The Sentences of Sextus

Description

St. Jerome in Contra Jovin. i.49:

Xystus in his Sentences tells us that "He who too ardently (ardentior) loves his own wife is an adulterer. "
alternate translation: "Sixtus the Pythagorean says in his Maxims : 'He that is insatiable of his wife is an adulterer'"
Latin original, PL 23 col. 293: "Xystus in sententiis: Adulter est, inquit, in suam uxorem amator ardentior."

Greek original, Sentence #231, p. 240 (PDF p. 255): "μοιχὸς τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γυναικὸς πᾶς ὁa ἀκόλαστος." [commentary on pp. 243-4, PDF pp. 258-9]

(source)

"Chadwick (1959, 153) identifies [Sentences/Maxims] vv. 230a–240 [pp. 240-1, PDF pp. 255-6] as a section on marriage " (p. 241, PDF p. 256).

"For the idea of a man committing adultery with his own wife, see Athenagoras, Leg. 33.1–6; Origen, Comm. Matt. 14.24" (p. 244, PDF p. 259).

Described by Origen as a writing that “even the masses of believers have read” and by [St.] Jerome as a writing whose author was “a man without Christ” (Ep. 133.3), the Sentences of Sextus ["Sixtus" or "Xystus"] offers unique insights into popular Christian thought during the late second century A.D. Although it draws extensively on canonical [biblical?] texts for the composition of its sayings, it is especially fascinating for the manner in which it integrates these texts with material derived from two generically similar collections of Pythagorean maxims. This volume provides a critical edition including evidence from the Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Coptic versions; a new translation; and the first commentary for the Sentences, an important document for investigating the history of early Christian wisdom, asceticism, and ethics.