Miscellanies 6.4.35
Summary: The philosophers also borrowed from other barbarians, especially the Egyptians, whose priestly procession displays their own philosophy, with the Singer and the Horoscopus carrying the books of Hermes.
Greek text · Stählin 2:448–449
Εὕροιμεν δʼ ἂν καὶ ἄλλο μαρτύριον εἰς βεβαίωσιν τοῦ τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν δογμάτων τοὺς ἀρίστους τῶν φιλοσόφων παρʼ ἡμῶν σφετερισαμένους ὡς ἴδια αὐχεῖν τὸ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων βαρβάρων ἀπηνθίσθαι τῶν εἰς ἑκάστην αἵρεσιν συντεινόντων τινά, μάλιστα δὲ Αἰγυπτίων τά τε ἄλλα καὶ τὸ περὶ τὴν μετενσωμάτωσιν τῆς ψυχῆς δόγμα. μετίασι γὰρ οἰκείαν τινὰ φιλοσοφίαν Αἰγύπτιοι· αὐτίκα τοῦτο ἐμφαίνει μάλιστα ἡ ἱεροπρεπὴς αὐτῶν θρῃσκεία. Πρῶτος μὲν γὰρ προέρχεται ὁ ᾠδός, ἕν τι τῶν τῆς μουσικῆς ἐπιφερόμενος συμβόλων. τοῦτόν φασι δύο βίβλους ἀνειληφέναι δεῖν ἐκ τῶν Ἑρμοῦ, ὧν θάτερον μὲν ὕμνους περιέχει θεῶν, ἐκλογισμὸν δὲ βασιλικοῦ βίου τὸ δεύτερον. Μετὰ δὲ τὸν ᾠδὸν ὁ ὡροσκόπος, ὡρολόγιόν τε μετὰ χεῖρα καὶ φοίνικα ἀστρολογίας ἔχων σύμβολα, πρόεισιν. τοῦτον τὰ ἀστρολογούμενα τῶν Ἑρμοῦ βιβλίων τέσσαρα ὄντα τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἀεὶ διὰ στόματος ἔχειν χρή, ὧν τὸ μέν ἐστι περὶ τοῦ διακόσμου τῶν ἀπλανῶν φαινομένων ἄστρων, τὸ δὲ περὶ τῆς τάξεως τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῆς σελήνης καὶ περὶ τῶν πέντε πλανωμένων, τὸ δὲ περὶ τῶν συνόδων καὶ φωτισμῶν ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν περὶ τῶν ἀνατολῶν.
English · Claude translation
We might find yet another testimony confirming that the best of the philosophers appropriated the finest of their doctrines from us and boast of them as their own: that they have culled from the other barbarians too some things that contribute to each school, above all from the Egyptians, among other things the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul. For the Egyptians pursue a philosophy of their own; their sacred worship shows this most of all. First comes the Singer, carrying one of the symbols of music. He, they say, must have learned two of the books of Hermes, one of which contains hymns to the gods and the second an account of the king's life. After the Singer comes the Horoscopus, holding in his hand a clock and a palm branch, the symbols of astrology. He must always have on his lips the astrological books of Hermes, four in number: one about the arrangement of the fixed stars that appear, one about the order of the sun and moon and the five planets, one about the conjunctions and illuminations of the sun and moon, and the last about their risings.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The “books of Hermes” are Egyptian priestly books ascribed to Thoth-Hermes.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.4.35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/4/35/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.4.35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/4/35/).
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