Miscellanies 4.2.7
Summary: Like a farm that yields everything, the Miscellanies offer mixed fruits; the reader must winnow them to pick out the wheat.
Greek text · Stählin 2:250–251
αὐτίκα οἱ Στρωματεῖς ἡμῶν, κατὰ τὸν γεωργὸν Τιμοκλέους τοῦ κωμικοῦ σῦκα, ἔλαιον, ἰσχάδας, μέλι προσοδεύουσι, καθάπερ ἐκ παμφόρου χωρίου. διʼ ἣν εὐκαρπίαν ἐπιφέρει· σὺ μὲν εἰρεσιώνην, οὐ γεωργίαν λέγεις, ἐπιφωνεῖν γὰρ εἰώθεσαν Ἀθηναῖοι· εἰρεσιώνη σῦκα φέρει καὶ πίονας ἄρτους καὶ μέλι ἐν κοτύλῃ καὶ ἔλαιον ἀναψήσασθαι. χρὴ τοίνυν πολλάκις ὡς ἐν τοῖς πλοκάνοις διασείοντας καὶ ἀναρριπτοῦντας τὴν πολυμιγίαν τῶν σπερμάτων τὸν πυρὸν ἐκλέγειν.
English · Claude translation
For example, our Miscellanies, like the farmer of Timocles the comic poet, bring in figs, olive oil, dried figs, honey, as if from a field that bears everything. Because of this abundance of fruit he adds: “You speak of a harvest wreath, not of farming”; for the Athenians used to exclaim: “The harvest wreath brings figs and rich loaves, and honey in a cup, and oil to rub oneself with.” One must often, then, as in winnowing baskets, shake and toss the mixture of seeds to pick out the wheat.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Timocles (fragment) and the Athenian eiresiōnē song.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.2.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/2/7/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.2.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/2/7/).
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