Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/198

180  of the opinions of Greek philosophers, the interpretation of Scripture, and the refutation of heresies which were the general topics of the second principal member of Clement's plan (iv. 2); but it is not easy to see how it could have formed the close of the Miscellanies. It is "a fresh beginning" and nothing more. In the time of Photius (c. A.D. 850) the present fragment was reckoned as the eighth book in some copies, and in others the tract, On the Rich Man that is Saved (Bibl. 111). Still further confusion is indicated by the fact that passages from the Extracts from the Prophetical Writings are quoted from "the eighth book of the Miscellanies" (Bunsen, Anal. Ante-Nic. i. 288 f.), and also from "the eighth book of the Outlines" (id. 285); while the discussion of prophecy was postponed from the Miscellanies to some later opportunity (Strom. vii. 1, cf. iv. 2). Perhaps the simplest solution is to suppose that at a very early date the logical introduction to the Outlines was separated from the remainder of the work, and added to MSS. of the Miscellanies. In this way the opinion would arise that there were 8 books of the Miscellanies, and scribes supplied the place of bk. viii. according to their pleasure.

IV. The Outlines (Ὑποτυπώσεις) probably grew out of the Miscellanies. Several express quotations from the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th books of the Outlines have been preserved; but the fragments are too few and Clement's method too desultory to allow these to furnish a certain plan of the arrangement of the work. They agree, however, fairly with the summary description of Photius, and probably books i.‒iii. contained the general introduction, with notes on the O.T. ("Genesis, Exodus, and the Psalms"); books iv.-vi., notes on the Epp. of St. Paul; books vii. viii., on the Catholic Epp.

In addition to the detached quotations, there can be no reasonable doubt that the three series of extracts, (a) The summaries from the expositions of Theodotus and the so-called Western school, (b) The selections from the comments on the prophets, and (c) The outlines on the Catholic Epistles, were taken from the Outlines. But partly from the method of compilation, partly from the manner in which they have been preserved in a single MS., these fragments, though of the deepest interest, are at present only imperfectly intelligible.

(a) The summaries from Theodotus (ἐκ τῶν Θεοδότου καὶ τῆς ἀνατολικῆς καλουμένης διδασκαλίας κατὰ τοὺς Οὐαλεντίνου χρόνους ἐπιτομαί) are at once the most corrupt and the most intrinsically difficult of the extracts. It appears as if the compiler set down hastily the passages which contained the interpretations of the school which he wished to collect, without regard to the context, and often in an imperfect form. Sometimes he adds the criticism of Clement (ἡμεῖς δέ, § 8; Ἐμοὶ δέ, § 17; ὁ ἡμέτερος [λόγος], § 33); but generally the Valentinian comment is given without remark (οἱ ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου, §§ 2, 6, 16, 23, 25; οἱ Ουαλεντινιανοί, §§ 21, 24, 37; ὥς φησιν ὁ Θεόδοτος, §§ 22, 26, 30; φησί, §§ 41, 67; φασί, §§ 33, 35; λέγουσιν, § 43). It follows that in some cases it is uncertain whether Clement quotes a Valentinian author by way of exposition, or adopts the opinion which he quotes. The same ambiguity appears to have existed in the original work; and it is easy to see how Photius, rapidly perusing the treatise, may have attributed to Clement doctrines which he simply recited without approval and without examination. Thus, in the fragments which remain, occasion might be given to charge Clement with false opinions on the nature of the Son (§ 19), on the creation of Eve (§ 21), on the two Words (§§ 6, 7, 19), on Fate (§§ 75 ff.), on the Incarnation (§ 1). There is no perceptible order or connexion in the series of extracts. The beginning and end are equally corrupt. Some sections are quite detached (e.g. §§ 9, 18, 21, 28, 66, etc.); others give a more or less continuous exposition of some mystery: e.g. §§ 10‒16 (the nature of spiritual existences); 39‒65 (the relations of wisdom, Jesus, the Christ, the demiurge; the material, the animal, the spiritual); 67‒86 (birth, fate, baptism).

(b) The prophetic selections (ἐκ τῶν προφητικῶν ἐκλογαί) are for the most part scarcely less desultory and disconnected than the Summaries, but far simpler in style and substance. They commence with remarks on the symbolism of the elements, and mainly of water (§§ 1‒8). Then follow fragmentary reflections on discipline (9‒11), on knowledge, faith, creation, the new creation (12‒24), fire (25 f.), on writing and preaching (27), on traits of the true gnostic (28‒37). A long and miscellaneous series of observations, some of them physiological, succeeds (38‒50), and the collection closes with a fairly continuous exposition of Ps. xviii. (xix.).

Manuscript.—The summaries from Theodotus and the prophetic selections are at present found only in ''Cod. Flor.'' (L.). The text given in the edd. of Clement is most corrupt. The conjectural emendations and Latin trans. of J. Bernays, given by Bunsen in his ed. of the fragments of The Outlines (Anal. Ante-Nic. i.), are by far our most valuable help for the understanding of the text. Dindorf, in his ed., has overlooked these.

(c) The third important fragment of the Outlines consists of a Latin version of notes on detached verses of I. Peter, Jude, and I., II. John, with several insertions, probably due in some cases to transpositions in the MS. (e.g. I. John ii. 1, hae namque primitivae, virtutes—audita est, Pott. p. 1009, stands properly in connexion with the line of speculation on Jude 9); and in others to a marginal illustration drawn from some other part of the work (e.g. Jude 24, cum dicit Daniel—confusus est). Cassiodorus says (Inst. Div. Litt. 8) that Clement wrote some remarks on I. Peter i., II. John, and James, which were generally subtle, but at times rash; and that he himself translated them into Latin, with such revision as rendered their teaching more safe. It has generally been supposed, in spite of the difference of range (James for Jude) that these Latin notes 