Thus the Miscellanies of notes have their proper title, wonderfully like that ancient oblation culled from all sorts of things of which Sophocles writes:--
"For there was a sheep's fleece, and there was a vine,
And a libation, and grapes well stored;
And there was mixed with it fruit of all kinds,
And the fat of the olive, and the most curious
Wax-formed work of the yellow bee."
Just so our Stromata, according to the husbandman of the comic poet Timocles, produce "figs, olives, dried figs, honey, as from an all-fruitful field;" on account of which exuberance he adds:--
"Thou speakest of a harvest-wreath not of husbandry."
For the Athenians were wont to cry:--
"The harvest-wreath bears figs and fat loaves,
And honey in a cup, and olive oil to anoint you."
We must then often, as in winnowing sieves, shake and toss up this the great mixture of seeds, in order to separate the wheat.
Clement of Alexandria in Print
