Emmet:
It looks like one portion of the Stromata is in Latin in my ANF series, but that is because the editors for some reason decided not to render it into English, but to keep it under the veil of an academic language. This is an intriguing decision, as it makes one wonder what the editors found so objectionable that they wished to keep it from the eyes of the general readership(?!), but it does not indicate that the source language was Latin. In the nineteenth century, when the ANF series was produced, it probably could be assumed that serious scholars would be literate in Latin, and so I expect that the Greek text of Clement was rendered into Latin for that publication, just like the other chapters of the Stromata (clearly Greek, from the footnotes) were rendered into English for the series. Latin was simply chosen to limit the field of those who could access the translation.
You are quite right. The Stromata was written in Greek. What follows is a quotation of it from Eusebius. Eusebius also wrote in Greek. I am not sure who translated Book 3 of the Stromata into Latin, but the fact that the translators used the ordinary Latin word for "marry" seems to indicate that they, too, recognized that the word meant "copulate."
From Eusebius (260 – 340 A.D) Church History
AT this time the so-called sect of the Nicolaitans made its appearance and lasted for a very short time. Mention is made of it in the Apocalypse of
John. They boasted that the author of their sect was Nicolaus, one of the
deacons who, with Stephen, were appointed by the apostles for the
purpose of ministering to the poor. Clement of Alexandria, in the third
book of his Stromata, relates the following things concerning him. “They
say that he had a beautiful wife, and after the ascension of the Savior, being accused by the apostles of jealousy, he led her into their midst and gave permission to any one that wished to marry her. For they say that this was in accord with that saying of his, that one ought to abuse the flesh.
And those that have followed his heresy, imitating blindly and foolishly
that which was done and said, commit fornication without shame. But I
understand that Nicolaus had to do with no other woman than her to
whom he was married, and that, so far as his children are concerned, his daughters continued in a state of virginity until old age, and his son
remained uncorrupt.
Eusebius apparently thought that Clement used the word “marry” appropriately, as referring to copulation. At the same time, Eusebius stated (see bolded quote) that “Nicolaus had to do with no other woman that her to whom he was married.” Is Eusebius now using “marry” in a different sense from that of his quote from Clement? I don’t think so. When he said that Nicolaus was married, did he not simply mean the woman with whom he was living and had sexual relations?
As for Clement - anyone marginally familiar with his work knows that he indulges in florid and creative use of language and imagery. Even if the Greek text undergirds the sense of "marry" in your chosen passage, it is not impossible that Clement is exercising poetic license. I would prefer to see an example from another church father when establishing common linguistic usage.
I'm not so sure about the "florid and creative use of language and imagery." That may be so, his works did not strike me in that way. He seems to be pretty straightforward about sexual improprieties in the Stromata.
Here are some other quotes from Clement of Alexandria, as well as from Justin Martyr and from Eusbeius, which seem to employ the word "marry" in the sense of sexual intercourse:
From Justin Martyr’s Discourse to the Greeks, last sentence of chapter 3:
For what need is there of speaking of the goad of Oedipus, and the murder of Laius, and the marrying his mother, and the mutual slaughter of those who were at once his brothers and his sons?
I know this is a story about a god. Nevertheless, I don’t think the story has him “marrying” his mother in the sense of forming a legal contract with her, or promising a permanent bond with her. Does the story of Oedipus in Greek mythology claim any deeper relationship between him and his mother other than sex?
Clement of Alexandria “Exhortation to the Heathen”, chapter 4
…and again that of Demetrius, who was raised to the rank of the gods; and where he alighted from his horse on his entrance into Athens is the temple of Demetrius the Alighter; and altars were raised to him everywhere, and nuptials with Athene assigned to him by the Athenians. But he disdained the goddess, as he could not marry the statue; and taking the courtesan Lamia, he ascended the Acropolis, and lay with her on the couch of Athene, showing to the old virgin the postures of the young courtesan.
Is this story not saying that because he could not have sex with the statue of Athene, and that the goddess herself was not personally available, he copulated with the courtesan Lamia to satisfy his needs?
Clement of Alexandria “Stromata”, Book 2, chapter 23
But they who approve of marriage say, Nature has adapted us for marriage, as is evident from the structure of our bodies, which are male and female.
This passage could be interpreted from almost any point of view, but it seems to me that Clement is saying that nature has adapted men for sexual intercourse with women, as is evident from the structure of their respective bodies.
Eusebius “Church History” Book 3, Chapter 28
And Dionysius, who was bishop of the parish of Alexandria in our day, in the second book of his work On the Promises,where he says some things concerning the Apocalypse of John which he draws from tradition, mentions this same man in the following words:
“But (they say that) Cerinthus, who founded the sect which was called, after him, the Cerinthian, desiring reputable authority for his fiction, prefixed the name. For the doctrine which he taught was this: that the kingdom of Christ will be an earthly one. And as he was himself devoted to the pleasures of the body and altogether sensual in his nature, he dreamed that that kingdom would consist in those things which he desired,
namely,
in the delights of the belly and of sexual passion, that is to say, in eating and drinking and marrying, and in festivals and sacrifices and the slaying of victims, under the guise of which he thought he could indulge his appetites with a better grace.” These are the words of Dionysius.
Eusebius explains “the delights of the belly and of sexual passion” in the words “in eating and drinking and marrying.”
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