Miscellanies 2.22.133
Summary: Plato calls the self-restrained God's friend and happiness flight from evil into likeness to God; Speusippus, Xenocrates, and Polemon give their definitions of happiness.
Greek text · Stählin 2:186–187
καὶ κατὰ τοῦτον δὴ τὸν λόγον ὁ μὲν σώφρων ἡμῶν θεῷ φίλος, ὅμοιος γάρ, ὅ τε μὴ σώφρων ἀνόμοιός τε καὶ διάφορος. τοῦτο ἀρχαῖον εἶναι φήσας τὸ δόγμα τὴν ἐκ τοῦ νόμου εἰς αὐτὸν ἥκουσαν διδασκαλίαν ᾐνίξατο. κἀν τῷ Θεαιτήτῳ τὰ κακὰ ἀμφὶ τὴν θνητὴν φύσιν καὶ τόνδε τὸν τόπον περιπολεῖν ἐξ ἀνάγκης δοὺς ἐπιφέρει· διὸ καὶ πειρᾶσθαι χρὴ ἐνθένδε ἐκεῖσε φεύγειν ὅτι τάχιστα· φυγὴ δὲ ὁμοίωσις θεῷ κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν· ὁμοίωσις δὲ δίκαιον καὶ ὅσιον μετὰ φρονήσεως γενέσθαι. Σπεύσιππός τε ὁ Πλάτωνος ἀδελφιδοῦς τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν φησὶν ἕξιν εἶναι τελείαν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ φύσιν ἔχουσιν ἢ ἕξιν ἀγαθῶν, ἧς δὴ καταστάσεως ἅπαντας μὲν ἀνθρώπους ὄρεξιν ἔχειν, στοχάζεσθαι δὲ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς τῆς ἀοχλησίας. εἶεν δʼ ἂν αἱ ἀρεταὶ τῆς εὐδαιμονίας ἀπεργαστικαί. Ξενοκράτης τε ὁ Καλχηδόνιος τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ἀποδίδωσι κτῆσιν τῆς οἰκείας ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς ὑπηρετικῆς αὐτῇ δυνάμεως. εἶτα ὡς μὲν ἐν ᾧ γίνεται, φαίνεται λέγων τὴν ψυχήν· ὡς δʼ ὑφʼ ὧν, τὰς ἀρετάς· ὡς δʼ ἐξ ὧν ὡς μερῶν, τὰς καλὰς πράξεις καὶ τὰς σπουδαίας ἕξεις τε καὶ διαθέσεις καὶ κινήσεις καὶ σχέσεις· ὡς δʼ ὧν οὐκ ἄνευ, τὰ σωματικὰ καὶ τὰ ἐκτός. ὁ γὰρ Ξενοκράτους γνώριμος Πολέμων φαίνεται τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν αὐτάρκειαν εἶναι βουλόμενος ἀγαθῶν πάντων, ἢ τῶν πλείστων καὶ μεγίστων. δογματίζει γοῦν χωρὶς μὲν ἀρετῆς μηδέποτε ἂν εὐδαιμονίαν ὑπάρχειν, δίχα δὲ καὶ τῶν σωματικῶν καὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτάρκη πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν εἶναι.
English · Claude translation
“And according to this reasoning the self-restrained among us is a friend of God, for he is like him; while the one who is not self-restrained is unlike and different.” By saying that this doctrine is ancient, he hinted at the teaching that had come to him from the law. And in the Theaetetus, granting that evils necessarily haunt mortal nature and this place, he adds: “That is why we must try to flee from here to there as quickly as possible; and flight is likeness to God as far as possible; and likeness is to become just and holy with prudence.” And Speusippus, Plato's nephew, says that happiness is a perfect state in things according to nature, or a state of good things; a condition all men desire, while the good aim at freedom from disturbance; and the virtues would be productive of happiness. Xenocrates of Chalcedon defines happiness as the possession of one's proper virtue and of the power that serves it. Then he clearly says that that in which it arises is the soul; that by which, the virtues; that from which, as parts, noble actions and good states, dispositions, motions, and relations; that without which it cannot be, bodily and external things. And Polemon, Xenocrates' pupil, seems to wish happiness to be self-sufficiency in all goods, or in the most and greatest. He teaches, at any rate, that there could never be happiness without virtue, and that virtue, even without bodily and external goods, is sufficient for happiness.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Plato, Laws 4.716d, and Theaetetus 176a–b.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on τὸ): τοῦτο ἀρχαῖον εἶναι φήσας τό δόγμα → τοῦτο ἀρχαῖον εἶναι φήσας τὸ δόγμα.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.22.133 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/22/133/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.22.133 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/22/133/).
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