Miscellanies 4.19.123
Summary: Noble women of old did humble work, like Sarah serving the angels; a wife should first try to win her husband to the way of salvation, otherwise pursue virtue alone, obeying him in all but what concerns virtue and salvation.
Greek text · Stählin 2:302–303
ἡ δὲ Κλεοβούλου θυγάτηρ τοῦ σοφοῦ καὶ Λινδίων μοναρχοῦντος τῶν ξένων τῶν πατρῴων οὐκ ᾐδεῖτο ἀπονίπτειν τοὺς πόδας· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ γυνὴ Σάρρα ἡ μακαρία αὐτὴ τοὺς ἐγκρυφίας παρεσκεύασε τοῖς ἀγγέλοις, καὶ βασιλικαὶ κόραι παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις τὰ πρόβατα ἔνεμον, ὅθεν καὶ ἡ παρʼ Ὁμήρῳ Ναυσικάα ἐπὶ τοὺς πλυνοὺς ᾔει. Ἕλοιτʼ ἂν οὖν ἡ σώφρων πρῶτον μὲν πείθειν τὸν ἄνδρα κοινωνὸν αὐτῇ γίνεσθαι τῶν πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν φερόντων, εἰ δὲ ἀδυνάτως ἔχοι, μόνη σπευδέτω ἐπʼ ἀρετήν. πάντα μὲν τῷ ἀνδρὶ πειθομένη ὡς μηδὲν ἄκοντος ἐκείνου πρᾶξαί ποτε πλὴν ὅσα εἰς ἀρετήν τε καὶ σωτηρίαν διαφέρειν νομίζεται· ἀλλὰ καί, εἰ καί τις εἴργοι τῆς τοιαύτης διαθέσεως ἀνυποκρίτως ὁρμῶσαν ἤτοι γυναῖκα ἢ καὶ θεράπαιναν, οὐκ ἄλλο τι φαίνεται τὸ τηνικάδε δρῶν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἢ δικαιοσύνης μὲν καὶ σωφροσύνης ἀπάγειν προῃρημένος, ἄδικον δὲ ἅμα καὶ ἀκόλαστον παρασκευάζειν βεβουλημένος τὸν οἶκον τὸν ἑαυτοῦ.
English · Claude translation
And the daughter of Cleobulus, the sage and monarch of the Lindians, was not ashamed to wash the feet of her father's guests; since the blessed Sarah too, Abraham's wife, herself prepared the loaves for the angels, and royal daughters among the Hebrews tended sheep; whence too Homer's Nausicaa went to the washing places. The self-restrained woman, then, would choose first to persuade her husband to become her partner in what leads to happiness; but if that is impossible, let her hasten to virtue alone, obeying her husband in everything, so as never to do anything against his will, except what is thought to contribute to virtue and salvation. But if someone should hinder from such a disposition either a wife or a maidservant sincerely striving for it, such a man plainly does nothing else at that time than choose to lead them away from justice and self-restraint, and wish to make his own house unjust and licentious.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Gen 18:6, Gen 29:9 (Rachel) and Exod 2:16, and Homer, Odyssey 6.85–95. The principle of obeying the husband “except in what concerns virtue and salvation” is important for mixed marriages.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on ἂν): Ἕλοιτʼ ἄν οὖν ἡ σώφρων → Ἕλοιτʼ ἂν οὖν ἡ σώφρων.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.19.123 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/19/123/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.19.123 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/19/123/).
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