The Instructor 2.10.95 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 1:214–215

ἀστεῖος οὖν μάλα ἐκεῖνος ὁ πρὸς τὸν ἐρόμενον πῶς ἔχοι πρὸς τὰ ἀφροδίσια, »εὐφήμει«, φήσας, »ἄνθρωπε, ἀσμενέστατα μέντοι αὐτὰ ἀπέφυγον ὥσπερ λυττῶντα καὶ ἄγριον δεσπότην.« ἀλλʼ ἐγκεκρίσθω δὴ ὁ γάμος καὶ ἐγκατατετάχθω· »πληθύνεσθαι« γὰρ ὁ κύριος βούλεται τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα, ἀλλʼ οὐκ »ἀσελγαίνετε« λέγει οὐδὲ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς καθάπερ εἰς ὀχείαν γεγονότας ἐκδίδοσθαι ἡδοναῖς ἠθέλησεν. δυσωπείτω δὲ ἡμᾶς ὁ παιδαγωγὸς διʼ Ἐζεκιὴλ βοῶν »περιτέμνεσθε τὴν πορνείαν ὑμῶν«. ἔχει τινὰ καιρὸν εὔθετον εἰς σπόρον καὶ τὰ ἄλογα τῶν ζῴων. τὸ δὲ μὴ εἰς παίδων γονὴν συνιέναι ἐνυβρίζειν ἐστὶ τῇ φύσει, ἣν χρὴ διδάσκαλον ἐπιγραφομένους τὰς σοφὰς τοῦ καιροῦ ἐπιτηρεῖν παιδαγωγίας, τὸ γῆρας λέγω καὶ τὴν παιδικὴν ἡλικίαν, παρεισάγουσαν (τοῖς μὲν γὰρ οὐδέπω συνεχώρησεν, τοὺς δὲ οὐκέτι βούλεται γαμεῖν), πλὴν οὐ πάντοτε γαμεῖν.

English · Claude translation

Very witty, then, was the man who, when asked how he stood with regard to sexual pleasures, said: “Hush, man; I have most gladly escaped them, as from a raging and savage master.” But let marriage be accepted and given its place; for the Lord wishes humanity “to multiply,” but he does not say “be licentious,” nor did he wish them to give themselves up to pleasures as if born for mating. Let the Instructor put us to shame, crying through Ezekiel, “Circumcise your sexual immorality.” Even irrational animals have a proper season for sowing. But to have intercourse not for the begetting of children is to outrage nature, which we should take as our teacher, observing the wise instructions of her times, I mean old age and childhood, which she introduces (for she has not yet allowed the one, and no longer wishes the other, to marry); nor should one marry at all times.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 1:214–215 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 12. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Gen 1:28 · quotation, high confidence
Jer 4:4 · echo, low confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Plato, Resp. 329c (Plato (works)) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Marriage, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

The saying is Sophocles's, reported in Plato, Republic 1.329c. The quotation is Gen 1:28. The saying attributed to Ezekiel (“Circumcise your sexual immorality”) is not found in Ezekiel; it resembles Jer 4:4.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.95 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/95/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.95 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/95/).