Miscellanies 4.2.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:250

δεῖ δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς τούτοις προσεκπονεῖν καὶ προσεφευρίσκειν ἕτερα, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῖς ὁδὸν ἀπιοῦσιν ἣν οὐκ ἴσασιν ἀρκεῖ τὴν φέρουσαν ὑποσημῆναι μόνον, βαδιστέον δὲ τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο ἤδη καὶ τὴν λοιπὴν ἑαυτοῖς ἐξευρετέον, ὥσπερ φασὶ καὶ δούλῳ τινὶ χρωμένῳ ποτὲ τί ἂν ποιῶν τὸν δεσπότην ἀρέσαιτο ἀνειπεῖν τὴν Πυθίαν, εὑρήσεις ἐὰν ζητήσῃς. χαλεπὸν οὖν τῷ ὄντι ὡς ἔοικεν λανθάνον καλὸν ἐξευρεῖν, ἐπεὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἱδρὼς πρόκειται, μακρὸς δὲ καὶ ὄρθιος οἶμος ἐς αὐτὴν καὶ τρηχὺς τὸ πρῶτον· ἐπὴν δʼ εἰς ἄκρον ἵκηται, ῥηιδίη δʼ ἔπειτα πέλει, χαλεπή περ ἐοῦσα. στενὴ γὰρ τῷ ὄντι καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδὸς κυρίου, καὶ βιαστῶν ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ὅθεν ζήτει φησὶ καὶ εὑρήσεις, τῆς βασιλικῆς ὄντως ἐχόμενος ὁδοῦ καὶ μὴ παρεκτρέχων.

English · Claude translation

We too must work out and find other things in addition to these; since for those traveling a road they do not know it is enough to point out the way that leads there, but from then on they must walk and discover the rest for themselves; as they say the Pythia answered a slave who once consulted her about what he might do to please his master, “You will find it if you seek.” It is truly difficult, it seems, to find a hidden good, since “sweat is set before virtue, and long and steep is the path to it, and rough at first; but when one reaches the top, then it is easy, though it was hard.” For the Lord's way is truly narrow and hard, and the kingdom of God belongs to the violent. That is why it says, “Seek and you will find,” holding to the truly royal road and not running off it.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:250 · 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.

Scripture

Matt 7:14 · allusion, high confidence
Matt 11:12 · allusion, high confidence
Matt 7:7 · quotation, high confidence
Num 20:17 · allusion, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Hesiod, Op. 289–292 (Hesiod, Works and Days) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

The quotations and allusions are Hesiod, Works and Days 289–292, Matt 7:14, Matt 11:12, Matt 7:7, and Num 20:17 (the royal road).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (misencoded elision in the digital text): ῥηιδίη δἢπειτα πέλει → ῥηιδίη δʼ ἔπειτα πέλει.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.2.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/2/5/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.2.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/2/5/).