Available translations: English
πολυμαθίη κάρτα μὲν ὠφελεῖ, κάρτα δὲ βλάπτει τὸν ἔχοντα· ὠφελέει μὲν τὸν δεξιὸν ὄντα, βλάπτει δὲ τὸν ῥηιδίως φωνέοντα πᾶν ἔπος καὶ ἐν παντὶ δήμῳ. χρὴ δὲ καιροῦ μέτρα εἰδέναι· σοφίης γὰρ οὗτος ὅρος. ὅσοι δὲ καὶ θύρησιν ἀείδουσιν, κἤν πῃ † πεπνυμένην ἀείδωσιν, οὐ † τιθέμενοι ἐν σοφίῃ, γνώμην δ’ ἔχουσι μωρίης.
“Erudition benefits greatly, and hurts greatly him who possesses it; it helps him who is worthy, and injures him who utters readily every word, and before the whole people. It is necessary to know the measure of time. For this is the end of wisdom. And those who sing at the doors, even if they sing skilfully, are not reckoned wise, but have the reputation of folly.”
William Wilson · The Writings of Clement of Alexandria, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1867)How this fragment survives
A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading.
A source citation has not yet been identified for this reading in the reviewed records. The linked edition remains available below.
Original-text edition
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.36, ed.Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus, vol 2 (Leipzig:Hinrichs, 1906); Perseus historic-edition transcription.
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Notes & source
Exact published human translation; footnote call numbers removed. The full original-language source context is not reproduced with this reading. The paired Greek follows the Clement variant explicitly preserved in the original dossier (δεξιὸν ὄντα and the “at the doors” ending), rather than the different Stobaeus ending. Broken word spacing has been joined. Consult the cited editions for both source witnesses
Published passage: Stromata I.6.36
Existing human translation retained verbatim; historical original-language passage covers the same translated quotation.
Uses Clement’s carrier, matching the preserved Clement English translation, rather than Diels’s different Stobaeus reconstruction. Retains Stählin’s daggers marking textual difficulty. Historical variants ὠφελέει/ῥηιδίως/φωνέοντα/καὶ ἐν/κἤν remain visible.
Supplementary context has not been verified throughout against an identified historical edition. The translated paired reading remains available.
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.36, ed.Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus, vol 2 (Leipzig:Hinrichs, 1906); Perseus historic-edition transcription. View original source ↗
English: William Wilson · The Writings of Clement of Alexandria, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1867) Published translation ↗
Original edition: Historical printed original-language edition in the public domain; digital transcription: Perseus Digital Library, Trustees of Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0. Excerpted and normalized as documented. · Licence terms ↗