Sophia Scriptura

The Instructor 3.12.84

Clement of Alexandria · The Instructor · ca. 190–200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Husbands should show restraint toward their wives before the servants; the greatest bond of marriage is self-control, sweeter than gold or power.

Greek text · Stählin 1:282

Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τοῖς γεγαμηκόσι παραινέσαιμι ἂν οἴκοι τὰς γυναῖκας τὰς σφῶν μήποτε κατὰ πρόσωπον οἰκετῶν φιλεῖν. οὐδὲ γὰρ προσγελᾶν δούλοις Ἀριστοτέλης εἴα ποτέ, πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ κατʼ ὄψιν αὐτῶν φιλοφρονούμενον φαίνεσθαι τὴν γυναῖκα. ἄμεινον δὲ οἴκοθεν ἀρξαμένους ἀπὸ τοῦ γάμου τὴν σεμνότητα ἐπιδείκνυσθαι. μεγίστη γὰρ ἡ σωφροσύνης συζυγία καθαρᾶς ἡδονῆς ἀποπνέουσα. πάνυ γοῦν θαυμασίως ἡ τραγῳδία. φεῦ φεῦ, γυναῖκες, (φησίν) ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἄρα οὐ χρυσός, οὐ τυραννίς, οὐ πλούτου χλιδὴ τοσοῦτον εἶχε διαφόρους τὰς ἡδονὰς ὡς ἀνδρὸς ἐσθλοῦ καὶ γυναικὸς εὐσεβοῦς γνώμη δικαία καὶ φρονοῦσα τἄνδικα.

English · Claude translation

I would advise married men never to kiss their wives at home in front of the servants. For Aristotle did not allow one even to smile at slaves, much less to be seen showing affection to one's wife in their sight. It is better for those who marry to show dignity at home from the start of the marriage. For the greatest union is that of self-control, breathing the fragrance of pure pleasure. The tragedy says very admirably: “Alas, alas, women, among mankind neither gold, nor sovereignty, nor the luxury of wealth holds such surpassing pleasures as the just mind of a noble husband and a godly wife, thinking what is right.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:282 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 12. 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), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); 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)
Topics
Marriage, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The tragic quotation is from an unknown play (Euripides?, fragment adespota). Aristotle's advice is not found in his surviving works in this form (compare Politics 1.13).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.12.84 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/12/84/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.12.84 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/12/84/).

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