Miscellanies 2.20.120
Summary: The law threatens fear so that we may win peace by unceasing struggle against the passions, especially pleasure, which attacks even in dreams; the Greeks, like Socrates, teach the same, so they cannot fault the law.
Greek text · Stählin 2:178
Διό μοι δοκεῖ ὁ θεῖος νόμος ἀναγκαίως τὸν φόβον ἐπαρτᾶν, ἵνʼ εὐλαβείᾳ καὶ προσοχῇ τὴν ἀμεριμνίαν ὁ φιλόσοφος κτήσηταί τε καὶ τηρήσῃ, ἀδιάπτωτός τε καὶ ἀναμάρτητος ἐν πᾶσι διαμένων. οὐ γὰρ ἄλλως εἰρήνη καὶ ἐλευθερία περιγίνεται ἢ διὰ τῆς ἀπαύστου καὶ ἀναπαυδήτου πρὸς τῶν παθῶν ἡμῶν ἀντιμαχήσεως. οὗτοι γὰρ οἱ ἀνταγωνισταὶ παχεῖς καὶ Ὀλυμπικοὶ σφηκῶν ὡς εἰπεῖν εἰσι δριμύτεροι, καὶ μάλιστα ἡ ἡδονή, οὐ μόνον μεθʼ ἡμέραν, ἀλλὰ καὶ νύκτωρ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἐνυπνίοις μετὰ γοητείας δελεαστικῶς ἐπιβουλεύουσα καὶ δάκνουσα. πῶς οὖν ἔτι δίκαιοι κατατρέχειν τοῦ νόμου Ἕλληνες, φόβῳ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἡδονὴν δουλοῦσθαι διδάσκοντες; ὁ γοῦν Σωκράτης φυλάσσεσθαι κελεύει τὰ ἀναπείθοντα μὴ πεινῶντας ἐσθίειν καὶ μὴ διψῶντας πίνειν καὶ τὰ βλέμματα καὶ τὰ φιλήματα τῶν καλῶν ὡς χαλεπώτερον σκορπίων καὶ φαλαγγίων ἰὸν ἐνιέναι πεφυκότα.
English · Claude translation
That is why it seems to me that the divine law necessarily hangs fear over us, so that by caution and attention the philosopher may acquire and keep freedom from care, remaining unfailing and sinless in all things. For peace and freedom are gained in no other way than by unceasing and untiring struggle against our passions. For these opponents, stout and Olympic, are, so to speak, sharper than wasps, and pleasure most of all, plotting and stinging enticingly with witchcraft not only by day but also by night in our very dreams. How, then, can the Greeks justly still run down the law, when they themselves teach that pleasure is enslaved by fear? Socrates, at any rate, bids us guard against what persuades us to eat when not hungry and drink when not thirsty, and against the glances and kisses of the beautiful, as by nature injecting a poison more dangerous than scorpions and spiders.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.3.6, 13 (Socrates).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misspelling in the digital text; stray comma in the digital text): πρὸς τῶν παθῶν ἡμῶν ἀντιμαχήσεις → πρὸς τῶν παθῶν ἡμῶν ἀντιμαχήσεως; καὶ μὴ διψῶντας, πίνειν → καὶ μὴ διψῶντας πίνειν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.120 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/120/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.120 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/120/).
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