Miscellanies 4.20.125 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:303

Φίλανδρον μετὰ σεμνότητος ὑπογράφει γυναῖκα Εὐριπίδης παραινῶν· εὖ λέγειν δʼ, ὅταν τι λέξῃ, χρὴ δοκεῖν, κἂν μὴ λέγῃ, κἀκπονεῖν ἅν τῷ ξυνόντι πρὸς χάριν μέλλῃ λέγειν. καὶ αὖθίς που τούτοις τὰ ὅμοια· ἡδὺ δέ, ἢν κακὸν πράξῃ τι, συσκυθρωπάζειν πόσει ἄλοχον ἐν κοινῷ τε λύπης ἡδονῆς τʼ ἔχειν μέρος. τό τε πρᾶον καὶ φιλόστοργον ὧδέ πως ὑποδεικνύων κἀν ταῖς συμφοραῖς ἐπιφέρει· σοὶ δʼ ἔγωγε καὶ νοσοῦντι συννοσοῦσʼ ἀνέξομαι καὶ κακῶν τῶν σῶν συνοίσω, καὶ οὐδέν ἐστί μοι πικρόν· μετὰ γὰρ τῶν φίλων εὐτυχεῖν δυστυχεῖν τε χρή· τί γὰρ δὴ τὸ φίλον ἄλλο πλὴν τόδε;

English · Claude translation

Euripides describes a wife who loves her husband with dignity, advising: “She must think that he speaks well whenever he says anything, even if he does not, and must strive to say what will please her partner.” And again somewhere, similar things: “It is sweet, if her husband fares badly, for the wife to share his gloom, and to have a share in common of grief and pleasure.” And showing her gentleness and affection even in misfortunes, he adds: “And I, if you are sick, will bear being sick with you, and will share your ills, and nothing is bitter to me; for with friends one must fare well and ill; for what else is friendship but this?”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:303 · 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.

Extrabiblical texts

Euripides (Euripides (plays and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Marriage

Notes

Translation notes

The quotations are Euripides (fragments; the exact sources, including fragment 909 Nauck, are uncertain).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent: grave on κακὸν; final sigma before elision): ἢν κακόν πράξῃ τι → ἢν κακὸν πράξῃ τι; καὶ νοσοῦντι συννοσοῦςʼ ἀνέξομαι → καὶ νοσοῦντι συννοσοῦσʼ ἀνέξομαι.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.20.125 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/20/125/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.20.125 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/20/125/).