Miscellanies 3.2.10
Summary: Clement reports that the Carpocratians' common meals end in promiscuity in the dark; he says Carpocrates misread Plato, who meant women are open to suitors before marriage but not after.
Greek text · Stählin 2:200
Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οἱ γενναῖοι Καρποκρατιανοὶ δογματίζουσι. τούτους φασὶ καί τινας ἄλλους ζηλωτὰς τῶν ὁμοίων κακῶν εἰς τὰ δεῖπνα ἀθροιζομένους (οὐ γὰρ ἀγάπην εἴποιμʼ ἂν ἔγωγε τὴν συνέλευσιν αὐτῶν), ἄνδρας ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναῖκας, μετὰ δὴ τὸ κορεσθῆναι (ἐν πλησμονῇ τοι Κύπρις, ᾗ φασι) τὸ καταισχῦνον αὐτῶν τὴν πορνικὴν ταύτην δικαιοσύνην ἐκποδὼν ποιησαμένους φῶς τῇ τοῦ λύχνου περιτροπῇ, μίγνυσθαι, ὅπως ἐθέλοιεν, αἷς βούλοιντο, μελετήσαντας δὲ ἐν τοιαύτῃ ἀγάπῃ τὴν κοινωνίαν, μεθʼ ἡμέραν ἤδη παρʼ ὧν ἂν ἐθελήσωσι γυναικῶν ἀπαιτεῖν τὴν τοῦ Καρποκρατείου, οὐ γὰρ θέμις εἰπεῖν θείου, νόμου ὑπακοήν. τοιαῦτα δὲ οἶμαι ταῖς κυνῶν καὶ συῶν καὶ τράγων λαγνείαις νομοθετεῖν τὸν Καρποκράτην ἔδει. δοκεῖ δέ μοι καὶ τοῦ Πλάτωνος παρακηκοέναι ἐν τῇ Πολιτείᾳ φαμένου κοινὰς εἶναι τὰς γυναῖκας πάντων, κοινὰς μὲν τὰς πρὸ τοῦ γάμου τῶν αἰτεῖσθαι μελλόντων, καθάπερ καὶ τὸ θέατρον κοινὸν τῶν θεωμένων φάσκοντος, τοῦ προκαταλαβόντος δὲ ἑκάστην ἑκάστου εἶναι καὶ οὐκέτι κοινὴν τὴν γεγαμημένην.
English · Claude translation
These are the teachings of the noble Carpocratians. They say that these and certain others, emulators of similar evils, gathering for their dinners (for I would not call their meeting an agape), men and women together, after they have eaten their fill (“in satiety is Aphrodite,” as they say), overturn the lamp and so put out the light that would shame this harlots' justice of theirs, and then have intercourse as they wish with whom they wish; and having practiced fellowship in such an agape, by day they demand from whatever women they wish obedience to the law of Carpocrates, for it is not lawful to call it divine. Such laws, I think, Carpocrates should have laid down for the lusts of dogs, pigs, and goats. He seems to me also to have misunderstood Plato, who says in the Republic that the wives of all should be common: common before marriage, for those who are going to ask for them, as the theater is common to the spectators, he says, but each belonging to the one who first takes her, and the married woman no longer common.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Clement reports this as hearsay (“they say”). “In satiety is Aphrodite” is a proverb (Euripides, fragment 895 Nauck). The reference is Plato, Republic 5.457d; Clement's reading of Plato is generous.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (iota subscript missing; misspelling in the digital text): φῶς τῆ τοῦ λύχνου περιτροπῇ → φῶς τῇ τοῦ λύχνου περιτροπῇ; κοινὰν μὲν τὰς πρὸ τοῦ γάμου → κοινὰς μὲν τὰς πρὸ τοῦ γάμου.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.2.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/2/10/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.2.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/2/10/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text