Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 13

Since there is only one truth—for falsehood has countless deviations—the sects of philosophy, both barbarian and Greek, tear truth apart like the Bacchae tearing the limbs of Pentheus, each boasting that it possesses the whole truth. Yet I think that when light rises, everything is illuminated. So all Greeks and barbarians who have longed for the truth, some holding much of it, some a portion—if indeed they hold any of the word of truth—would be shown to have it. For time gathers the future and the present, and also the past, without trouble; but truth is far more powerful than time to gather its own seeds, even if they fall into foreign soil. Indeed, we would find many things celebrated among the sects—provided they have not been completely mutilated or severed from their natural sequence, like a man whose reason is cut off by women's chatter—that, even though they seem unlike one another, nonetheless agree with the whole truth in genus and in entirety. Whether as a limb, a part, a species, or a genus, each is joined to the one. Even the highest and lowest notes are opposites, yet both belong to a single harmony. Just as in numbers the even and the odd differ, yet both submit to arithmetic; and just as the circle, triangle, square, and every other figure, though distinct, share in geometry. And in the whole world, all the parts, even when they differ from one another, preserve their relationship to the whole. Thus both barbarian and Greek philosophy have made a kind of dismemberment—not of the mythology of Dionysus, but of the theology of the eternal Word. But the one who gathers the divided things and unites them again will, without danger, see the truth clearly. For it is written in Ecclesiastes: 'I added wisdom to all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my heart saw many things—wisdom and knowledge, parables and science—I knew them' (Eccl 1:16–17 LXX). For this too is a choice of the Spirit: that in a multitude of wisdom there is a multitude of knowledge. And the one who is experienced in every kind of wisdom would be a gnostic in the true sense. Immediately it is written: 'The abundance of the knowledge of wisdom will give life to the one who is near it' (Eccl 1:18 LXX). And again this saying confirms what was said more clearly: 'All things are manifest to those who understand'—and all things are Greek and barbarian, but the rest are no longer all things—and 'it is right to bring perception to those who wish' (Prov 8:9 LXX). Buy education, not silver; buy knowledge tested more than gold; buy perception of pure gold. For wisdom is better than precious stones, and nothing valuable is worthy of it (Prov 8:10–11 LXX).