Miscellanies 1.14.60
Summary: The Greek sages lived after Moses, and their brief, riddling style resembles the Hebrew; “Know yourself,” variously attributed, urges us to seek knowledge of the whole, including the origin of the world.
Greek text · Stählin 2:38
ὡς μὲν οὖν κάτω που τῆς Μωυσέως ἡλικίας οἱ παρʼ Ἕλλησι σοφοὶ γεγόνασι, μικρὸν ὕστερον δειχθήσεται· ὁ δὲ τρόπος τῆς παρʼ αὐτοῖς φιλοσοφίας, ὡς Ἑβραϊκὸς καὶ αἰνιγματώδης, ἤδη ἐπισκεπτέος. βραχυλογίαν γοῦν ἠσπάζοντο τὴν παραινετικήν, τὴν ὠφελιμωτάτην. αὐτίκα Πλάτων πάλαι τὸ διὰ σπουδῆς γεγονέναι τόνδε τὸν τρόπον λέγει, κοινῶς μὲν πᾶσιν Ἕλλησιν, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ Κρησὶ τοῖς εὐνομωτάτοις. Τὸ μὲν οὖν γνῶθι σαυτὸν οἳ μὲν Χίλωνος ὑπειλήφασι, Χαμαιλέων δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ θεῶν Θαλοῦ, Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ τῆς Πυθίας. δύναται δὲ τὴν γνῶσιν ἐγκελεύεσθαι μεταδιώκειν. οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ ἄνευ τῆς τῶν ὅλων οὐσίας εἰδέναι τὰ μέρη· δεῖ δὴ τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ κόσμου πολυπραγμονῆσαι, διʼ ἧς καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσιν καταμαθεῖν ἐξέσται.
English · Claude translation
That the wise men of the Greeks lived somewhat later than the age of Moses will be shown a little later. But the manner of their philosophy, as Hebrew and enigmatic, must be examined now. They welcomed a brevity of exhortation, the most useful. Thus Plato says that this manner was pursued of old, by all Greeks in common, but especially by the Spartans and Cretans, the best governed. “Know yourself” some have supposed to be Chilon's, Chamaeleon in his work On the Gods attributes it to Thales, and Aristotle to the Pythia. It can exhort us to pursue knowledge. For it is not possible to know the parts without the substance of the whole; one must investigate the origin of the world, through which one can also learn the nature of man.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Plato, Protagoras 342a–343b.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (words repeated in the digital text): δύναται δὲ τὴν δὲ τὴν γνῶσιν → δύναται δὲ τὴν γνῶσιν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.14.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/14/60/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.14.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/14/60/).
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