Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 3.1.4

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

Summary: Self-control covers the tongue, possessions, and desires, and is a gift of divine grace; the church blesses celibacy given by God, admires a single marriage, bears with others' weakness, and permits second marriage to those who burn.

Greek text · Stählin 2:197

ἐγκράτεια τοίνυν σώματος ὑπεροψία κατὰ τὴν πρὸς θεὸν ὁμολογίαν. οὐ μόνον γὰρ περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ἃ ἐπιθυμεῖ ἡ ψυχὴ κακῶς οὐκ ἀρκουμένη τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις, ἡ ἐγκράτεια ἀναστρέφεται. ἔστι δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν καὶ περὶ τὴν κτῆσιν καὶ περὶ τὴν χρῆσιν καὶ περὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐγκράτεια. οὐ διδάσκει δʼ αὕτη σωφρονεῖν μόνον, ἥ γε παρέχει σωφροσύνην ἡμῖν, δύναμις οὖσα καὶ θεία χάρις. τίνα οὖν τοῖς ἡμετέροις δοκεῖ περὶ τοῦ προκειμένου, λεκτέον· ἡμεῖς εὐνουχίαν μὲν καὶ οἷς τοῦτο δεδώρηται ὑπὸ θεοῦ μακαρίζομεν, μονογαμίαν δὲ καὶ τὴν περὶ τὸν ἕνα γάμον σεμνότητα θαυμάζομεν, συμπάσχειν δὲ δεῖν λέγοντες καὶ ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζειν, μή ποτέ τις δοκῶν καλῶς ἑστάναι καὶ αὐτὸς πέσῃ. περὶ δὲ τοῦ δευτέρου γάμου εἰ πυροῖ φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος, γάμησον.

English · Claude translation

Self-control, then, is disregard of the body in accordance with our confession toward God. For self-control is concerned not only with sexual pleasures but also with the other things that the soul wrongly desires when it is not content with what is necessary. There is self-control of the tongue, of possessions, of use, and of desire. It does not only teach us to be self-restrained; it provides self-restraint for us, being a power and divine grace. What, then, our own people think on the subject must be said. We bless the eunuchate, and those to whom it has been given by God; we admire monogamy and the dignity of the one marriage, saying that we must suffer with one another and “bear one another's burdens,” lest anyone who thinks he stands firmly should himself fall. And about second marriage the apostle says, “If you burn, marry.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:197 · 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, Remarriage, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations and allusions are Gal 6:2, 1 Cor 10:12, and 1 Cor 7:9. “Eunuchate” means celibacy for the kingdom (Matt 19:12). “Monogamy” here means a single marriage in a lifetime.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/1/4/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/1/4/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage