Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.8.57

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

Summary: Love for God remains free under beasts, fire, or torture, yielding only the body; even the barbarian Getae sent an envoy each year to their hero Zamolxis.

Greek text · Stählin 2:274

Οὔτʼ οὖν ἡ τῆς εὐδαιμονίας ἐλπὶς οὔθʼ ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀγάπη δυσανασχετεῖ πρὸς τὰ ὑποπίπτοντα, μένει δὲ ἐλευθέρα, κἂν θηρίοις τοῖς ἀγριωτάτοις, κἂν τῷ παμφάγῳ ὑποπέσῃ πυρί, κἂν κατακτείνηται βασάνοις τυραννικαῖς, τῆς θείας ἀπαρτωμένη φιλίας ἀδούλωτος ἄνω περιπολεῖ, τὸ σῶμα παραδοῦσα τοῖς τούτου μόνου ἔχεσθαι δυναμένοις. Γέται δὲ ἔθνος βάρβαρον οὐκ ἄγευστον φιλοσοφίας πρεσβευτὴν αἱροῦνται πρὸς Ζάμολξιν ἥρωα κατʼ ἔτος. ὁ δὲ Ζάμολξις ἦν τῶν Πυθαγόρου γνωρίμων.

English · Claude translation

Neither, then, the hope of happiness nor love toward God is vexed at what befalls, but remains free; even if it falls among the most savage beasts, or into the all-devouring fire, or is killed by tyrants' tortures, hanging on the divine friendship, it moves about above unenslaved, having handed over the body to those who can lay hold of that alone. The Getae, a barbarian nation not without a taste of philosophy, choose each year an envoy to the hero Zamolxis. And Zamolxis was one of Pythagoras's pupils.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:274 · 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.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Herodotus, Hist. 4.94–95 (Herodotus, Histories) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

  • The account of Zamolxis and the Getae is in Herodotus 4.94–95.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/57/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/57/).

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