμίας καὶ τῶν τούτοις ὑποβεβλημένων εἰδῶν. πραεῖς δὲ τοὺς κατὰ προαίρεσιν, οὐ κατʼ ἀνάγκην ἐπαινεῖ. εἰσὶ γὰρ παρὰ κυρίῳ καὶ μισθοὶ καὶ μοναὶ πλείονες κατὰ ἀναλογίαν βίων· ὃς γὰρ ἂν δέξηται, φησί, προφήτην εἰς ὄνομα προφήτου, μισθὸν προφήτου λήψεται, καὶ ὃς ἂν δέξηται δίκαιον εἰς ὄνομα δικαίου, μισθὸν δικαίου λήψεται, καὶ ὃς ἂν δέξηται ἕνα τῶν μαθητῶν τούτων τῶν μικρῶν, τὸν μισθὸν οὐκ ἀπολέσει. πάλιν τε αὖ τὰς κατʼ ἀξίαν διαφοράς, τῆς ἀρετῆς εὐγενεῖς ἀμοιβάς. διὰ τῶν ὡρῶν τῶν οὐχ ὁμοίων τὸν ἀριθμόν, πρὸς δὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐργατῶν ἀποδοθέντος ἴσου μισθοῦ (τουτέστι τῆς σωτηρίας, ἣν τὸ δηνάριον αἰνίσσεται) τὸ ἐπʼ ἴσης δίκαιον μεμήνυκεν διὰ τῶν κατὰ τὰς ἀκαταλλήλους ὥρας ἐργασαμένων.

English · Claude translation

And that he referred everything to the training of the soul, he says: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” The meek are those who have ended the implacable war in the soul, of anger, desire, and the forms subordinate to them. And he praises those meek by choice, not by necessity. For with the Lord there are rewards and many dwelling places, in proportion to lives. “For whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet,” he says, “will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward; and whoever receives one of these little disciples will not lose his reward.” And again he has indicated the differences according to worth, the noble rewards of virtue, through the hours of unequal number, and also, through the equal wage given to each of the workers (that is, salvation, which the denarius hints at), the equal justice to those who worked for unequal hours.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:264 · 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, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations and allusions are Matt 5:5, John 14:2, Matt 10:41–42, and Matt 20:1–16.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (breathing and accent missing on αὖ): πάλιν τε αὐ τὰς κατʼ ἀξίαν → πάλιν τε αὖ τὰς κατʼ ἀξίαν.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.36 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/36/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.36 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/36/).

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