Miscellanies 6.2.17
Summary: Heraclitus borrowed from Orpheus on the cycle of soul, water, and earth; Empedocles from Athamas on the four roots; and Menander from Plato on the early death of those the gods love.
Greek text · Stählin 2:435–436
Ὀρφέως δὲ ποιήσαντος· ἔστιν ὕδωρ ψυχῇ, θάνατος δʼ ὑδάτεσσιν ἀμοιβή, ἐκ δὲ ὕδατος μὲν γαῖα, τὸ δʼ ἐκ γαίας πάλιν ὕδωρ· ἐκ τοῦ δὴ ψυχὴ ὅλον αἰθέρα ἀλλάσσουσα· Ἡράκλειτος ἐκ τούτων συνιστάμενος τοὺς λόγους ὧδέ πως γράφει· ψυχῇσιν θάνατος ὕδωρ γενέσθαι, ὕδατι δὲ θάνατος γῆν γενέσθαι, ἐκ γῆς δὲ ὕδωρ γίνεται, ἐξ ὕδατος δὲ ψυχή. Ναὶ μὴν Ἀθάμαντος τοῦ Πυθαγορείου εἰπόντος ὧδε ἀγέννατος παντὸς ἀρχὰ καὶ ῥιζώματα τέσσαρα τυγχάνοντι, πῦρ, ὕδωρ, ἀήρ, γῆ· ἐκ τούτων γὰρ αἱ γενέσεις τῶν γινομένων ὁ Ἀκραγαντῖνος ἐποίησεν Ἐμπεδοκλῆς· τέσσαρα τῶν πάντων ῥιζώματα πρῶτον ἄκουε· πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖαν ἰδʼ αἰθέρος ἄπλετον ὕψος· ἐκ γὰρ τῶν ὅσα τʼ ἦν ὅσα τʼ ἔσσεται ὅσσα τʼ ἔασιν. Καὶ Πλάτωνος μὲν λέγοντος διὰ τοῦτο καὶ οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπείων ἐπιστήμονες, οὕς ἂν διὰ πλείστου ποιῶνται, θᾶττον ἀπαλλάττουσι τοῦ ζῆν Μένανδρος πεποίηκεν· ὃν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν, ἀποθνῄσκει νέος.
English · Claude translation
When Orpheus composed: “Water is for the soul, and death is the exchange for waters; from water comes earth, and from earth again water; from this the soul, exchanging the whole ether,” Heraclitus, putting together his sayings from these, writes thus: “For souls it is death to become water, and for water it is death to become earth; from earth water comes to be, and from water soul.” And indeed, when Athamas the Pythagorean said thus: “The unbegotten beginning of all things, and its roots, are four: fire, water, air, earth; for from these come the births of the things that come to be,” Empedocles of Acragas composed: “First hear the four roots of all things: fire and water and earth and the boundless height of ether; for from these come all that was and will be and is.” And when Plato said: “For this reason the gods too, who know human affairs, take out of life more quickly those whom they hold most dear,” Menander has composed: “He whom the gods love dies young.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The sources are an Orphic fragment (the first line is awkward as printed), Heraclitus (fragment 36 Diels–Kranz), Empedocles (fragments 6 and 17, Diels–Kranz), the Pseudo-Platonic Axiochus 367b–c (probably), and Menander (fragment, Double Deceiver).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (final sigma inside a word in the digital text): ὑδάτεςςιν → ὑδάτεσσιν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.2.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/2/17/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.2.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/2/17/).
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