Miscellanies 1.15.70
Summary: Pythagoras is said to have studied with an Assyrian sage and with Galatians and Brahmins; a Jew associated with Aristotle; stories of the Sibyl's origin and continued prophecy are reported.
Greek text · Stählin 2:44–45
Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ Πυθαγορικῶν συμβόλων Ζαράτῳ τῷ Ἀσσυρίῳ μαθητεῦσαι ἱστορεῖ τὸν Πυθαγόραν (Ἰεζεκιὴλ τοῦτον ἡγοῦνταί τινες, οὐκ ἔστι δέ, ὡς ἔπειτα δηλωθήσεται), ἀκηκοέναι τε πρὸς τούτοις Γαλατῶν καὶ Βραχμάνων τὸν Πυθαγόραν βούλεται. Κλέαρχος δὲ ὁ Περιπατητικὸς εἰδέναι φησί τινα Ἰουδαῖον, ὃς Ἀριστοτέλει συνεγένετο. Ἡράκλειτος γὰρ οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνως φησίν, ἀλλὰ σὺν θεῷ τὸ μέλλον Σιβύλλῃ πεφάνθαι. φασὶ γοῦν ἐν Δελφοῖς παρὰ τὸ βουλευτήριον δείκνυσθαι πέτραν τινά, ἐφʼ ἧς λέγεται καθίζεσθαι τὴν πρώτην Σίβυλλαν ἐκ τοῦ Ἑλικῶνος παραγενομένην ὑπὸ τῶν Μουσῶν τραφεῖσαν. ἔνιοι δέ φασιν ἐκ Μαλιέων ἀφικέσθαι Λαμίας οὖσαν θυγατέρα τῆς Ποσειδῶνος. Σαραπίων δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσι μηδὲ ἀποθανοῦσαν λῆξαι μαντικῆς φησι τὴν Σίβυλλαν, καὶ τὸ μὲν εἰς ἀέρα χωρῆσαν αὐτῆς μετὰ τελευτήν, τοῦτʼ εἶναι τὸ ἐν φήμαις καὶ κληδόσι μαντευόμενον, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ εἰς γῆν μεταβαλόντος σώματος πόας ὡς εἰκὸς ἀναφυείσης, ὅσα ἂν αὐτὴν ἐπινεμηθῇ θρέμματα κατʼ ἐκεῖνον δήπουθεν γενόμενα τὸν τόπον, ἀκριβῆ τὴν διὰ τῶν σπλάγχνων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προφαίνειν τοῦ μέλλοντος δήλωσιν γράφει, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν αὐτῆς εἶναι τὸ ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ φαινόμενον πρόσωπον οἴεται.
English · Claude translation
Alexander, in his work on the Pythagorean symbols, records that Pythagoras was a pupil of Zaratus the Assyrian (some think this is Ezekiel, but it is not, as will be shown later), and holds that Pythagoras also heard the Galatians and the Brahmins. Clearchus the Peripatetic says he knew a Jew who associated with Aristotle. And Heraclitus says that it was not by human means but with God that the future was revealed to the Sibyl. At any rate they say that at Delphi, beside the council house, a rock is shown on which the first Sibyl is said to have sat, having come from Helicon, reared by the Muses. Some say she came from the Malians, being the daughter of Lamia, daughter of Poseidon. Serapion in his verses says that the Sibyl did not cease prophesying even when she died, and that what went into the air from her after death is what prophesies in rumors and omens; and from her body, changed into earth, grass naturally sprang up, and whatever animals fed on it, born in that very place, give men an exact indication of the future through their entrails; and he thinks that her soul is the face that appears in the moon.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Heraclitus, fragment 92 (Diels–Kranz).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.15.70 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/15/70/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.15.70 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/15/70/).
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