Miscellanies 1.3.24
Summary: The Greeks themselves called busybodies sophists; of such empty talkers Scripture says God will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
Greek text · Stählin 2:15–16
ὅθεν οἱ Ἕλληνες καὶ αὐτοὶ τοὺς περὶ ὁτιοῦν πολυπράγμονας σοφοὺς ἅμα καὶ σοφιστὰς παρωνύμως κεκλήκασι. Κρατῖνος γοῦν ἐν τοῖς Ἀρχιλόχοις ποιητὰς καταλέξας ἔφη· οἷον σοφιστῶν σμῆνος ἀνεδιφήσατε. Ἰοφῶν τε ὁμοίως ὡς ὁ κωμικὸς ἐν Αὐλῳδοῖς σατύροις ἐπὶ ῥαψῳδῶν καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν λέγει· καὶ γὰρ εἰσελήλυθεν πολλῶν σοφιστῶν ὄχλος ἐξηρτυμένος. ἐπὶ τούτων καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων ὅσοι τοὺς κενοὺς μεμελετήκασι λόγους ἡ θεία γραφὴ παγκάλως λέγει· ἀπολῶ τὴν σοφίαν τῶν σοφῶν, καὶ τὴν σύνεσιν τῶν συνετῶν ἀθετήσω.
English · Claude translation
Hence the Greeks themselves have called those who busy themselves about anything both “wise” and, by a related name, “sophists.” At any rate Cratinus, in his Archilochuses, listing poets, said, “What a swarm of sophists you have stirred up!” And Iophon too, just like the comic poet, in The Flute-Singing Satyrs says of rhapsodes and some others, “For a crowd of many sophists has come in, all equipped.” About these and those like them, who have practiced empty words, divine Scripture says very finely, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will set aside.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Cratinus, fragment 2 (Kock), Iophon (a tragic poet; “the comic poet” is Cratinus), and 1 Cor 1:19 (Isa 29:14).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.3.24 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/3/24/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.3.24 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/3/24/).
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