Miscellanies 6.10.81
Summary: A faith that plausible arguments can overturn is weak; the believer must be like a banker who can tell true coin from false, and dialectic is a fence that protects the truth from sophists.
Greek text · Stählin 2:472
εἰ δὲ τοιαύτη παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐστιν ἡ πίστις (οὐ γὰρ ἂν γνῶσιν εἴποιμι), ἵνα λυθῇ πιθανολογίᾳ, λυθήτω, διὰ τούτου μάλιστα ὁμολογούντων οὐχ ἕξειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ἀνίκητος γάρ, φησίν, ἡ ἀλήθεια, ψευδοδοξία δὲ καταλύεται. αὐτίκα πορφύραν ἐξ ἀντιπαραθέσεως ἄλλης πορφύρας ἐκλεγόμεθα. ὥστʼ εἴ τις ὁμολογεῖ καρδίαν μὴ ἔχειν διηρθρωμένην, τράπεζαν οὐκ ἔχει τὴν τῶν ἀργυραμοιβῶν οὐδὲ μὴν τὸ κριτήριον τῶν λόγων. καὶ πῶς ἔτι τραπεζίτης οὗτος, δοκιμάσαι μὴ δυνάμενος καὶ διακρῖναι τὸ ἀκίβδηλον νόμισμα τοῦ παραχαράγματος; κέκραγεν δὲ ὁ Δαβίδ· ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα οὐ σαλευθήσεται δίκαιος· οὔτʼ οὖν ἀπατηλῷ λόγῳ οὐδὲ μὴν πεπλανημένῃ ἡδονῇ, ὅθεν οὐδὲ τῆς οἰκείας κληρονομίας σαλευθήσεται. ἀπὸ ἀκοῆς ἄρα πονηρᾶς οὐ φοβηθήσεται. οὔτʼ οὖν διαβολῆς κενῆς οὐδὲ μὴν ψευδοδοξίας τῆς περὶ αὑτόν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τοὺς πανούργους δεδίξεται λόγους ὁ διαγνῶναι τούτους δυνάμενος ἢ πρός τε τὸ ἐρωτᾶν ὀρθῶς καὶ ἀποκρίνασθαι· οἷον θριγκὸς γάρ ἐστι διαλεκτική, ὡς μὴ καταπατεῖσθαι πρὸς τῶν σοφιστῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ἐπαινουμένους γὰρ χρὴ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τῷ ἁγίῳ τοῦ κυρίου κατὰ τὸν προφήτην εὐφραίνεσθαι τὴν καρδίαν ζητοῦντας τὸν κύριον. ζητήσατε οὖν αὐτὸν καὶ κραταιώθητε, ζητήσατε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ διὰ παντὸς παντοίως. πολυμερῶς γὰρ καὶ πολυτρόπως λαλήσας οὐχ ἁπλῶς γνωρίζεται.
English · Claude translation
But if their faith (for I would not call it knowledge) is such that it can be dissolved by plausible argument, let it be dissolved; by this above all they confess that they will not hold the truth. For truth is invincible, it says, but false opinion is destroyed. For instance, we choose purple by comparing it with another purple. So if someone admits that he does not have a trained heart, he has neither the money-changers' table nor the criterion of arguments. And how is he still a banker, if he cannot test and distinguish genuine coin from counterfeit? And David cries: “For the righteous will not be shaken forever”: neither, then, by deceitful argument nor by misleading pleasure; hence he will not be shaken from his own inheritance. “He will not be afraid of an evil report”: neither, then, of empty slander nor of false opinion about himself; nor will he fear cunning arguments, since he can discern them and can ask and answer rightly. For dialectic is like a fence, so that the truth is not trampled by the sophists. For those who are praised in the holy name of the Lord, according to the prophet, must “rejoice in heart, seeking the Lord.” “Seek him, then, and be strengthened; seek his face continually,” in every way. For having spoken in many portions and in many ways, he is not known simply.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 112:6–7 (111:6–7 LXX), Ps 105:3–4 (104:3–4 LXX), and Heb 1:1. The saying that truth is invincible is unidentified (compare 1 Esd 4:38). The image of the banker echoes the saying “Be approved money-changers,” often quoted by Clement as a word of the Lord.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.10.81 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/10/81/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.10.81 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/10/81/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text