Miscellanies 5.3.17
Summary: Recognizing ignorance begins learning: seeking leads to the teacher, then faith, hope, love, and likeness to the beloved; the wise virgins' lamps are souls lighting the light in ignorance's night; few are chosen, as Plato and Cleanthes also say.
Greek text · Stählin 2:336–337
ἡ γοῦν τῆς ἀγνοίας ἐπίστασις τὸ πρῶτόν ἐστι μάθημα τῷ κατὰ λόγον βαδίζοντι. ἀγνοήσας τις ἐζήτησεν, καὶ ζητήσας εὑρίσκει τὸν διδάσκαλον εὑρών τε ἐπίστευσεν καὶ πιστεύσας ἤλπισεν ἀγαπήσας τε ἐντεῦθεν ἐξομοιοῦται τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ, τοῦτʼ εἶναι σπεύδων ὃ φθάσας ἠγάπησεν. τοιαύτην τινὰ μέθοδον Σωκράτης ὑποδείκνυσιν Ἀλκιβιάδῃ ὧδε πυνθανομένῳ· Οὐκ ἂν οἴει ἄλλως εἰδέναι με περὶ τῶν δικαίων; — Ναί, εἴ γε εὕροις. — Ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἂν εὑρεῖν με ἡγῇ; — Καὶ μάλα γε, εἰ ζητήσαις. — Εἶτα ζητῆσαι οὐκ ἂν οἴει με; — Ἔγωγε, εἰ οἰηθείης γε μὴ εἰδέναι. ταύτῃ τοι καὶ αἱ τῶν φρονίμων παρθένων λαμπάδες αἱ νύκτωρ ἀνημμέναι ἐν πολλῷ τῆς ἀγνοίας σκότει, ἣν νύκτα ᾐνίξατο ἡ γραφή· φρόνιμοι ψυχαί, καθαραὶ ὡς παρθένοι, συνεῖσαι σφᾶς αὐτὰς ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ καθεστώσας κοσμικῇ, τὸ φῶς ἀνάπτουσι καὶ τὸν νοῦν ἐγείρουσι καὶ φωτίζουσι τὸ σκότος καὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἐξελαύνουσι καὶ ζητοῦσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ τοῦ διδασκάλου τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἀναμένουσι. φιλόσοφον μὲν οὖν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, πλῆθος ἀδύνατον γενέσθαι. ναρθηκοφόροι μὲν πολλοί, βάκχοι δέ τε παῦροι κατὰ τὸν Πλάτωνα. πολλοὶ γὰρ κλητοί, ὀλίγοι δὲ ἐκλεκτοί· καὶ οὐκ ἐν πᾶσι φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος ἡ γνῶσις. προσεύχεσθε δὲ ἵνα ῥυσθῶμεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀτόπων καὶ πονηρῶν ἀνθρώπων· οὐ γὰρ πάντων ἡ πίστις. καὶ ἡ Κλεάνθους δὲ τοῦ Στωϊκοῦ φιλόσοφος ποιητικὴ ὧδέ πως τὰ ὅμοια γράφει· μὴ πρὸς δόξαν ὅρα, ἐθέλων σοφὸς αἶψα γενέσθαι, μηδὲ φοβοῦ πολλῶν ἄκριτον καὶ ἀναιδέα δόξαν. οὐ γὰρ πλῆθος ἔχει συνετὴν κρίσιν οὔτε δικαίων οὔτε καλῶν, ὀλίγοις δὲ παρʼ ἀνδράσι τοῦτό κεν εὕροις.
English · Claude translation
The recognition of ignorance, then, is the first lesson for the one walking according to reason. Someone, being ignorant, sought; and seeking, finds the teacher; and finding, believed; and believing, hoped; and loving, is then made like the one he loved, hastening to be what he loved first. Socrates shows some such method to Alcibiades, who asks thus: “Do you not think I could know about just things otherwise?” “Yes, if you found out.” “But do you not think I could find out?” “Very much so, if you sought.” “Then do you not think I would seek?” “I do, if you thought you did not know.” In this way too the lamps of the wise virgins, lit at night in the great darkness of ignorance, which Scripture hinted at by night: wise souls, pure as virgins, understanding that they stand in worldly ignorance, light the light, rouse the mind, illuminate the darkness, drive out ignorance, seek the truth, and await the appearing of the Teacher. “For it is impossible,” said I, “for the multitude to be philosophic.” “For many are the thyrsus-bearers, but few the Bacchants,” according to Plato. “For many are called, but few chosen.” “And not in all,” says the apostle, “is knowledge.” “And pray that we may be delivered from absurd and wicked men; for not all have faith.” And the philosophical poetry of Cleanthes the Stoic writes similar things thus: “Do not look to opinion, wishing to be wise quickly, nor fear the undiscerning and shameless opinion of the many. For the multitude does not have understanding judgment, neither of just nor of beautiful things; you would find this among few men.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are Plato, Alcibiades I 109e–110a, Matt 25:1–13, Plato, Republic 6.494a, Phaedo 69c, Matt 22:14, 1 Cor 8:7, 2 Thess 3:2, and Cleanthes (fragment 559).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.3.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/3/17/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.3.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/3/17/).
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