Miscellanies 5.3.18
Summary: The many demand proofs rather than trusting faith; Empedocles says the wicked distrust the truth; Clement will speak to Greeks through their own wisdom, as Paul became all things to all, for God's grace falls on all and God is God of the Gentiles too.
Greek text · Stählin 2:337–338
γνωμικώτερον δὲ ὁ κωμικὸς ἐν βραχεῖ· αἰσχρὸν δὲ κρίνειν τὰ καλὰ τῷ πολλῷ ψόφῳ. ἀκηκόασι γάρ, οἶμαι, τῆς καλῆς ἐκείνης λεγούσης ἡμῖν σοφίας· εἰς μέσον ἀσυνέτων συντήρησον καιρόν, εἰς μέσον δὲ διανοουμένων ἐνδελέχιζε. καὶ πάλιν· σοφοὶ κρύψουσιν αἴσθησιν· ἐνέχυρον γὰρ τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἀπαιτοῦσιν οἱ πολλοὶ οὐκ ἀρκούμενοι ψιλῇ τῇ ἐκ πίστεως σωτηρίᾳ. ἀλλὰ κακοῖς μὲν κάρτα πέλει κρατέουσιν ἀπιστεῖν· ὡς δὲ παρʼ ἡμετέρης κέλεται πιστώματα Μούσης, γνῶθι διατμηθέντος ἐνὶ σπλάγχνοισι λόγοιο. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ κακοῖς τοῦτο σύνηθες, φησὶν ὁ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, τὸ ἐθέλειν κρατεῖν τῶν ἀληθῶν διὰ τοῦ ἀπιστεῖν. ὅτι δέ ἐστι τὰ ἡμέτερα ἔνδοξα καὶ πιστεύεσθαι ἄξια, γνώσονται Ἕλληνες τοῦ λόγου μᾶλλον ἐξεταζομένου διὰ τῶν ἑπομένων· τῷ γὰρ ὁμοίῳ τὸ ὅμοιον ἐκδιδασκόμεθα. ὅτι ἀποκρίνου φησὶν ὁ Σολομὼν τῷ μωρῷ ἐκ τῆς μωρίας αὐτοῦ. διὸ καὶ τοῖς τὴν σοφίαν αἰτοῦσι τὴν παρʼ αὐτοῖς ὀρεκτέον τὰ οἰκεῖα, ὡς ἂν ῥᾷστα διὰ τῶν ἰδίων εἰς πίστιν ἀληθείας εἰκότως ἀφίκοιντο· τοῖς γὰρ πᾶσι πάντα ἐγενόμην, λέγει, ἵνα τοὺς πάντας κερδήσω, ἐπεὶ καὶ τῆς θείας χάριτος ὁ ὑετὸς ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους καταπέμπεται· ἢ Ἰουδαίων μόνων ἐστὶν ὁ θεός; οὐχὶ καὶ ἐθνῶν; ναὶ καὶ ἐθνῶν, εἴπερ εἶς ὁ θεός, ὁ γενναῖος κέκραγεν ἀπόστολος.
English · Claude translation
More sententiously the comic poet says briefly: “It is shameful to judge fine things by the great noise.” For they have heard, I think, that fine Wisdom saying to us: “In the midst of the foolish watch your time, but in the midst of the thoughtful persevere.” And again: “The wise will hide perception.” For the many demand proof as a pledge of truth, not content with the bare salvation that comes from faith. “But for the wicked it is very much their way to distrust the powerful; but as the pledges of our Muse bid, know, the word having been divided within your heart.” For it is customary for the wicked, says Empedocles, to wish to master the truth by disbelieving. That our doctrines are reputable and worthy of belief the Greeks will know when the account is examined more fully in what follows; for we are taught like by like. For Solomon says, “Answer the fool according to his folly.” That is why we must hold out their own to those who ask for the wisdom that is theirs, so that through their own they may most easily and fittingly come to faith in the truth. “For I became all things to all,” he says, “that I might win all”; since the rain of divine grace too is sent down on just and unjust. “Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles too, since God is one,” cries the noble apostle.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are an unknown comic poet, Sir 27:12, Prov 10:14, Empedocles (fragment 4), Prov 26:5, 1 Cor 9:22, Matt 5:45, and Rom 3:29–30.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong breathing on οἱ): ἀπαιτοῦσιν οἰ πολλοὶ → ἀπαιτοῦσιν οἱ πολλοὶ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.3.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/3/18/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.3.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/3/18/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text