Stromata Editions · The Shepherd of Hermas
Similitude III
Sim. 3.1–3.3
Complete audiobook →Greek source
Ἔδειξέ μοι δένδρα πολλὰ μὴ ἔχοντα φύλλα, ἀλλὰ ὡσεὶ ξηρὰ ἐδόκει μοι εἶναι· ὅμοια γὰρ ἦν πάντα. λέγει μοι· Βλέπεις, φησί, τὰ δένδρα ταῦτα; Βλέπω, φημι, κύριε, ὅμοια ὄντα καὶ ξηρά. ἀποκριθείς μοι λέγει· Ταῦτα τὰ δένδρα, ἃ βλέπεις, οἱ κατοικοῦντές εἰσιν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ.
Translation
He showed me many trees without leaves. They seemed to me to be dry, for they all looked alike. He said to me, “Do you see these trees?” “I do, sir,” I said. “They look alike and dry.” He answered, “These trees you see are the people who live in this age.”
Greek source
Διατί, φημί, οὖν, κύριε, ὡσεὶ ξηρὰ καὶ ὅμοιά ἐστιν; Ὅτι, φησίν, οὔτε οἱ δίκαιοι φαίνονται οὔτε οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ ὅμοιοί εἰσιν· ὁ γὰρ αἰὼν οὗτος δικαίοις χειμών ἐστιν, καὶ οὐ φαίνονται μετὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν κατοικοῦντες.
Translation
“Why, then, sir,” I asked, “do they look dry and alike?” “Because,” he said, “neither the righteous nor the sinners can be distinguished in this age. They look alike. This age is winter for the righteous, and they cannot be distinguished while living among sinners.
Greek source
ὥσπερ γὰρ τῷ χειμῶνι τὰ δένδρα ἀποβεβληκότα τὰ φύλλα ὅμοιά ἐστιν καὶ οὐ φαίνεται τὰ ξηρὰ ποῖά ἐστιν ἢ τὰ ζῶντα, οὕτως ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ οὐ φαίνονται οὔτε οἱ δίκαιοι οὔτε οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί, ἀλλὰ πάντες ὅμοιοί εἰσιν.
Translation
“In winter, trees that have shed their leaves look alike. You cannot tell which are dry and which are alive. In the same way, in this age neither the righteous nor the sinners can be distinguished. They all look alike.”
Reader’s notes
1. 3.1–3; 4.1–4
“Dry” does not automatically become “dead” at every occurrence: winter initially makes living and dry trees indistinguishable. The coming age is summer for the righteous and winter for sinners. The tree imagery and the distinct reasons given for the burning of sinners and the nations remain as stated.
About this edition
English translation v02. Greek source v01: Molly Whittaker, second revised edition, 1967; Patristic Text Archive (2018), Annette von Stockhausen — conversion to CTS-compliant PTA TEI and markup of places and persons. Technical derivative: Stromata Editions, 2026-09-29. Fixed version ef861ab3.
Dotted underlining marks editorial supplied spans in the selected source and the corresponding translation, including partial spans. The sign alone does not establish the intervention’s nature or necessarily indicate a conjecture. Original square brackets are preserved.
Latin ending: the ancient Vulgata edited by Adolphus Hilgenfeld, Hermae Pastor (Leipzig, 1873), pp. 155–164; project source HER-ENDING-SOURCE-v01. Hilgenfeld took the insertion in Sim. 10.2.4 from the Palatina and added habet himself. The Greek digital source’s license does not automatically cover the Latin edition or the translations.
The translation is a reviewed working version following an AI editorial pass; human philological review is not claimed.
The reproduced Greek source and its technical derivative: CC BY-SA 4.0. Whitespace adapted for reading; words and diacritics preserved. Attribution does not imply endorsement of Stromata by PTA contributors.
Vulgata · Hilgenfeld 1873 · StromataPTA · ef861ab3CC BY-SA 4.0
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