Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 18.6

Clement of Alexandria · Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? · ca. 190–210 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Since the soul lives by virtue and dies by vice, it is saved when poor in the passions wealth brings and killed when rich in them.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:171

εἰ τοίνυν ἐστὶ τὸ ζησόμενον μάλιστα καὶ πρῶτον ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ περὶ ταύτην ἀρετὴ μὲν φυομένη σῴζει, κακία δὲ θανατοῖ, δῆλον ἤδη σαφῶς ὅτι αὕτη καὶ πτωχεύουσα ὧν ἄν τις ὑπὸ πλούτου διαφθείρηται σῴζεται, καὶ πλουτοῦσα τούτων ὧν ἐπιτρίβει πλοῦτος θανατοῦται·

English · Claude translation

If, then, it is above all and first the soul that is to live, and virtue growing in it saves while vice kills, it is now clear that the soul is saved when it is poor in the things by which one is corrupted through wealth, and is killed when it is rich in the things that wealth ruins.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:171 · 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: Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 18.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/18/6/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 18.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/18/6/).

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