Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 6.7.56

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The philosophers, knowing nothing beyond this world, imitate the truth as a painter creates an illusion of depth; self-love, the root of all sin, must give way to love of God.

Greek text · Stählin 2:460

πλέον γοῦν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου οὐκ ἴσασιν οὐδέν. καὶ μὴν ὡς ἡ γεωμετρία περὶ μέτρα καὶ μεγέθη καὶ σχήματα πραγματευομένη διὰ τῆς ἐν τοῖς ἐπιπέδοις καταγραφῆς ἥ τε ζωγραφία τὸν ὀπτικὸν ὅλον τόπον ἐπὶ τῶν σκηνογραφουμένων φαίνεται παραλαμβάνουσα, ταύτῃ δὲ ψευδογραφεῖ τὴν ὄψιν, τοῖς κατὰ προσβολὴν τῶν ὀπτικῶν γραμμῶν σημείοις χρωμένη κατὰ τὸ τεχνικόν (ἐντεῦθεν ἐπιφάσεις καὶ ὑποφάσεις καὶ φάσεις σῴζονται, καὶ τὰ μὲν δοκεῖ προὔχειν, τὰ δὲ εἰσέχειν, τὰ δʼ ἄλλως πως φαντάζεσθαι ἐν τῷ ὁμαλῷ καὶ λείῳ), οὕτω δὲ καὶ οἱ φιλόσοφοι ζωγραφίας δίκην ἀπομιμοῦνται τὴν ἀλήθειαν. φιλαυτία δὲ πάντων ἁμαρτημάτων αἰτία ἑκάστοις ἑκάστοτε. διόπερ οὐ χρὴ τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους δόξαν αἱρούμενον φίλαυτον εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τὸν θεὸν ἀγαπῶντα τῷ ὄντι ὅσιον μετὰ φρονήσεως γίνεσθαι.

English · Claude translation

At any rate they know nothing beyond this world. And indeed, just as geometry, dealing with measures, magnitudes, and figures by drawing on flat surfaces, and painting, which appears to take in the whole field of vision in scene-painting but in doing so deceives the sight, using by its technique points placed according to the incidence of the lines of sight (hence appearances of projection, recession, and aspect are preserved, and some things seem to stand out, others to recede, and others to appear in some other way on a flat and smooth surface), so too the philosophers imitate the truth after the manner of painting. Self-love is the cause of all sins for each person on each occasion. Therefore one must not be a lover of self, choosing the glory that comes from men, but, loving God, must become truly holy, with prudence.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:460 · 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
  • Plato, Laws 5.731e (Plato (works)) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The saying that self-love is the cause of all sins is from Plato, Laws 5.731e.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.7.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/7/56/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.7.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/7/56/).

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