Miscellanies 3.7.60
Summary: Those who reject marriage and food out of hatred for the flesh are like pagan ascetics, such as the Brahmans and the Indian “Holy Men,” who abstain from meat, wine, and women.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Stählin 2:223–224
οἳ δέ, διὰ τὸ μῖσος τὸ πρὸς τὴν σάρκα τῆς κατὰ γάμον συναλλαγῆς καὶ τῆς τῶν καθηκόντων βρωμάτων μεταλήψεως ἀχαρίστως ἀπαλλάττεσθαι ποθοῦντες, ἀμαθεῖς τε καὶ ἄθεοι, ἀλόγως ἐγκρατευόμενοι, καθάπερ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν. Βραχμᾶναι γοῦν οὔτε ἔμψυχον ἐσθίουσιν οὔτε οἶνον πίνουσιν· ἀλλʼ οἳ μὲν αὐτῶν καθʼ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὡς ἡμεῖς τὴν τροφὴν προσίενται, ἔνιοι δʼ αὐτῶν διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν, ὥς φησιν Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Πολυΐστωρ ἐν τοῖς Ἰνδικοῖς· καταφρονοῦσι δὲ θανάτου καὶ παρʼ οὐδὲν ἡγοῦνται τὸ ζῆν· πείθονται γὰρ εἶναι παλιγγενεσίαν, † ἅ δὲ σέβουσιν Ἡρακλέα καὶ Πᾶνα. οἱ καλούμενοι δὲ Σεμνοὶ τῶν Ἰνδῶν γυμνοὶ διαιτῶνται τὸν πάντα βίον· οὗτοι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀσκοῦσι καὶ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων προμηνύουσι καὶ σέβουσί τινα πυραμίδα, ὑφʼ ἣν ὀστέα τινὸς θεοῦ νομίζουσιν ἀποκεῖσθαι. οὔτε δὲ οἱ γυμνοσοφισταὶ οὔθʼ οἱ λεγόμενοι Σεμνοὶ γυναιξὶ χρῶνται· παρὰ φύσιν γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ παράνομον δοκοῦσι, διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἁγνοὺς τηροῦσι, παρθενεύουσι δὲ καὶ αἱ Σεμναί. δοκοῦσι δὲ παρατηρεῖν τὰ οὐράνια καὶ διὰ τῆς τούτων σημειώσεως τῶν μελλόντων προμαντεύεσθαί τινα.
English · Claude translation
But those who, out of hatred for the flesh, long ungratefully to be rid of union in marriage and of partaking of the proper foods, are ignorant and godless, exercising self-control irrationally, like most of the other nations. The Brahmans, at any rate, neither eat meat nor drink wine; some of them take food every day, as we do, and some every three days, as Alexander Polyhistor says in his Indica. They despise death and count living as nothing, for they are persuaded that there is rebirth … and they worship Heracles and Pan. Those of the Indians called Holy Men live naked their whole life; they practice truth, foretell the future, and worship a certain pyramid under which they think the bones of some god lie. Neither the gymnosophists nor the so-called Holy Men have to do with women; for they think this contrary to nature and unlawful, and for this reason they keep themselves pure; and the Holy Women too remain virgins. They seem to observe the heavenly bodies and by their signs to foretell some future things.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The text is corrupt (dagger). Alexander Polyhistor, Indica (fragment). The “Holy Men” (Σεμνοί) may be Buddhist monks (śramaṇas); the pyramid may be a stupa. This is one of the earliest Greek references that may refer to Buddhism.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.7.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/7/60/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.7.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/7/60/).
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