Miscellanies 4.8.59
Summary: Man and woman share one human nature and so the same virtue; women, like men, free and slave, must pursue self-restraint and justice; they differ only in what belongs to sex, such as childbearing.
Greek text · Stählin 2:275
οὐκ ἄλλην τοίνυν πρὸς τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα φύσιν ἔχειν ἡ γυνή, ἄλλην δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ φαίνεται, ἀλλʼ ἢ τὴν αὐτήν, ὥστε καὶ τὴν ἀρετήν. εἰ δὲ ἀνδρὸς ἀρετὴ σωφροσύνη δήπουθεν καὶ δικαιοσύνη καὶ ὅσαι ταύταις ἀκόλουθοι νομίζονται, ἆρʼ ἀνδρὶ μόνῳ ἐναρέτῳ εἶναι προσήκει, γυναικὶ δὲ ἀκολάστῳ καὶ ἀδίκῳ; ἀλλὰ ἀπρεπὲς τοῦτο καὶ λέγειν. σωφροσύνης οὖν ἐπιμελητέον καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἀρετῆς ἁπάσης ὁμοίως μὲν γυναικί, ὁμοίως δὲ ἀνδρί, ἐλευθέρῳ τε καὶ δούλῳ, ἐπειδὴ μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀρετὴν εἶναι τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως συμβέβηκεν. τὸ μὲν τοίνυν τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι φύσιν τοῦ θήλεος πρὸς τὸ ἄρρεν, καθὸ θῆλύ ἐστιν, οὐ φαμέν· πάντως γάρ τινα καὶ διαφορὰν ὑπάρχειν προσῆκεν ἑκατέρῳ τούτων, διʼ ἣν τὸ μὲν θῆλυ αὐτῶν, τὸ δὲ ἄρρεν γέγονεν· τὸ γοῦν κυοφορεῖν καὶ τὸ τίκτειν τῇ γυναικὶ προσεῖναί φαμεν, καθὸ θήλεια τυγχάνει, οὐ καθὸ ἄνθρωπος· εἰ δὲ μηδὲν ἦν τὸ διάφορον ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικός, τὰ αὐτὰ ἂν ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν ἔδρα τε καὶ ἔπασχεν.
English · Claude translation
The woman, then, does not appear to have one nature with respect to humanity and the man another, but the same, and so the same virtue too. If the virtue of a man is self-restraint, of course, and justice, and whatever are thought to follow from these, is it fitting for a man alone to be virtuous, and for a woman to be licentious and unjust? It is unseemly even to say so. Self-restraint, then, and justice and all other virtue must be cultivated alike by woman and by man, by free and slave, since it happens that the same nature has one and the same virtue. We do not say that the nature of the female is the same as that of the male insofar as she is female; for there must surely be some difference belonging to each of them, by which one is female and the other male. Pregnancy and childbirth, at any rate, we say belong to the woman insofar as she is female, not insofar as she is human; if there were no difference between man and woman, each would do and experience the same things.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The argument resembles Plato, Republic 5.451d–456c, and Musonius Rufus.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on καθὸ; accents: grave on αὐτὰ and ἂν): καθό θήλεια τυγχάνει → καθὸ θήλεια τυγχάνει; τὰ αὐτά ἄν ἑκάτερον → τὰ αὐτὰ ἂν ἑκάτερον.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.59 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/59/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.59 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/59/).
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