Miscellanies 4.3.12
Summary: Death is the soul's union with sin, life its separation; sinners are slaves and beasts; the philosopher who practices separation from bodily passions all his life can bear natural death easily, crucified to the world and living as a citizen of heaven.
Greek text · Stählin 2:253–254
Κινδυνεύει τοίνυν δεδεῖχθαι θάνατος μὲν εἶναι ἡ ἐν σώματι κοινωνία τῆς ψυχῆς ἁμαρτητικῆς οὔσης, ζωὴ δὲ ὁ χωρισμὸς τῆς ἁμαρτίας. πολλοὶ δὲ οἱ ἐν ποσὶ χάρακες καὶ τάφροι τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τά τε ὀργῆς καὶ θυμοῦ βάραθρα, ἃ διαπηδᾶν ἀνάγκη καὶ πᾶσαν ἀποφεύγειν τὴν τῶν ἐπιβουλῶν ἀνασκευὴν τὸν μηκέτι διʼ ἐσόπτρου τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ θεοῦ κατοψόμενον· ἥμισυ γάρ τʼ ἀρετῆς ἀποαίνυται εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς ἀνέρος, εὖτʼ ἄν μιν κατὰ δούλιον ἦμαρ ἕλῃσι. δούλους δὲ τοὺς ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις πεπραμένους, τοὺς φιληδόνους καὶ φιλοσωμάτους οἶδεν ἡ γραφή, καὶ θηρία μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώπους, τοὺς παρομοιωθέντας τοῖς κτήνεσι, θηλυμανεῖς ἵππους ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν πλησίον χρεμετίζοντας· ὄνος ὑβριστὴς ὁ ἀκόλαστος, λύκος ἄγριος ὁ πλεονεκτικὸς καὶ ὄφις ὁ ἀπατεών. ὁ τοίνυν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος τῆς ψυχῆς χωρισμὸς ὁ παρʼ ὅλον τὸν βίον μελετώμενος τῷ φιλοσόφῳ προθυμίαν κατασκευάζει γνωστικὴν εὐκόλως δύνασθαι φέρειν τὸν τῆς φύσεως θάνατον, διάλυσιν ὄντα τῶν πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς δεσμῶν· ἐμοὶ γὰρ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται κἀγὼ τῷ κόσμῳ λέγει, βιῶ δὲ ἤδη ἐν σαρκὶ ὢν ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ πολιτευόμενος.
English · Claude translation
It has perhaps been shown, then, that death is the fellowship of the soul in the body while it is sinful, and life is separation from sin. Many are the stakes and ditches of desire in our path, and the pits of anger and wrath, which one must leap over, and must avoid the whole construction of plots, if he is to see the knowledge of God no longer through a mirror. “For far-seeing Zeus takes away half a man's virtue, when the day of slavery seizes him.” Scripture knows as slaves those under sin and sold to sins, the lovers of pleasure and of the body, and as beasts rather than men, those who have become like cattle, “horses mad for females, neighing after their neighbors' wives.” The licentious man is an insolent donkey, the greedy a wild wolf, and the deceiver a serpent. The separation of the soul from the body, then, practiced by the philosopher throughout his life, produces a knowing readiness to bear easily the natural death, which is the loosing of the soul's bonds to the body. “For the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world,” he says; and I live now, while in the flesh, as a citizen of heaven.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are 1 Cor 13:12, Homer, Odyssey 17.322–323, Rom 7:14, Ps 49:12 (48:13 LXX), Jer 5:8, Gal 6:14, and Phil 3:20.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.3.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/3/12/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.3.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/3/12/).
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