Miscellanies 1.15.72
Summary: Scythians, Hyperboreans, and German prophetesses had their sages, but the Jews are by far the oldest; Philo, Aristobulus, and Megasthenes show that their philosophy preceded the Greeks'.
Greek text · Stählin 2:46
Σκύθης δὲ καὶ Ἀνάχαρσις ἦν, καὶ πολλῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι διαφέρων οὗτος ἀναγράφεται φιλοσόφων. τοὺς δὲ Ὑπερβορέους Ἑλλάνικος ὑπὲρ τὰ Ῥίπαια ὄρη οἰκεῖν ἱστορεῖ, διδάσκεσθαι δὲ αὐτοὺς δικαιοσύνην μὴ κρεοφαγοῦντας, ἀλλʼ ἀκροδρύοις χρωμένους. τοὺς ἑξηκονταετεῖς οὗτοι ἔξω πυλῶν ἄγοντες ἀφανίζουσιν. εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ παρὰ Γερμανοῖς αἱ ἱεραὶ καλούμεναι γυναῖκες, αἳ ποταμῶν δίναις προσβλέπουσαι καὶ ῥευμάτων ἑλιγμοῖς καὶ ψόφοις τεκμαίρονται καὶ προθεσπίζουσι τὰ μέλλοντα. αὗται γοῦν οὐκ εἴασαν αὐτοὺς τὴν μάχην θέσθαι πρὸς Καίσαρα πρὶν ἐπιλάμψαι σελήνην τὴν νέαν. τούτων ἁπάντων πρεσβύτατον μακρῷ τὸ Ἰουδαίων γένος, καὶ τὴν παρʼ αὐτοῖς φιλοσοφίαν ἔγγραπτον γενομένην προκατάρξαι τῆς παρʼ Ἕλλησι φιλοσοφίας διὰ πολλῶν ὁ Πυθαγόρειος ὑποδείκνυσι Φίλων, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἀριστόβουλος ὁ Περιπατητικὸς καὶ ἄλλοι πλείους, ἵνα μὴ κατʼ ὄνομα ἐπιὼν διατρίβω. φανερώτατα δὲ Μεγασθένης ὁ συγγραφεὺς ὁ Σελεύκῳ τῷ Νικάτορι συμβεβιωκὼς ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ τῶν Ἰνδικῶν ὧδε γράφει· ἅπαντα μέντοι τὰ περὶ φύσεως εἰρημένα παρὰ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις λέγεται καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἔξω τῆς Ἑλλάδος φιλοσοφοῦσι, τὰ μὲν παρʼ Ἰνδοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν Βραχμάνων, τὰ δὲ ἐν τῇ Συρίᾳ ὑπὸ τῶν καλουμένων Ἰουδαίων.
English · Claude translation
Anacharsis too was a Scythian, and he is recorded as surpassing many philosophers among the Greeks. Hellanicus relates that the Hyperboreans live beyond the Rhipaean mountains and are taught righteousness, not eating meat but using fruits. They lead those who are sixty years old outside the gates and put them away. Among the Germans too there are the so-called holy women, who, looking at the eddies of rivers and judging by the windings and sounds of the streams, foretell the future. These at any rate did not let them join battle with Caesar before the new moon had shone. Far the oldest of all these is the race of the Jews, and Philo the Pythagorean shows at length that their philosophy, written down, preceded the philosophy of the Greeks; so does Aristobulus the Peripatetic, and many others, so that I need not go through them by name. Most clearly, Megasthenes the historian, who lived with Seleucus Nicator, writes thus in the third book of his Indica: “All that was said about nature by the ancients is said also by those who philosophize outside Greece, some among the Indians by the Brahmins, others in Syria by those called Jews.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Caesar, Gallic War 1.50. Aristobulus was a Jewish writer of the second century BC; Megasthenes was an envoy to India about 300 BC.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): καὶ ἄλλοι πλείους. ἵνα μὴ → καὶ ἄλλοι πλείους, ἵνα μὴ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.15.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/15/72/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.15.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/15/72/).
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