Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.28.4 (105.4)

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:284–286

ὅσοι, φησίν, ἐπʼ ἐξουσίαν ἀχθέντες ἐξητάσθησαν καὶ οὐκ ἠρνήσαντο, ἀλλʼ ἔπαθον προθύμως, οὗτοι μᾶλλον ἐνδοξότεροί εἰσι παρὰ τῷ κυρίῳ· τούτων ὁ καρπός ἐστιν ὁ ὑπερέχων· ὅσοι δὲ δειλοὶ καὶ ἐν δισταγμῷ ἐγένοντο καὶ ἐλογίσαντο ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν, πότερον ἀρνήσονται ἢ ὁμολογήσουσι, καὶ ἔπαθον, τούτων οἱ καρποὶ ἐλάττους εἰσίν, ὅτι ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτῶν ἡ βουλὴ αὕτη· πονηρὰ γὰρ ἡ βουλὴ αὕτη, ἵνα δοῦλος κύριον ἴδιον ἀρνήσηται.

English · Claude translation

All,” he said, “who were brought before the authorities and examined and did not deny, but suffered eagerly, these are more glorious before the Lord; their fruit is the surpassing one. But all who were cowardly and hesitated, and reasoned in their hearts whether they should deny or confess, and suffered, their fruits are less, because this plan entered their heart; for this plan is evil, that a servant should deny his own Lord.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:284–286 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 138–305 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Lake, LCL 25. 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), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 25, 1913), and from the ancient Latin version where Lake prints it because the Greek is lost (from Sim. 9.30.3); 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)

Topics

Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong vowel)): ἐλογίσαντω → ἐλογίσαντο.

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 9.28.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/28/4/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 9.28.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/28/4/).