Miscellanies 2.20.108
Summary: Pleasure, grief, fear, and desire require hard training; pleasure nails the soul to the body; losing one's life for Christ, whether in martyrdom or by separating the soul from pleasure, is the meaning of the cross.
Greek text · Stählin 2:172
ὅθεν ὡς ἔλεγεν Ἀρίστων πρὸς ὅλον τὸ τετράχορδον, ἡδονήν, λύπην, φόβον, ἐπιθυμίαν, πολλῆς δεῖ τῆς ἀσκήσεως καὶ μάχης, οὗτοι γάρ, οὗτοι καὶ σπλάγχνων ἔσω χωροῦσι καὶ κυκῶσιν ἀνθρώπων κέαρ. καὶ γὰρ τῶν σεμνῶν οἰομένων εἶναι τοὺς θυμοὺς ἡ ἡδονὴ κηρίνους ποιεῖ κατὰ Πλάτωνα, ὅτι ἑκάστη ἡδονή τε καὶ λύπη προσπασσαλοῖ τῷ σώματι τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ τε μὴ ἀφορίζοντος καὶ ἀποσταυροῦντος ἑαυτὸν τῶν παθῶν. ὁ ἀπολέσας τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, φησὶν ὁ κύριος, σώσει αὐτήν, ἤτοι ῥιψοκινδύνως ὑπὲρ τοῦ σωτῆρος αὐτὴν ἐπιδιδούς, ὡς αὐτὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πεποίηκεν, ἢ ἀπολύσας αὐτὴν ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὸν συνήθη βίον κοινωνίας. ἐὰν γὰρ ἀπολῦσαι καὶ ἀποστῆσαι καὶ ἀφορίσαι (τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ σταυρὸς σημαίνει) τὴν ψυχὴν ἐθελήσῃς τῆς ἐν τούτῳ τῷ ζῆν τέρψεώς τε καὶ ἡδονῆς, ἕξεις αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ ἐλπίδι τῇ προσδοκωμένῃ εὑρημένην καὶ ἀναπεπαυμένην.
English · Claude translation
Hence, as Ariston said, against the whole tetrachord, pleasure, grief, fear, desire, there is need of much training and fighting; “for these, these go within the entrails and stir up the heart of men.” For pleasure makes wax of the spirits even of those who think themselves serious, according to Plato, because each pleasure and pain nails the soul to the body of the one who does not separate and crucify himself from the passions. “He who loses his life,” says the Lord, “will save it,” either by giving it up at risk for the Savior, as he himself has done for us, or by releasing it from its fellowship with ordinary life. For if you are willing to release, withdraw, and separate (for this is what the cross signifies) your soul from the delight and pleasure of this life, you will have it found and at rest in the expected hope.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ariston of Chios, an unknown poet, Plato, Laws 1.633d and Phaedo 83d, and Matt 10:39 (16:25).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.108 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/108/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.108 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/108/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text