They Are Called Philosophers

Φιλόσοφοι δὲ λέγονται παρ' ἡμιν μὲν οἱ σοφίας ἐρῶντες, τῆς πάντων δημιουργοῦ και διδασκάλου, τουτέστι γνώσεως τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ· παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι δὲ, οἱ τῶν περὶ ἀρετῆς λόγων ἀντιλαμβανόμενοι. Εἰη δ᾽ ἂν φιλοσοφία, τὰ παρ᾽ ἐκάστῃ τῶν αἰρέσεων, τῶν κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν λέγω, ἀδιαβλητα δόγματα μετά τοῦ ὁμολογουμένου βίου εἰς μίαν ἀθροισθέντα ἐκλογήν· ἂ και αὐτὰ ἐκ τῆς βαρβάρου κλαπέντα θεοδωρήτου χάριστος, Ἑλληνικῷ κεκόσμηται λογῳ· τῶν μέν γὰρ κλέπται, ὧν δὲ καὶ παρήκουσαν· ἐν δὲ τοὶς ἄλλοις ἂ μὲν κινούμενοι εἰρήκασιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τελείως ἐξειργάσαντο· τὰ δὲ ἀνθρωπίνῳ στοχασμῷ τε καὶ ἐπιλογισμῖρ, ἐν οἶς καὶ παραπτουσιν. Ἐπιβάλλειν δ᾽ οἰονται τῇ ἀληθείᾳ οὖτοι μὲν τελείως, ὡς δ᾽ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὺς καταλαμβανόμεθα, μερικῶς. Πλέον γ᾽ οὖν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου οὐκ ἲσασιν οὐδεν. Καὶ μὴν ὡς ἡ γεωμετρία περὶ μέτρα καὶ μεγέθη καὶ σχήματα πραγματευομένη διὰ τῆς ἐν τοὶς ἐπιπέδοις καταγραφῆς, ἥ τε ζωγραφία τὸν ὀπτικον ὅλον τόπον ἐπὶ τῶν σκηνογραφουμένων φαίνεται παραλαμβάνουσα· αὔτη δὲ ψευδογραφεῖ τὴν ὄψιν τοὶς κατὰ προσβολὴν τῶν ὀπτικῶν γραμμῶν σημείοις χρωμένη κατὰ τὸ τεχνικόν· ἐντεῦθεν ἐπιφάσεις, καὶ ὑποθέσεις, και φάσεις σώζονται, καὶ τὰ μὲν δοκεὶ προὕχειν, τὰ δὲ ἴσχειν, τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλως πως φαντάζεσθαι ἐν τῷ ὁμαλῷ καὶ λείῳ· οὔτω δὲ καὶ οἱ φιλόσοφοι ζωγραφίας δίκην ἀπομιμοῦνται τὴν ἀλήθειαν· φιλαυτία δὲ πάντων ἁμαρτημάτων αἰτία ἑκάστοις ἑκάστοτε. Διόπερού χρὴ, τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους δόξαν αἱρούμενοι, φιλαυτον εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τὸν Θεὸν ἀγαπῶντα, τῷ ὄντι ὄσιον μετὰ φρονήσεως γίνεσθαι. Εἴ γ᾽ οὖν τις τοίς μερικοῖς ὡς τοῖς καθολικοις χρώμενος τύχῃ, και τὸ δοῦλον ὡς Κύριον, και ἡγεμονεῖται, σφάλλεται τῆς ἀληθείας, οὐ συνεὶς τὸ τῷ Δαβὶδ κατ᾽ ἐξομολόγησιν εἰρημένον· Γῆν σποδὸν ὡσεὶ ἄρτον ἔφαγον.  Κλημεντος του Αλεξανδρεως, Στρωματεων.

Among us they are called philosophers who love wisdom, of all things creator and teacher, that is the knowledge of the Son of God, and among the Greeks, those who engage in accounts of virtue. Philosophy, then, consists of the things found in each sect insofar as they are philosophical and cannot be impugned, with a corresponding life, collected into one selection; and these things, stolen from the grace giving Barbarian God, have been adorned by Greek speech. For some they have purloined, and others they have misheard, and with others they have being moved to speak things they have not yet perfectly worked out; and others come by human conjecture and reasoning in which they err. And yet they think that they have hit the truth perfectly; but as we grasp them, they have done so only in part. They know nothing but what is of this world. And indeed it is like geometry, which concerns itself with measures and magnitudes and forms on flat surfaces; and like painting it seems to take in the whole view in the scenes represented; but it gives a false description of the view, employing the signs that result from the incidents of the lines of vision, according to the art; by this the higher and lower points in the view and those between are preserved; and some things seem to be in the foreground and others in the background and others appear in some other way on the smooth and level surface. So also the philosophers copy the truth after the manner of painting; and self love is the cause of their errors in each one of them always. Thus one should not, seeking human glory, be self loving, but by loving God, be really wise. If, then, one takes things particular as universal, and the servant as the Lord, he stumbles in the truth, not understanding what was spoken by David by way of confession: Earth I ate like bread. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 6, Ch 7.