{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Now those are called philosophers, among us, who love Wisdom, the\r\nCreator and Teacher of all things, that is, the knowledge of the Son\r\nof God; and among the Greeks, those who undertake arguments on virtue.\r\nPhilosophy, then, consists of such dogmas found in each sect (I mean\r\nthose of<span class=\"pagenum\" id=\"Page_336\">[336]</span> philosophy) as cannot be impugned, with a corresponding life,\r\ncollected into one selection; and these, stolen from the Barbarian\r\nGod-given grace, have been adorned by Greek speech. For some they\r\nhave borrowed, and others they have misunderstood. And in the case of\r\nothers, what they have spoken, in consequence of being moved, they\r\nhave not yet perfectly worked out; and others by human conjecture and\r\nreasoning, in which also they stumble. And they think that they have\r\nhit the truth perfectly; but as we understand them, only partially.\r\nThey know, then, nothing more than this world. And it is just like\r\ngeometry, which treats of measures and magnitudes and forms, by\r\ndelineation on plain surfaces; and just as painting appears to take\r\nin the whole field of view in the scenes represented. But it gives\r\na false description of the view, according to the rules of the art,\r\nemploying the signs that result from the incidence of the lines of\r\nvision. By this means, the higher and lower points in the view, and\r\nthose between, are preserved; and some objects seem to appear in the\r\nforeground, and others in the background, and others to appear in some\r\nother way, on the smooth and level surface. So also the philosophers\r\ncopy the truth, after the manner of painting. And always in the case of\r\neach one of them, their self-love is the cause of all their mistakes.\r\nWherefore one ought not, in the desire for the glory that terminates\r\nin men, to be animated by self-love; but loving God, to become really\r\nholy with wisdom. If, then, one treats what is particular as universal,\r\nand regards that, which serves, as the Lord, he misses the truth, not\r\nunderstanding what was spoken by David by way of confession: “I have\r\neaten earth [ashes] like bread.”<a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_996\" id=\"FNanchor_996\">[996]</a> Now, self-love and self-conceit\r\nare, in his view, earth and error. But if so, science and knowledge\r\nare derived from instruction. And if there is instruction, you must\r\nseek for the master. Cleanthes claims Zeno, and Metrodorus Epicurus,\r\nand Theophrastus Aristotle, and Plato Socrates. But if I come to<span class=\"pagenum\" id=\"Page_337\">[337]</span>\r\nPythagoras, and Pherecydes, and Thales, and the first wise men, I\r\ncome to a stand in my search for their teacher. Should you say the\r\nEgyptians, the Indians, the Babylonians, and the Magi themselves, I\r\nwill not stop from asking their teacher. And I lead you up to the first\r\ngeneration of men; and from that point I begin to investigate Who is\r\ntheir teacher. No one of men; for they had not yet learned. Nor yet any\r\nof the angels: for in the way that angels, in virtue of being angels,\r\nspeak, men do not hear; nor, as we have ears, have they a tongue to\r\ncorrespond; nor would any one attribute to the angels organs of speech,\r\nlips I mean, and the parts contiguous, throat, and windpipe, and chest,\r\nbreath and air to vibrate. And God is far from calling aloud in the\r\nunapproachable sanctity, separated as He is from even the archangels.</p>","headings":["THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.","BOOK VI.","CHAPTER VII. WHAT TRUE PHILOSOPHY IS, AND WHENCE SO CALLED."],"marker_anchor":"FNanchor_996","paragraph_id":"pg73020-paragraph-720"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"435ebc91510901322da2b09b8163cfbde1c221d961014d61eba514d44f27429d","edition_title":"The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["William Wilson"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"PSA","chapter":102,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Ps. cii. 9","verse":9,"verse_end":9},{"book":"PSA","chapter":102,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Ps. cii. 9","verse":9,"verse_end":9}],"headings":[],"id":"pg73020-Footnote_996","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1869 English translation; translator died 1875. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"Footnote_996","source_ebook":73020,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a class=\"label pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_996\" id=\"Footnote_996\">[996]</a> Ps. cii. 9. The text reads, γῆν σποδόν. Clement seems to\r\nhave read in Ps. cii. 9 γῆν and σποδόν. The reading of the Septuagint\r\nmay have crept into the text from the margin.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"c35077683d75abe553cc6ef5d3ef5a1a978f07dfbcf4bad5c3d56302ad03dc19","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/73020/pg73020-images.html#Footnote_996","text_sha256":"fc8f0b6bf300c77f6c025689866d4291bdd608e367821df6b555cd582aa6fe2c","verified":false,"work_id":null}