Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History, Books I–X

NPNF historical edition · Translated text

Book VI — Chapter XIII — The Writings of Clement.

Chapter XIII.—The Writings of Clement. ^{Edition note 1}

1. All the eight Stromata of Clement are preserved among us, and have been given by him the following title: “Titus Flavius Clement’s Stromata of Gnostic Notes on the True Philosophy.” ^{Edition note 2}

2. The books entitled Hypotyposes ^{Edition note 3} are of the same number. In them he mentions Pantænus ^{Edition note 4} by name as his teacher, and gives his opinions and traditions.

3. Besides these there is his Hortatory Discourse addressed to the Greeks; ^{Edition note 5} three books of a work entitled the Instructor; ^{Edition note 6} another with the title What Rich Man is Saved? ^{Edition note 7} the work on the Passover; ^{Edition note 8} discussions on Fasting and on Evil Speaking; ^{Edition note 9} the Hortatory Discourse on Patience, or To Those Recently Baptized; ^{Edition note 10} and the one bearing the title Ecclesiastical Canon, or Against the Judaizers, ^{Edition note 11} which he dedicated to Alexander, the bishop mentioned above.

4. In the Stromata, he has not only treated extensively ^{Edition note 12} of the Divine Scripture, but he also quotes from the Greek writers whenever anything that they have said seems to him profitable.

5. He elucidates the opinions of many, both Greeks and barbarians. He also refutes the false doctrines of the heresiarchs, and besides this, reviews a large portion of history, giving us specimens of very various learning; with all the rest he mingles the views of philosophers. It is likely that on this account he gave his work the appropriate title of Stromata. ^{Edition note 13}

6. He makes use also in these works of testimonies from the disputed Scriptures, ^{Edition note 14} the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, ^{Edition note 15} and of Jesus, the son of Sirach, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, ^{Edition note 16} and those of Barnabas, ^{Edition note 17} and Clement ^{Edition note 18} and Jude. ^{Edition note 19}

7. He mentions also Tatian’s ^{Edition note 20} Discourse to the Greeks, and speaks of Cassianus ^{Edition note 21} as the author of a chronological work. He refers to the Jewish authors Philo, ^{Edition note 22} Aristobulus, ^{Edition note 23} Josephus, ^{Edition note 24} Demetrius, ^{Edition note 25} and Eupolemus, ^{Edition note 26} as showing, all of them, in their works, that Moses and the Jewish race existed before the earliest origin of the Greeks.

8. These books abound also in much other learning. In the first of them ^{Edition note 27} the author speaks of himself as next after the successors of the apostles.

9. In them he promises also to write a commentary on Genesis. ^{Edition note 28} In his book on the Passover ^{Edition note 29} he acknowledges that he had been urged by his friends to commit to writing, for posterity, the traditions which he had heard from the ancient presbyters; and in the same work he mentions Melito and Irenæus, and certain others, and gives extracts from their writings.

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Edition note 1

On the life of Clement, see Bk. V. chap. 11, note 1. He was a very prolific writer, as we can gather from the list of works mentioned in this chapter. The list is repeated by Jerome ( de vir. ill. c. 38) and by Photius ( Cod. 109–111), the former of whom merely copies from Eusebius, with some mistakes, while the latter copies from Jerome, as is clear from the similar variations in the titles given by the last two from those given by Eusebius, and also by the omission in both their lists of one work named by Eusebius (see below, note 10).

Eusebius names ten works in this chapter. In addition to these there are extant two quotations from a work of Clement entitled περὶ προνοίας . There are also extant two fragments of a work περί ψυχῆς . In the Instructor, Bk. II. chap. 10, Clement refers to a work On Continence ( ὁ περὶ ἐγκρατείας ) as already written by himself, and there is no reason to doubt that this was a separate work, for the third book of the Stromata (to which Fabricius thinks he refers), which treats of the same subject, was not yet written.

The work is no longer extant. In the Instructor, Bk. III. chap. 8, Clement speaks of a work which he had written On Marriage ( ὁ γαμικὸς λόγος ). It has been thought possible that he may have referred here to his discussion of the same subject in Bk. II. chap. 10 of the same work (see the Bishop of Lincoln’s work on Clement, p. 7), but it seems more probable that he referred to a separate work now lost. Potter, p. 1022, gives a fragment which is possibly from this work. In addition to these works, referred to as already written, Clement promises to write on First Principles ( περὶ ἀρχῶν ; Strom.

III. 3, IV. 1, 13, V. 14, et al. ); on Prophecy ( Strom. I. 24, IV. 13, V. 13); on Angels ( Strom. VI. 13); on the Origin of the World ( Strom. VI. 18),—perhaps a part of the proposed work on First Principles, and perhaps to be identified with the commentary on Genesis, referred to below by Eusebius (see note 28),— Against Heresies ( Strom. IV. 13), on the Resurrection ( Instructor, I. 6, II. 10). It is quite possible that Clement regarded his promises as fulfilled by the discussions which he gives in various parts of the Stromata themselves, or that he gave up his original purpose.