Miscellanies 6.15.121
Summary: Wisdom's chain—desire for instruction, love, keeping her laws, incorruption, nearness to God—is a syllogism showing that love of knowledge leads to God; knowledge must be sought, and finding is the rest of seeking.
Greek text · Stählin 2:492–493
καὶ ἐν πάσῃ ἐπινοίᾳ ὑπαντᾷ αὐτοῖς, ποικίλως θεωρουμένη, διὰ πάσης δηλονότι παιδείας. εἶτα ἐπιλέγει, τὴν τελειωτικὴν ἀγάπην παρατιθέμενος, διὰ λόγου συλλογιστικοῦ καὶ λημμάτων ἀληθῶν ἀποδεικτικωτάτην καὶ ἀληθῆ ὧδέ πως ἐπάγων ἐπιφοράν· ἀρχὴ γὰρ αὐτῆς ἀληθεστάτη παιδείας ἐπιθυμία (τουτέστι τῆς γνώσεως), φροντὶς δὲ παιδείας ἀγάπη, ἀγάπη δὲ τήρησις νόμων αὐτῆς, προσοχὴ δὲ νόμων βεβαίωσις ἀφθαρσίας, ἀφθαρσία δὲ ἐγγὺς εἶναι ποιεῖ θεοῦ. ἐπιθυμία ἄρα σοφίας ἀνάγει ἐπὶ βασιλείαν. διδάσκει γάρ, οἶμαι, ὡς ἀληθινὴ παιδεία ἐπιθυμία τίς ἐστι γνώσεως, ἄσκησις δὲ παιδείας συνίσταται διʼ ἀγάπην γνώσεως. καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀγάπη τήρησις τῶν εἰς γνῶσιν ἀναγουσῶν ἐντολῶν, ἡ τήρησις δὲ αὐτῶν βεβαίωσις τῶν ἐντολῶν, διʼ ἣν ἡ ἀφθαρσία ἐπισυμβαίνει, ἀφθαρσία δὲ ἐγγὺς εἶναι ποιεῖ θεοῦ. εἰ ἄρα ἀγάπη τῆς γνώσεως ἄφθαρτον ποιεῖ καὶ ἐγγὺς θεοῦ βασιλέως τὸν βασιλικὸν ἀνάγει, ζητεῖν ἄρα δεῖ τὴν γνῶσιν εἰς εὕρεσιν. ἔστιν δὲ ἡ μὲν ζήτησις ὁρμὴ ἐπὶ τὸ καταλαβεῖν, διά τινων σημείων ἀνευρίσκουσα τὸ ὑποκείμενον, ἡ εὕρεσις δὲ πέρας καὶ ἀνάπαυσις ζητήσεως ἐν καταλήψει γενομένης, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ γνῶσις. καὶ αὕτη κυρίως εὕρεσίς ἐστιν ἡ γνῶσις, κατάληψις ζητήσεως ὑπάρχουσα. σημεῖον δʼ εἶναί φασι τὸ προηγούμενον ἢ συνυπάρχον ἢ ἑπόμενον.
English · Claude translation
“and meets them in every thought,” being contemplated in various ways, that is, through all education. Then he goes on, setting forth the perfecting love through a syllogistic argument with true premises, and drawing a most demonstrative and true conclusion somewhat as follows: “For her truest beginning is the desire for instruction” (that is, for knowledge), “and care for instruction is love, and love is the keeping of her laws, and attention to laws is the assurance of incorruption, and incorruption brings one near to God. So the desire for wisdom leads up to a kingdom.” He teaches, I think, that true instruction is a desire for knowledge, and that the practice of instruction consists in love of knowledge. And love is the keeping of the commandments that lead up to knowledge, and keeping them is the confirmation of the commandments, from which incorruption follows; and incorruption brings one near to God. If, then, love of knowledge makes one incorruptible and leads the kingly person near to God the King, knowledge must be sought until it is found. Seeking is an impulse toward grasping, discovering the underlying object through certain signs; finding is the end and rest of seeking, when it has come to grasp, which is knowledge. And this knowledge is finding in the proper sense, being the grasp of what was sought. They say that a sign is what precedes, coexists, or follows.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Wis 6:16 and Wis 6:17–20 (the sorites). “Love is the keeping of the commandments” echoes John 14:15. The definition of a sign as antecedent, concomitant, or consequent is Stoic.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.15.121 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/15/121/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.15.121 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/15/121/).
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