Miscellanies 2.18.83
Summary: The law's promises show that the hopes of the disciplined are not in vain; the Midianite women, by beauty and pleasure, led Israel from self-restraint into idolatry until fear restrained them.
Greek text · Stählin 2:156–157
ἔοικεν δὲ ὁ νόμος καὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐμφαίνειν ἀνδρείαν, δεῖν νομοθετῶν τὸν φυτεύσαντα καρποῦσθαι καὶ τὸν οἰκοδομησάμενον οἰκεῖν καὶ τὸν μνώμενον γαμεῖν, οὐ γὰρ ἀτελεῖς τὰς ἐλπίδας τοῖς ἀσκήσασι κατὰ τὸν λόγον τὸν γνωστικὸν κατασκευάσει· τελευτήσαντος γὰρ καὶ ζῶντος ἀνδρὸς ἀγαθοῦ οὐκ ἀπόλλυται ἐλπίς. ἐγώ, φησί, τοὺς ἐμὲ φιλοῦντας ἀγαπῶ, ἡ σοφία λέγει, οἱ δὲ ἐμὲ ζητοῦντες εὑρήσουσιν εἰρήνην καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. τί δέ; οὐχὶ αἱ Μαδιηναίων γυναῖκες τῷ κάλλει τῷ σφῶν πολεμοῦντας τοὺς Ἑβραίους ἐκ σωφροσύνης διʼ ἀκρασίαν εἰς ἀθεότητα ὑπηγάγοντο; προσεταιρισάμεναι γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς σεμνῆς ἀσκήσεως εἰς ἡδονὰς ἑταιρικὰς τῷ κάλλει δελεάσασαι ἐπί τε τὰς τῶν εἰδώλων θυσίας ἐπί τε τὰς ἀλλοδαπὰς ἐξέμηναν γυναῖκας· γυναικῶν δὲ ἅμα καὶ ἡδονῆς ἡττηθέντες ἀπέστησαν μὲν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀπέστησαν δὲ καὶ τοῦ νόμου, καὶ μικροῦ δεῖν ὁ πᾶς λεὼς ὑποχείριος τοῖς πολεμίοις γυναικείῳ στρατηγήματι ἐγεγόνει, ἕως αὐτοὺς κινδυνεύοντας ἀνεχαίτισε νουθετήσας φόβος.
English · Claude translation
The law seems also to indicate courage of soul, laying down that the one who planted should enjoy the fruit, the one who built should live in the house, and the one who wooed should marry; for it will not leave unfulfilled the hopes of those who have trained themselves according to the knowing Word. For when a good man dies, or lives, hope does not perish. “I love those who love me,” says Wisdom, “and those who seek me will find peace,” and so on. What then? Did not the women of the Midianites, by their beauty, lead the Hebrews, who were at war with them, from self-restraint through lack of self-control into godlessness? For making them their companions, enticing them by beauty from their reverent discipline into harlots' pleasures, they drove them mad for the sacrifices to idols and for foreign women. Overcome by women and pleasure together, they fell away from God and fell away from the law, and almost the whole people had come under the power of the enemy by a woman's stratagem, until fear, admonishing them, reined them in when they were in danger.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are Prov 11:7 (LXX), Prov 8:17, and Num 25:1–9; 31:16.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on αὐτοὺς): ἕως αὐτούς κινδυνεύοντας → ἕως αὐτοὺς κινδυνεύοντας.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.83 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/83/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.18.83 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/18/83/).
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