Miscellanies 1.16.77
Summary: Clement lists his sources on inventions; the Greeks learned from barbarians; Anacharsis the Scythian shows a philosophy of deeds, not words.
Greek text · Stählin 2:50
Σκάμων μὲν οὖν ὁ Μιτυληναῖος καὶ Θεόφραστος ὁ Ἐρέσιος Κύδιππός τε ὁ Μαντινεύς, ἔτι τε Ἀντιφάνης καὶ Ἀριστόδημος καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης, πρὸς τούτοις δὲ Φιλοστέφανος, ἀλλὰ καὶ Στράτων ὁ περιπατητικὸς ἐν τοῖς Περὶ εὑρημάτων ταῦτα ἱστόρησαν. παρεθέμην δὲ αὐτῶν ὀλίγα εἰς σύστασιν τῆς παρὰ βαρβάροις εὑρετικῆς καὶ βιωφελοῦς φύσεως, παρʼ ὧν Ἕλληνες τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα ὠφέληνται. Εἰ δέ τις τὴν φωνὴν διαβάλλει τὴν βάρβαρον, ἐμοὶ δέ, φησὶν ὁ Ἀνάχαρσις, πάντες Ἕλληνες σκυθίζουσιν. οὗτος ἦν ὁ παρʼ Ἕλλησι θαυμασθεὶς ὁ φήσας ἐμοὶ περίβλημα χλαῖνα, δεῖπνον γάλα, τυρός. ὁρᾷς φιλοσοφίαν βάρβαρον ἔργα ἐπαγγελλομένην, οὐ λόγους.
English · Claude translation
Scamon of Mitylene, Theophrastus of Eresus, Cydippus of Mantinea, and further Antiphanes, Aristodemus, and Aristotle, and besides these Philostephanus, and also Strato the Peripatetic, recorded these things in their works On Inventions. I have set out a few of them to establish the inventive and life-benefiting nature of the barbarians, from whom the Greeks have benefited in their pursuits. And if anyone disparages the barbarian tongue, “For me,” says Anacharsis, “all the Greeks speak Scythian.” He was the one admired among the Greeks who said, “My covering is a cloak, my supper milk and cheese.” You see barbarian philosophy professing deeds, not words.
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Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.16.77 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/16/77/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.16.77 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/16/77/).
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