The witnesses we have questioned so far leave us free to place Clement in the middle of the second century, if we wish. Some of them even invite us strongly to do so. Irenaeus sounds a different note. He tells us (III, 3, that the church of Rome, founded and constituted by the apostles Peter and Paul, was governed after them by Linus, of whom Paul speaks in his epistles, then by Anacletus, then by Clement; that this Clement had seen the apostles, had lived with them, and that he used an imposing letter to calm the troubles which had arisen in the church of Corinth. A contemporary of the apostles Peter and Paul obviously could not prolong his life beyond the reign of Trajan. To place the letter of Clement in the middle of the second century, it is necessary first of all to discard the testimony of Irenaeus. Can we?
Indeed, but what if Irenaeus is correct, and Clement did know Peter and Paul? And also Clement is from the 2nd century...