Miscellanies 6.4.37 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The Prophet, head of the temple, closes the procession; forty-two books of Hermes hold the whole Egyptian philosophy, thirty-six learned by the priests and six medical books by the Pastophori.

Greek text · Stählin 2:449–450

Ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ ὁ προφήτης ἔξεισι, προφανὲς τὸ ὑδρεῖον ἐγκεκολπισμένος, ᾧ ἕπονται οἱ τὴν ἔκπεμψιν τῶν ἄρτων βαστάζοντες. οὗτος, ὡς ἂν προστάτης τοῦ ἱεροῦ, τὰ ἱερατικὰ καλούμενα δέκα βιβλία ἐκμανθάνει (περιέχει δὲ περί τε νόμων καὶ θεῶν καὶ τῆς ὅλης παιδείας τῶν ἱερέων)· ὁ γάρ τοι προφήτης παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ τῆς διανομῆς τῶν προσόδων ἐπιστάτης ἐστίν. Δύο μὲν οὖν καὶ τεσσαράκοντα αἱ πάνυ ἀναγκαῖαι τῷ Ἑρμῇ γεγόνασι βίβλοι· ὧν τὰς μὲν τριάκοντα ἓξ τὴν πᾶσαν Αἰγυπτίων περιεχούσας φιλοσοφίαν οἱ προειρημένοι ἐκμανθάνουσι, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς ἓξ οἱ παστοφόροι ἰατρικὰς οὔσας περί τε τῆς τοῦ σώματος κατασκευῆς καὶ περὶ νόσων καὶ περὶ ὀργάνων καὶ φαρμάκων καὶ περὶ ὀφθαλμιῶν καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον περὶ τῶν γυναικείων.

English · Claude translation

Last of all the Prophet comes out, holding the water jar in plain view in his bosom; he is followed by those who carry the loaves set forth. He, as head of the temple, learns thoroughly the ten books called priestly (they contain matters concerning the laws, the gods, and the whole training of the priests); for among the Egyptians the prophet is also overseer of the distribution of the revenues. There are, then, forty-two books of Hermes that are absolutely necessary; of these, the thirty-six that contain the whole philosophy of the Egyptians are learned by those already mentioned, and the remaining six, which are medical, by the Pastophori: about the structure of the body, about diseases, about instruments, about drugs, about diseases of the eyes, and the last about women's conditions.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:449–450 · 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.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.4.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/4/37/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.4.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/4/37/).