Miscellanies 5.14.118 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:405–406

Ὅ τε κωμικὸς Ἐπίχαρμος σαφῶς περὶ τοῦ λόγου ἐν τῇ Πολιτείᾳ λέγει ὧδέ πως· ὁ βίος ἀνθρώποις λογισμοῦ καὶ ἀριθμοῦ δεῖται πάνυ· ζῶμεν δὲ ἀριθμῷ καὶ λογισμῷ· ταῦτα γὰρ σῴζει βροτούς· εἶτα διαρρήδην ἐπιφέρει· ὁ λόγος ἀνθρώπους κυβερνᾷ, κατὰ τρόπον σῴζει· εἶτα, εἰ ἔστιν ἀνθρώπῳ λογισμός, ἔστι καὶ θεῖος λόγος· ὃ μὲν ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ πέφυκεν περὶ βίου καταστροφάς· ὃ δέ γε τᾶς τέχνας ἅπασι συνέπεται θεῖος λόγος, ἐκδιδάσκων αἰεὶ αὐτὸς αὐτούς, ὅ τι ποιεῖν δεῖ συμφέρον· οὐ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος τέχναν εὗρεν· ὁ δὲ θεὸς ταύταν φέρει. ὁ δέ γε τἀνθρώπου λόγος πέφυκεν ἀπό γε τοῦ θείου λόγου.

English · Claude translation

And the comic poet Epicharmus speaks clearly about the Word in the Republic, thus: “Human life needs reckoning and number very much; we live by number and reckoning; for these save mortals.” Then he adds expressly: “Reason steers human beings and duly saves them.” Then: “If man has reckoning, there is also a divine Reason. The one is born in man to deal with the turns of life; but the divine Reason accompanies all the arts, itself always teaching them what they must do that is profitable. For it was not man who discovered art; it is God who brings it. And the reason of man is born from the divine Reason.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:405–406 · 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

Epicharmus (Epicharmus (fragments)) · quotation, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

The quotations are Epicharmus, fragments 56 and 57 (Diels–Kranz), from a work called the Republic that was probably written in his name by a later author. “Reason” and “Word” both render λόγος.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.118 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/118/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.118 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/118/).