Miscellanies 3.6.50
Summary: Christ's saying about eunuchs followed the disciples' question about divorce: they asked whether a man could remarry after putting away an adulterous wife; even pagan athletes and musicians practiced sexual abstinence.
Greek text · Stählin 2:219
τὸ δὲ οὐ πάντες χωροῦσι τὸν λόγον τοῦτον· εἰσὶ γὰρ εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες ἐγεννήθησαν οὕτως, καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνουχίσθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνούχισαν ἑαυτοὺς διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν· ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν χωρείτω· οὐκ ἴσασιν ὅτι μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀποστασίου ῥῆσιν πυθομένων τινῶν ὅτι ἐὰν οὕτως ᾖ ἡ αἰτία τῆς γυναικός, οὐ συμφέρει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ γαμῆσαι, τότε ὁ κύριος ἔφη· οὐ πάντες χωροῦσι τὸν λόγον τοῦτον, ἀλλʼ οἷς δέδοται· τοῦτο γὰρ οἱ πυνθανόμενοι μαθεῖν ἠβουλήθησαν, εἰ συγχωρεῖ καταγνωσθείσης ἐπὶ πορνείᾳ γυναικὸς καὶ ἐκβληθείσης ἑτέραν γῆμαι. Φασὶ δὲ καὶ ἀθλητὰς οὐκ ὀλίγους ἀφροδισίων ἀπέχεσθαι διʼ ἄσκησιν σωματικὴν ἐγκρατευομένους, καθάπερ τὸν Κροτωνιάτην Ἀστύλον καὶ Κρίσωνα τὸν Ἱμεραῖον. καὶ Ἀμοιβεὺς δὲ ὁ κιθαρῳδὸς νεόγαμος ὢν ἀπέσχετο τῆς νύμφης. ὅ τε Κυρηναῖος Ἀριστοτέλης Λαΐδα ἐρῶσαν ὑπερεώρα μόνος·
English · Claude translation
And as for “Not all can receive this saying; for there are eunuchs who were born so, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven; let the one who can receive it receive it,” they do not know that after his saying about divorce, when some asked, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry,” then the Lord said: “Not all can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given.” For what the questioners wished to learn was whether he allowed a man to marry another wife when his wife had been condemned for sexual immorality and put away. They say that not a few athletes too abstain from sexual intercourse, exercising self-control for bodily training, such as Astylus of Croton and Crison of Himera. And Amoebeus the lyre-singer, though newly married, abstained from his bride. And Aristotle of Cyrene alone disdained Lais when she loved him.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 19:10–12. Clement reads the eunuch saying as an answer about remarriage after divorce for sexual immorality, implying that the answer is continence. The athletes' stories are also in Plato, Laws 8.840a, and Aelian.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.50 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/50/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.50 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/50/).
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