Clement of Alexandria

[Fukuoka]

Hi! This is my first post to this group. I have a question concerning a church father named clement of Alexandria. He wrote a document called EXHORTATION TO ENDURANCE OR TO THE NEWLY BAPTIZED.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... d-uni.html

In the document he wrote a sentence that I can’t really understand. It says…

μὴ γὰρ ὕπνος σὲ ἐπικρατείτω πολὺς τῶν πρὸς θεὸν
εὐχῶν τε καὶ ὕμνων θανάτῳ γὰρ ὁ μακρὸς ὕπνος
ἐφάμιλλος.

The nearby English says…
for let not much sleep prevail to keep you from your prayers and hymns to God, since long sleep is a rival of death.

I read it in Greek, but I still can’t understand Clement’s point. Why is long sleep a rival of death? Im sure I'm missing something. Is it a Greek idiom or cultural nuasiance?

Thanks to all in advance!
Tim

[Stephen Carlson]

It’s not an idiom but a metaphor, which kind of takes us away from the scope of the forum. Ideally, you’d want to ask this question in a place inhabited by Clement scholars.

[Jonathan Robie]

It’s not an idiom but a metaphor, which kind of takes us away from the scope of the forum. Ideally, you’d want to ask this question in a place inhabited by Clement scholars.

Metaphor is out of scope? I hope not. Hard to discuss the meaning of a text if we rule out discussion of metaphor.

[Stephen Carlson]

Discussing a metaphor doesn’t require any particular Greek knowledge. Knowing that it isn’t an idiom, sure.

[Philip Arend]

μὴ γὰρ ὕπνος σὲ ἐπικρατείτω πολὺς τῶν πρὸς θεὸν
εὐχῶν τε καὶ ὕμνων θανάτῳ γὰρ ὁ μακρὸς ὕπνος
ἐφάμιλλος.

Clement generally enjoys playing around with words in his writings, and he has an extensive vocabulary. Here he first refers to sleep's power being able to ἐπικρατείτω σὲ (conquer or defeat you) in prayers and hymns to God. He emphasizes this word by setting it in the middle of a hyperbaton between ὕπνος... πολὺς. How does it defeat prayer? Simply because if one is sleeping they are not praying and singing. The second verse repeats the thought with an even greater emphasis: Long sleep almost rivals death in is power to put an end to prayer. The key word ἐφάμιλλος has a range of meaning in MGS (Brill GE) glossed as "competitor, rival, imitator, (nearly) equal". Thus, Clement's main point is simply an exhortation to stay awake and pray and he uses a bit of hyperbole to emphasize it.

It is also helpful to know that Clement was a catechetical teacher for baptismal candidates in the Church of Alexandria. So he has strong interest in practical advice for new Christians.

[Stephen Carlson]

He emphasizes this word by setting it in the middle of a hyperbaton between ὕπνος... πολὺς.

The middle of a hyperbaton is not the place of emphasis. The fronted element is.

[Philip Arend]

Thanks Stephan, this is a great help. I had only read that Hyperbaton was for emphasis and wrongly assumed emphasis on the middle word. Thus Clement was really focused on sleep as the great enemy of prayer. By the way, thanks for all your contributions over the years. You have provided consistently excellent and helpful observations.

[Stephen Carlson]

Thanks Stephan, this is a great help. I had only read that Hyperbaton was for emphasis and wrongly assumed emphasis on the middle word. Thus Clement was really focused on sleep as the great enemy of prayer.

Yeah, that’s what I see too. Clement’s writing here emphasizes sleep in the first clause, and death in the second.

By the way, thanks for all your contributions over the years. You have provided consistently excellent and helpful observations.