Miscellanies 6.2.12 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:431–432

Ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἡσιόδου λέγοντος· σοὶ δʼ ἐγὼ ἀντὶ πυρὸς δώσω κακόν, ᾧ κεν ἅπαντες τέρπωνται, Εὐριπίδης ποιεῖ· ἀντὶ πυρὸς δὲ γὰρ ἄλλο πῦρ μεῖζον καὶ δυσμαχώτερον βλάστον γυναῖκες. Πρὸς τούτοις Ὁμήρου λέγοντος· γαστέρα δʼ οὔ πως ἔστιν ἀποπλῆσαι μεμαυῖαν, οὐλομένην, ἣ πολλὰ κάκʼ ἀνθρώποισι δίδωσιν, Εὐριπίδης ποιεῖ· νικᾷ δὲ χρεία μʼ ἡ κακῶς τε ὀλουμένη γαστήρ, ἀφʼ ἧς πάντα γίνεται κακά. Ἔτι Καλλίᾳ τῷ κωμικῷ γράφοντι· μετὰ μαινομένων φασὶν χρῆναι μαίνεσθαι πάντας ὁμοίως, Μένανδρος ἐν Πωλουμένοις παρισάζεται λέγων· οὐ πανταχοῦ τὸ φρόνιμον ἁρμόττει παρόν· καὶ συμμανῆναι δʼ ἔνια δεῖ. Ἀντιμάχου τε τοῦ Τηίου εἰπόντος· ἐκ γὰρ δώρων πολλὰ κάκʼ ἀνθρώποισι πέλονται, Ἀγίας ἐποίησεν· δῶρα γὰρ ἀνθρώπων νοῦν ἤπαφεν ἠδὲ καὶ ἔργα.

English · Claude translation

And when Hesiod says: “To you, in return for fire, I will give an evil in which all may delight,” Euripides composes: “For in return for fire another fire, greater and harder to fight, sprang up: women.” Besides these, when Homer says: “But it is in no way possible to fill a ravenous belly, the accursed thing, which gives many evils to men,” Euripides composes: “But need overcomes me, and my wretched, accursed belly, from which all evils come.” Further, when Callias the comic poet writes: “They say all must rave alike with those who rave,” Menander in the Men for Sale matches him, saying: “Good sense is not fitting everywhere it is present; one must sometimes join in the madness too.” And when Antimachus of Teos said: “For from gifts many evils come to men,” Agias composed: “For gifts beguile the mind of men, and their deeds too.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:431–432 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.

Extrabiblical texts

Hesiod, Op. 57–58 (Hesiod, Works and Days) · quotation, high confidence
Homer, Od. 17.286–287 (Homer, Odyssey) · quotation, high confidence
Euripides, fragments (Euripides (plays and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Menander (Menander (fragments)) · quotation, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

The sources are Hesiod, Works and Days 57–58, Od. 17.286–287, and fragments of Euripides, Callias, Menander (Men for Sale), Antimachus, and Agias.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (relative pronoun missing in the digital text): ἀφʼ πάντα → ἀφʼ ἧς πάντα.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.2.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/2/12/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.2.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/2/12/).