Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 5.14.136

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

Summary: Malachi foretells that God's name will be glorified among the nations; Plato and Bacchylides teach that virtue is freely chosen and that God is never the cause of evil.

Greek text · Stählin 2:418

αὖθίς τε ὁ αὐτός· καὶ εἶπαν· μηδαμῶς, κύριε· μὴ ἀπολώμεθα ἕνεκεν τῆς ψυχῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τούτου. Μαλαχίας δὲ ὁ προφήτης ἄντικρυς ἐμφαίνει τὸν θεὸν λέγοντα· θυσίαν οὐ προσδέξομαι ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν, διότι ἀπʼ ἀνατολῆς ἡλίου ἕως δυσμῶν τὸ ὄνομά μου δεδόξασται ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καὶ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ θυσία μοι προσφέρεται. καὶ πάλιν· διότι βασιλεὺς μέγας ἐγώ εἰμι, λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπιφανὲς ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. ποῖον ὄνομα; ἐν μὲν τοῖς πεπιστευκόσιν ὁ υἱὸς πατέρα μηνύων, ἐν δὲ τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὸ θεὸς ποιητής. τό τε αὐτεξούσιον ὁ Πλάτων ἐνδείκνυται διὰ τῶνδε· ἀρετὴ δὲ ἀδέσποτον, ἣν τιμῶν καὶ ἀτιμάζων πλέον καὶ ἔλαττον ἕκαστος αὐτῆς μεθέξει. αἰτία ἑλομένου· θεὸς ἀναίτιος. κακῶν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς οὔποτε αἴτιος. Ὦ Τρῶες ἀρηίφιλοι, ὁ λυρικός φησι, Ζεὺς ὑψιμέδων, ὃς ἅπαντα δέρκεται, οὐκ αἴτιος θνατοῖς μεγάλων ἀχέων· ἀλλʼ ἐν μέσῳ κεῖται κιχεῖν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποισι Δίκαν ὁσίαν, ἁγνᾶς Εὐνομίας ἀκόλουθον καὶ πινυτᾶς θέμιδος· ὀλβίων παῖδες οἵ νιν εὑρόντες σύνοικον.

English · Claude translation

And again the same: “And they said: By no means, Lord; let us not perish on account of the life of this man.” And the prophet Malachi plainly shows God saying: “I will not accept sacrifice from your hands; for from the rising of the sun to its setting my name has been glorified among the nations, and in every place sacrifice is offered to me.” And again: “For I am a great king, says the Lord Almighty, and my name is manifest among the nations.” What name? Among those who have believed, the Son, who reveals the Father; among the Greeks, “God the Maker.” And Plato indicates free will in these words: “Virtue has no master; each will have more or less of it as he honors or dishonors it. The responsibility is the chooser's; God is not responsible.” For God is never the cause of evils. “O Trojans dear to Ares,” says the lyric poet, “Zeus who rules on high, who sees all things, is not the cause of great woes for mortals; but in the midst lies, for all men to reach, holy Justice, the attendant of pure Good Order and of wise Law; happy are the children of those who have found her to share their house.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:418 · 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
Extrabiblical texts
  • Plato, Resp. 10.617e (Plato (works)) · quotation, high confidence
  • Bacchylides (Bacchylides (fragments)) · quotation, medium confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Jonah 1:14, Mal 1:10–11 and 1:14, Plato, Republic 10.617e, and Bacchylides 15.50–56 (Snell–Maehler).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.136 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/136/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.14.136 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/14/136/).

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