Octavum Stromatum librum vel omnino desiderari, vel, si verus est titulus ejus qui exstat, certe esse imperfectum, jam diu critici docuerunt. Nunc libri octavi Vaticanum hoc fragmentum habemus, addendum parallelis pag. 643, 751, 753. Contradicit autem, ut arbitror, Clemens Alex. iis qui metempsychosin tuebantur, quam fabulam non aliunde quam ex Aegypto hausisse Pythagoram, tradit Diodorus Siculus I, 98, quicum conferendi sunt Herodotus II, 123, et Origenes contra Celsum I, 20, 32. Quanta enimvero Graeci poetae, philosophi, artificesque ab Aegyptiis mutuati fuerint, docent late Diodorus Siculus I, 96 sqq., Herodotus II, 50, 85; Clemens Alex. Strom. I, 15, 16; VI, 2, 4; Eusebius Praepar. evang. I, 6; III, 4; X, 4 sqq. — Ang. Mai, Script. vet. tom. VII, pag. 88.
That the eighth book of the Stromata is either wholly lost or, if the title of the one that survives is genuine, at any rate incomplete, the critics have long taught. Now we have this Vatican fragment of the eighth book, to be added to the Parallels, pp. 643, 751, 753. Clement of Alexandria here contradicts, as I judge, those who upheld metempsychosis, a fable which, Diodorus Siculus relates (I, 98), Pythagoras drew from no other source than Egypt; with him are to be compared Herodotus II, 123, and Origen, Against Celsus I, 20, 32. How much indeed the Greek poets, philosophers and craftsmen borrowed from the Egyptians is taught at length by Diodorus Siculus I, 96 ff., Herodotus II, 50, 85; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata I, 15, 16; VI, 2, 4; Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel I, 6; III, 4; X, 4 ff. — Angelo Mai, Scriptorum veterum [nova collectio], vol. VII, p. 88.
Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμᾶς ἐποίησεν οὐ προόντας· ἐχρῆν γὰρ καὶ εἰδέναι ἡμᾶς ὅπου ἦμεν, εἰ προῆμεν, καὶ πῶς καὶ διὰ τί δεῦρο ἥκαμεν· εἰ δὲ οὐ προῆμεν, τῆς γενέσεως αἴτιος μόνος ὁ Θεός· ὡς οὖν οὐκ ὄντας ἐποίησεν, οὕτως καὶ γενομένους σώζει τῇ ἰδίᾳ χάριτι.
God made us when we did not previously exist; for we ought also to know, if we pre-existed, where we were, and how and for what reason we came hither. But if we did not pre-exist, God alone is the cause of our coming into being; as therefore He made us when we were not, so too, once we have come to be, He saves us by His own grace.