Miscellanies 2.20.122 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:179

Πάντες δὴ οὗτοι οὐκ αἰσχύνονται σαφῶς ὁμολογεῖν τὴν ἐκ τῆς εὐλαβείας ὠφέλειαν· ἡ δὲ ἀληθὴς καὶ οὐκ ἄλογος σοφία οὐ λόγοις ψιλοῖς καὶ θεσπίσμασι πεποιθυῖα, ἀλλὰ σκεπαστηρίοις ἀτρώτοις καὶ μυστηρίοις δραστικοῖς, ταῖς θείαις ἐντολαῖς, συγγυμνασίᾳ τε καὶ συνασκήσει μελετῶσα, δύναμιν θείαν κατὰ τὸ ἐμπνεόμενον μέρος αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου λαμβάνει. ἤδη γοῦν καὶ τοῦ ποιητικοῦ Διὸς τὴν αἰγίδα γράφουσι δεινήν, ἣν πέρι μὲν πάντῃ φόβος ἐστεφάνωται, ἐν δʼ Ἔρις, ἐν δʼ Ἀλκή, ἐν δὲ κρυόεσσα Ἰωκή· ἐν δέ τε Γοργείη κεφαλὴ δεινοῖο πελώρου, δεινή τε σμερδνή τε, Διὸς τέρας αἰγιόχοιο.

English · Claude translation

All these, then, are not ashamed to confess plainly the benefit of caution. But true and not irrational wisdom, trusting not in bare words and oracles but in invulnerable defenses and effective mysteries, the divine commandments, practicing in training and exercise together with them, receives divine power in the part of it inspired by the Word. Indeed they even describe the aegis of the poets' Zeus as terrible: “around which Fear is set as a crown on every side, and in it is Strife, in it Strength, in it chilling Pursuit; and in it the Gorgon's head of the dread monster, dread and terrible, a portent of aegis-bearing Zeus.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:179 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Extrabiblical texts

Homer, Il. 5.739–742 (Homer, Iliad) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

The quotation is Homer, Iliad 5.739–742.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (breathing missing on ἀληθὴς; misreading in the digital text (λόγοις)): ἡ δὲ άληθὴς καὶ οὐκ ἄλογος → ἡ δὲ ἀληθὴς καὶ οὐκ ἄλογος; οὐ λόγιος ψιλοῖς → οὐ λόγοις ψιλοῖς.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.122 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/122/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.122 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/122/).