Exhortation to the Greeks 12.121

Greek text · Stählin 1:85

ἐστιν.« σπεύσωμεν, δράμωμεν, ὦ θεοφιλῆ καὶ θεοείκελα τοῦ λόγου [ἄνθρωποι] ἀγάλματα· σπεύσωμεν, δράμωμεν, ἄρωμεν τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτοῦ, ἐπιβάλωμεν ἀφθαρσίᾳ, καλὸν ἡνίοχον ἀνθρώπων τὸν Χριστὸν ἀγαπήσωμεν· τὸν πῶλον ὑποζύγιον ἤγαγε σὺν τῷ παλαιῷ· καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν συνωρίδα καταζεύξας, εἰς ἀθανασίαν κατιθύνει τὸ ἅρμα, σπεύδων πρὸς τὸν θεὸν πληρῶσαι ἐναργῶς ὃ ᾐνίξατο, πρότερον μὲν εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ, νῦν δὲ εἰσελαύνων οὐρανούς, κάλλιστον θέαμα τῷ πατρὶ υἱὸς ἀίδιος νικηφόρος. φιλότιμοι τοίνυν πρὸς τὰ καλὰ καὶ θεοφιλεῖς ἄνθρωποι γενώμεθα, καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὰ μέγιστα, θεὸν καὶ ζωήν, κτησώμεθα. ἀρωγὸς δὲ ὁ λόγος· θαρρῶμεν αὐτῷ καὶ μή ποτε ἡμᾶς τοσοῦτος ἀργύρου καὶ χρυσοῦ, μὴ δόξης ἐπέλθῃ πόθος, ὅσος αὐτοῦ τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγου.

English · Claude translation

Let us hasten, let us run, you God-beloved and godlike images of the Word; let us hasten, let us run, let us take up his yoke, let us mount toward incorruption; let us love Christ, the good charioteer of human beings. He led the colt under the yoke together with the old one; and having yoked the pair of human beings, he guides the chariot to immortality, hastening to God to fulfill plainly what he signified in a figure, formerly driving into Jerusalem, but now into the heavens: a most beautiful sight for the Father, the eternal, victorious Son. Let us then be ambitious for what is good, and become men beloved by God, and acquire the greatest of good things, God and life. The Word is our helper; let us take courage in him, and may no desire for silver and gold, nor for glory, ever come upon us so strongly as the desire for the Word of truth himself.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 1:85 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), 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), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); made independently of existing English translations.

Scripture

Matt 11:29 · allusion, high confidence
Matt 21:2 · allusion, high confidence
Matt 21:7 · allusion, high confidence
Zech 9:9 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Christology

Notes

Translation notes

The colt and the old donkey (Matt 21:2–7; Zech 9:9) were read allegorically: the colt as the Gentiles, newly yoked, and the old donkey as Israel. The bracketed word is marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (iota subscript missing): σὺν τῶ παλαιῷ → σὺν τῷ παλαιῷ.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 12.121 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/12/121/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 12.121 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/12/121/).