Prophetic Extracts 27.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Speech flows quickly; writing is tested by readers and preserves teaching for later generations.

Greek text · Stählin 3:144–145

τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀκωλύτως καὶ μετὰ ῥύμης φέρεται ῥεῦμα τοῦ λέγοντος, καί που τάχα καὶ συναρπάσαι δυνάμενον, τὸ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ἑκάστοτε βασανιζόμενον, ἀκριβοῦς τῆς ἐξετάσεως τυγχάνον, ἄκρας καὶ τῆς ἐπιμελείας ἀξιοῦται, καὶ ἔστιν οἷον εἰπεῖν ἔγγραφος διδασκαλίας βεβαίωσις, καὶ εἰς τοὺς ὀψιγόνους οὕτως διὰ τῆς συντάξεως παραπεμπομένης τῆς φωνῆς.

English · Claude translation

For the speaker's stream flows unhindered and with force, and may perhaps even carry the hearer away; but writing, tested every time by its readers, receiving exact examination, is thought worthy of the highest care, and is, so to speak, the written confirmation of teaching, the voice being passed on in this way through composition to later generations.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 3:144–145 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Topics

Scripture and canon

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 27.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/27/3/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 27.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/27/3/).