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2 Clement 10:3

Posted: February 2nd, 2019, 4:52 am
by Matthew Longhorn
2 Clement 10:2 ἐὰν γὰρ σπουδάσωμεν ἀγαθοποιεῖν, διώξεται ἡμᾶς εἰρήνη. (3) διὰ ταύτην γὰρ τὴν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν <εἰρήνην> ἄνθρωπον, οἵτινες παράγουσι φόβους ἀνθρωπίνους, προῃρημένοι μᾶλλον τὴν ἐνθάδε ἀπόλαυσιν ἢ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐπαγγελίαν

Hi all, I am puzzled by the infinitive in the bolded portion of second clement 10 given above. Is there an implied δυνατός along with the εἰρήνην that holmes supplies here making it something like διὰ ταύτην γὰρ τὴν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἔστιν δυνατός εὑρεῖν <εἰρήνην> ἄνθρωπον? This would make it a complementary infinitive, but I am not sure how to categorise it otherwise

Holmes, M. W. (1999). The Apostolic Fathers: Greek texts and English translations. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

Re: 2 Clement 10:3

Posted: February 2nd, 2019, 9:29 am
by Barry Hofstetter
Actually, that's not so much of a problem. ἔστιν so used (and so accented) can mean "it is possible..."
⑦ to exist as possibility ἔστιν w. inf. foll. it is possible, one can (Περὶ ὕψους 6; Diog. L. 1, 110 ἔστιν εὑρεῖν=one can find; Just., A I, 59, 10 ἔστι ταῦτα ἀκοῦσαι καὶ μαθεῖν; D. 42, 3 ἰδεῖν al.; Mel., P. 19, 127); neg. οὐκ ἔστιν νῦν λέγειν it is not possible to speak at this time Hb 9:5. οὐκ ἔστιν φαγεῖν it is impossible to eat 1 Cor 11:20 (so Hom. et al.; UPZ 70, 23 [152/151 B.C.] οὐκ ἔστι ἀνακύψαι με πώποτε … ὑπὸ τῆς αἰσχύνης; 4 Macc 13:5; Wsd 5:10; Sir 14:16; 18:6; EpJer 49 al.; EpArist 163; Jos., Ant. 2, 335; Ath. 22, 3 ἔστιν εἰπεῖν).
Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 285). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

The real problem is what do do with οἵτινες κτλ. It doesn't seem to follow or makes sense out of the preceding, and so various suggestions have been made:
Lightfoot emends εὑρεῖν to εὐημερεῖν (to prosper), but even so the Greek is very obscure and probably there is a primitive corruption, perhaps the omission of a whole line.
Clement I, P., Ignatius, S., Bishop of Antioch, Polycarp, S., Bishop of Smyrna, & Lake, K. (1912–1913). The Apostolic fathers. (K. Lake, Ed.). Cambridge MA; London: Harvard University Press.

Re: 2 Clement 10:3

Posted: February 2nd, 2019, 9:35 am
by Matthew Longhorn
Thanks for the reply Barry, I hadn’t picked up on that use of εστιν so good to store that one away and make sense of the passage.
Re the οιτινες - I was seeing that as introducing people who bring in human fears/worries due to their focus on pleasure. These people are the reason that the peace that we should have isn’t with us - it is disrupted by these people. Have I got that wrong?

Re: 2 Clement 10:3

Posted: February 2nd, 2019, 5:32 pm
by Stirling Bartholomew
Matthew Longhorn wrote: February 2nd, 2019, 9:35 am Have I got that wrong?
I took the time to look at it but cannot answer your question. Reading Church Fathers is a daunting undertaking. My current project in soclia on the Apocalypse is threatening to go into a stall. The difficulty of dealing with the material has me frustrated. Each author is a major project. Some shared vocabulary and idioms, but other than that, you need to learn the author's way of doing things. You cannot jump from Oechumenius into 2 Clement and assume your prepared to make exegetical judgements.