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Clement of Alexandria
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Introductory Note to Clement of Alexandria
[3687] Those who initiate into the mysteries.
[3688] [See the quotation from Milman, p. 166, supra.]
[3689] Ἡ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ Κυρίου κατὰ τὴν παρουσίαν διδασκαλία, ἀπὸ Αὐγούστου καὶ Τιβερίου Καίσαρος, ἀρξαμένη, μεσούντων τῶν Αὐγούστου χρόνων τελειοῦται. In the translation, the change recommended, on high authority, of Αὐγούστου into Τιβερίου in the last clause, is adopted, as on the whole the best way of solving the unquestionable difficulty here. If we retain Αὐγούστου, the clause must then be made parenthetical, and the sense would be: “For the teaching of the Lord on His advent, beginning with Augustus and Tiberius (in the middle of the times of Augustus), was completed.” The objection to this (not by any means conclusive) is, that it does not specify the end of the period.
The first 15 years of the life of our Lord were the last 15 of the reign of Augustus; and in the 15th year of the reign of his successor Tiberius our Lord was baptized. Clement elsewhere broaches the singular opinion, that our Lord’s ministry lasted only a year, and, consequently that He died in the year in which He was baptized. As Augustus reigned, according to one of the chronologies of Clement, 43, and according to the other 46 years 4 months 1 day, and Tiberius 22 or 26 years 6 months 19 days, the period of the teacing of the Gospel specified above began during the reign of Augustus, and ended during the reign of Tiberius.
[3690] Θεοδάδι ἀκηκοέναι is the reading, which eminent authorities (Bentley, Grabe, etc.) have changed into Θεοδᾶ (or Θευδᾶ) διακηκοέναι.
[3691] Much learning and ingenuity have been expended on this sentence, which, read as it stands in the text, appears to state that Marcion was an old man while Baslides and Valentinus were young men; and that Simon (Magus) was posterior to them in time. Marcion was certainly not an old man when Valentinus and Basilides were young men, as they flourished in the first half of the second century, and he was born about the beginning of it. The difficulty in regard to Simon is really best got over by supposing the Clement, speaking of these heresiarchs in ascending order, describes Marcion as further back in time; which sense μεθ᾽ ὄν of course will bear, although it does seem somewhat harsh, as “after” thus means “before.”
[3692] [This chapter illustrates what the Nicene Fathers understood by their language about the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.”]
[3693] [I restore this important word of the Greek text, enfeebled by the translator, who renders it by the word “universal”, which, though not wrong, disguises the force of the argument.]
[3695] [The swine, e.g., has the parted hoof, but does not ruminate; hence he is the hypocrite,—an outward sign with no inward quality to correspond, the foulest of the unclean.]
[3699] [Clement regards dogma as framing practical morals. The comment is found in the history of nations, nominally Christian.]
[3700] [The residue is lost, for the eighth book has little conection with the Gnostic as hitherto developed.]
[3701] A good translation of the letters was published in New York, in 1864, by Hurd & Houghton.
[3702] For a good article on St. Alphonsus de’Liguori, see the Encyc. Britannica.
Chapter I.—The Object of Philosophical and Theological Inquiry—The Discovery of Truth.
[3703] [This book is a mere fragment, an imperfect exposition of logic, and not properly part of the Stromata. Kaye, 22.]
[3704] Matt. vii. 7.; Luke xi. 9. [Elucidation I.]
Chapter III.—Demonstration Defined.
[3705] It is necessary to read λόγον here, though not in the text, on account of ἐκπορίζοντα which follows; and as εὔλογον εἷναι λόγον occurs afterwards, it seems better to retain δὔλογον than to substitute λόγον for it.
[3706] [We begin, that is, with axioms: and he ingeniously identifies faith with axiomatic truth. Hence the faith not esoteric.]
Chapter IV.—To Prevent Ambiguity, We Must Begin with Clear Definition.
[3707] Ἐπιθυμητικοῦ, which accords with what Plato says in the Timæus, p. 1078. Lowth, however, reads φυτικοῦ.
Chapter V.—Application of Demonstration to Sceptical Suspense of Judgment.
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