Miscellanies 4.22.146
Summary: The knower would do no wrong even with impunity, reward, or secrecy, having chosen the good for itself; food, marriage, or celibacy without knowledge do not commend us; abstinence from fear is no better than a dog's fear of the stick.
Greek text · Stählin 2:312–313
ὅθεν οὐδʼ εἰ καθʼ ὑπόθεσιν ἐξουσίαν λάβοι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πράττειν τὰ ἀπηγορευμένα ἀτιμώρητός τε ὢν, οὐδʼ εἰ καὶ μισθὸν τὰ μακάρων ἀγαθὰ λήψεσθαι ἐπὶ τοῖσδε ἐπαγγελίαν προσλάβοι, ἀλλʼ εἰ καὶ λήσεσθαι τὸν θεὸν ἐφʼ οἷς πράττει πεισθείη, ὅπερ ἀδύνατον, πρᾶξαί τι παρὰ τὸν λόγον τὸν ὀρθὸν ἐθελήσαι ποτʼ ἄν, τὸ ὄντως καλὸν καὶ αἱρετὸν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ταύτῃ ἀγαπητὸν εἶναι ἅπαξ ἑλόμενος· οὐ γὰρ ἐν γαστρὸς βορᾷ τὸ χρηστὸν εἶναι διειλήφαμεν. ἀκήκοεν δʼ ἐκεῖνος ὡς βρῶμα ἡμᾶς οὐ παραστήσει οὐδὲ μὴν γάμος, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἀποχὴ γάμου ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ, ἀλλὰ τὸ κατʼ ἀρετὴν ἔργον τὸ γνωστικόν, ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ κύων τὸ ζῷον τὸ ἄλογον ἐγκρατὲς λεγέσθω τὸν ἐπαιρόμενον τὴν βακτηρίαν δεδιὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ ὄψου ἀπεχόμενον. τῶν τοιούτων εὖ ἴσθι ὅτι περιαιρεθεῖσα ἡ ὑπόσχεσις ἡ προεπηγγελμένη καὶ ὁ φόβος περιγραφεὶς ὁ ἐπηπειλημένος καὶ χωρισθεὶς ὁ κίνδυνος ὁ ἐπηρτημένος τὴν πρόθεσιν ἐλέγχει.
English · Claude translation
So not even if, by hypothesis, he received authority from God to do forbidden things with impunity, nor if he received besides a promise to receive the good things of the blessed as a reward for them, nay, even if he were persuaded that he would escape God's notice in what he does, which is impossible, would he ever wish to do anything contrary to right reason, having once chosen what is truly good and choiceworthy in itself and therefore lovable. For we have not understood goodness to lie in food for the belly. He has heard that food will not commend us, nor indeed marriage, nor abstaining from marriage in ignorance, but the knowing work according to virtue; since then even the dog, an irrational animal, might be called self-controlled, fearing the raised stick and so abstaining from the meat. Know well that, with such people, when the promise held out beforehand is taken away, the threatened fear removed, and the impending danger separated, their purpose is exposed.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is 1 Cor 8:8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accents in the digital text; syllables repeated in the digital text): ἀτιμώρητος τε ὤν → ἀτιμώρητός τε ὢν; περιαιρεθεῖσα θεῖσα ἡ ὑπόσχεσις → περιαιρεθεῖσα ἡ ὑπόσχεσις.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.22.146 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/22/146/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.22.146 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/22/146/).
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