Miscellanies 4.7.44
Summary: Unbelievers think martyrdom the most violent death, not knowing it is the gate of true life; even their own writers, Theano and Plato, teach rewards and punishments after death.
Greek text · Stählin 2:268
Τοῖς δὲ ἀθλίοις τῶν ἀνθρώπων θάνατος εἶναι ὁ βιαιότατος ἡ διʼ αἵματος μαρτυρία τοῦ κυρίου δοκεῖ, οὐκ εἰδόσι τῆς ὄντως οὔσης ζωῆς ἀρχὴν εἶναι τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ θανάτου πύλην. καὶ οὔτε τὰς τιμὰς τὰς μετὰ θάνατον τῶν ὁσίως βεβιωκότων οὔτε τὰς κολάσεις τῶν ἀδίκως καὶ ἀσελγῶς πεπολιτευμένων συνεῖναι βούλονται, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων μόνον λέγω γραφῶν (σχεδὸν γὰρ πᾶσαι αἱ ἐντολαὶ ταῦτα μηνύουσιν), ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τῶν οἰκείων ἐθέλουσιν ὑπακοῦσαι λόγων. Θεανὼ γὰρ ἡ Πυθαγορικὴ γράφει· ἦν γὰρ ἂν τῷ ὄντι τοῖς κακοῖς εὐωχία ὁ βίος πονηρευσαμένοις ἔπειτα τελευτῶσιν, εἰ μὴ ἦν ἀθάνατος ἡ ψυχή, ἕρμαιον ὁ θάνατος καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Φαίδωνι εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν ὁ θάνατος τοῦ παντὸς ἀπαλλαγή, ἕρμαιον ἂν ἦν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.
English · Claude translation
To wretched men, martyrdom by blood for the Lord seems the most violent death, since they do not know that such a gate of death is the beginning of the truly existing life. And they do not wish to understand either the honors after death of those who have lived holily or the punishments of those who have lived unjustly and licentiously; I do not mean from our Scriptures only (for almost all the commandments indicate these things), but they will not even listen to their own writers. For Theano the Pythagorean writes: “Life would indeed be a feast for the wicked, who having done evil then die, if the soul were not immortal; death would be a windfall.” And Plato in the Phaedo: “For if death were a release from everything, it would be a windfall,” and so on.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Theano (fragment) and Plato, Phaedo 107c.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.7.44 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/7/44/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.7.44 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/7/44/).
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