Miscellanies 4.8.67 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Wives and slaves may pursue true philosophy even against husbands' or masters' threats, and free men even under tyrants; to die for virtue is noble for women as for men, for it belongs to the good, not to one sex.

Greek text · Stählin 2:278

Σαφῶς ἡμῖν ἐκ τούτων ἡ ἐκ πίστεως ἑνότης καὶ τίς ὁ τέλειος δέδεικται, ὥστε καὶ ἀκόντων τινῶν καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα ἐνισταμένων, κἂν κολάσεις ἐπαρτῶνται πρὸς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἢ πρὸς τοῦ δεσπότου, φιλοσοφήσει ὅ τε οἰκέτης ἥ τε γυνή. ναὶ μὴν καὶ ἐλεύθερος, κἂν πρὸς τυράννου θάνατος ἀπειλῆται τούτῳ, κἂν ἐπὶ δικαστήρια ἄγηται καὶ εἰς κινδύνους ἐσχάτους περιέλκηται περί τε τῆς κτήσεως ἁπάσης κινδυνεύσῃ, οὐκ ἀφέξεται τῆς θεοσεβείας οὐδʼ ὁπωστιοῦν· οὐδὲ ἀπαυδήσει ποτὲ ἡ μὲν γυνὴ φαύλῳ συνοικοῦσα ἀνδρί, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς ἐὰν φαῦλον ἔχῃ πατέρα ἢ πονηρὸν δεσπότην ὁ οἰκέτης, τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐχόμενοι γενναίως· ἀλλʼ ὡς ἀνδρὶ ἀποθνῄσκειν καλὸν ὑπέρ τε ἀρετῆς ὑπέρ τε ἐλευθερίας ὑπέρ τε ἑαυτοῦ, ὡσαύτως καὶ γυναικί· οὐ γὰρ τῆς τῶν ἀρρένων φύσεως τοῦτο ἴδιον, ἀλλὰ τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν.

English · Claude translation

From these things the unity that comes from faith and who is the perfect one have been clearly shown to us; so that even if some are unwilling and oppose it in most things, even if punishments are threatened by the husband or by the master, the household slave and the wife will philosophize. Indeed the free man too, even if death is threatened by a tyrant, even if he is dragged into court and into the utmost dangers and is in danger of losing all his property, will not abstain from godliness in any way. Nor will the wife ever give up, living with a bad husband, nor the son if he has a bad father, nor the slave a wicked master, holding nobly to virtue. But as it is good for a man to die for virtue, for freedom, and for himself, so also for a woman; for this belongs not to the nature of males but to that of the good.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:278 · 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.

Topics

Martyrdom, Marriage, Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/67/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/67/).