Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.20.126

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

Summary: Marriage conducted according to reason, in faith, with hearts cleansed and bodies washed in baptism, is sanctified; a good marriage is judged by virtue, not wealth or beauty; the wife is God's gift to the husband as a helper.

Greek text · Stählin 2:304

ἁγιάζεται γοῦν καὶ γάμος κατὰ λόγον τελειούμενος, ἐὰν ἡ συζυγία ὑποπίπτῃ τῷ θεῷ καὶ διοικῆται μετὰ ἀληθινῆς καρδίας ἐν πληροφορίᾳ πίστεως, ἡγνισμένων τὰς καρδίας ἀπὸ συνειδήσεως πονηρᾶς καὶ λελουμένων τὸ σῶμα ὕδατι καθαρῷ καὶ ἐχόντων τὴν ὁμολογίαν τῆς ἐλπίδος· πιστὸς γὰρ ὁ ἐπαγγειλάμενος. χρὴ δὲ τὸν εὐδαίμονα γάμον οὔτε πλούτῳ ποτὲ οὔτε κάλλει κρίνεσθαι, ἀλλʼ ἀρετῇ. οὐδεμίαν, φησὶν ἡ τραγῳδία, ὤνησε κάλλος εἰς πόσιν ξυνάορον, ἁρετὴ δὲ ὤνησε πολλάς· πᾶσα γὰρ ἀγαθὴ γυνή, ἥτις ἀνδρὶ συντέτηκε, σωφρονεῖν ἐπίσταται. εἶτα οἷον παραινέσεις διδοῦσά φησι· πρῶτα μέν γε τοῦθʼ ὑπάρχει, κἂν ἄμορφος ᾖ πόσις, χρὴ δοκεῖν εὔμορφον εἶναι τῇ γε νοῦν κεκτημένῃ. οὐ γὰρ ὀφθαλμὸς τὸ κρῖνόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ νοῦς ὁρᾷ, καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις. πάνυ γὰρ κυρίως ἡ γραφὴ βοηθὸν εἶπεν τὴν γυναῖκα δεδόσθαι τἀνδρὶ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ.

English · Claude translation

Marriage, at any rate, when accomplished according to reason, is sanctified, if the union is subject to God and is conducted “with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having hearts purified from an evil conscience and bodies washed with pure water, and holding the confession of hope; for he who promised is faithful.” A happy marriage must never be judged by wealth or beauty, but by virtue. “Beauty,” says the tragedy, “has helped no woman with the husband yoked to her; but virtue has helped many; for every good wife who melts toward her husband knows how to be self-restrained.” Then, as though giving advice, she says: “First of all this holds: even if the husband is ugly, he must seem handsome to the woman who has sense. For it is not the eye that judges, but the mind that sees,” and what follows. For Scripture very properly said that the woman was given by God to the man as a helper.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:304 · 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
Extrabiblical texts
  • Euripides, fragment 909 (Euripides (plays and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Marriage, Baptism

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Heb 10:22–23, Euripides (fragment 909 Nauck, source uncertain), and Gen 2:18. “Bodies washed with pure water” refers to baptism.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (stray diacritics in the digital text): τὴν ὁμολογίαν τῆς ἐλ̣̣̔̓πίδος → τὴν ὁμολογίαν τῆς ἐλπίδος.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.20.126 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/20/126/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.20.126 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/20/126/).

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