Parainesis on ἁγιασ�ός (1 Th 4: 3-8) 143 Further down Best speaks of the Christian man, who is “ ‘to make his own wife favourably inclined towards him for sexual intercourse’ … not in the passionate and licentious manner of the pagan who used his wife to produce children and enjoyed himself with other women”, and ends with the sweeping generalization that “pagan marriage is motivated by lust”66. This is not only confused, but also self-contradictory. What seem to lie in the background is Pseudo-Demosthenes’ oration Against Neaera, 122: Τὰς μὲν γὰρ ἑταίρας ἡδονῆς ἕνεκ᾿ ἔχομεν, τὰς δὲ παλλακὰς τῆς καθ᾿ ἡμέραν θεραπείας τοῦ σώματος, τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας τοῦ παιδοποιεῖσθαι γνησίως καὶ τῶν ἔνδον φύλακα πιστὴν ἔχειν. In spite of the first person plural ἔχομεν, Ps-Demosthenes certainly does not mean that this was a general practice in Athens. Now if the legal wives were married only for the purpose of producing legitimate children, while the “other women” (i.e. the ἑταῖραι) were had for pleasure, how could the wives have been used in a “passionate and licentious manner”? And, we may further ask: How many children did they produce? Again, to claim that pagan marriage is “motivated by lust”, or to say with Bruce that ϖορνεία was encouraged, but never discouraged67, is altogether too one-sided and at variance with the evidence as a whole. Also Plato68, Aristotle69, Musonius70, Epictetus71, Plutarch72 et. al. must be taken into consideration. And their picture of ancient morality and ancient views of marriage is quite different. Best, 1 Thessalonians, 165. 66 Bruce, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 82. 67 E. g. Plato, Laws, 840 d-841 d: of his ideal State: ὅταν δ’ εἰς τοῦτο ἡλικίας ἔλθωσι, 68 συνδυασθέντες ἄρρην θηλείᾳ κατὰ χάριν καὶ θήλεια ἄρρενι, τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ὁσίως καὶ δικαίως ζῶσιν, ἐμμένοντες βεβαίως ταῖς πρώταις τῆς φιλίας ὁμολογίαις... τάχα δ’ ἄν, εἰ θεὸς ἐθέλοι, κἂν δυοῖν θάτερα βιασαίμεθα περὶ ἐρωτικῶν, ἢ μηδένα τολμᾶν μηδενὸς ἅπτεσθαι τῶν γενναίων ἅμα καὶ ἐλευθέρων πλὴν γαμετῆς ἑαυτοῦ γυναικός, ἄθυτα δὲ παλλακῶν σπέρματα καὶ νόθα μὴ σπείρειν, μηδὲ ἄγονα ἀρρένων παρὰ φύσιν… E. g. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, VIII. xii.7: ἀνδρὶ δὲ καὶ γυναικὶ φιλία δοκεῖ 69 κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχειν… τοῖς μὲν οὖν ἄλλοις [τοῖς ζῴοις] ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἡ κοινωνία ἐστίν, οἱ δ’ ἄνθρωποι οὐ μόνον τῆς τεκνοποιίας χάριν συνοικοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν εἰς τὸν βίον· εὐθὺς γὰρ διῄρηται τὰ ἔργα, καὶ ἔστιν ἕτερα ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικός· ἐπαρκοῦσιν οὖν ἀλλήλοις, εἰς τὸ κοινὸν τιθέντες τὰ ἴδια. διὰ ταῦτα δὲ καὶ τὸ χρήσιμον εἶναι δοκεῖ καὶ τὸ ἡδὺ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ φιλίᾳ. εἴη δ’ ἂν καὶ δι’ ἀρετήν, εἰ ἐπιεικεῖς εἶεν· ἔστι γὰρ ἑκατέρου ἀρετή, καὶ χαίροιεν ἂν τῷ τοιούτῳ. Musonius (O. Hense’s ed., pp. 67-8): Τὸν γὰρ γαμοῦντα, ἔφη, καὶ τὴν γαμουμένην 70 ἐπὶ τοῦτῳ συνιέναι χρὴ ἐκάτερον θατέρῳ ὥσθ’ ἅμα μὲν ἀλλήλοις βιοῦν, ἅμα δὲ [παιδο]ποιεῖσθαι, καὶ κοινὰ δὲ ἠγεῖσθαι πάντα καὶ μηδὲν ἴδιον καὶ μήδ’ αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα [καὶ πάντα κοινὰ πεποιημένων μέχρι καὶ τῶν σωμάτων, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ψυχῶν… Cf. e.g. Epictetus, Discourse, II. 4 see also frg. 15; II.18; IV.9. 71 Cf. e.g. Plutarch’s works: Γαμικὰ παραγγέλματα, Γυναικῶν ἀρεταὶ, and 72 Παραμυθητικὸς πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα, all of them works which should be read in their en- tirety. These works by Plutarch as well as the Musonius passage (above) prove that the way marriage was viewed in antiquity was not monolithic, nor was it one-sidedly to the