Miscellanies 5.14.107 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:397–398

Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἑβδόμην ἱερὰν οὐ μόνον οἱ Ἑβραῖοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Ἕλληνες ἴσασι, καθʼ ἣν ὁ πᾶς κόσμος κυκλεῖται τῶν ζωογονουμένων καὶ φυομένων ἁπάντων. Ἡσίοδος μὲν οὖν οὕτως περὶ αὐτῆς λέγει· πρῶτον ἔνη τετράς τε καὶ ἑβδόμη ἱερὸν ἦμαρ. καὶ πάλιν· ἑβδομάτῃ δʼ αὖθις λαμπρὸν φάος ἠελίοιο. Ὅμηρος δέ· ἑβδομάτῃ δἤπειτα κατήλυθεν ἱερὸν ἦμαρ. καί· ἑβδόμη ἦν ἱερή. καὶ πάλιν· ἕβδομον ἦμαρ ἔην, καὶ τῷ τετέλεστο ἅπαντα. καὶ αὖθις· ἑβδομάτῃ δʼ ἠοῖ λίπομεν ῥόον ἐξ Ἀχέροντος. ναὶ μὴν καὶ Καλλίμαχος ὁ ποιητὴς γράφει· ἑβδομάτῃ δʼ ἠοῖ καί οἱ τετύκοντο ἅπαντα. καὶ πάλιν· ἑβδόμη εἰν ἀγαθοῖσι καὶ ἑβδόμη ἐστὶ γενέθλη. καί· ἑβδόμη ἐν πρώτοισιν καὶ ἑβδόμη ἐστὶ τελείη. καί· ἑπτὰ δὲ πάντα τέτυκτο ἐν οὐρανῷ ἀστερόεντι ἐν κύκλοισι φανέντα ἐπιτελλομένοις ἐνιαυτοῖς.

English · Claude translation

But not only the Hebrews but the Greeks too know that the seventh day is holy, the day by which the whole world of all living and growing things revolves. Hesiod speaks of it thus: “First the new moon, the fourth, and the seventh, a holy day.” And again: “And on the seventh again the bright light of the sun.” And Homer: “And then on the seventh came the holy day.” And: “The seventh was holy.” And again: “It was the seventh day, and by it all things had been completed.” And again: “On the seventh dawn we left the stream from Acheron.” Yes, and the poet Callimachus writes: “On the seventh dawn all things had been made for him.” And again: “The seventh is among the good things, and the seventh is the birth.” And: “The seventh is among the first, and the seventh is perfect.” And: “All seven were made in the starry heaven, appearing in their circles as the years come round.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:397–398 · 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

Gen 2:2 · allusion, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Hesiod, Op. 770 (Hesiod, Works and Days) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

Only the first line is in Hesiod's surviving works (Works and Days 770). The other verses were circulated by the Jewish writer Aristobulus (compare Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica 13.12.13–16, where some are ascribed to Linus); most are not found in Homer or Callimachus and are probably altered or composed to support the sabbath. The sabbath rest is Gen 2:2–3.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (final sigma inside a word in the digital text): ἀγαθοῖςι → ἀγαθοῖσι.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.107 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/107/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.107 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/107/).