Chapter CXI

_The Miscellanies_,[587] in eight books, contain an attack upon heresy and the heathen. The material is arranged promiscuously and the chapters are not in order, the reason for which he himself gives at the end of the seventh book in the following words: “Since these points have been thoroughly discussed, and our ethical formula has been sketched summarily and fragmentarily, as we promised, teachings calculated to kindle the flame of true knowledge being scattered here and there, so that the discovery of the sacred mysteries may not be easy to any one of the uninitiated,” and so on. This, he himself says, is the reason why the subject-matter is so unsystematically arranged. In an old copy I have found the title of this work not only given as _Miscellanies_, but in full as follows: _Miscellany of Gnostic Notes in accordance with the True Philosophy, books 1-8_. The first seven books have the same title, and are identical in all the copies. The title of the eighth, however, varies, as does the subject-matter. In some copies it is called _Who is the Rich Man that is saved?_ and begins, “Those who ... laudatory speeches,” etc.; in others it is called _The Miscellanies, the eighth book_, like the other seven, and begins, “But not even the oldest of the philosophers,” etc. The work in some parts is unsound, but not like the _Outlines_, some of whose statements it refutes.

Clement is said to have written several other works, of which the following are mentioned by other writers: _On Easter_; _On Fasting_; _On Evil-speaking_; _On the Ecclesiastical Canons, and against those who follow the Erroneous Doctrine of the Jews_, dedicated to Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem. He flourished during the reign of Severus and his son Antoninus at Rome.

CXII, CXIII

Read two volumes of the works of Clement, bishop of Rome.[588] One is entitled _The Apostolic Constitutions by Clement_, containing the synodical canons ascribed to the assembled Apostles. The other, in the form of a letter, is dedicated to James the Lord’s brother and contains what are called _The Acts of the Apostle Peter, His Conversations with Simon Magus, The Recognition of Clement and his Father and his two Brothers_. Hence in some copies it is entitled _The Recognition of Clement of Rome_. As we have said, a letter is prefixed as sent to James the Lord’s brother, but not always the same nor from the same person, according to some copies being sent by Peter the apostle, according to others by Clement to James. In the first case, Peter would seem to have compiled an account of his own acts and sent it to James at his request; in the second, Clement compiled it by command of Peter and sent it to James, after Peter had passed to immortal life. It may be conjectured then that there were two editions of the _Acts of Peter_, and that when one in course of time perished that of Clement alone survived. For in all the copies which I have seen--by no means a few--after those different epistles and titles I have unvaryingly found the same treatise beginning, “I, Clement,” etc. The work is full of countless absurdities and of blasphemy against the Son in accordance with the Arian heresy. The _Constitutions_ appear to be liable to censure on three counts: clumsy fiction, which it is easy to remove; the abusive charges against Deuteronomy, which can easily be met, and its Arianism, which can be refuted by a vigorous attack. But the book of the _Acts of Peter_, in its distinctness and earnestness, its purity, vehemence, its general linguistic excellences, and its great learning, is so superior to the _Constitutions_ that, as far as language is concerned, no comparison between the two works is possible.

It is this Clement of whom St. Paul speaks in the Epistle to the Philippians, “With Clement also, and other my fellow-labourers, whose names are written in the book of life.”[589] He also wrote an important letter to the Corinthians, which was so highly thought of that it was read in public. A second letter to the same is rejected as spurious, as also the lengthy discussion, a dialogue between Peter and Ap(p)ion.[590] Some say that Clement succeeded Peter as bishop of Rome, others that he was the fourth bishop, Linus and Anacletus intervening, and that he died in the third year of Trajan’s reign.