Miscellanies 7.11.65
Summary: The one who knows fears nothing but evil; death, disease, poverty, and disgrace are not truly evils, and he plays well whatever part God gives him in the drama of life.
Greek text · Stählin 2
ὁ τοιοῦτος ἄρα κατεξανίσταται παντὸς φόβου, παντὸς δεινοῦ, οὐ μόνον θανάτου, ἀλλὰ καὶ πενίας καὶ νόσου ἀδοξίας τε καὶ τῶν ὅσα τούτοις συγγενῆ, ἀήττητος ἡδονῇ γενόμενος καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ἐπιθυμιῶν κύριος. εὖ γὰρ οἶδεν τὰ ποιητέα καὶ μή, ἐγνωκὼς κατὰ κράτος τά τε τῷ ὄντι δεινὰ καὶ τὰ μή. ὅθεν ἐπιστημόνως ὑφίσταται ἃ δεῖν καὶ προσήκειν αὐτῷ ὁ λόγος ὑπαγορεύει, διακρίνων ἐπιστημόνως τὰ τῷ ὄντι θαρραλέα (τουτέστι τὰ ἀγαθὰ) ἀπὸ τῶν φαινομένων καὶ τὰ φοβερὰ ἀπὸ τῶν δοκούντων, οἷον θανάτου καὶ νόσου καὶ πενίας, ἅπερ δόξης μᾶλλον ἢ ἀληθείας ἔχεται. οὗτος ὁ τῷ ὄντι ἀγαθὸς ἀνὴρ ὁ ἔξω τῶν παθῶν, κατὰ τὴν ἕξιν ἢ διάθεσιν τῆς ἐναρέτου ψυχῆς ὑπερβὰς ὅλον τὸν ἐμπαθῆ βίον. τούτῳ »πάντα εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀνήρτηται« πρὸς τὴν τοῦ τέλους κτῆσιν. τὰ μὲν γὰρ λεγόμενα τυχηρὰ δεινά, ταῦτα τῷ σπουδαίῳ οὐ φοβερά, ὅτι μὴ κακά, τὰ δὲ τῷ ὄντι δεινὰ ἀλλότρια Χριστιανοῦ τοῦ γνωστικοῦ ἐκ διαμέτρου χωροῦντα τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς, ἐπειδὴ κακά, καὶ ἀμήχανον ἅμα τῷ αὐτῷ τὰ ἐναντία κατὰ ταὐτὸν καὶ πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν ἀπαντᾶν χρόνον. ἀμεμφῶς τοίνυν »ὑποκρινόμενος τὸ δρᾶμα τοῦ βίου«, ὅπερ ἂν ὁ θεὸς ἀγωνίσασθαι παράσχῃ, τά τε πρακτέα τά τε ὑπομενετέα γνωρίζει.
English · Claude translation
Such a person, then, rises above every fear and every terror, not only of death but also of poverty, disease, disgrace, and all that is akin to these, having become unconquered by pleasure and master of irrational desires. For he knows well what is to be done and what is not, having thoroughly learned what is truly fearful and what is not. Hence he endures, with understanding, what reason dictates to him as necessary and fitting, distinguishing with understanding what truly calls for confidence (that is, the good things) from what only appears to, and what is fearful from what only seems so, such as death, disease, and poverty, which belong to opinion rather than to truth. This is the truly good man, the one who is outside the passions, who by the settled disposition of his virtuous soul has passed beyond the whole life of passion. For him “everything depends on himself” for the attainment of the end. What are called the terrors of fortune are not frightening to the good man, since they are not evils; while what is truly fearful is foreign to the Christian who knows, being diametrically opposed to what is good, since it is evil, and opposites cannot meet in the same person at the same time and in the same respect. Blamelessly, then, “playing the drama of life” that God gives him to perform, he recognizes both what must be done and what must be endured.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Everything depends on himself” quotes Plato, Menexenus 247e–248a. “Playing the drama of life” is a common Stoic and Cynic image; its exact source is uncertain.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): νόσου καὶ πενίας. ἅπερ → νόσου καὶ πενίας, ἅπερ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.11.65 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/11/65/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.11.65 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/11/65/).
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