Miscellanies 6.16.148
Summary: The stars and elements do not rule the world but obey God's word; the tenth commandment forbids desiring falsehood, such as the idea that created things act on their own, for they work only as instruments of God's providence, like tools in a craftsman's hand.
Greek text · Stählin 2:507–508
οἱ πλεῖστοι δὲ σὺν καὶ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις τὰς αὐξήσεις καὶ τὰς τροπὰς τοῖς ἄστροις κατὰ τὸ προηγούμενον ἀνατιθέασιν, ἀποστεροῦντες τὸ ὅσον ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀκάματον δύναμιν τὸν πατέρα τῶν ὅλων. τὰ δὲ στοιχεῖα καὶ τὰ ἄστρα, τουτέστιν αἱ δυνάμεις αἱ διοικητικαί, προσετάγησαν ἐκτελεῖν τὰ εἰς οἰκονομίαν ἐπιτήδεια, καὶ αὐτά τε πείθεται ἄγεταί τε πρὸς τῶν ἐπιτεταγμένων αὐτοῖς, ᾗ ἂν ἡγῆται τὸ ῥῆμα κυρίου, ἐπείπερ ἡ θεία δύναμις ἐπικεκρυμμένως πάντα ἐνεργεῖν πέφυκεν. ὁ τοίνυν ἑαυτὸν φάμενος ἐπινενοηκέναι τι ἢ πεποιηκέναι τῶν πρὸς δημιουργίαν συντεινόντων εὔθυναν ὑφέξει τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς τολμήματος. Δέκατος δέ ἐστιν ὁ περὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν ἁπασῶν λόγος. καθάπερ οὖν ὁ τῶν μὴ καθηκόντων ἐπιθυμῶν εὐθύνεται, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον οὐκ ἐφεῖται ψευδῶν πραγμάτων ἐπιθυμεῖν οὐδὲ ὑπολαμβάνειν τῶν ἐν γενέσει τὰ μὲν ἔμψυχα ἐξ ἑαυτῶν δύνασθαι, τὰ δὲ ἄψυχα καθάπαξ μὴ δύνασθαι σῴζειν ἢ βλάπτειν· κἄν τις λέγῃ τὴν ἀντίδοτον ἰᾶσθαι μὴ δύνασθαι καὶ τὸ κώνειον φθείρειν, σοφιζόμενος λέληθεν. οὐδὲν γὰρ τούτων ἐνεργεῖ ἄνευ τοῦ τῇ βοτάνῃ καὶ τῷ φαρμάκῳ χρωμένου, ὥσπερ οὐδʼ ἡ ἀξίνη ἄνευ τοῦ κόπτοντος οὐδὲ ὁ πρίων τοῦ πρίζοντος. ὡς δὲ καθʼ ἑαυτὰ μὲν οὐκ ἐνεργεῖ, ἔχει δέ τινας ποιότητας φυσικὰς τῇ τοῦ τεχνίτου ἐνεργείᾳ συντελούσας τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον, οὕτως τῇ καθολικῇ τοῦ θεοῦ προνοίᾳ διὰ τῶν προσεχέστερον κινουμένων καθʼ ὑπόβασιν εἰς τὰ ἐπὶ μέρους διαδίδοται ἡ δραστικὴ ἐνέργεια.
English · Claude translation
Most people, together with the philosophers, attribute growth and change to the stars as the primary cause, depriving the Father of the universe, as far as lies in them, of his tireless power. But the elements and the stars, that is, the administering powers, were commanded to carry out what is suited to the divine ordering, and they obey and are led by those set over them, wherever the word of the Lord leads, since the divine power by its nature works all things in a hidden way. The one, then, who says that he has devised or made any of the things that belong to creation will be called to account for his impious daring. The tenth is the word about all desires. As, then, the one who desires what is not fitting is called to account, in the same way it is not permitted to desire false things, nor to suppose that, among things that come to be, animate things of themselves are able, and inanimate things are not able at all, to save or to harm. And if someone says that the antidote cannot heal or that hemlock cannot destroy, he is unknowingly a sophist. For none of these acts without the one who uses the herb or the drug, just as the axe does not act without the one who cuts, nor the saw without the one who saws. And as they do not act of themselves, yet have certain natural qualities that contribute, with the craftsman's activity, to accomplishing the proper work, so by the universal providence of God, through the things moved more immediately, the effective activity is passed down by degrees to the particulars.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is Exod 20:17. The account of providence acting through intermediate causes is close to Stoic and Middle Platonist teaching.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.148 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/148/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.148 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/148/).
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