Miscellanies 6.1.3
Summary: There is a common knowledge shared even with animals through the senses, and knowledge proper, the work of reason; the good man lends the word of truth to the straying with careful judgment.
Greek text · Stählin 2:423
Λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἄλλως διττὴ ἡ γνῶσις, ἣ μὲν κοινῶς, ἡ ἐν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ὁμοίως σύνεσίς τε καὶ ἀντίληψις κατὰ τὸ γνωρίζειν ἕκαστον τῶν ὑποκειμένων πανδήμως ἐμφαινομένη, ἧς οὐ μόνον αἱ λογικαὶ δυνάμεις, ἀλλʼ ἴσως καὶ αἱ ἄλογοι μεθέξουσιν, ἣν οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἔγωγε γνῶσίν γε ὀνομάσαιμι, τὴν καὶ διʼ αἰσθητηρίων ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι πεφυκυῖαν· ἡ δὲ ἐξαιρέτως ὀνομαζομένη γνῶσις ἀπὸ τῆς γνώμης καὶ τοῦ λόγου χαρακτηρίζεται, καθʼ ἣν μόναι αἱ λογικαὶ δυνάμεις γνώσεις γενήσονται, αἱ τοῖς νοητοῖς κατὰ ψιλὴν τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐνέργειαν εἰλικρινῶς ἐπιβάλλουσαι· χρηστὸς ἀνήρ, φησὶν ὁ Δαβίδ, ὁ οἰκτίρμων τῶν παραπολλυμένων τῇ πλάνῃ καὶ κιχρῶν ἐκ μεταδόσεως τοῦ λόγου τῆς ἀληθείας, οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχεν, ἀλλὰ γὰρ οἰκονομήσει τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ ἐν κρίσει, ἐπιλογισμῷ βαθεῖ· οὗτος ἐσκόρπισεν, ἔδωκεν τοῖς πένησιν.
English · Claude translation
Knowledge is also spoken of as twofold in another way. One kind is common: the understanding and perception found alike in all people, which shows itself universally in recognizing each of the things that lie before us; not only rational powers but perhaps even irrational ones will share in it. I at least would never call it knowledge, since it is by nature able to grasp things also through the senses. The other, called knowledge in a special sense, is marked out by judgment and reason; by it only rational powers become knowledges, those that apply themselves with purity to intelligible things by the bare activity of the soul. “A good man,” says David, is the one who has pity on those perishing through error, and “lends” by imparting the word of truth, not at random, but “he will order his words with judgment,” with deep reflection. “He has scattered, he has given to the poor.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 112:5 (111:5 LXX) and Ps 112:9 (111:9 LXX), applied to teaching.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/1/3/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/1/3/).
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