writings. The mutual relations of these writings shew that Clement intended them as a complete system of Christian teaching, corresponding with the "whole economy of the gracious Word, Who first addresses, then trains, and then teaches" (Paed. i. 1), bringing to man in due succession conviction, discipline, wisdom. The first three books correspond in a remarkable degree, as has frequently been remarked (Potter, ad Protrept. i.), with the stages of the neo-Platonic course, the Purification (ἀποκάθαρσις), the Initiation (μύησις), and the Vision (ἐποπτεία). The fourth book was probably designed to give a solid basis to the truths which were fleeting and unreal in systems of philosophy. Though his style is generally deficient in terseness and elegance, his method desultory, his learning undigested; yet we can still thankfully admire his richness of information, his breadth of reading, his largeness of sympathy, his lofty aspirations, his noble conception of the office and capacities of the Faith.
I. The Address to the Greeks (Λόγος προτρεπτικὸς πρὸς Ἕλληνας: Cf. Strom. vii. § 22, p. 421, ἐν τῷ προτρεπτικῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ ἡμῖν λόγῳ).—The works of Clement were composed in the order in which they have been mentioned. The Tutor contains a reference to the Address in the first section (ὁ λόγος ὁπηνίκα μὲν ἐπὶ σωτηρίαν παρεκάλει, προτρεπτικὸς ὄνομα αὐτῷ ἦν: cf. Strom. vii. § 22; Pott. p. 841); and, if we can trust the assertion of Eusebius (H. E. v. 28), some of Clement's works were composed before the accession of Victor (A.D. 192). Putting these two facts together, we may reasonably suppose the Address written c. A.D. 190. It was addressed to Greeks and not to Gentiles generally, as Jerome understood the word ("adversus gentes," de Vir. Ill. 38). It deals almost exclusively with Greek mythology and Greek speculation.
Its general aim is to prove the superiority of Christianity to the religions and the philosophies of heathendom, while it satisfies the cravings of humanity to which they bore witness. The gospel is, as Clement shews with consummate eloquence, the New Song more powerful than that of Orpheus or Arion, new and yet older than the creation (c. 1), pure and spiritual as contrasted with the sensuality and idolatry of the pagan rites, clear and substantial as compared with the vague hopes of poets and philosophers (2‒9). In such a case, he argues, custom cannot be pleaded against the duty of conversion. Man is born for God, and is bound to obey the call of God, Who through the Word is waiting to make him like unto Himself. The choice is between judgment and grace, between destruction and life: can the issue then be doubtful (10‒12)?
It is not difficult to point out errors in taste, fact, and argument throughout Clement's appeal; but it would be perhaps impossible to shew in any earlier work passages equal to those in which he describes the mission of the Word, the Light of men (p. 88), and pictures the true destiny of man (pp. 92 ff.).
II. The Tutor (ὁ Παιδαγωγός; cf. Hos. v. 2, quoted in Paed. i. 7, p. 129).—The Tutor was written before the Miscellanies, in which the Tutor is described generally (Strom. vi. § 1, p. 736)—i.e. c. A.D. 190‒195. The writer's design was "to prepare from early years, that is from the beginning of elementary instruction (ἐκ κατηχήσεως), a rule of life growing with the increase of faith, and fitting the souls of those just on the verge of manhood with virtue so as to enable them to receive the higher knowledge of philosophy" (εἰς ἐπιστήμης γνωστικῆς παραδοχήν, Strom. l.c.).
The main scope of the Tutor is therefore practical: the aim is action and not knowledge; but still action as preparatory to knowledge, and resting upon conviction. It is divided into three books. The first gives a general description of the Tutor, Who is the Word Himself (1‒3); of the "children" whom He trains, Christian men and women alike (4‒6); and of His general method, using both chastisements and love (7‒12). The second and third books deal with special precepts designed to meet the actual difficulties of contemporary life and not to offer a theory of morals. It would not be easy to find elsewhere, even in the Roman satirists, an equally vivid and detailed picture of heathen manners. The second book contains general directions as to eating and drinking (1 f.), furniture (3), entertainments (4‒8), sleep (9), the relations of men and women (10), the use of jewellery (11 f.). The third book opens with an inquiry into the nature of true beauty (c. 1). This leads to a condemnation of extravagance in dress both in men and in women (2 ff.), of luxurious establishments (4 f.), of the misuse of wealth (6 f.). Frugality and exercise are recommended (8‒10); and many minute directions are added—often curiously suggestive in the present times—as to dress and behaviour (11 f.). General instructions from Holy Scripture as to the various duties and offices of life lead up to the prayer to the Tutor—the Word—with which the work closes. Immediately after the Tutor are printed in the editions of Clement two short poems, which have been attributed to him. The first, written in an anapaestic measure, is A Hymn of the Saviour Christ (ὕμνος τοῦ Σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ), and the second, written in trimeter iambics, is addressed To the Tutor (εἱς τὸν Παιδαγωγόν). The first is said to be "Saint Clement's" (τοῦ ἁγίου Κλήμεντος) in those MSS. which contain it; but it may be a work of primitive date, like the Morning Hymn which has been preserved in our Communion office as the Gloria in Excelsis. If it were Clement's, and designed to occupy its present place, it is scarcely possible that it would have been omitted in any MS.; while it makes an appropriate and natural addition if taken from some other source. There is no evidence to shew that the second is Clement's work; it is doubtless an effusion of some pious scholar of a later date.
III. The Miscellanies (Στρωματεῖς).[1]—The title, patchwork (or rather bags for holding the bedclothes, like στρωματόδεσμοι), suggests a true idea of the character of the work. It is designedly unmethodical, a kind of meadow, as Clement describes it, or rather a wooded
- ↑ The full title is given at the close of Books i. iii. v.: τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀληθῆ φιλοσοφίαν γνωστικῶν ὑπομνημάτων στρωματεῖς.
