Miscellanies 6.1.2
Summary: The Miscellanies are deliberately unordered like a meadow, to reward the effort of the seeker; our true knowledge and spiritual garden is Christ, into whom we are transplanted.
Greek text · Stählin 2:423
Ἐν μὲν οὖν τῷ λειμῶνι τὰ ἄνθη ποικίλως ἀνθοῦντα κἀν τῷ παραδείσῳ ἡ τῶν ἀκροδρύων φυτεία οὐ κατὰ εἶδος ἕκαστον κεχώρισται τῶν ἀλλογενῶν (ᾗ καὶ Λειμῶνάς τινες καὶ Ἑλικῶνας καὶ Κηρία καὶ Πέπλους συναγωγὰς φιλομαθεῖς ποικίλως ἐξανθισάμενοι συνεγράψαντο)· τοῖς δʼ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἐπὶ μνήμην ἐλθοῦσι καὶ μήτε τῇ τάξει μήτε τῇ φράσει διακεκαθαρμένοις, διεσπαρμένοις δὲ ἐπίτηδες ἀναμίξ, ἡ τῶν Στρωματέων ἡμῖν ὑποτύπωσις λειμῶνος δίκην πεποίκιλται. καὶ δὴ ὧδε ἔχοντες ἐμοί τε ὑπομνήματα εἶεν ἂν ζώπυρα, τῷ τε εἰς γνῶσιν ἐπιτηδείῳ, εἴ πως περιτύχοι τοῖσδε, πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον καὶ ὠφέλιμον μετὰ ἱδρῶτος ἡ ζήτησις γενήσεται· οὐ γὰρ μόνον τῶν σιτίων τὸν πόνον, πολὺ δὲ πλέον καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἡγεῖσθαι δίκαιον, τοῖς διὰ στενῆς καὶ τεθλιμμένης τῆς κυριακῆς ὄντως ὁδοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀίδιον καὶ μακαρίαν παραπεμπομένοις σωτηρίαν· ἡ γνῶσις δὲ ἡμῶν καὶ ὁ παράδεισος ὁ πνευματικὸς αὐτὸς ἡμῶν ὁ σωτὴρ ὑπάρχει, εἰς ὃν καταφυτευόμεθα, μετατεθέντες καὶ μεταμοσχευθέντες εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθὴν ἐκ βίου τοῦ παλαιοῦ· ἡ μεταβολὴ δὲ τῆς φυτείας εἰς εὐκαρπίαν συμβάλλεται. φῶς οὖν ὁ κύριος καὶ γνῶσις ἡ ἀληθής, εἰς ὃν μετετέθημεν.
English · Claude translation
In a meadow the flowers blooming in variety, and in a garden the planting of fruit trees, are not separated each by its kind from those of other kinds (in this way some have composed learned collections, variously culled, which they titled Meadows, Helicons, Honeycombs, and Robes). So too the outline of our Miscellanies has been made many-colored like a meadow, with things that came to memory just as they happened, cleaned up neither in order nor in expression, but deliberately scattered and mixed together. And being of this sort, they would be for me notes to rekindle the embers of memory; and for anyone fit for knowledge, if he should happen upon them, the search will turn, with sweat, to his advantage and profit. For it is right that toil should go before not only food but much more knowledge, for those who are escorted by the truly narrow and afflicted way of the Lord to eternal and blessed salvation. Our knowledge and our spiritual garden is the Savior himself, into whom we are planted, having been transferred and transplanted from the old life into the good land; and the change of planting contributes to good fruit. The Lord, then, into whom we have been transferred, is light and the true knowledge.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Matt 7:14 (the narrow and afflicted way), Matt 13:8 (the good land), and John 8:12 (the Lord as light). Meadows, Helicons, Honeycombs, and Robes (Peploi) were titles of ancient anthologies.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.1.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/1/2/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.1.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/1/2/).
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