Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 11.4
Summary: Renouncing wealth is not new: pagan philosophers did it for leisure or fame.
Greek text · Stählin 3:167
αἰώνιον) οὔτε καινὸν τὸ ἀπείπασθαι πλοῦτον καὶ χαρίσασθαι πτωχοῖς ἢ πατρίσιν, ὃ πολλοὶ πρὸ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος καθόδου πεποιήκασιν, οἳ μὲν τῆς εἰς λόγους σχολῆς καὶ νεκρᾶς σοφίας ἕνεκεν. οἳ δὲ φήμης κενῆς καὶ κενοδοξίας, Ἀναξαγόραι καὶ Δημόκριτοι καὶ Κράτητες.
English · Claude translation
simply because they are utterly without resources and means of life and short of the smallest necessities.) Nor is it new to renounce wealth and give it to the poor or to one's country, which many did before the Savior's coming, some for the sake of leisure for letters and dead wisdom, others for empty fame and vainglory: men like Anaxagoras, Democritus, and Crates.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Greek text of this section's first words belongs to the sentence begun in 11.3; the order of clauses is adjusted in English. Anaxagoras, Democritus, and Crates were Greek philosophers remembered for giving up their property.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent on οἳ): οἵ δὲ φήμης κενῆς → οἳ δὲ φήμης κενῆς.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 11.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/11/4/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 11.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/11/4/).
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