The Instructor 2.10.87
Summary: Nature itself, by the structure of the body, forbids homosexual acts and other unfruitful intercourse; Jeremiah's “hyena's den” condemns idolatry.
Greek text · Stählin 1:210
αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπολαμβάνοντες.« καίτοι οὐδὲ τοῖς λαγνιστάτοις τῶν ζῴων συγκεχώρηκεν ἡ φύσις τὸν τῆς περιττώσεως πόρον ἐπιθοροῦν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ οὖρον εἰς κύστιν ἀποκρίνεται, ἡ δὲ ἐξυγρασμένη τροφὴ εἰς κοιλίαν, τὸ δάκρυον δὲ εἰς ὄμμα, αἷμα εἰς φλέβας, ῥύπος εἰς ὦτα, μύξαι ἐπὶ τὰς ῥῖνας καταφέρονται· συνεχὴς δὲ ἡ ἕδρα τῷ πέρατι τοῦ ἀπευθυσμένου, διʼ ἧς ἀποπτύεται τὰ περιττώματα. μόνον δὲ ἄρα ἐπὶ τῶν ὑαινῶν ἡ ποικίλη φύσις ταῖς ὀχείαις ταῖς περιτταῖς μόριόν τι τοῦτο ἐπινενόηκεν περιττόν. διὸ καὶ μέχρι τινὸς κοῖλόν ἐστιν εἰς διακονίαν κνηστιώντων μορίων, ἀποτυφλοῦται δὲ ἐντεῦθεν ἡ κοιλότης· οὐ γὰρ εἰς γένεσιν δεδημιούργηται. ἐντεῦθεν συμφανὲς ἡμῖν ὁμολογουμένως παραιτεῖσθαι δεῖν τὰς ἀρρενομιξίας καὶ τὰς ἀκάρπους σπορὰς καὶ τὰς κατόπιν εὐνὰς καὶ τὰς ἀσυμφυεῖς ἀνδρογύνους κοινωνίας, ἑπομένους τῇ φύσει αὐτῇ ἀπαγορευούσῃ διὰ τῆς τῶν μορίων κατασκευῆς, οὐκ εἰς παραδοχὴν σπέρματος, εἰς δὲ τὴν πρόεσιν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἄρρεν ἀνδρωσάσῃ. ὁ δὲ Ἱερεμίας ὁπηνίκα ἂν φῇ, τοῦτʼ ἔστι διʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα, »σπήλαιον ὑαίνης γέγονεν ὁ οἶκός μου«, τὴν ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν σωμάτων μυσαττόμενος τροφὴν ἀλληγορίᾳ σοφῇ τὴν εἰδωλολατρείαν διαβέβληκε· δεῖ γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἁγνὸν εἰδώλων τὸν τοῦ ζῶντος οἶκον εἶναι θεοῦ.
English · Claude translation
(… penalty of their error.) Yet nature has not permitted even the most lustful of animals to mount the passage of excretion. Urine is discharged into the bladder, liquefied food into the bowel, tears into the eye, blood into the veins, wax into the ears, mucus into the nose; and the anus, through which the residues are expelled, is continuous with the end of the rectum. Only in hyenas has varied nature, for their excessive matings, devised this superfluous part. So it is hollow for a certain distance, to serve the itching members, and then the hollow is blind; for it was not made for generation. From this it is plain to us that we must reject intercourse of males with males, fruitless sowing, intercourse from behind, and unnatural man-woman unions, following nature itself, which forbids them by the structure of the parts, having made the male a man for emitting seed, not for receiving it. And when Jeremiah says, that is, the Spirit through him, “My house has become a hyena's den,” loathing food from dead bodies, he condemns idolatry by a wise allegory; for truly the house of the living God must be pure of idols.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Jer 12:9 (LXX, “a hyena's den”; compare Jer 7:11); the allusion is 2 Cor 6:16. This is Clement's argument from natural law, drawing on the physiology of his time.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent and breathing: ἧς): διʼ ᾗς ἀποπτύεται → διʼ ἧς ἀποπτύεται.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.87 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/87/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.87 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/87/).
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