Miscellanies 6.16.135
Summary: The reasoning, ruling part of the soul is added and is not generated from the seed; the fleshly spirit carries the powers of nourishment, growth, and movement, while the ruling part chooses, learns, and knows, and governs the whole person.
Greek text · Stählin 2:500
ἐπεισκρίνεται δὲ ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ προσεισκρίνεται τὸ ἡγεμονικόν, ᾧ διαλογιζόμεθα, οὐ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σπέρματος καταβολὴν γεννώμενον, ὡς συνάγεσθαι καὶ ἄνευ τούτου τὸν δέκατον ἀριθμόν, διʼ ὧν ἡ πᾶσα ἐνέργεια τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπιτελεῖται. τῇ τάξει γὰρ εὐθέως γενόμενος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἀπὸ τῶν παθητικῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ ζῆν λαμβάνει. τὸ λογιστικὸν τοίνυν καὶ ἡγεμονικὸν αἴτιον εἶναί φαμεν τῆς συστάσεως τῷ ζῴῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ τὸ ἄλογον μέρος ἐψυχῶσθαί τε καὶ μόριον αὐτῆς εἶναι. αὐτίκα τὴν μὲν ζωτικὴν δύναμιν, ᾗ ἐμπεριέχεται τὸ θρεπτικόν τε καὶ αὐξητικὸν καὶ καθʼ ὅλου κινητικόν, τὸ πνεῦμα εἴληχεν τὸ σαρκικόν, ὀξυκίνητον ὃν καὶ πάντῃ διά τε τῶν αἰσθήσεων καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ σώματος πορευόμενόν τε καὶ πρωτοπαθοῦν διὰ σώματος· τὴν προαιρετικὴν δὲ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν ἔχει δύναμιν, περὶ ἣν ἡ ζήτησις καὶ ἡ μάθησις καὶ ἡ γνῶσις. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἡ πάντων ἀναφορὰ εἰς ἓν συντέτακται τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν καὶ διʼ ἐκεῖνο ζῇ τε ὁ ἄνθρωπος καί πως ζῇ.
English · Claude translation
The soul is introduced afterward, and the ruling part, by which we reason, is introduced in addition; it is not generated with the casting of the seed, so that even without it the number ten is made up, through which all the activity of man is carried out. For man, as soon as he is born, receives in due order the beginning of life from the passive parts. We say, then, that the reasoning and ruling part is the cause of the living creature's constitution, and also of the irrational part's being ensouled and being a portion of it. For instance, the vital power, in which are contained the nutritive, the growing, and in general the motive powers, has fallen to the fleshly spirit, which is quick-moving and passes everywhere through the senses and the rest of the body and is the first to be affected through the body. But the ruling part has the power of choice, the sphere of inquiry, learning, and knowledge. Yet the reference of all these is ordered toward the one ruling part, and through it man lives, and lives in a certain way.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The psychology (the ruling part, ἡγεμονικόν) is largely Stoic.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): γενόμενος. ὁ ἄνθρωπος → γενόμενος ὁ ἄνθρωπος.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.135 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/135/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.135 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/135/).
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