And there is a fundamental difference between the two versions of the story. In Homilies he is simply an unnamed preacher - perhaps Simon Magus? In Recognitions he is Barnabas. In Homilies Clement hears this unnamed preacher preach and decides to go to Judea and then - in what ammounts to a 'stopover' in Alexandria - he meets Barnabas:
Men of Rome, hearken. The Son of God has come in Judæa, proclaiming eternal life to all who will, if they shall live according to the counsel of the Father, who has sent Him. Wherefore change your manner of life from the worse to the better, from things temporal to things eternal; for know ye that there is one God, who is in heaven, whose world ye unrighteously dwell in before His righteous eyes. But if ye be changed, and live according to His counsel, then, being born into the other world, and becoming eternal, ye shall enjoy His unspeakable good things. But if ye be unbelieving, your souls, after the dissolution of the body, shall be thrown into the place of fire, where, being punished eternally, they shall repent of their unprofitable deeds. For every one, the term of repentance is the present life. I therefore, when I heard these things, was grieved, because no one among so great multitudes, hearing such an announcement, said: I shall go into Judæa, that I may know if this man who tells us these things speaks the truth, that the Son of God has come into Judæa, for the sake of a good and eternal hope, revealing the will of the Father who sent Him. For it is no small matter which they say that He preaches: for He asserts that the souls of some, being themselves immortal, shall enjoy eternal good things; and that those of others, being thrown into unquenchable fire, shall be punished for ever
Chapter VIII. Departure from Rome While I spoke thus concerning others, I also lectured myself, saying, Why do I blame others, being myself guilty of the very same crime of heedlessness? But I shall hasten into Judæa, having first arranged my affairs. And when I had thus made up my mind, there occurred a long time of delay, my worldly affairs being difficult to arrange. Therefore, meditating further on the nature of life, that by involving men in hope it lays snares for those who are making haste, yea, and how much time I had been robbed of while tossed by hopes, and that we men die while thus occupied, I left all my affairs as they were, and sped to Portus; and coming to the harbour, and being taken on board a ship, I was borne by adverse winds to Alexandria instead of Judæa; and being detained there by stress of weather, I consorted with the philosophers, and told them about the rumour and the sayings of him who had appeared in Rome. And they answered that indeed they knew nothing of him who had appeared in Rome; but concerning Him who was born in Judæa, and who was said by the report to be the Son of God, they had heard from many who had come from thence, and had learned respecting all the wonderful things that He did with a word. Chapter IX. Preaching of Barnabas And when I said that I wished I could meet with some one of those who had seen Him, they immediately brought me to one, saying, There is one here who not only is acquainted with Him, but is also of that country, a Hebrew, by name Barnabas, who says that he himself is one of His disciples; and hereabouts he resides, and readily announces to those who will the terms of His promise. Then I went with them; and when I came, I stood listening to his words with the crowd that stood round him; and I perceived that he was speaking the truth not with dialectic art, but was setting forth simply and without preparation what he had heard and seen the manifested Son of God do and say. And even from the crowd who stood around him he produced many witnesses of the miracles and discourses which he narrated.
Indeed it is important to note - given my discussion of 'God's will' and the Ebionites in the other thread - that by the time Clement reaches Judea from Rome it is clear he has no expectations to meet Jesus (i.e. he is not led to believe that Jesus is still alive) but rather he recognizes that only his 'will' is left roaming the earth in his living witnesses (= the disciples) like Barnabas.
After encountering Barnabas (who is clearly not the same person he saw in Rome) Clement defends his rather 'simple' preaching from 'philosophers' who deride his claims about knowing God's 'will' saying:
Why, O God, did You not proclaim to us Your counsel? Shall you not, if you be thought worthy of an answer at all, be told this? I, knowing before the foundation of the world all characters that were to be, acted towards each one by anticipation according to his deserts without making it known; but wishing to give full assurance to those who have fled to me that this is so, and to explain why from the beginning, and in the first ages, I did not suffer my counsel to be publicly proclaimed; I now, in the end of the world, have sent heralds to proclaim my will, and they are insulted and flouted by those who will not be benefited, and who wilfully reject my friendship. Oh, great wrong! The preachers are exposed to danger even to the loss of life, and that by the men who are called to salvation. And this wrongful treatment of my heralds would have been against all from the beginning, if from the beginning the unworthy had been called to salvation. For that which is now done wrongfully by these men serves to the vindication of my righteous foreknowledge, that it was well that I did not choose from the beginning to expose uselessly to public contempt the word which is worthy of honour; but determined to suppress it, as being honourable, not indeed from those who were worthy from the beginning—for to them also I imparted it—but from those, and such as those, unworthy, as you see them to be,—those who hate me, and who will not love themselves. And now, give over laughing at this man, and hear me with respect to his announcement, or let any one of the hearers who pleases answer. And do not bark like vicious dogs, deafening with disorderly clamour the ears of those who would be saved, ye unrighteous and God-haters, and perverting the saving method to unbelief. How shall you be able to obtain pardon, who scorn him who is sent to speak to you of the Godhead of God? And this you do towards a man whom you ought to have received on account of his good-will towards you, even if he did not speak truth.
Remember Clement has just left his boat. He can't have expected to meet Jesus or had any other understanding from his initial encounter with the unnamed Christian in Rome other than recognizing or realizing that we are in an age AFTER the initial appearance of the Son of God. He has come to see 'the will of God' manifested in latter day saints to borrow the Mormon terminology. Recognitions has been completely altered having Barnabas appear in Rome thus removing the possibility that Clement was first introduced to Christianity by Simon Magus as his father was (and which accords with the doctrine of pairs which appears later in the work i.e. that Simon was to go out in the world 'first' and then Peter goes out after him to correct his evil.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote