Clement of Alexandria: STROMATA (MISCELLANIES), Part IV, Complete

Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson.

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Page 85

Epicurus says, "The greatest fruit of righteousness is tranquillity."

Let these species, then, of Greek plagiarism of sentiments, being such, stand as sufficient for a clear specimen to him who is capable of perceiving.

And not only have they been detected pirating and paraphrasing thoughts and expressions, as will be shown; but they will also be convicted of the possession of what is entirely stolen. For stealing entirely what is the production of others, they have published it as their own; as Eugamon of Cyrene did the entire book on the Thesprotians from Musaeus, and Pisander of Camirus the Heraclea of Pisinus of Lindus, and Panyasis of Halicarnassus, the capture of OEchalia from Cleophilus of Samos.

You will also find that Homer, the great poet, took from Orpheus, from the Disappearance of Dionysus, those words and what follows verbatim:--

"As a man trains a luxuriant shoot of olive." [3234]

And in the Theogony, it is said by Orpheus of Kronos:--

"He lay, his thick neck bent aside; and him

All-conquering Sleep had seized."

These Homer transferrred to the Cyclops. [3235] And Hesiod writes of Melampous:--

"Gladly to hear, what the immortals have assigned

To men, the brave from cowards clearly marks;"

and so forth, taking it word for word from the poet Musaeus.

[3234] Iliad, xvii. 53.

[3235] i.e., Polyphemus, Odyss., ix. 372.

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