The Stromata — Book I

Clement of Alexandria

  1. 1. Preface — The Author's Object — The Utility of Written Compositions.
  2. 2. Objection to the Number of Extracts from Philosophical Writings in These Books Anticipated and Answered
  3. 3. Against the Sophists
  4. 4. Human Arts as Well as Divine Knowledge Proceed from God
  5. 5. Philosophy the Handmaid of Theology
  6. 6. The Benefit of Culture
  7. 7. The Eclectic Philosophy Paves the Way for Divine Virtue
  8. 8. The Sophistical Arts Useless
  9. 9. Human Knowledge Necessary for the Understanding of the Scriptures
  10. 10. To Act Well of Greater Consequence Than to Speak Well
  11. 11. What is the Philosophy Which the Apostle Bids Us Shun?
  12. 12. The Mysteries of the Faith Not to Be Divulged to All
  13. 13. All Sects of Philosophy Contain a Germ of Truth
  14. 14. Succession of Philosophers in Greece
  15. 15. The Greek Philosophy in Great Part Derived from the Barbarians
  16. 16. That the Inventors of Other Arts Were Mostly Barbarians
  17. 17. On the Saying of the Saviour, All that Came Before Me Were Thieves and Robbers.
  18. 18. He Illustrates the Apostle's Saying, I Will Destroy the Wisdom of the Wise.
  19. 19. That the Philosophers Have Attained to Some Portion of Truth
  20. 20. In What Respect Philosophy Contributes to the Comprehension of Divine Truth
  21. 21. The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks
  22. 22. On the Greek Translation of the Old Testament
  23. 23. The Age, Birth, and Life of Moses
  24. 24. How Moses Discharged the Part of a Military Leader
  25. 25. Plato an Imitator of Moses in Framing Laws
  26. 26. Moses Rightly Called a Divine Legislator, And, Though Inferior to Christ, Far Superior to the Great Legislators of the Greeks, Minos and Lycurgus
  27. 27. The Law, Even in Correcting and Punishing, Aims at the Good of Men
  28. 28. The Fourfold Division of the Mosaic Law
  29. 29. The Greeks But Children Compared with the Hebrews

[ Wants the beginning ].......... that you may read them under your hand, and may be able to preserve them. Whether written compositions are not to be left behind at all; or if they are, by whom? And if the former, what need there is for written compositions? And if the latter, is the composition of them to be assigned to earnest men, or the opposite? It were certainly ridiculous for one to disapprove of the writing of earnest men, and approve of those, who are not such, engaging in the work of composition. Theopompus and Timæus, who composed fables and slanders, and Epicurus the leader of atheism, and Hipponax and Archilochus, are to be allowed to write in their own shameful manner. But he who proclaims the truth is to be prevented from leaving behind him what is to benefit posterity. It is a good thing, I reckon, to leave to posterity good children. This is the case with children of our bodies. But words are the progeny of the soul. Hence we call those who have instructed us, fathers. Wisdom is a communicative and philanthropic thing. Accordingly, Solomon says, My son, if you receive the saying of my commandment, and hide it with you, your ear shall hear wisdom. [[Proverbs 2.1]]-2 He points out that the word that is sown is hidden in the soul of the learner, as in the earth, and this is spiritual planting. Wherefore also he adds, And you shall apply your heart to understanding, and apply it for the admonition of your son. For soul, methinks, joined with soul, and spirit with spirit, in the sowing of the word, will make that which is sown grow and germinate. And every one who is instructed, is in respect of subjection the son of his instructor. Son, says he, forget not my laws. [[Proverbs 3.1]]

And if knowledge belong not to all (set an ass to the lyre, as the proverb goes), yet written compositions are for the many. Swine, for instance, delight in dirt more than in clean water. Wherefore, says the Lord, I speak to them in parables: because seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not, and do not understand; [[Matthew 13.13]] not as if the Lord caused the ignorance: for it were impious to think so. But He prophetically exposed this ignorance, that existed in them, and intimated that they would not understand the things spoken. And now the Saviour shows Himself, out of His abundance, dispensing goods to His servants according to the ability of the recipient, that they may augment them by exercising activity, and then returning to reckon with them; when, approving of those that had increased His money, those faithful in little, and commanding them to have the charge over many things, He bade them enter into the joy of the Lord. But to him who had hid the money, entrusted to him to be given out at interest, and had given it back as he had received it, without increase, He said, You wicked and slothful servant, you ought to have given my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received my own. Wherefore the useless servant shall be