Miscellanies 2.23.140
Summary: One should marry for one's country, children, and the completion of the world; the poets pity childless marriage; in sickness a wife's constant care surpasses all others, a true helper as Scripture says.
Greek text · Stählin 2:190
Γαμητέον οὖν πάντως καὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἕνεκα καὶ τῆς τῶν παίδων διαδοχῆς καὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου τὸ ὅσον ἐφʼ ἡμῖν συντελειώσεως. ἐπεὶ καὶ γάμον τινὰ οἰκτείρουσιν οἱ ποιηταὶ ἡμιτελῆ καὶ ἄπαιδα, μακαρίζουσι δὲ τὸν ἀμφιθαλῆ. αἱ δὲ σωματικαὶ νόσοι μάλιστα τὸν γάμον ἀναγκαῖον δεικνύουσιν· ἡ γὰρ τῆς γυναικὸς κηδεμονία καὶ τῆς παραμονῆς ἡ ἐκτένεια τὰς ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων οἰκείων καὶ φίλων ἔοικεν ὑπερτίθεσθαι προσκαρτερήσεις, ὅσῳ τῇ συμπαθείᾳ διαφέρειν καὶ προσεδρεύειν μάλιστα πάντων προαιρεῖται, καὶ τῷ ὄντι κατὰ τὴν γραφὴν ἀναγκαία βοηθός.
English · Claude translation
One should, then, certainly marry, both for the sake of one's country and for the succession of children and, as far as it rests with us, for the completion of the world. For the poets pity a marriage that is half-complete and childless, and bless the one blossoming on both sides. And bodily illnesses show most of all that marriage is necessary; for the care of a wife and the constancy of her presence seem to surpass the attentions of other relatives and friends, as much as she chooses to excel in sympathy and to sit by above all others; and truly, according to Scripture, she is a necessary helper.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is Gen 2:18 (compare Sir 36:24). “Half-complete” is Homer, Iliad 2.701.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.23.140 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/23/140/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.23.140 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/23/140/).
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