Miscellanies 4.19.124
Summary: No one excels without learning and training; virtue is in our power as God's gift, which no one else can take away, so vice and virtue belong to each person's own choice.
Greek text · Stählin 2:303
οὐχ οἷόν τε οὖν ἐστιν ἄνδρα ἢ γυναῖκα ἐν ὁτῳοῦν ἐλλόγιμον γενέσθαι μὴ μαθήσει μηδὲ μελέτῃ τε καὶ ἀσκήσει προσχρησαμένους, τὴν δὲ ἀρετὴν οὐκ ἐπʼ ἄλλοις τισὶν εἶναί φαμεν ἢ πάντων μάλιστα ἐφʼ ἡμῖν. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἄλλα εἴργειν δύναταί τις προσπολεμῶν, τὸ δʼ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν οὐδαμῶς, οὐδʼ εἰ μάλιστα ἐνίσταιτο· θεόσδοτον γὰρ τὸ δῶρον καὶ οὐχ ὑποπῖπτον ἄλλῳ τινί. ὅθεν ἀκολασία μὲν οὐκ ἄλλου τινὸς ἂν δοξάζοιτο εἶναι κακὸν ἢ τοῦ ἀκολασταίνοντος, σωφροσύνη δὲ ἀγαθὸν αὖ τοῦ τὸ σωφρονεῖν δυναμένου.
English · Claude translation
It is not possible, then, for a man or a woman to become distinguished in anything without using learning, practice, and training; and we say that virtue rests not with others but with us most of all. Other things one can hinder by making war, but what rests with us not at all, not even if one opposes it most strongly; for the gift is given by God and subject to no one else. So licentiousness would be thought the evil of no one but the licentious man, and self-restraint the good of the one able to be self-restrained.
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Notes
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on ἂν): οὐκ ἄλλου τινὸς ἄν δοξάζοιτο → οὐκ ἄλλου τινὸς ἂν δοξάζοιτο.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.19.124 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/19/124/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.19.124 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/19/124/).
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