Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 3.11.72

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Clement claims the patriarchs did not approach pregnant or nursing wives, citing the three years between Aaron and Moses and the small numbers of the tribe of Levi.

Greek text · Stählin 2:228

ὅθεν οὐ δείξειας ἂν ἐγκύμονι πλησιάσαντα τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τινὰ κατὰ τὴν γραφήν, ἀλλʼ ὕστερον μετά τε τὴν κυοφορίαν μετά τε τὴν τοῦ τεχθέντος γαλακτουχίαν εὕροις ἂν πάλιν πρὸς τῶν ἀνδρῶν γινωσκομένας τὰς γυναῖκας. αὐτίκα τοῦτον εὑρήσεις τὸν σκοπὸν καὶ τὸν τοῦ Μωυσέως πατέρα φυλάσσοντα, τριετίαν διαλιπόντα μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἀαρὼν ἀποκύησιν, γεννήσαντα τὸν Μωσέα. ἥ τε αὖ Λευιτικὴ φυλὴ τοῦτον φυλάσσουσα τὸν τῆς φύσεως νόμον ἐκ θεοῦ ἐλάττων τὸν ἀριθμὸν παρὰ τὰς ἄλλας εἰς τὴν προκατηγγελμένην εἰσῆλθε γῆν· οὐ γὰρ ῥᾳδίως αὐξάνει γένος εἰς πολυπληθίαν σπειράντων μὲν τῶν ἀνδρῶν τῶν τὸν κατὰ τοὺς νόμους γάμον ἀναδεδεγμένων, ἀναμενόντων δὲ οὐ τὴν κυοφορίαν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν γαλακτουχίαν.

English · Claude translation

Hence you could not show that any of the elders in Scripture approached a pregnant woman; but you would find that wives were known again by their husbands later, after the pregnancy and after the nursing of the child. For example, you will find Moses' father keeping this aim, leaving an interval of three years after Aaron's birth before begetting Moses. And the tribe of Levi, keeping this law of nature from God, entered the promised land fewer in number than the others; for a race does not easily grow to great numbers when the men who have accepted marriage according to the laws sow their seed, but wait not only through the pregnancy but also through the nursing.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:228 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. 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), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); 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) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Topics
Marriage

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Exod 7:7 (Aaron three years older than Moses) and Num 3:39 (the Levites fewer). The conclusions are Clement's own inference.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.11.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/11/72/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.11.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/11/72/).

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