Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 5.14.105

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

Summary: The Stoics follow Heraclitus on the world's conflagration; Plato calls our daylight night and the soul's entry into the body sleep, and David's “I slept and awoke” foretells Christ's incarnation and resurrection.

Greek text · Stählin 2:396–397

παραπλήσια τούτῳ καὶ οἱ ἐλλογιμώτατοι τῶν Στωϊκῶν δογματίζουσι περί τε ἐκπυρώσεως διαλαμβάνοντες καὶ κόσμου διοικήσεως καὶ τοῦ ἰδίως ποιοῦ κόσμου τε καὶ ἀνθρώπου καὶ τῆς τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν ἐπιδιαμονῆς. πάλιν τε αὖ ὁ Πλάτων ἐν μὲν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ τῆς Πολιτείας τὴν ἐνταῦθα ἡμέραν νυκτερινὴν κέκληκεν (διὰ τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας, οἶμαι, τοῦ σκότους τούτου), ὕπνον δὲ καὶ θάνατον τὴν εἰς σῶμα κάθοδον τῆς ψυχῆς κατὰ ταὐτὰ Ἡρακλείτῳ. καὶ μή τι τοῦτο ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος προεθέσπισεν τὸ πνεῦμα διὰ τοῦ Δαβὶδ λέγον· ἐγὼ ἐκοιμήθην καὶ ὕπνωσα· ἐξηγέρθην, ὅτι κύριος ἀντιλήψεταί μου. οὐ γὰρ τὴν ἀνάστασιν μόνην τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐξ ὕπνου ἔγερσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν εἰς σάρκα κάθοδον τοῦ κυρίου ὕπνον ἀλληγορεῖ.

English · Claude translation

Much like this the most distinguished of the Stoics also teach, in their treatment of the conflagration and of the governance of the world, of the individual character of the world and of man, and of the survival of our souls. And again Plato, in the seventh book of the Republic, has called the day here “nocturnal” (because of the world-rulers of this darkness, I think), and the descent of the soul into the body sleep and death, in the same way as Heraclitus. And did not the Spirit foretell this of the Savior, saying through David: “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord will help me”? For it speaks allegorically not only of the resurrection of Christ as waking from sleep, but also of the Lord's descent into flesh as sleep.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:396–397 · 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
  • Eph 6:12 · allusion, high confidence
  • Ps 3:5 (3:6 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
Extrabiblical texts
  • Plato, Resp. 7.521c (Plato (works)) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Christology, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The references are Plato, Republic 7.521c, Eph 6:12 (“the world-rulers of this darkness”), Heraclitus (compare fragments 21 and 26 Diels–Kranz), and Ps 3:5 (3:6 LXX).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.105 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/105/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.105 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/105/).

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