Clement of Alexandria — Stromata 20

As many men drawing down the ship, cannot be called many causes, but one cause consisting of many — for each individual by himself is not the cause of the ship being drawn, but along with the rest — so also philosophy , being the search for truth , contributes to the comprehension of truth ; not as being the cause of comprehension, but a cause along with other things, and co-operator; perhaps also a joint cause . And as the several virtues are causes of the happiness of one individual; and as both the sun, and the fire, and the bath, and clothing are of one getting warm: so while truth is one, many things contribute to its investigation. But its discovery is by the Son. If then we consider, virtue is, in power, one.

But it is the case, that when exhibited in some things, it is called prudence , in others temperance , and in others manliness or righteousness. By the same analogy, while truth is one, in geometry there is the truth of geometry; in music, that of music; and in the right philosophy , there will be Hellenic truth . But that is the only authentic truth , unassailable, in which we are instructed by the Son of God . In the same way we say, that the drachma being one and the same, when given to the shipmaster, is called the fare; to the tax-gatherer, tax; to the landlord, rent; to the teacher, fees; to the seller, an earnest. And each, whether it be virtue or truth , called by the same name, is the cause of its own peculiar effect alone; and from the blending of them arises a happy life.

For we are not made happy by names alone, when we say that a good life is happiness , and that the man who is adorned in his soul with virtue is happy . But if philosophy contributes remotely to the discovery of truth , by reaching, by diverse essays, after the knowledge which touches close on the truth , the knowledge possessed by us, it aids him who aims at grasping it, in accordance with the Word, to apprehend knowledge . But the Hellenic truth is distinct from that held by us (although it has got the same name), both in respect of extent of knowledge , certainly of demonstration, divine power, and the like. For we are taught of God , being instructed in the truly sacred letters by the Son of God . Whence those, to whom we refer, influence souls not in the way we do, but by different teaching.

And if, for the sake of those who are fond of fault-finding, we must draw a distinction, by saying that philosophy is a concurrent and cooperating cause of true apprehension, being the search for truth , then we shall avow it to be a preparatory training for the enlightened man ( τοῦ γνωστικοῦ ); not assigning as the cause that which is but the joint- cause ; nor as the upholding cause , what is merely co-operative; nor giving to philosophy the place of a sine quâ non . Since almost all of us, without training in arts and sciences, and the Hellenic philosophy , and some even without learning at all, through the influence of a philosophy divine and barbarous, and by power, have through faith received the word concerning God , trained by self-operating wisdom.