The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 2 (of 2)Clement, of Alexandria, Saint
Religion
The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Clement, of Alexandria, Saint
Theology -- Early works to 1800; Theology -- History -- Early Church, ca. 30-600
Since, then, not only the Æsopians, and Macedonians, and the
Lacedæmonians endured when subjected to torture, as Eratosthenes says
in his work, _On Things Good and Evil_; but also Zeno of Elea,
when subjected to compulsion to divulge a secret, held out against
the tortures, and confessed nothing; who, when expiring, bit out his
tongue and spat it at the tyrant, whom some term Nearchus, and some
Demulus. Theodotus the Pythagorean acted also similarly, and Paulus the
friend of Lacydes, as Timotheus of Pergamus says in his work on _The
Fortitude of Philosophers_, and Achaicus in _The Ethics_.
Posthumus also, the Roman, when captured by Peucetion, did not divulge
a single secret; but putting his hand on the fire, held it to it as
if to a piece of brass, without moving a muscle of his face. I omit
the case of Anaxarchus, who exclaimed, “Pound away at the sack which
holds Anaxarchus, for it is not Anaxarchus you are pounding,” when by
the tyrant’s orders he was being pounded with iron pestles. Neither,
then, the hope of happiness nor the love of God takes what befalls
ill, but remains free, although thrown among the wildest beasts or
into the all-devouring fire; though racked with a tyrant’s tortures.
Depending as it does on the divine favour, it ascends aloft unenslaved,
surrendering the body to those who can touch it alone. A barbarous
nation, not cumbered with philosophy, select, it is said, annually an
ambassador to the hero Zamolxis. Zamolxis was one of the disciples of
Pythagoras. The one, then, who is judged of the most sterling worth is
put to death, to the distress of those who have practised philosophy,
but have not been selected, at being reckoned unworthy of a happy
service.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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