Miscellanies 4.25.162
Summary: Basilides made Righteousness and Peace beings of the Ogdoad; the Savior initiates us into his mysteries, as Euripides' Dionysus says; God, without beginning, is the source of physics, ethics, and logic, and the Word, his Son, is the only teacher.
Greek text · Stählin 2:320
Βασιλείδης δὲ ὑποστατὰς Δικαιοσύνην τε καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῆς τὴν Εἰρήνην ὑπολαμβάνει ἐν ὀγδοάδι μένειν ἐνδιατεταγμένας. Μετιτέον δὴ ἀπὸ τῶν φυσικωτέρων ἐπὶ τὰ προφανέστερα τὰ ἠθικά· ὁ γὰρ περὶ ἐκείνων λόγος μετὰ τὴν ἐν χερσὶ πραγματείαν ἕψεται. αὐτὸς οὖν ἡμᾶς ὁ σωτὴρ ἀτεχνῶς κατὰ τὴν τραγῳδίαν μυσταγωγεῖ, ὁρῶν ὁρῶντας καὶ δίδωσιν ὄργια. κἂν πύθῃ· τὰ δὲ ὄργια ἐστὶ τίνʼ ἰδέαν ἔχοντά σοι; ἀκούσῃ πάλιν· ἄρρητʼ ἀβακχεύτοισιν εἰδέναι βροτῶν, κἂν πολυπραγμονῇ τις ὁποῖα εἴη, αὖθις ἀκουσάτω· οὐ θέμις ἀκοῦσαί σε, ἔστιν δʼ ἄξιʼ εἰδέναι· ἀσέβειαν ἀσκοῦντα ὄργιʼ ἐχθαίρει θεοῦ· ὁ θεὸς δὲ ἄναρχος, ἀρχὴ τῶν ὅλων παντελής, ἀρχῆς ποιητικός. ᾗ μὲν οὖν ἐστιν οὐσία, ἀρχὴ τοῦ φυσικοῦ τόπου· καθʼ ὅσον ἐστὶν τἀγαθόν, τοῦ ἠθικοῦ· ᾗ δʼ αὖ ἐστι νοῦς, τοῦ λογικοῦ καὶ κριτικοῦ τόπου· ὅθεν καὶ διδάσκαλος μόνος ὁ λόγος, υἱὸς τοῦ νοῦ πατρός, ὁ παιδεύων τὸν ἄνθρωπον.
English · Claude translation
Basilides supposes that Righteousness and her daughter Peace, as existing beings, remain arranged in the Ogdoad. But we must pass from the more natural matters to the plainer ethical ones; for the account of those will follow after the treatise in hand. The Savior himself, then, simply, as in the tragedy, initiates us, “seeing those who see, and he gives the rites.” And if you ask, “What form do these rites have for you?” you will hear again: “It is not permitted for the uninitiated among mortals to know.” And if someone busies himself about what they are, let him hear again: “It is not lawful for you to hear, but they are worth knowing; the god's rites hate the one who practices impiety.” But God is without beginning, the perfect beginning of all things, maker of the beginning. Insofar as he is being, he is the beginning of the physical field; insofar as he is the Good, of the ethical; insofar as he is mind, of the logical and critical field. That is why the Word alone is teacher, the Son of the Father, who is Mind, who educates man.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Euripides, Bacchae 470–476.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misencoded elision in the digital text; stray period in the digital text): ἔστιν δʼ ἄξἰ εἰδέναι → ἔστιν δʼ ἄξιʼ εἰδέναι; ἀσκοῦντα ὄργἰ ἐχθαίρει → ἀσκοῦντα ὄργιʼ ἐχθαίρει; ᾗ δʼ αὖ ἐστι νοῦς. τοῦ λογικοῦ → ᾗ δʼ αὖ ἐστι νοῦς, τοῦ λογικοῦ; μόνος ὁ λόγος. υἱὸς τοῦ νοῦ → μόνος ὁ λόγος, υἱὸς τοῦ νοῦ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.25.162 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/25/162/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.25.162 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/25/162/).
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