The Instructor 2.10.91

Summary: Plato, learning from Moses, forbade sowing where seed cannot grow; the law forbids homosexual intercourse and adultery; sexual union is lawful only with one's own wife.

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Greek text · Stählin 1:212

διὸ καὶ »μὴ εἰς πέτρας τε καὶ λίθους σπείρειν«, φησὶν ὁ ἐκ Μωυσέως φιλόσοφος, »ὅτι μήποτε φύσιν τὴν αὑτοῦ ῥιζωθὲν λήψεται γόνιμον«. πάνυ γοῦν ἐμφανέστατα διὰ Μωυσέως ὁ λόγος παρήγγειλεν· »καὶ μετὰ ἄρρενος οὐ κοιμηθήσῃ κοίτην γυναικείαν, βδέλυγμα γάρ ἐστι.« πρὸς δὲ καὶ »ἀρούρας θηλείας ἀπέχεσθαι πάσης«, ὅτι μὴ τῆς ἰδίας, ὁ καλὸς ἐκ τῶν θείων ἀναλεγόμενος γραφῶν συνεβούλευσεν Πλάτων ἐκεῖθεν τὸ νόμιμον ἐκλαβών· »καὶ πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον σου οὐ δώσεις κοίτην σοῦ σπέρματος τοῦ ἐκμιανθῆναι πρὸς αὐτήν.« »ἄθυτα δὲ παλλακίδων σπέρματα καὶ νόθα.« μὴ σπεῖρε οὗ »μὴ βούλοιο ἄν σοι φύεσθαι τὸ σπαρέν·« μηδὲ μὴν »ἅπτεσθαί τινος πλὴν γαμετῆς τὸ παράπαν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γυναικός«, ἐξ ἧς μόνης καρποῦσθαι τὰς σαρκὸς ἡδονὰς δίκαιον εἰς διαδοχὰς γνησίας. νόμιμα γὰρ ταῦτα μόνα τῷ λόγῳ.

English · Claude translation

So too “do not sow on rocks and stones,” says the philosopher who learned from Moses, “where it will never take root and find its fertile nature.” Most clearly the Word commanded through Moses: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; for it is an abomination.” And besides, “abstain from every female field” except one's own, the good Plato advised, gathering from the divine Scriptures and taking the law from there: “And you shall not give your bed of seed to your neighbor's wife, to be defiled with her.” “The seed of concubines is unhallowed and bastard.” Do not sow where you would not wish what is sown to grow; and do not touch anyone at all except your own wedded wife, from whom alone it is right to reap the pleasures of the flesh for legitimate descendants. For these alone are lawful by the Word.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:212 · 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
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.
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Plato, Leg. 838e–839a (Plato (works)) · quotation, high confidence
  • Plato, Leg. 841d (Plato (works)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Marriage, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • “The philosopher who learned from Moses” is Plato; the quotations are Plato, Laws 8.838e–839a and 841d, Lev 18:22, and Lev 18:20.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.91 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/91/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.91 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/91/).

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