Miscellanies 2.23.139
Summary: One should not urge on others what one would not do oneself; defenders of marriage appeal to nature and “increase and multiply,” but humans should be more faithful than the birds that keep one mate; the childless, they say, lack natural perfection.
Greek text · Stählin 2:189–190
οὐκ ἂν οὖν ἐκφύγοιεν τὴν Βουζύγιον ἀρὰν ὅσοι μὴ δοκιμάζοντες σφίσι συμφέρειν τινὰ ἑτέροις ταῦτα παρακελεύονται ποιεῖν, ἢ αὖ τοὔμπαλιν. τοῦτο βραχέως ἡ γραφὴ δεδήλωκεν εἰρηκυῖα· ὃ μισεῖς, ἄλλῳ οὐ ποιήσεις. πλὴν οἱ γάμον δοκιμάζοντες ἡ φύσις ἡμᾶς ἐποίησεν φασὶν εὐθέτους πρὸς γάμον, ὡς δῆλον ἐκ τῆς σωμάτων κατασκευῆς τῶν τε ἀρρένων καὶ τῶν θηλειῶν, καὶ τὸ αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε συνεχῶς ἐπιβοῶνται. εἰ δὲ καὶ ταῦθʼ οὕτως ἔχει, ἀλλʼ αἰσχρόν γε αὐτοῖς δοκείτω καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων τὸν ὑπὸ θεοῦ δημιουργηθέντα ἄνθρωπον ἀκρατέστερον εἶναι, ἃ τὴν ἐπιμιξίαν οὐ ποιεῖται πρὸς πολλὰ καὶ ἀνέδην, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἓν καὶ ὁμόφυλον, οἷαι αἱ πελιάδες καὶ αἱ φάσσαι καὶ τὸ τρυγόνων γένος καὶ ὅσα τούτοις παραπλήσια. ἔτι, φασίν, ὁ ἄτεκνος τῆς κατὰ φύσιν τελειότητος ἀπολείπεται ἅτε μὴ ἀντικαταστήσας τῇ χώρᾳ τὸν οἰκεῖον διάδοχον· τέλειος γὰρ ὁ πεποιηκὼς ἐξ αὑτοῦ τὸν ὅμοιον, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐπειδὰν κἀκεῖνον τὸ αὐτὸ πεποιηκότα ἐπίδῃ, τουτέστιν ὅταν εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν καταστήσῃ φύσιν τὸ τεκνωθὲν τῷ τεκνώσαντι.
English · Claude translation
So those will not escape the curse of Bouzyges who, not judging something to be advantageous for themselves, urge others to do it, or the reverse. Scripture has shown this briefly, saying: “What you hate, you shall not do to another.” But those who approve of marriage say: “Nature made us fit for marriage, as is clear from the constitution of the bodies of male and female”; and they continually cry out, “Increase and multiply.” But even if this is so, let it seem shameful to them that the human being, created by God, should be less self-controlled than the irrational animals, which do not mate with many and without restraint, but with one of the same kind, such as pigeons, wood pigeons, the race of turtledoves, and the like. Further, they say, the childless man falls short of the perfection according to nature, since he has not put his own successor in his place; for he is perfect who has made his like from himself, and still more when he sees that one has done the same, that is, when he establishes the begotten in the same nature as the begetter.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Tob 4:15 and Gen 1:28. “The curse of Bouzyges” was an Athenian curse on those who gave bad advice.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (iota subscript missing): ἀντικαταστήσας τῆ χώρᾳ → ἀντικαταστήσας τῇ χώρᾳ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.23.139 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/23/139/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.23.139 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/23/139/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text