Miscellanies 8.2.4
Summary: A claim must be confirmed from something all agree on, or it leads to an endless regress; so a term should be defined clearly, as “the sun” is better defined as the brightest heavenly body than by the Stoics' obscure formula.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Ἐπεὶ δʼ οὐκ ἀρκεῖ τοῦτο μόνον ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν περὶ τοῦ ζητουμένου τὸ δόξαν (ἔξεστι γὰρ καὶ τὸν ἀντικαθιστάμενον ἐπʼ ἴσης ἀνταποφήνασθαι ὃ βούλεται), ἀλλὰ πιστώσασθαι χρὴ τὸ λεχθέν. εἰ μὲν εἰς ὁμοίως ἀμφισβητούμενον ἀναφέροιτο αὐτοῦ ἡ κρίσις κἀκείνου πάλιν ὁμοίως εἰς ἀμφισβητούμενον ἕτερον, εἰς ἄπειρον προβήσεται καὶ ἀναπόδεικτον ἔσται, εἰ δʼ εἰς ὁμολογούμενον ἅπασιν ἡ τοῦ μὴ ὁμολογουμένου πίστις ἀναφέροιτο. ἐκεῖνο τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς διδασκαλίας ποιητέον. πᾶν οὖν τὸ προβληθὲν ὄνομα μεταλαμβάνειν χρὴ εἰς λόγον ὁμολογούμενόν τε καὶ σαφῆ τοῖς κοινωνοῦσι τῆς σκέψεως, ἀρχὴν μὲν τῆς διδασκαλίας ἐσόμενον. ἐξηγησόμενον δὲ τὴν τῶν ζητουμένων εὕρεσιν. φέρε οὖν προβεβλήσθω ὁ ἥλιος τοὔνομα. φασὶν οὖν οἱ Στωϊκοὶ τοῦτʼ εἶναι »ἄναμμα νοερὸν ἐκ θαλαττίων ὑδάτων«. ἆρʼ οὐκ ἀσαφέστερος ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὀνόματος. ἄλλης ἀποδείξεως δεόμενος εἰ ἀληθής ἐστιν; ἄμεινον οὖν εἰπεῖν κοινῷ καὶ σαφεῖ τῷ λόγῳ ἥλιον ὀνομάζεσθαι »τὸ λαμπρότατον τῶν κατʼ οὐρανὸν ἰόντων«· πιστότερος γάρ. οἶμαι, καὶ σαφέστερος καὶ πᾶσιν ὁμοίως ὁμολογούμενος ὁ λόγος οὗτος.
English · Claude translation
But since it is not enough simply to state one's opinion about what is under inquiry (for the opponent may equally declare in reply whatever he wishes), what is said must be confirmed. If its judgment is referred to something equally disputed, and that again likewise to another disputed thing, it will go on to infinity and be undemonstrable; but if the confirmation of what is not agreed is referred to something agreed by all, that must be made the starting point of the teaching. Every term put forward, then, must be translated into an account that is agreed and clear to those who share in the inquiry, which will be the beginning of the teaching and will guide the discovery of what is sought. Let the name “sun,” then, be put forward. The Stoics say that it is “an intelligent kindling from the waters of the sea.” Is not this account more obscure than the name itself, needing another demonstration to show whether it is true? It is better, then, to say in a common and clear account that the sun is so named as “the brightest of the bodies that move in the heavens”; for this account, I think, is more credible and clearer, and agreed by all alike.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Stoic definition of the sun is a known Stoic formula (not further identified here). The second definition, “the brightest of the bodies that move in the heavens,” is of uncertain source.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/2/4/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/2/4/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text