Miscellanies 2.4.16
Summary: Conjecture counterfeits faith; virtue is learned by obeying the Word, and to obey him is to believe him; faith and knowledge support each other; even Epicurus called faith a preconception without which no inquiry is possible.
Greek text · Stählin 2:120–121
Ὑποκρίνεται δὲ τὴν πίστιν ἡ εἰκασία, ἀσθενὴς οὖσα ὑπόληψις, καθάπερ ὁ κόλαξ τὸν φίλον καὶ ὁ λύκος τὸν κύνα. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁρῶμεν ὅτι ὁ τέκτων ὅτι μαθών τινα τεχνίτης γίνεται καὶ ὁ κυβερνήτης παιδευθεὶς τὴν τέχνην κυβερνᾶν δυνήσεται, οὐκ ἀπαρκεῖν λογιζόμενος τὸ βούλεσθαι καλὸν γενέσθαι κἀγαθόν, ἀνάγκη δὲ ἄρα πειθόμενον μαθεῖν· τὸ δὲ πείθεσθαι τῷ λόγῳ, ὃν διδάσκαλον ἀνηγορεύσαμεν, αὐτῷ ἐκείνῳ πιστεῦσαί ἐστι κατʼ οὐδὲν ἀντιβαίνοντα. πῶς γὰρ οἷόν τε ἀντεφίστασθαι τῷ θεῷ; πιστὴ τοίνυν ἡ γνῶσις, γνωστὴ δὲ ἡ πίστις θείᾳ τινὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ τε καὶ ἀντακολουθίᾳ γίνεται. ναὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ Ἐπίκουρος, ὁ μάλιστα τῆς ἀληθείας προτιμήσας τὴν ἡδονήν, πρόληψιν εἶναι διανοίας τὴν πίστιν ὑπολαμβάνει· πρόληψιν δὲ ἀποδίδωσιν ἐπιβολὴν ἐπί τι ἐναργὲς καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐναργῆ τοῦ πράγματος ἐπίνοιαν· μὴ δύνασθαι δὲ μηδένα μήτε ζητῆσαι μήτε ἀπορῆσαι μηδὲ μὴν δοξάσαι, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἐλέγξαι χωρὶς προλήψεως.
English · Claude translation
Conjecture, being a weak opinion, counterfeits faith, as the flatterer counterfeits the friend and the wolf the dog. And since we see that the carpenter becomes a craftsman by learning something, and the pilot, having been taught the art, will be able to steer, reckoning that merely wishing to become noble and good is not enough, one must learn by obeying; and to obey the Word, whom we have proclaimed Teacher, is to believe him, opposing him in nothing. For how is it possible to stand against God? Knowledge, then, is worthy of faith, and faith worthy of knowledge, by a certain divine sequence and reciprocity. Indeed Epicurus too, who most of all preferred pleasure to truth, supposes faith to be a preconception of the mind; and he defines preconception as an application to something evident and to the evident notion of the thing; and says that no one can inquire, or doubt, or even hold an opinion, or even refute, without preconception.
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Notes
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): τῆς ἀληθείας προτιμήσας τὴν ἡδονήν. πρόληψιν → τῆς ἀληθείας προτιμήσας τὴν ἡδονήν, πρόληψιν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.4.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/4/16/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.4.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/4/16/).
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