The Instructor 2.10.92
Summary: Seed must not be wasted; Moses forbade intercourse during menstruation, and Clement holds that intercourse during pregnancy is also wrong, since pleasure alone, even in marriage, is not a lawful aim.
Greek text · Stählin 1:212–213
θείας γέ τοι μοίρας τῆς δημιουργικῆς μεταλαβόντας σπέρμα οὐκ ἐκριπτέον οὐδὲ καθυβριστέον οὐδὲ μὴν κερασβόλα σπαρτέον. ὁ γοῦν αὐτὸς οὗτος Μωυσῆς καὶ ταῖς γαμεταῖς αὐταῖς ἀπαγορεύει πλησιάζειν, ἢν ταῖς ἐπιμηνίοις καθάρσεσιν ἐνεσχημέναι τύχωσιν. οὐ γάρ πω εὔλογον τῷ ἀποκαθάρματι τοῦ σώματος τὸ γονιμώτατον τοῦ σπέρματος καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον ἄνθρωπον ὂν μολύνειν οὐδὲ μὴν ἀποκλύζειν τῷ ῥυπαρῷ τῆς ὕλης ῥεύματι καὶ ἀποκαθάρματι σπέρμα [δὲ] γενέσεως εὐφυοῦς τῶν τῆς μήτρας ἀποστερούμενον αὐλάκων. οὐδέ τινα τῶν παλαιῶν Ἑβραίων ἐγκύμονι τῇ αὑτοῦ γυναικὶ συνιόντα παρήγαγεν· ψιλὴ γὰρ ἡδονή, κἂν ἐν γάμῳ παραληφθῇ, παράνομός ἐστι καὶ ἄδικος καὶ ἄλογος· ἔμπαλιν δὲ ὁ Μωυσῆς ἀπάγει τῶν ἐγκύων τοὺς ἄνδρας ἄχρις ἂν ἀποκυήσωσιν· τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ἡ ὑστέρα ὑποκειμένη μὲν τῇ κύστει, ἐπικειμένη δὲ τῷ ἐντέρῳ τῷ καλουμένῳ ἀρχῷ ἐκτείνει τὸν τράχηλον μεταξὺ τῶν ὤμων ἐν τῇ κύστει, καὶ τὸ στόμιον τοῦ τραχήλου, ᾧ προσίεται τὸ σπέρμα, πεπληρωμένον μέμυκεν, αὖθίς τε ἀποκενοῦται καθαιρομένη κυήσει, ἀποθεμένη δὲ τὸν καρπὸν εἶτα ἐπιδέχεται τὸν σπόρον.
English · Claude translation
Those who have received a share in the divine creative work must not throw away seed, nor outrage it, nor sow it on barren ground. This same Moses forbids husbands even to approach their own wives if they happen to be in their monthly cleansing. For it is not reasonable to defile with the body's refuse the most fertile part of the seed, which will soon be a human being, nor to wash away with the filthy flow and refuse of matter the seed of a well-born generation, deprived of the furrows of the womb. Nor did he bring forward any of the ancient Hebrews having intercourse with his wife when she was pregnant; for bare pleasure, even if taken in marriage, is unlawful, unjust, and irrational. On the contrary, Moses keeps husbands away from pregnant wives until they give birth. For in fact the womb, lying above the bladder and upon the intestine called the rectum, stretches its neck between the shoulders into the bladder; and the mouth of the neck, by which it admits the seed, closes when it is filled, and is emptied again when cleansed by childbirth; and having delivered its fruit, it then receives the seed.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The prohibition during menstruation is Lev 18:19 (15:24). There is no Mosaic law against intercourse during pregnancy; Clement argues from the silence of Scripture and from the medical ideas of his time. His strict view that marital intercourse must aim at procreation follows Stoic ethics (Musonius Rufus) and was not held by all early Christians.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.92 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/92/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.92 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/92/).
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