Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.2.3 (79.3)

Hermas · Shepherd of Hermas: Similitudes · ca. 100–150 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: Twelve virgins stand around the gate.

BothGreekEnglish

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:220

κύκλῳ δὲ τῆς πύλης εἱστήκεισαν παρθένοι δώδεκα. αἱ οὖν τέσσαρες αἱ εἰς τὰς γωνίας ἑστηκυῖαι ἐνδοξότεραί μοι ἐδόκουν εἶναι· καὶ αἱ ἄλλαι δὲ ἔνδοξοι ἦσαν. εἱστήκεισαν δὲ εἰς τὰ τέσσαρα μέρη τῆς πύλης, ἀνὰ μέσον αὐτῶν ἀνὰ δύο παρθένοι.

English · Claude translation

And around the gate stood twelve virgins. The four who stood at the corners seemed to me more glorious; but the others also were glorious. They stood at the four sides of the gate, with two virgins between each of them.

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:220 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 138–305 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 25, 1913), and from the ancient Latin version where Lake prints it because the Greek is lost (from Sim. 9.30.3); made independently of existing English translations.

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (missing breathing)): αἱ ἀλλαι δὲ → αἱ ἄλλαι δὲ.

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 9.2.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/2/3/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 9.2.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/2/3/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage