PG001(col. 225-228): First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians: Chapter 8.

(From the 1765 Venice edition of  André Galland's "Library of the Ancient Fathers", Tome 1, folio-size, p. 9)

Author:  André Galland

Googlebooks PDF: PG001

Chapter 8

     The <public ministers> of the grace of God through the holy Spirit spoke about repentance, and even himself the Master of all spoke with an oath about repentance: For <as> I live, says <the> Lord, I do not wish the death of the sinner, as the repentance[[63b]]; adding[[56]] also a good thought; Repent, House of Israel[[57]], from your lawlessness[[64b]].  Say to my people: If even your sins are from the earth to the sky, and if <they> are redder than scarlet dye and blacker than sackcloth, both turn towards me from <your> whole heart[[65b]], and say, <'>Father <'>, I will heed you as <to a holy people>[[58]][[66b]].  And in another passage he speaks thus: Be cleansed and become pure, remove the evils from your souls, from before my eyes: cease from your evils, learn to do <what is> beautiful, seek out judgment, rescue the violated, judge <preference for> the orphan, and vindicate the widow, and <come here> and let us dispute[[59]], he says[[60]]: Even if your sins are as crimson, as snow I will whiten <them>; and if <they> are as scarlet, as wool I will whiten <them>.  And if you <thus> will and heed me, you will eat the good things of the earth; but if you do not <thus> will nor heed me, a knife will devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things[67b]][.  Therefore, wishing that all <those who love him> partake of repentance, he confirmed <them> with his all-powerful will.

Citations

63b. Ezekiel 33:11 [[A]]  

64b. Ezekiel 18:30

65b. Isaiah 1:18

66b. Jeremiah 3:19, 22

67b. Isaiah 1:16, 20

Notes

56. The final words of this sentence Clement of Alexandria in book 1 <of> "Pedagogy", chapter 10, under the name of Ezekiel thus cites: "For he says through Ezekiel: If you will have been converted from the whole heart and will have said, Father, I will hear you as a holy people".--Coustant

57. "Repent, House of Israel": The <actual> <word order>[[B]] <is> otherwise; however regarding this passage and other testimonies of Sacred Scripture, which frequently are cited in this letter, it should be observed <both> that many passages are sometimes joined into one (which also not rarely is done by other Fathers, nor do the apostles themselves lack examples), and that several times the sense and not the <exact> words are expressed, both <of> which <things> in this passage are <available> to detect.  But indeed among the words themselves not a small difference often occurs; however, it would be tedious to note the individual variations, and <it> is obvious to anyone from comparison with the publication <of the Septuagint>, which <is available> and is rubbed by the hands of all.  For which reason, we leave this task to others, and the damage, if any thence arises, we will with more benefit later weigh out, when a new edition of the <Greek bible> from the manuscript copy of Thecla, which of all <manuscripts>, however many today are in Europe, is by the best and oldest, by the auspices of divine authority and by the grace and favor of my lord the most serene king, it is given to put forth into light.--Young

58. "To a holy people":  Clement of Alexandria <in> "Pedagogy", book 1, chapter 10, has, "of a holy people"[[C]], where he praises these words under the name of Ezekiel, whose the earlier <words> also appear to be.  And so hence is supported the conjecture of Cotelier[[D]].  Furthermore, that <notable> passage of Ezekiel either is absent from our books, or it was taken from another volume of Ezekiel which he, <as> Josephus <witnesses>, had written, and which the Athanasian, or rather Eusebian, Synopsis[[E]] reckons among the apocryphal works.  Thus Justin Martyr in <his> "Dialogue with Trypho" praises the passage of Ezra , translated into Latin <in the writings of> Lactantius, book 4, chapter 18 <of the "Divine Institutes">, which <passage> you may seek for in vain in our codices.  Clement of Alexandria <in> "Miscellanies", book 5, cites another <passage> from Zephaniah, which does not appear in his vaticination.  I suspect this passage was taken from the prophecy of Zephaniah or <from> the Apocalypse mentioned among the apocryphal books in the canon of the Scriptures attributed to Nicephorus the patriarch of Constantinople[[F]], and in the manuscript of the Barrocian library.--Colomiès

59. "Let us dispute":  Mill thus reads in the manuscript congruently to the Hebrew truth, <at> Isaiah 1:18.  The editions <print> "Let us converse"[[G]].  Others along with the codices Alexandrinus and Vaticanus <print> "Let us disfute"[[H]].--Gallandi

"And come here, and let us dispute": Thus <has> the Aldine edition.  But in others <is printed> either, "And come here, let us dispute", or, "And come here, and let us converse", as Procopius[[I]] <has>, or, "And come here, let us converse".  Of course, by the Hebrew verb each is signified[[J]], chiding and dispute; which to <meanings> are indeed related.  The codices of Hesychius appear to lie in error <since they have>, "Let us disfute: Let us come to the refutation of one another", instead of, "Let us dispute"[[H]].  Now, <in the writings of> Basil and Chrysostom the <reading> "Let us converse" in the text is suspect[[G]], since the commentators <on these texts> suppose "Let us dispute" <is written>.  Already Hilary indeed at Psalm 2:5 <writes>: "And come, let us reprove".  But in the preface to Psalm 119: "And come, let us dispute".  And the not dissimilar variation in Micah, chapter 6, verse 2, "He will dispute".  A third reading is exhibited by Tertullian, and it is corrupt.  For he correctly had translated in the final chapter of book 1 to <his> wife: "And come, let us dispute"; in book 4 against Marcion, chapter 14, supported by defective books he translates: "And come, <let us be united in council>", which is, "Let us interchange"[[K]]: and <that word> perhaps should be restored to Chrysostom in that <passage>: "Let a woman of no less than sixty years be chosen," etc.[[L]],  where he brings forth the passage of the prophet and expounds through <the word> "to be reconciled" and "to have been reconciled".  Furthermore, when I seek the testimony of Isaiah <in the writings of> the holy Fathers, I have found two distorted passages, about which it will not be superfluous to bring to mind, namely, <passage> of Irenaeus and of Lucifer.  <The former> in book 4 <of> "Against Heresies", chapter 32, says: "Be cleansed," etc.[[M]].  "For not like a mute man, as many dare to say, <does he deviate>" (that is, turn away from himself) "their sacrifice; but pitying their blindness," etc.  What <does he mean>, "a mute man"?  I <was thinking to conjecture>, "angered man", having as the basis of conjecture the preceding and following things.  <The statement> precedes: "Then, lest anyone think that, on account of that he is angered, he refuses these things, he brings counsel, giving <it> to him."  <The statement> follows: "For if being angered he rejected these their sacrifices".  <In the writings of> Lucifer, book 1, to the emperor Constantius, on behalf of St. Athanasius, the prophetic words should be: "Be cleansed, be pure, remove malices from your souls," not "from your enemies".--Cotelier

60. "Says": Add <after this the word> "Lord", from the Septuagint.--Gallandi

My Notes

A. This appears not to be the Septuagint text.  Clement's citations substitute the Greek "metanoein" for the Septuagint's "apostrephein".  The former seems to emphasize an internal change of mind/heart, whereas the latter evokes the physical metaphor of turning back/returning.  Significance is subject to debate.

B. The Latin phrase, "verba contextus", literally means, "words of the connected weave".

C. The issue here is that the text has this phrase in dative, whereas Clement of Alexandria has it in the genitive.  The genitive is normally the case for direct objects of verbs of hearing, so the dative, if it is not an error, may reflect an attempt to render literally the underlying Hebrew idiom.

D. I don't know what this conjecture is.

E. The Athanasian Synopsis is a description of the canonical books of the Bible as purportedly written by St. Athanasius.  There seems to be general agreement that it is not his work, and although I don't see the point made in Migne's preface to it in his 4th volume on St. Athanasius, some people believe it to actually be the work of Eusebius.

F.  I gather this is the Stichometry of Nicephorus.

G. The words for "dispute" and "converse" are similarly spelled, so the issue here is about sorting out potential confusion in the manuscripts.

H.  "Dispute" vs. "Disfute".  This last reading is a different spelling of the note's headword.  The issue, explained further in the following note, is whether or not the proper form of this word contains the letter theta or not.  The current consensus seems to be that the form without theta is incorrect, so I've rendered it "disfute" with an F.

I.  There are a few people named Procopius who this could be.  The one mentioned here is probably Procopius of Gaza, but I haven't verified.

J.  While the Hebrew root for the word in question does have both of these meanings, the Niphal stem apparently carries only the meaning "dispute", as in "dispute/discuss".  Cf. BDB lexicon.

K.  This is yet a third word with similar spelling as "dispute" and "converse".

L. 1 Tim 5:9-10

M.  Isaiah 1:16

PG001(col. 221-226): First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians: Chapter 7.

(From the 1765 Venice edition of  André Galland's "Library of the Ancient Fathers", Tome 1, folio-size, p. 9)

Author:  André Galland

Googlebooks PDF: PG001

Chapter 7

     These things, beloved[[45]], we enjoin not only admonishing not only you, but also remindi{ng} ourselves[[46]]; for we are in the same aren{a}[[47]][[A]] and the same contest lie{s} upon us.  Thus, let us abandon empty a{nd} vain thoughts, and let {us} accede to the glorious and august rule[[49]] of our {holy voca}tion[[48]].  <{Let} us {behold>} what <is> good, and what <is> pleasing {and se}emly before the <one who cre{ated}> us.  <Let us {look intently}>[[50]] toward the blood of the Christ, {and} let us {see} how precious to God is his {blood}[[51]], which, poured out on account of our {salv}ation, offered to all the wo{rld} grace of repentance.  <Let us {hark back}>[[52]] to all the generations, {and} <let us {clo}sely observe>} that in generation {and} generation the Lord g{a}ve occasion[[53]] of repentance to those wishing to be converted to him[[54]].  Noah heralded repentance[[61b]], and the ones[[55]] who heeded were saved.  Jonah to the Ninevites heralded catastrophe[[62b]], but the ones who repented of their sins, having supplicated God, made atonement, and they acquired salvation, although being foreign to God.

Citations

61b. Genesis 7; Wisdom 10:4; Ecclesiastes 44,17; Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5

62b. John 3

Notes

45. "These things, beloved": Here, <with> an altered style, the roughness of the previous reprimand he with a milder address softens and mollifies, "and inserting lighter <words>", as the golden Mouth somewhere says, "and placing himself <in the middle>, he smooths the vehemence of the castigation."  And in this he fulfills the role of the true, faithful, and restless pastor, to whom by the Apostle both duties, that is, of encouraging and castigating, are equally joined:  to neglect either of which by fear or fawning, "not of <the> teacher", as Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Galatians <says>, "but <it> would be of <the> corrupter and <the> enemy."  Thus Christ by his own example instructed the apostles, whom sometimes he praises and proclaims <as> blessed, but sometimes sharply rebukes and reprimands.  Thus the Apostle taught Clement, who <sc. Paul> oftentimes in his epistles (as Chrysostom in the same place <as cited above says>) "treading according to the footstep of the teacher embroiders the word towards the need of the pupils, now on the one hand burning and cutting, now on the other adding mild remedies, now on the one hand coming <with the> rod, now on the other <with> love and a spirit of meekness," as he <sc. Paul> says of his very self to the Corinthians.[[B]]--The same <sc. Young>

46. "Reminding": Thus <Henry> Wotton and Davies correct "reminding"[[C]], the manuscript fault from an error of a librarian.  More rightly than Leclerc, whose emendation, "intending to remind", in the future <tense> less aptly coheres with the preceding, "admonishing".--Gallandi

47. "We are in the same arena": <The word> "arena" indicates not only the place of struggle and contest, but the struggle itself, and with this meaning should Balsamon be understood at canon 63 of the sixth synod in Trullo[[D]], where he thus says about Simeon the Metaphrast: "And so grace to the <lately deceased> blessed <sc. Metaphrast>, to the one <who embellished <sc. through writing>> the martyrial arenas in defense of the truth, with much toil and sweat in praise of God and everlasting glory of the holy martyrs."  The translator translates 'ditches', but not quite correctly.  Thus here and there in <the writings of> Chrysostom <this word is used>: "We were called towards greater arenas", and "we stripped naked <sc. as athletes in a gymnasium> towards larger arenas".  Also, sometimes our life on the earth, miserable, laborious, full of annoyances and difficulties, and met with various temptations of the antagonist, is metaphorically not inelegantly sketched with this word.  Thus the Ephraim the Syrian's Greek metaphrast, who is extant in the library of a most noble and illustrious man, the earl of Arundel and marshal of England[[E]], says: "On Virginity: For this life seems like an arena; contestants perfect in their eagerness fearlessly show themselves in the arena, but the cowardly and flaccid in their flaccidity flee out of the arena."  And in the same place: "Without struggle no one is crowned in life, and in the government of training, without struggle no one is able to attain <the> unfading crown and eternal life."  Thus Chrysostom <in> homily 23 on the earlier <epistle> to the Corinthians: "For also it was necessary <for> one remaining in the arena, to contend and not, after the assembly <has been> dispersed, to weep unprofitably", where <this> passage regarding useless penance after death is remarkable.  Which opinion Ephraim the Syrian <in the work> "On repentance" supports: "Here, therefore, let us lack until it is <the opportune time>, thus <as long as> we are in this life, we are able always to shame God, <but it> is easy for us also to knock on the door of his compassion;  Let us pour out tears until it is <the opportune time> to receive tears, so that having gone off to the life there, we may not weep uselessly; there tears count towards nothing.  For as much as we wish, that much also grants God the good;  here he hears our appeals, and here he grants, <when> we are supplicating; here he obliterates our crimes, <when> we are conciliatory;[[F]] here <is there opportunity for> appeal, but there <there is> compensatory judgment;  here <there is> acquiescence, there <there is> inquisition.  Here <there is> magnanimity, there <there is> severity; here <accommodation>, but there exactness; here <individual freedom>, there <the> court of law; here amnesty, there oppression; here enjoyment, there torture", etc.  Also Basil <in> "To a fallen virgin", tome 2, page 755.  Also, Asterius <in> the homily "On the rich man and Lazarus" <says>: "But the proper <opportune time> having come, and the inexorable command tears it <sc. the soul> away <from> the communion <with> the body, a reckoning will come of the <things which have been lived>, and unprofitable repentance, after <its> usefulness; for regret aids then, whenever the <one changing one's mind> has ability of correction," and Justin Martyr in the "Apology" <says>: "In <Hades> repentance is <too late>."  But let us return to the path, and let us no longer wander beyond the arena.  Cyril of Alexandria <in> book 1 of "Delicacies" <recounts> that God grants nothing to the saints without toil and sweat, and that <no one> by wishes and desires before "physical exercises"[[G]] <does He> crown "and enrich with the bounty of athletes."  And Clement <of Alexandria> in the "Exhoration" <says>: "Therefore, conspicuously disrobing in the race-course of truth, let us nobly strive" (perhaps, strive)[[H]], "<while> on the one hand the holy word is officiating, and on the other hand the Lord of all is <presiding over the game>; for the contest for you in not small, immortality is set forth <as a prize>."  And <in> book 7 of "Miscellanies": "This is the true athlete, he <who> in the great race-course, the beautiful universe, <is> crowned <for> the true victory against all passions; for the <game-presider> <is> the all-powerful God, and the umpire <is> the only-begotten Son of God, and the spectators <are> angels, and the <all-encompassing decathelon>[[I]] <is> not against blood and flesh, but the spiritual powers of <deeply emotional> passions <which powers are> operating through the flesh."  Which passage Tertullian most elegantly expresses "to the Martyrs": "You <women> are about to undergo the good struggle, in which the living God is the <games-presider>, the holy Spirit <is> the <trainer>, [the crown <is> of eternity, the prize <is> of angelic <essence> <and> citizenship in the heavens <and> glory <in eternity>][[J]].  And so your overseer Jesus Christ, who anointed you with the Spirit, also to this arena has led <you> forth," etc.  But it should be feared lest, while we we dwell rather long upon the explanation of this word and amass various testimonies, we appear to certain ones <to be> <rather tedious>: for which reason, this arena having been surmounted, later only desultorily from here on forth will we sample certain things: for to advance [on foot][[K]] and to pursue individual items rather carefully, even if we wished this most of all, neither does the printer suffer, who presses <on our> heels and complains that his services are idle.--Young

     Although we know from Julius Pollux that this word was said "properly about pentathletes <who are> good at leaping", and <the words> "arena" and "rod" are joined together with it, as evidently "a rod" is "the measure of a jump, and the boundary <is> the <dug line>", which words we see here at once placed, we prefer to translate "the <trench>" <as> arena, since indeed although in the stadium all kinds of exercises were celebrated, nevertheless [he <Paul?> seemed by <his own> rule to attend to the runners][[L]].  But since regarding the usage of <the word> "trenches" in authors <dealing with competitive games> <there is> quite deep silence, I consider it should briefly be noted that in the jump of the athletes not only <was> reckoning had <of> up to what point someone sprang out forwards, but that he leaped upwards; by which degree when <it> was sufficiently done, precisely then was it allowed to contend about the measured-out space; since indeed whoever sought gains, <with> the obstacles of furrows having been passed over, was said to have played a vain effort and <to be> "<out of bounds>".--Fell

48. "Of the holy vocation": Mill testifies, <that> which Wotton did not see, that the manuscript <is> thus, "of t...tion"[[M]], and the gap admits not but six or seven letters.  And so for that reason he would prefer to restore, "of c{omple}tion"; which among the holy Fathers signifies baptism,whose rule first of all requires the renunciation of empty and vain thoughts, about which this discussion <is>.  You may see <Johannes Henricus> Svicerus's "Ecclesiastical Thesaurus", see <entry for> "completion".--Gallandi

49. "Rule": The word, <if any is so>, <is> <sports-related>, as noted above,[[N]], in which manner <it> is almost perpetually used by the divine Paul  <in> 2 Cor 10:13, 15, 16 <and> Gal 6:16; almost the same as line, and sometimes as trench[[O]].  Therefore, Young sufficiently unhappily rendered <it as> "norm"; we have substituted, "line".--Fell

50. "Let us look intently": Thus Young <restores the text> along with the <published versions>.  Or <should it> rather <be restored>, "Let us {look off}"?  Perhaps the holy Father looks back to that <passage of> Hebrews 12:2 : "Looking off to the founder and completer of faith, Jesus".--Gallandi

51. "How precious to God is his blood": Clement seems here <to be imitating> St. Peter, who also himself <in> 1 <Pet> 1:19 calls the blood of <Our Lord Jesus Christ> "precious".--The same <sc. Gallandi>

52. "Let us hark back": Thus <restores> Wotton, contending that that word, or another, "<let us go back>", coincide more with the <phrase> "to all the generations", which already went past; and he translates: "Let us run back to all generations".  Perhaps <this is> better than "Let us {look intently}", which here again Young and the <published versions> present.  [<Davies?>] would prefer, "Let us {go up}".--The same <sc. Gallandi>

53. "Occasion of repentance": Perhaps <this should be emended to read> "form" <sc. of repentance>, that is, "pattern", as is verse 15, chapter 44 of the Wisdom of Sirach, to which passage our author seems to have looked back.--Young

54. More elegantly indeed Cotelier thus translates these <words>: "Let us run back to all ages of the world, and let us learn that in each age penitance's," etc.; but it seemed more satisfactorily to express the Greek letter.--Coustant

55. "and the ones": The article, "the ones", is absent from the <published editions>, which <article> Mill and Wotton restore from the manuscript.--Gallandi

My Notes
A.  The discussion surrounding this word has been somewhat difficult to render so as to underscore the metaphor in play.  "Skamma" literally means a 'furrow' or 'dug ditch' that often was used to mark the boundaries for a wrestling match.  Hence, it became a metonym for any kind of struggle or exertion.
     Unfortunately, this metaphor has become otiose in contemporary English.  So the closest parallel I could think of for such a dual meaning that still maintained the literal sense of the Greek, was our use of the word "ring", as in the physical boundaries of a "boxing ring".  But since that use of "ring" in English is highly idiomatic and sounds awkward otherwise, I've chosen to translate "arena".
   
B.  The attribution of this quotation is a bit vague.  The Greek is substantially Chysostom's from the beginning of his first homily on Galatians describing Paul's preaching style, but it is slightly paraphrased by Young to fit his descriptive purposes.

C.  The manuscript text and the emendation are essentially the same word.  The latter, which merely drops the present tense stem reduplication (i.e., mimne -> mne), is considered a late form of the former.

D.  This reference is a bit confusing.  The "sixth synod" sometimes refers to the Third Council of Constantinople of 680, which also goes by the names of the Sixth Ecumenical Council or the Trullan Synod.  But the Quinisext Council of 692, a.k.a. the Council in Trullo, is also called the "sixth synod".  Part of the reason for this is that these church meetings were closely related in terms of purpose.
     I've found the relevant passages in the the commentaries of Balsamon, and in fact he names the former as "sixth synod" and the latter as "so-called sixth synod".  Only the latter produced canons, so that is what is referred to here.

E.  I presume this is Thomas Howard.

F.  It is difficult to capture in English the precise polar sense of the ensuing sequence of antitheses.  But one should also keep in mind that the Greek text is itself a translation from the Syriac, and consequently the original semantic fields may already shifted.

G. A cognate English translation would be "gymnastics", and the connotations of the word are decidedly physical; however, there remains the question of how literally the Pauline athletic metaphor is meant to be taken in any given author.

H. This is an editorial remark, I'm guessing by Young, that suggests the imperative plural, "strive!", instead of the hortatory subjunctive, "let us strive".

I.  The Greek sports terminology doesn't match up to modern activities.  But the sense requires the sport that uses all of a competitor's athletic resources.

J.  Tertullian's elliptical style makes this rhetorically enumerative list somewhat grammatically obscure.

L. This seems to be Fell's way of accounting for the semantic discrepancy between Pollux's technical restriction to jumpers and Paul's frequent analogies with runners.  Pollux's reputation for verbal sophistry, however, suggests that his meaning may be too narrow.

M.  English rendering does not adequately communicate the textual problem, but the note seems sufficiently clear.

N.  Fell's Oxford Latin syntax is often difficult.  The sense here is: "If indeed any Greek word is sports-related, certainly this word is, as we noted above".

O. For the discussion of Fell's usage of the translation, "trench", see n.47.  I confess that I don't quite see the sports-related connotation of "kanon" in the cited passages, however much it may be present elsewhere.