The Instructor 1.6.48
Summary: Abel's blood spoke of the Word who would suffer; and ancient physiology shows that the body is formed and nourished from blood.
Greek text · Stählin 1:118–119
φθέγγεται δὲ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὸ αἷμα, ὁ λόγος, ἐπεὶ λόγον ἐμήνυεν τὸν πεισόμενον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ σὰρξ αὐτὴ καὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ αἷμα τῷ γάλακτι, οἷον ἀντιπελαργούμενον, ἄρδεταί τε καὶ αὔξεται. καὶ δὴ καὶ ἡ διαμόρφωσις τοῦ συλληφθέντος τῷ τῆς ἐπὶ μῆνα καθάρσεως ὑπολελειμμένῳ καθαρῷ περιττώματι κιρναμένου τοῦ σπέρματος γίνεται· ἡ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ δύναμις, θρομβοῦσα τοῦ αἵματος τὴν φύσιν, ὃν τρόπον ἡ πυτία συνίστησι τὸ γάλα, οὐσίαν ἐργάζεται μορφώσεως· εὐθαλεῖ γὰρ ἡ κρᾶσις, σφαλερὰ δὲ ἡ ἀκρότης εἰς ἀτεκνίαν. καὶ γὰρ αὐτῆς ἤδη τῆς γῆς ὑπὸ μὲν ἐπομβρίας κατακλυσθὲν ἀποσύρεται τὸ σπέρμα, διὰ δὲ αὐχμὸν νοτίδος ἀποξηραίνεται, κολλώδης δὲ ὁ χυμὸς ὢν συνέχει τὸ σπέρμα καὶ φύει. τινὲς δὲ καὶ τὸ σπέρμα τοῦ ζῴου ἀφρὸν εἶναι τοῦ αἵματος κατʼ οὐσίαν ὑποτίθενται, ὃ δὴ τῇ ἐμφύτῳ τοῦ ἄρρενος θέρμῃ παρὰ τὰς συμπλοκὰς ἐκταραχθὲν ἐκριπιζόμενον ἐξαφροῦται κἀν ταῖς σπερματίσιν παρατίθεται φλεψίν· ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης Διογένης τὰ ἀφροδίσια κεκλῆσθαι βούλεται.
English · Claude translation
The blood, the Word, speaks to God, since it signified the Word who was to suffer. And the flesh itself and the blood in it are watered and made to grow by milk, as if by a return of care. The formation of what is conceived also takes place when the seed is mixed with the pure residue left from the monthly cleansing; for the power in the seed, clotting the nature of the blood as rennet sets milk, produces the substance that is formed. For a right mixture flourishes, while an extreme brings the danger of barrenness. So too in the earth itself: seed flooded by heavy rain is washed away, and through drought it is dried up for lack of moisture; but sap, being sticky, holds the seed together and makes it grow. Some suppose that the seed of an animal is in substance the foam of the blood, which, stirred by the innate heat of the male in intercourse, is fanned into foam and deposited in the seminal veins; from this, Diogenes of Apollonia holds, sexual union is called aphrodisia (from aphros, “foam”).
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Clement continues the medical argument that blood is the substance of the body, drawing on the theories of his time, to show that milk (the Word) and blood (the Word) are one.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.48 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/48/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.48 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/48/).
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