Miscellanies 2.4.19
Summary: Christ, who fulfilled the law, is the living law inscribed on the high wood of the cross; the philosophers too call the wise man king and law right reason, and the Stoics make the wise man alone king, priest, and prophet.
Greek text · Stählin 2:122–123
τοιοῦτος δὲ ὁ πληρῶν μὲν τὸν νόμον, ποιῶν δὲ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός, ἀναγεγραμμένος δὲ ἄντικρυς ἐπὶ ξύλου τινὸς ὑψηλοῦ παράδειγμα θείας ἀρετῆς τοῖς διορᾶν δυναμένοις ἐκκείμενος. ἴσασι δὲ Ἕλληνες τὰς τῶν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι ἐφόρων σκυτάλας νόμῳ ἐπὶ ξύλων ἀναγεγραμμένας· ὁ δὲ ἐμὸς νόμος, ὡς προείρηται, βασιλικός τέ ἐστι καὶ ἔμψυχος καὶ λόγος ὁ ὀρθός· νόμος ὁ πάντων βασιλεὺς θνατῶν τε καὶ ἀθανάτων, ὡς ὁ Βοιώτιος ᾄδει Πίνδαρος. Σπεύσιππος γὰρ ἐν τῷ πρὸς Κλεοφῶντα πρώτῳ τὰ ὅμοια τῷ Πλάτωνι ἔοικε διὰ τούτου γράφειν· εἰ γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία σπουδαῖον ὅ τε σοφὸς μόνος βασιλεὺς καὶ ἄρχων, ὁ νόμος λόγος ὢν ὀρθὸς σπουδαῖος· ἃ καὶ ἔστιν. τούτοις ἀκόλουθα οἱ Στωϊκοὶ φιλόσοφοι δογματίζουσιν, βασιλείαν, ἱερωσύνην, προφητείαν, νομοθετικήν, πλοῦτον, κάλλος ἀληθινόν, εὐγένειαν, ἐλευθερίαν μόνῳ προσάπτοντες τῷ σοφῷ· ὃ δὲ δυσεύρετος πάνυ σφόδρα καὶ πρὸς αὐτῶν ὁμολογεῖται.
English · Claude translation
Such is the one who fulfills the law and does the will of the Father, inscribed plainly on a high wood, set out as an example of divine virtue to those able to see. The Greeks know the scytales of the ephors in Sparta, inscribed with the law on wooden staffs; but my law, as has been said, is kingly and living and right reason: “Law, king of all, mortals and immortals,” as Pindar the Boeotian sings. Speusippus, in the first book of his work against Cleophon, seems to write things like Plato in this: “For if kingship is good, and the wise man alone is king and ruler, the law, being right reason, is good”; which is so. Consistently with these, the Stoic philosophers teach, attributing kingship, priesthood, prophecy, legislation, wealth, true beauty, nobility, and freedom only to the wise man; who is admitted even by them to be very hard to find.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The “high wood” is the cross. The Pindar quotation is fragment 169. The allusions are Matt 5:17 and John 6:38.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word missing in the digital text): μόνῳ προσάπτοντες τῷ ὃ δὲ δυσεύρετος → μόνῳ προσάπτοντες τῷ σοφῷ· ὃ δὲ δυσεύρετος.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.4.19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/4/19/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.4.19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/4/19/).
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