Miscellanies 3.9.67 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:226

μήτʼ οὖν ἁμάρτημά τις ἡγείσθω τὸν γάμον τὸν κατὰ λόγον, εἰ μὴ πικρὰν ὑπολαμβάνει παιδοτροφίαν (πολλοῖς γὰρ ἔμπαλιν ἀτεκνία λυπηρότατον), μήτʼ, ἂν πικρὰ ἡ παιδοποιία φαίνηταί τινι μεταπερισπῶσα τῶν θείων διὰ τὰς χρειώδεις ἀσχολίας, μὴ φέρων δʼ οὗτος εὐκόλως τὸν μονήρη βίον ἐπιθυμείτω γάμου, ἐπεὶ τὸ εὐάρεστον μετὰ σωφροσύνης ἀβλαβὲς καὶ κύριος ἕκαστος ἡμῶν τυγχάνει τῆς περὶ τέκνων γονῆς αἱρέσεως. συνορῶ δʼ ὅπως τῇ προφάσει τοῦ γάμου οἳ μὲν ἀπεσχημένοι τούτου μὴ κατὰ τὴν ἁγίαν γνῶσιν εἰς μισανθρωπίαν ὑπερρύησαν καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης οἴχεται παρʼ αὐτοῖς, οἳ δὲ ἐνσχεθέντες καὶ ἡδυπαθήσαντες τῇ τοῦ νόμου συμπεριφορᾷ, ὥς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, παρωμοιώθησαν τοῖς κτήνεσιν.

English · Claude translation

Let no one, then, think marriage according to reason a sin, unless he supposes the rearing of children bitter (for to many, on the contrary, childlessness is most grievous); nor, if the begetting of children seems bitter to someone because it draws him away from divine things through necessary occupations, yet he cannot easily bear the single life, let him desire marriage; since what is pleasing with self-restraint is harmless, and each of us is master of his choice about begetting children. And I see how, on the pretext of marriage, some who abstained from it not in accordance with holy knowledge have flowed over into hatred of mankind, and love has departed from them; while others, entangled in it and indulging themselves by the law's indulgence, as the prophet says, “have become like the beasts.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:226 · 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

Ps 49:12 (48:13 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
Ps 49:20 (48:21 LXX) · quotation, medium confidence

Topics

Marriage

Notes

Translation notes

The quotation is Ps 49:12, 20 (48:13, 21 LXX). The sentence about the single life is compressed in the Greek; it seems to mean that one who finds children a distraction from divine things should not marry merely because the single life is hard (compare the “bitter plant” in 3.9.66).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.9.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/9/67/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.9.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/9/67/).