Miscellanies 6.9.79 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The one who knows guides his life by the intelligible good as sailors steer by a star, enduring hardship, avoiding rashness and pleasure, and living simply, with knowledge as his first concern.

Greek text · Stählin 2:471

ἔν τε τοῖς ἐπιστημονικοῖς, μόνος ὢν ἐπιστήμων, κρατιστεύσει καὶ τὸν περὶ τἀγαθοῦ λόγον πρεσβεύσει, τοῖς νοητοῖς προσκείμενος ἀεί, ἀπʼ ἐκείνων ἄνωθεν τῶν ἀρχετύπων τὴν περὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπεια αὑτοῦ διοίκησιν ἀπογραφόμενος, καθάπερ οἱ πλοϊζόμενοι καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἄστρον τὴν ναῦν κατευθύνοντες, πρὸς πᾶσαν καθήκουσαν πρᾶξιν ἑτοίμως ἔχειν παρεσκευασμένος, πάντα τὰ ὀχληρὰ καὶ δεινὰ εἰθισμένος ὑπερορᾶν, ὅταν ὑπομεῖναι δέῃ, μηδὲν προπετὲς μηδὲ ἀσύμφωνον μήτε αὑτῷ μήτε τοῖς κοινοῖς ποτε ἐπιτελῶν, προορατικὸς ὢν καὶ ἄκαμπτος ἡδοναῖς ταῖς τε ὕπαρ ταῖς τε διʼ ὀνειράτων· διαίτῃ γὰρ λιτῇ καὶ αὐταρκείᾳ συνειθισμένος σωφρονικῶς, εὐσταλὴς μετὰ σεμνότητος ὑπάρχει, ὀλίγων τῶν ἀναγκαίων πρὸς τὸ διαζῆν δεόμενος, μηδὲν περιττὸν πραγματευόμενος, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ταῦτα ὡς προηγούμενα, ἐκ δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὸν βίον κοινωνίας ὡς ἀναγκαῖα τῇ τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπιδημίᾳ, εἰς ὅσον ἀνάγκη, προσιέμενος· προηγουμένη γὰρ αὐτῷ ἡ γνῶσις.

English · Claude translation

And in matters of understanding, being alone truly understanding, he will excel and will champion the account of the good, always devoted to intelligible things, copying from those archetypes above his management of human affairs, as sailors steer the ship by the star; ready and prepared for every fitting action; accustomed to disregard all that is troublesome and terrible when he must endure it; never doing anything rash or out of harmony either for himself or for the community; foreseeing, and unbending to pleasures, whether waking or in dreams. For, accustomed with self-restraint to a frugal diet and self-sufficiency, he is simple and dignified, needing few necessities for living, busying himself with nothing superfluous; and even these he does not treat as primary, but accepts them, as far as necessary, from the fellowship of life, as needed for his sojourn in the flesh. For knowledge is primary for him.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:471 · 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.

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.9.79 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/9/79/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.9.79 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/9/79/).