CLEMENS, TITUS FLA'VIUS ALEXANDRI'NUS, was born about the middle of the 2nd century of our era. According to St. Epiphanius he was an Athenian, and at first a follower of the Stoic philosophy; but according to others be belonged to the Platonic school, an opinion which seems countenanced by the manner in which he speaks of Plato and his philosophy in many passages of his writings. He says in his Stromateis' (lib. i.), that "he had for teachers several learned and excellent men ; one an Ionian, who lived in Greece, another from Magna Grwcia, a third from Ccelosyria, a fourth from Egypt, and others who had received the Christian doctrine in the East, of whom one was from Assyria, and the other from Palestine, of an ancient Hebrew family ; but that at last he found in Egypt one superior to all, with whom he remained." This was Pantaimus, whom he repeatedly mentions in his works, and who kept a Christian school at Alexandria, in which capacity Clemens succeeded him. St. Jerome says:: that Clemens was teacher of the catechumeni in that city. He was ordained presbyter of the church of Alexandria, where he appears to have remained the rest of his life. His death is believed to have happened about A.m. 220. Among his disciples were Origen, and Alexander, afterwards bishop of Jerusalem.
Clemens left many works, iu which he has mixed with the precepts of the Christian doctrine and morality, which it was his object to inculcate, much information concerning the learning, philosophy, history, and manners of the heathens. Of tho earlier Christian writers, he is the most conversant with the science and learning, with the opinions and practices, of the various nations of that day; and his works are extremely interesting, as showing the state of society, both among Heathen and Christian subjects of the Roman empire at that early time. They also contain much information on ancient history, chronology, and the various schools of philosophy ; many extracts from ancient writers, whose works are lost; and also accounts of the early heresies and schisms which divided the primitive Christian church. The works of Clemens which have comp down to us are :-1. 'Exhor tation to the Greeks,' 1 book. This is an exhortation addressed to the heathens to abandon their false gods, whose absurd stories and obscene adventures ho exposes by the testimony of the poets and philosophers of antiquity. 2. 'I'eedagogus,' in 3 books. This 'Is a treatise on Christian education. His satire of the vices and follies of the age is caustic and humorous, and reminds us at times of Juvenal. When we reflect that he lived ender the reigns of Caracalla and Heliogabalus, we do not feel inclined to suspect him of exaggeration. 3. Stromateis ' iu 8 books. Tho word stromateis he has used to mean a party-coloured or patchwork; "opus vane contextum," from the multifarious kind of information, religious and profane, anecdotical, historical, and didactic, put together without much regard to order or plan. Clemens says that he adopted this want of arrangement "to veil tho doctrines of Christianity under the maxims of profane philo sophy, in order tp screen them from the eyes of the curious and the uninitiated, that' those only who are intelligent and will give them selves tho trouble of studying, may understand the meaning." Probably also he Caind this style of composition better adapted for his multifarious information, and best suited to his old age, in which he apparently wrote it. In the first book be descants upon the utility of philosophy, and coocIndes by usertiog, by the help of chronology and quotations, that the philosophy contained In the sacred books of the liebnws was the most ancient, and that other nations bad borrowed much from it. In the second he treats of faith, sin, and repentance; he asserts the free will of licentiousness, commends lawful marriage with one wife and one alone. In the third he continues the preceding subject, condemns the incontinence of the Nicolaites, Valentinians, and other early heretics, and whilst speaking with great praise of virginity, defends marriage against the 31arcionites. lie says
the apostles l'eter and Philip were married and had children. In the fourth book ho treats of Christian perfection and martyrdom, exhorting the Christians to submit to death for the love of God aud of Christ. Perfection he pieces in the precept of loving God and our fellow creatures. In the fifth he shows that the method of speakine by figures and symbols is very ancient, both among the Hebrews and the Greeks; the Greeks, he says, borrowed most of the truths they have written from the.e whom they called barbarians, and especially from the Jews. This book is full of quotations from ancient poets and other writers. In the sixth and seventh books he sketches the portrait of a true Gnostic, a term which with him is synonymous with that of a perfect Christian. It is a complete 'bald of moral conduct. lie combats the reproach of the Greeks about the divisions and schisms existing among the Christians. lie says that schisms will arise in any community ; that they were foretold by Christ; that they had existed among the heathens and the Jews ; that the way to ascertain the truth is to consult the Scriptures, and the whole Scriptures, and not merely some parts of them, and to follow the tradition of the church; that there is only one universal church, older than all heresies, that it began under Tiberius, aud was promulgated all over the world under Nero, while the older heresies date only from the reign of Hadrian. lie then recapitulates the subject of hie seven books, and promises to begin the next by a new subject. The eighth book, as we have it in our editions, differs altogether from the rest, being is treatise on logic. Photius, In his Bibliothecae says, that in some editions in his time the eighth book of the Stromateie' consisted of the treatise 'Can a rich man be saved l' which however is generally placed as a distinct work, after the eight books of the Stromateise This treatise has also been published separately, with a copious and learned commentary by a professor of Utrecht. ' Clementis Alexandrini liber Qais dives ealutem consequi pewit, perpetuo Commentario illustrates a C. See gado,' 1816. Among the works of Clemens which are lost was the ' Ilypotyposeise or Commentaries on various parts of the Scriptures, in eight books, mentioned by Photius, who quotes several passages, and severely condemns it as heretical. (Photius among the Testimoniae at the beginning of Clemens works, Potter's edition.) This seems rather strange, as the other works of Clemens have been esteemed perfectly orthodox, and greatly commended by Eusebius, Jerome, and other ancient fathers, with the exception perhaps of one or two obscure enatmges concerning the nature of Christ and original sin. The errors however ascribed to the llypotyposeise may be accounted for iu some manner by the supposition that it was an earlier work of Clemens, written before he was properly instructed in the Christian doctrines, and while ha was still much imbued with his Platonic philosophy. Upon the whole Clemens is more of a Christian philosopher and moralist, than a professor of dogmatic theology. Some believe that the ' Excerpts ex Scriptis Theodoti et Doctrine quay Orientates voc.ature which appear at the and of Clemens' works as well as some other fragments, are extract' from his 'Hypotyposeise lie also wrote several treatises, ' De Pasche," De Jejunio," De Obtrectationee rte., which are lost. Clemens works were published, with a Latin transla tion, by J. Potter, 2 vols. folio, Oxford, 1715; and also at Wiirzburg, 3 vols. Sere 1780. There are several other editions of the whole or of separate works: the latest perhaps is that of Cailleau, vol. iv. of the Collodi() selects SS. Reel. Patrum,' Paris, 1S27.