Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.18.88

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The law commands love of strangers as oneself, forbids abhorring an Egyptian, requires offering peace before war, and protects the captive woman, allowing intercourse only in marriage and for children.

Greek text · Stählin 2:160

πρόσταγμα κυρίου πηγὴ ζωῆς, ὡς ἀληθῶς, ποιεῖ ἐκκλίνειν ἐκ παγίδος θανάτου. τί δέ; οὐχὶ τοὺς ἐπήλυδας ἀγαπᾶν κελεύει, οὐ μόνον ὡς φίλους καὶ συγγενεῖς, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἑαυτούς, κατά τε σῶμα καὶ ψυχήν; ναὶ μὴν καὶ τὰ ἔθνη τετίμηκεν καὶ τοῖς γε κακῶς πεποιηκόσιν οὐ μνησιπονηρεῖ. ἄντικρυς γοῦν φησιν· οὐ βδελύξῃ Αἰγύπτιον, ὅτι πάροικος ἐγένου κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, ἤτοι τὸν ἐθνικὸν ἢ καὶ πάντα τὸν κοσμικὸν Αἰγύπτιον προσειπών· τούς τε πολεμίους, κἂν ἤδη τοῖς τείχεσιν ἐφεστῶτες ὦσιν ἑλεῖν τὴν πόλιν πειρώμενοι, μήπω νομίζεσθαι πολεμίους, ἄχρις ἂν αὐτοὺς ἐπικηρυκευσάμενοι προσκαλέσωνται πρὸς εἰρήνην. ναὶ μὴν καὶ τῇ αἰχμαλώτῳ οὐ πρὸς ὕβριν ὁμιλεῖν κελεύει, ἀλλὰ τὰς λ΄ ἡμέρας ἐπιτρέψας φησὶ πενθῆσαι οὓς βούλεται, μεταμφιάσας ὕστερον ὡς γαμετῇ νόμῳ συνέρχου· οὔτε γὰρ ἐφʼ ὕβρει τὰς συνουσίας οὐδὲ μὴν διὰ μισθαρνίαν ὡς ἑταίρας, ἀλλʼ ἢ διὰ μόνην τῶν τέκνων τὴν γένεσιν γίνεσθαι τὰς ὁμιλίας ἀξιοῖ.

English · Claude translation

“The commandment of the Lord is a fountain of life,” and truly “makes one turn aside from the snare of death.” What then? Does it not command us to love strangers, not only as friends and relatives, but as ourselves, in body and soul? Indeed it has honored the Gentiles too, and bears no grudge against those who have done it wrong. At any rate it says plainly: “You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in Egypt,” calling Egyptian either the Gentile or anyone of the world. And it commands that enemies, even if they are already standing at the walls trying to take the city, not yet be regarded as enemies until, sending heralds, they have invited them to peace. Indeed, it commands that the captive woman not be approached for outrage; but, allowing her thirty days to mourn whom she wishes, it says, after changing her clothes, “go in to her as a wife according to the law.” For it holds that intercourse should take place neither for outrage, nor for hire as with harlots, but only for the begetting of children.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:160 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. 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), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); 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) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Topics
Marriage, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations and allusions are Prov 14:27, Lev 19:34, Deut 23:7, Deut 20:10, and Deut 21:10–13. Clement's view that marital intercourse is for the begetting of children is his own emphasis (see also Paedagogus 2.10).

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (misreading in the digital text (γοῦν)): ἄντικρυς χοῦν φησιν → ἄντικρυς γοῦν φησιν.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.88 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/88/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.88 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/88/).

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