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THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
VOLUME 23
THE FA THERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
Founded by
LUDWIG SCHOPP
EDITORIAL BOARD
ROY JOSEPH DEFERRARI
The Catholic University of America
Editorial Director
RUDOLPH \RBESMANN, O.S.A. BERNARD M. PEEBLES
Fordham University The Catholic University of America
STEPHAN KUTTNER ROBERT P. RUSSELL. O.S.A.
The Catholic University of America Villanova University
MARTIN R. P. McGuiRE ANSELM STRITTMATTER, O.S.B.
The Catholic University of America St. Anselm's Priory
WILFRID PARSONS, S.J. JAMES EDWARD TOBIN
The Catholic University of America Queens College
GERALD G. WALSH, S.J.
Fordham University
CLEMENT OF
ALEXANDRIA
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR
Translated by
SIMON P. WOOD, C.P.
New York
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC.
PRINTED WITH ECCLESIASTICAL PERMISSION
November 15, 1953
Copyright 1954 by
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC.
475 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, N. Y.
All rights reserved
Lithography by Bishop Litho, Inc.
US. A.
INTRODUCTION
| N THE PAST CENTURY, much interest has been shown
in Clement of Alexandria, and many studies made
of his place in the history of Christian thought. Non-
Catholics and rationalists have been extravagant in their
praise. They see in him, in the words of J. Patrick, 'the first
systematic teacher of Christian doctrine, the formal cham-
pion of liberal culture in the Church.' 1 The same writer joins
A. Harnack in endorsing the tribute of Overbeck that
Clement's work is perhaps the most daring undertaking in
the history of the Church. 2 C. Bigg, speaking of the school
whose teachings found their way into Clement's writings, re-
marks that 'it may be doubted whether any nobler scheme of
Christian education has ever been projected than this which
we find in actual working at Alexandria at the end of the
second century A.p. 53 Swete adds words that would be hard
to surpass: Terhaps nothing in the whole range of early
1 J. Patrick, Clement of Alexandria (London 1914) 13.
2 Ibid. 30; A. Harnack, History of Dogma, trans. N. Buchanan (London
1896) II 324.
3 C. Bigg. Christian Platonists of Alexandria (Oxford 1913) 70.
VI CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
patristic literature is more stimulating to the modern reader
than [Clement's] great trilogy of graduated instruction in
the Christian life . . . Clement's conception of Christianity, in
its relation to the whole field of human thought, is one which
has an especial value for our own times . . . and promises
to be increasingly useful in the present century.' 4
The Catholic attitude, which expects not only intellectual
vigor and richness of culture, but also exact adherence to
the truth, L muie hesitant. While admiring his humanism
and appreciating his richness of thought, it regrets some of
the Gnostic developments of that thought. The Catholic
opinion is well represented by F. Cayre's appraisal: 'Cle-
ment must be read prudently. Nevertheless these flaws do
not destroy his work, nor should they be allowed to con-
ceal much that is precious within it, both from a moral and
a theological point of view.' 5
We can, then, expect from Clement a stimulating and
rich study of Christian thought, not always entirely orthodox,
yet always sincere and loyal, original in its approach to truth
if sometimes out of step with tradition.
Titus Flavius Clemens was born c. 150, most probably in
Athens. 6 The tone of his writings, his intimate familiarity
with Greek literature and customs, even the orientation of his
thought, suggest that he was a Greek of the Greeks, steeped
from infancy in the glory that was Greece, The more common
opinion is that he was born a pagan, was introduced to the
pagan mysteries in his youth, and became a Christian only
(luring the travels he undertook, like all the youths of well-
to-do Greek families, in search of a broader education.
4 H. B. Swete, Patristic Study (London 1902) 48.
5 F. Cayr6, Manual of Patrology, Trans. H. Howitt (Paris 1936)
6 Cf. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. I. p. 188. 5.11.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR Vll
Mondesert, however, raises doubt about this assumption, on the
ground that Clement's evident profound familiarity with the
Scriptures suggests an early acquaintance with Christianity. 7
If Clement became a Christian only after a youth spent
in paganism, the tone of his writings indicates that conversion
came to him 'as untroubled as to any of the educated heathen
who found their way within the Church's doors. He does not
seem to have had gross sins to surrender. Great renunciations
were not apparently involved. And the things he had found
most precious in paganism he took over with him in a new
allegiance. There is no sort of parallel between Clement's
conversion and the stress and pain of the transition as Saint
Augustine knew it.' 8
Be that as it may, Clement settled in Alexandria, around
180, as a Christian, there to cultivate the friendship and
benefit from the instruction of the Christian Stoic, St,
Pantaenus, in charge of the catechetical school in that city.
Gradually he took over many of the duties of the catechetical
school, and it is indicative of his peaceful nature and of the
humility of Pantaenus that there is no evidence of any op-
position or rivalry between the two men. When Pantaenus
died at the close of the century, Clement became the head of
the school, continuing the policies and methods practised
under Pantaenus. Origen was his most famous pupil, and
became his successor. Pantaenus is remembered largely be-
cause of Clement, but there is no such close continuity be-
7 'The Bible . . . became for him almost a language and a mentality;
and what is strange, one can say the same about Greek philosophy
and above all. Platonism. This raises a problem which the complete
absence of biographical information makes insoluble: was he truly
raised a Greek pagan? Or how did he become, in manhood, so
profoundly Christian?' C. Mod&ert, Cldment d'Alexandrie (Paris
1944) 265.
8 R. B. Tollinton, Clement of Alexandria (London 1914) 13.
Viii CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
tween Clement and Origen. The more famous successor
shows only a vague, unacknowledged dependence upon his
predecessor, for he retained the broad humanism of Cle-
ment, but differed in many points of doctrine and of method.
In 202 or 203, only a few years after the death of Pantaenus,
Clement felt constrained to flee the persecution set in motion
by Sulpicius Severus, traveling first to Cappadocia, then to
Antioch, which seems to be the place of his death, before 215.
History reveres Clement principally as a man of thought,
for these few facts, most of them uncertain, are all that it re-
cords of a life so rich in intellectual and spiritual adventure,
but uneventful to the eyes of the biographer. He was regarded
as a saint in many localities, but was excluded from the
Roman Martyrology by Popes Clement VIII and Benedict
XIV.
The writings of Clement, and particularly the work here
translated, are largely the literary account of the instruction
and investigation conducted at the catechetical school. For
a long while, Alexandria had been the center of a vigorous
intellectual and literary achievement. Its famous libraries,
the Serapeion and the Museum, were both the witness and
sustainer of that spirit. The famous Neo-Platonic Alexandrian,
Philo the Jew, a century and a half before, had left a deep
Hellenistic imprint upon the culture of the city. He had
sought particularly to enrich Scriptural studies by reference to
Greek thought and by the use of allegory, a method which,
handled intelligently, demanded quickness of mind and a well-
disciplined imagination. It was only natural, then, that the
Christian community in Alexandria should turn to a deeper
study of the faith than prevailed in ruder missionary regions.
Such was the origin of the catechetical school which Clement
found under the leadership of Pantaenus. Its liberal culture
and humanism must have been completely congenial to
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR IX
Clement's temperament and convictions, for he never sought
any other instructor.
The school was conducted privately, neither begun nor
directed by ecclesiastical authority, at least in Clement's
time. We might compare it to a modern study club, meeting
in a private home without formal class or public pretensions,
vigorous in its search for truth. The pupils, if we may call
them that, were not Jews but almost entirely Alexandrian
Greeks, whether pagan or Christian, drawn from the more
well-to-do members of society. Much of the advice given in
the Paidagogos, for example, or in the Quis dives sdvetur,
would have been of little use to workmen or to the poor.
Evidently, women as well as men attended his classes, for
Clement makes a special point of their equality before the
Logos?
The subject matter of the program was varied. It stressed
not so much the elementary lessons of Christianity, although,
naturally, that must have had its place, as a deeper study of
the Scriptures. To counteract the false Gnosticism of Marcion,
Valentinus, and Theodotus, Clement evolved a more or-
thodox system which has been called a 'Christian Gnosticism.'
He did not rid himself entirely of the esotericism of the
heretical Gnosis, nor of its exaggerations of the role of knowl-
edge in salvation, but he did succeed in saving his followers
from the fascination of a more harmful false mysticism.
Gnosis was for Clement 'Christian doctrine, in its entirety
and in all its richness, that is to say, not only elementary
truths which are the object of the faith of the "simple" and
which, according to Clement, all can attain, but also and
above all the more spiritual and mysterious truths which
should be desired, sought after and both merited by a more
perfect life and obtained by divine grace, and which are
9 Cf. below, pp. 11-12.
X CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
revealed only to the Gnostic.' 10 This deeper and richer
meaning of the faith was to be gained by interpreting the
Scriptures allegorically, a method employed so deftly by Philo
and adopted by many of the early Fathers, called by Rand
'the higher criticism of the day.' 11
Clement also shared Philo's Hellenism, his humanism.
More than any previous Christian writer, Clement recognized
the integral relationship between all that was worth while in
pagan literature and the new Christian faith. Like Philo, he
calls on Homer and Plato, the dramatists and the Stoics and
all the best writers of Greece to substantiate his arguments.
There are those even today who can learn from the integrity
of his humanism, but when we remember that Clement wrote
before the Edict of Milan, while Christianity was still matur-
ing, we are all the more impressed by the daring of his project.
It argues well for the peace and literary atmosphere of Alex-
andria, as well as for the non-controversial, gentle nature
of Clement, that he could even attempt such a project. His
writings prove how steeped his thought was in the Greek
classics. His works contain over 700 quotations from some
300 pagan authors, an achievement which well justifies
Cayre's remark that his prodigious erudition was unsurpassed
even by that of Origen. 12 In fact, Tollinton can say that
'whoever invites interest in Clement of Alexandria pleads,
directly or indirectly, the cause of Hellenism in Christianity.' 13
However, Clement is not another Minucius Felix or
Boethius, whose writings give more evidence of pagan than
Christian humanism. Commentators may call him Platonist
10 Mond&ert, op. cit. 109.
11 CC. E. K. Rand, Founders of the Middle Ages (Cambridge, Mass.
1941) 87. For those interested in Clement's use of allegory, ct.
Mondesert, op. cit.
12 F. Cayre, op. cit. 179.
13 Tollinton, op. cit. ix.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR xi
or Neo-Platonic, Stoic or Aristotelian, 14 but they must also
call him an exegete of the Scriptures. Mondesert does not
hesitate to say that his style is above all else Scriptural. 15
There are copious quotations from Old and New Testaments,
constant allusions and turns of thought too numerous to be
noted. And for Clement, Scripture is the final appeal; when
he says, as he often does: graphetai ('it is written'), he is
invoking an authority from which he feels there is no appeal.
The Alexandrian school may have stressed Christian philo-
sophy, but it is a philosophy drawn from the pages of the
Scriptures.
Faithful reflection of the instruction imparted at the school
is the trilogy made up of the Protreptikos, commonly called An
Exhortation to the Greeks, the Paidagogos and the Stroma-
teis. Clement himself showed that these three works are but
a continuation of the same subject, for he says: 'The all-
loving Word, anxious to perfect us in a way that leads to
salvation by progressive degrees, makes effective use of an
order excellently adapted to our education: first He per-
suades us, then He educates, and, after all this, He teaches.' 16
The Protreptikos, written possibly around 189, is a glowing
appeal to the Greeks to recognize all the truth and beauty
praised by their poets and philosophers in the New Song that
is Christ. It is not so much an apologetic an approach alien
to Clement's peaceful mentality as a rhetorical plea for
Christianity. The Paidagogos was written shortly after, pos-
sibly the next year. In this work, Clement pictures Christ as
14 'According to Merk, he is an adherent of the Stoics; according to
Reinkens, of Aristotle; Ritter regards him as fundamentally a
Platonist; Dahne as a Neo-Platonist. The truth is, if we accept his
own statement, that he refused to be considered a narrow partisan of
any school' (Patrick, op. cit. 141) .
15 Mod&ert, op. cit. 71.
16 Cf. below, p. 5.
Xll CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
an educator who molds the character of those entrusted to
His care, cautioning them what to avoid and turning them
toward a truly Christian way of life. Finally, the Stromateis
sets out to develop the Gnosis that will initiate the Christian
into the higher perfection of Christian knowledge. It is a
patchwork treatment rather than a consistent systematic
explanation, proceeding at random and with much retracing
of ground already covered. Some authors think that Clement
had actually intended to write another work, and that the
Stromateis was not even meant to be a unified treatise. We
are not concerned with this problem here, except to suggest
the very likely possibility that the first four books of the
Stromateis were written before the Paidagogos while Clement
was still at Alexandria; possibly they represent the work on
marriage referred to in several places in the present work.
The remaining books were probably composed after his
flight from Alexandria in 202. This trilogy comprises Cle-
ment's major writings. The Quis dives salvetur is a delightful
little work, possibly the last from his pen, presenting a sane,
balanced treatment of the Christian virtue of detachment.
There are fragments extant of the lost Hypotypseis, which
purported to be a commentary on the Scriptures; of the
Excerpta ex Theodoto\ and of the Eclogae propheticae; and
there is a doctored Latin translation made by Cassiodorus
of the Adumbrationes. Besides these, there are other works
too minor to be mentioned, especially when they have sur-
vived only in a few fragments.
Clement's style is not always easy or polished. He writes
from a full heart and rich culture, but his mind never seems
completely disciplined, or at home with logic. He writes in
keeping with his character : peaceful, non-controversial, gentle.
Clement was far from the apologist who aggressively ham-
mers away at possible antagonists, boldly defending the
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR XU1
truth against all objections. He was a contemplative who
preferred to speak of the beauties of truth rather than to
argue to its existence, who preferred to win the heart rather
than to crush all opposition. This trait accounts for many of
his weaknesses: Clement often piles up impressive quotations
that do not clearly apply to the point under discussion; he
sometimes does not make one point fully before passing on to
another point whose connection it is not easy to grasp; oc-
casionally he contradicts himself, not violently, but as a man
who sees now one, now the opposite, side of a problem. These
traits evidently exasperated E. Molland, for he claims that
Clement is one of the most difficult authors in the whole
Christian literature, and that he had no theological system
at all. 17 In fact, Molland quotes Jiilicher approvingly as
saying that the reason Clement was not repudiated as a
heretic in the fifth and sixth centuries is the fact that he was
unintelligible. 18 These are too harsh words, for anyone who
takes Clement as he finds him will appreciate the witness he
gives to the faith, the richness he adds to Christian culture,
and, while he regrets, will respect the gentleness that made
him hesitate to become rigorously logical. Another authority
has words much more indulgent: Clement's was 'a singularly
lovable personality. He gives the impression of a certain
intellectual naivete, combined with a moral austerity ....
"I do not know," says Maurice, "where we shall look for a
purer or truer man than this Clement of Alexandria ....
He seems to me that one of the old fathers whom we should
all have reverenced most as a teacher, and loved most as
a friend."' 19
17 E. Molland, The Conception of the Gospel in the Alexandrian
Theology (Oslo 1938) 5.
18 Ibid.
19 Patrick, op. cit. 9-10.
XIV CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
The Paidagogos holds the central place in Clement's tril-
ogy, not only in position, but also, I believe, in content. It is
longer than the Protreptikos but less unwieldy than the
Stromateis; it contains more doctrine than the first, yet does
not evidence the exaggerations of doctrine, at least to the same
degree, as the third; it does not have the unity and the
beauty of the earlier work, yet avoids the random, scattered
style of the later one. For all these reasons, it is the most
practical work for our purposes. It represents the thought of
Clement and of the whole Alexandrian Church very well and
so will give the reader an adequate introduction to Clement's
teachings.
It is difficult to translate the word Paidagogos into English,
for there is no one word that conveys all that the Greek ex-
presses. Etymologically, Paidagogos means 'leader of chil-
dren,' and this is the sense Clement sometimes confines him-
self to. However, in its ordinary usage, it meant first the
slave who conducted the children of the household back
and forth from school, and later, the slave, usually an educated
one, who supervised their training and the formation of
their characters. Clement makes use of all these senses of the
word, but is careful to confine it to one who supervises only
moral training, for he reserved the treatment of Christ the
Teacher to a later work. I have settled upon 'Educator' as
the best English equivalent, but the reader must keep in mind
that it refers only to an education of character.
In Book 1, Clement lays down the general principles of
his thesis, often in beautiful rhetoric: Christ is our Educator,
and we are little ones in God's eyes. Sometimes He treats us
with severity, sometimes with kind indulgence, but always as
the loving Father of mankind. Books 2-3 descend to details
that become tiring and even overly blunt and crude: how
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR XV
a Christian should eat and drink, sleep and dress; what
companions he should associate with; what attitude he
should take toward the wild, effeminate practices found in a
city as prosperous and commercial as Alexandria was. The
picture that emerges, with all its defects and excessive de-
tails, is a clear outline of what Clement thought the Christian
life should be. That is why the Paidagogos is the source
book for Alexandrian spirituality to the historian and to the
student of the spiritual life.
In it Clement quotes from the Old Testament, with heavy
reliance on Ecclesiasticus and Proverbs, and also from the
New, particularly from the Epistles of St. Paul. He also
draws arguments from the Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas and,
among pagan authors, from Plato and the Stoics, Homer and
the dramatists, and occasionally Pindar, Herodotus, and the
poets. Add to this the many excerpts from and allusions to
Philo the Jew, and the extent of Clement's erudition becomes
impressive. Although the quotations from the Greek classics
may have come at second-hand from the florilegia and
anthologies common in his day, the general development of
his thought proves him a man who was directly acquainted
with his sources.
The influence of Stoicism upon Clement deserves special
attention, for it explains much that otherwise would seem ex-
cessive or offensive. The Stromateis, treating more fully of
Christian Gnosticism, is strongly Platonic, but even a casual
reader of the Paidagogos will be struck by the evidences there
of Clement's Stoicism. The very first chapter begins with a
reference to the divisions of discourse as taught by the Stoic
school. The treatment of his subject in such detail is obviously
following the pattern of the works of Stoic writers. Even the
general character of the work shows a marked resemblance
XVI CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
to the writings of such Stoics as the Roman Seneca: the
determinedly practical orientation, the care to avoid excessive
speculation, the easy superficiality and attention to details,
the moderation that comes close, at times, to compromise.
But the influence is much deeper. Clement actually adopts
much of the Stoic moral doctrine. For him, virtue is living
according to the logos, a term lending itself naturally to a
play on words: either in the strict Stoic sense of living accord-
ing to reason or in the Christian sense of living according to
the Word. It often is difficult to be sure which he intends
in a given passage.
There are three virtues which Clement could have learned
only from the Stoa: self-sufficiency, frugality, and apathy.
The first, autarkeia, strange to the Christian ear, is stressed
by Clement as by the Stoics. It means self-reliance, and even
a self-determination which will keep the individual from
being a burden to others, and will always prefer to wait on
oneself rather than expect service from others, even slaves. 20
Closely allied is the virtue of frugality. The reader will often
be reminded of Seneca's treatment of this subject, or that of
other Stoic philosophers. It implies a restriction of conven-
iences and of luxuries that will enable a person to be inde-
pendent of material things, and free for service to others.
Finally, Clement's inclusion of apathy is frankly embarrassing.
Apathy is a doctrine peculiar to the Stoics, and rejected by
Christianity. Yet Clement states plainly that Christ was
apathes, without passion or emotion, and the Christian must
20 It will be well to keep in mind the observation of Patrick (op. cit. 146)
that 'the prominence given by Clement to the self-determination of
man seems to leave little scope for the action of divine grace in the
specifically Christian sense of the word.' This is true evidence of
Clement's Stoicism.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR XV11
try to be like him. 21 The Christian must instead cultivate rea-
son, the god within him. At times, however, Clement, like
Seneca, mitigates the severity of this concept, and recognizes
the function of the emotions and of moderate comforts in life.
Even more damaging to Clement's reputation is the ac-
cusation made by Wendland 22 and seconded by Parker, 23
that Books 2-3 of the Paidagogos are nothing but a worked-
over copy of a treatise by Musonius, the Stoic teacher of
Epictetus. It is a charge that would surely undermine both
Clement's integrity and the value of the work. However, while
there are clear proofs that Clement did use Musonius, both in
general arrangement and in many details, such an arbitrary
method of higher criticism cannot be taken seriously. The
words of R. Casey hold out a common-sense judgment: 'It
must be remembered that an author is not explained, or even
fairly represented, by showing how much he may have derived
from others, for in the last analysis, his finished thought is
his own, however extensive the foreign material employed in
its construction.' 24 And Tollinton warns that the theory of
Clement's indebtedness to Musonius cannot be pressed be-
yond the limits of probability, because 'the Paidagogos was
most likely, in substance first delivered in the lecture-room . . .
And it is quite improbable that Clement would have set be-
fore his hearers a description of luxury which was wholly
out of keeping with the facts.' 25
The more famous editions of Clement's works are those
21 Cf. below, p. 5.
22 P. Wendland, Quaestiones Musoniae (Berlin 1886) .
23 C. P. Parker, 'Musonius in Clement/ Harvard Studies in Classical
Philology 12 (1901) 191-200.
24 R. Casey, 'Clement of Alexandria and the Beginnings of Christian
Platonism,' Harvard Theological Review 18 (1925) 39.
25 Tollinton, op. cit. 245.
XV1U CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
by J. Potter (Oxford 1715); by Lc Nourry, in the Migne
Patrologiae Graecae Cursus (1891); by Dindorf (1869), al-
though his edition is defective in many ways; and by O.
Stahlin (1905), whose edition is definitive and has made
all others obsolete. The only English translation of the
Paidagogos is that made by W. Wilson in 1884 in the Ante-
Nicene Christian Library, which leaves much to be desired.
The translator wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to all
those who have assisted him in any way. He is particularly
grateful to those of his confreres of the staff of Holy Cross
Seminary who patiently read his manuscript and made many
helpful suggestions. He is also grateful to Rev. Iraeneus Hcr-
scher, O.F.M., Librarian of St. Bonaventure University, and to
Miss Ida Briggs of the Dunkirk Public Library for their
kind assistance. The members of the staffs of the Mullen
Library at the Catholic University of America, the Library
of Congress, and the New York Public Library were also
most helpful and courteous.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Text:
Clemens Alcxandrinus, ed. O. Stalilin, in Die Grieshischen Christichen
Schriftsteller der Ersten Drei Jahrhunderte I (Leipzig 1905).
Secondary Sources:
Bigg, Ch., The Christian Platonists of Alexandria (Oxford 1915).
Casey, R., 'Clement of Alexandria and the Beginnings of Christian
Platonism/ Harvard Theological Review 18 (1925) 39-101.
Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta, ed. T. Kock, 3 vols. (Leipzig 1880-
1888).
Echle, H. A., Terminology of the Sacrament of Regeneration accord-
ing to Clement of Alexandria (Washington, D. C. 1949) .
Faye, E. de, Clement d'Alexandrie. Etude sur les rapports du
Christianisme et de philosophic grecque au He siecle (Paris
1898) .
Kaye, J., Some Account of the Writings and Opinions of Clement of
Alexandria (London 1898) .
La Barre, A. de, 'Clement d'Alexandrie/ Dictionnaire de Theologie
Catholique, tome iii, cols. 137-199 (Paris 1939) .
Molland, E., The Conception of the Gospel in the Alexandrian
Theology (Oslo 1938) .
Mondesert, C., Clement d'Alexandrie. Introduction a V etude de sa
pensee religieuse a partir de Vecriture (Paris 1944) .
Parker, C. P., 'Musonius in Clement,' Harvard Studies in Classical
Philology 12 (1901) 191-200.
Patrick, J., Clement of Alexandria (London 1914) .
Tollinton, R. B., Clement of Alexandria. A Study in Christian
Liberalism, 2 vols. (London 1914) .
Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. A. Nauck, 2nd ed. (1889) .
Wendland, R., Quaestiones Musoniae (Berlin 1886) .
CONTENTS
BOOK ONE
Chapter p a ge
1 What the Educator of little ones professes to ac-
complish 3
2 That it is because of our sinfulness that He has taken
charge of us as Educator 5
3 The Educator's love for men 9
4 That the Word is the Educator of both men and
women alike 11
5 That all who seek the truth are children in God's eyes 12
6 An answer to those who consider that the designation
'child* and 'little one' implies the teaching of purely
elementary lessons 24
7 Who the Educator of little ones is, and what sort of
training He imparts 49
8 An answer to those who refuse to consider justice good 56
9 That it is the same faculty which performs acts of
kindness and administers just punishment .... 67
10 That it is through the same Word that God restrains
mankind from sin by the use of threats and saves it by
the use of encouragement 79
1 1 That it is through the Law and the Prophets that the
Word once educated 84
xxi
Chapter Page
12 That our Educator, in keeping with His paternal
character, makes use of both severity and kindness . . 86
13 That just as living virtuously is living according to
right reason, so sin is contrary to reason 89
BOOK TWO
1 How we should conduct ourselves in eating . . . . 93
2 How we should act in drinking 110
3 That we should not be overeager for precious vessels . 124
4 How we should enjoy ourselves at banquets . . . .129
5 On laughter 134
6 On obscene talk 137
7 What those who live peacefully together should avoid 140
8 Whether ornaments and crowns should be used . . .146
9 How we should regard sleep 159
10 What is to be discussed in the matter of procreation
of children 164
11 Of footwear 189
12 That we should not be dazzled by stones and gold . .190
BOOK THREE
1 On true beauty 199
2 That we ought not to cultivate artificial beauty . . . 202
3 Against men who cultivate artificial beauty . . . .211
4 On the companions we should associate with .... 220
5 How we should act at the baths 225
6 That only the Christian is rich 227
xxii
Chapter Page
7 That frugality is an adequate means of sustenance
for the Christian 230
8 That images and examples are the most important
part of good instruction 233
9 On the motive permitting us to indulge in the baths . 237
10 That even bodily exercise is allowed those who live
according to reason 239
1 1 A general summary of the more excellent way of life . 242
12 Continuation of the same, with many passages from
Scripture describing the life of Christians 263
CLEMENT OF
ALEXANDRIA
CHRIST, THE EDUCATOR
OF LITTLE ONES
Translated by
SIMON P. WOOD, C.P., M.A.
Holy Cross Seminary
Dunkirk, N. Y.
BOOK ONE
Chapter 1
| YOU WHO ARE CHILDREN! An indestructible corner
stone of knowledge, holy temple of the great God,
has been hewn out especially for us as a foundation
truth. This corner stone is noble persuasion, or the
desire for eternal life aroused by an intelligent response to it,
laid in the ground of our minds.
For, be it noted, there are these three things in man: ha-
bits, deeds, and passions. Of these, habits come under the in-
fluence of the word of persuasion, the guide to godliness.
This is the word that underlies and supports, like the keel of a
ship, the whole structure of the faith. Under its spell, we sur-
render, even cheerfully, our old ideas, become young again to
gain salvation, and sing in the inspired words of the psalm:
'How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright of
heart.' 1 As for deeds, they are affected by the word of
counsel, and passions are healed by that of consolation. 2
1 Ps. 72.1.
2 This seemingly strained division of rhetoric is typical both of the age
and of the Stoic school. Cf. the division made by Posidonius as quoted
by Seneca, Ep. 95.65.
4 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
These three words, however, are but one: the self -same
Word who forcibly draws men from their natural, worldly
way of life and educates them to the only true salvation:
faith in God. That is to say, the heavenly Guide, the Word,
once He begins to call men to salvation, takes to Himself
the name of persuasion (this sort of appeal, although only
one type, is properly given the name of the whole, that is,
word, since the whole service of God has a persuasive appeal,
instilling in a receptive mind the desire for life now and for
the life to come) ; but the Word also heals and counsels, all
at the same time. In fact, He follows up His own activity by
encouraging the one He has already persuaded, and par-
ticularly by offering a cure for his passions.
Let us call Him, then, by the one title: Educator of little
ones, an Educator who does not simply follow behind, but
who leads the way, for His aim is to improve the soul, not just
to instruct it; to guide to a life of virtue, not merely to one of
knowledge. (2) Yet, that same Word does teach. It is simply
that in this work we are not considering Him in that light. As
Teacher, He explains and reveals through instruction, but as
Educator He is practical. First He persuades men to form
habits of life, then He encourages them to fulfill their duties
by laying down clear-cut counsels and by holding up, for
us who follow, examples of those who have erred in the past.
Both are most useful: the advice, that it may be obeyed; the
other, given in the form of example, has a twofold object
either that we may choose the good and imitate it or con-
demn and avoid the bad.
(3) Healing of the passions follows as a consequence.
The Educator strengthens souls with the persuasion implied
in these examples, and then He gives the nourishing, mild
medicine, so to speak, of His loving counsels to the sick
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 5
man that he may come to a full knowledge of the truth.
Health and knowledge are not the same; one is a result of
study, the other of healing. In fact, if a person is sick, he
cannot master any of the things taught him until he is first
completely cured. We give instructions to someone who is
sick for an entirely different reason than we do to someone
who is learning; the latter, we instruct that he may acquire
knowledge, the first, that he may regain health. Just as our
body needs a physician when it is sick, so, too, when we are
weak, our soul needs the Educator to cure its ills. Only then
does it need the Teacher to guide it and develop its capacity
to know, once it is made pure and capable of retaining the
revelation of the Word.
Therefore, the all-loving Word, anxious to perfect us in a
way that leads progressively to salvation, makes effective use
of an order well adapted to our development; at first, He
persuades, then He educates, and after all this He teaches.
Chapter 2
(4) Our Educator, O children, resembles His Father,
God, whose Son He is. He is without sin, without blame,
without passion of soul, 1 God immaculate in form of man, ac-
complishing His Father's will. He is God the Word, who is in
the bosom of the Father, and also at the right hand of the
Father, with even the nature of God.
He it is who is the spotless image. 2 We must try, then, to
resemble Him in spirit as far as we are able. It is true that
He Himself is entirely free from human passion; that is why
1 Apathts. For this typical Stoic term, cf. Introduction, p. xvi.
2 c 2 Cor. 4.4; Col. 1.15.
6 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
He alone is sinless. Yet we must strive, to the best of our
ability, to be as sinless as we can. There is nothing more
important for us than first to be rid of sin and weakness, and
then to uproot any habitual sinful inclination. The highest
perfection, of course, is never to sin in any least way; but
this can be said of God alone. The next highest is never de-
liberately to commit wrong; this is the state proper to the man
who possesses wisdom. In the third place comes not sinning
except on rare occasions; this marks a man who is well
educated. Finally, in the lowest degree, we must place delaying
in sin for a brief moment; but even this, for those who are
called to recover their loss and repent, is a step on the path
to salvation.
(5) It seems to me that the Educator expresses it aptly
through Moses when He says: 'If anyone die suddenly before
him [the priest], the head of his consecration shall be defiled;
and he shall immediately shave it.' 3 By 'sudden death' He
means an indeliberate sin, and says that it 'defiles' because
it pollutes the soul. For the cure He prescribes that the head
be shaved on the spot as soon as possible, meaning that the
locks of ignorance that darken the reason should be shorn
so that the reason (which has its seat in the head), stripped
of hair, that is, wickedness, may the better retrace its course
to repentance.
A few words afterwards He adds: The former days were
without reason,' 4 by which He surely means that deliberate
sin is an act done contrary to reason. Involuntary sin He
calls 'sudden,' but deliberate sin 'without reason.' It is
precisely for this purpose that the Word, Reason Itself, 5 has
3 Num. 6.9.
4 Num. 6.12.
5 Logos, which Clement uses here for Word, with a play on the
secondary meaning of reason. Cf. Introduction, p. xvi.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 7
taken upon Himself, as the Educator of little ones, the task of
preventing sins against reason. Understand in this light that
expression in the Scriptures: Tor this reason, thus speaks the
Lord . . . .' 6 The words that follow describe and condemn
some sin that has been committed. The judgment contained
in these words is just, for it is as if He were giving notice in
the words of the Prophet that, if you had not sinned, He
would not have made these threats. The same is true of those
other words: 'For this reason, the Lord says these things . . . ,' 7
and "Because you have not heard these words, the Lord says
these things . . . ,' 8 and 'Behold, for this reason, the Lord
says . . .' 9 In fact, the inspired Word exists because of both
obedience and disobedience : that we may be saved by obeying
it, and educated because we have disobeyed.
(6) Therefore, the Word is our Educator who heals the
unnatural passions of our soul with His counsel. The art of
healing, strictly speaking, is the relief of the ills of the body,
an art learned by man's wisdom. Yet, the only true divine
Healer of human sickness, the holy Comforter of the soul when
it is ill, is the Word of the Father. Scripture says: 'Save Thy
servant, O my God, who puts his trust in Thee. Have mercy
on me, O Lord, because I have cried to Thee the whole day
through.' 10 In the words of Democritus, The healer, by his
art, cures the body of its diseases, but it is wisdom that rids
the spirit of its ills.' 11 The good Educator of little ones, how-
ever, Wisdom Himself, the Word of the Father, who created
6 Ezcch. 13.13,20. Here, Clement is obviously influenced by the fuller
account of these Scriptural expressions in Ep. of Barnabas 9.1-5.
7 Isa. 30.12; Ezech. 13.18.
8 Cf. Num. 14.22; Jer. 35.14; 42.21; 44.23.
9 Cf. Jer. 7.20.
11 Fragment M, N. 31. H. Diels, Die Fragment* der Vorsakratiker
griechisch und deutsch (Berlin 1903) .
8 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
man, concerns Himself with the whole creature, and as the
Physician of the whole man heals both body and soul.
'Arise, 5 the Saviour said to the paralytic, 'take up the bed
on which you are lying and go home.' 12 And immediately the
sick man regained his health. To the man who was dead He
said: 'Lazarus, come forth.' And the dead man came forth
from his tomb, 13 the same as he had been before he under-
went [death], except for having tasted resurrection.
But the soul He heals in a way suitable to the nature of
the soul : by His commandments and by His gifts. We would
perhaps expect Him to heal with His counsels, but, generous
with His gifts, He also says to us sinners: 4 Thy sins are for-
given thee.' 14 With these words we have become little ones
in spirit, for by them we share in the magnificent and unvary-
ing order established by His providence. That providence
begins by ordering the world and the heavens, the course of
the sun's orbit and the movements of the other heavenly
bodies, all for the sake of man. Then, it concerns itself with
man himself, for whom it had undertaken all these other
labors. And because it considers this as its most important
work, it guides man's soul on the right path by the virtues of
prudence and temperance, and equips his body with beauty
and harmony. Finally, into the actions of mankind it infuses
uprightness and some of its own good order.
12 Cf. Matt. 9.6,7.
13 Cf. John 11.43.
14 Luke 5.20; 7.48.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 9
Chapter 3
(7) Both as God and as man, the Lord renders us
every kind of service and assistance. As God, He forgives sin;
as man, He educates us to avoid sin completely.
But, since man is the creation of God, he is naturally dear
to Him. Other things God made by a simple word of com-
mand, but man He fashioned by His own direct action and
breathed into him something proper to Himself. Now, a
being which God Himself has fashioned, and in such a way
that it resembles Himself closely, must have been created
either because it is desirable to God in itself, or because it is
useful for some other creature. If man has been created as
desirable in himself, then God loves him as good, since
He Himself is good, and there is a certain lovableness
in man, which is the very quality breathed into him by
God. 1
But, if God made man only because He considered him
useful for some other creature, even then He had no other
reason for actually creating him than that with him He
could become a good Creator, and man could come to a
knowledge of God 2 (remember, in this case, unless man
had been created, God would not have made the other
creature for whose sake man was being created). So, the
power which God already possessed, hidden deep within
Himself, the power of willing, He was actualizing by this dis-
play of the external power of creating, drawing from man a
motive for creating him. Thus, He saw what He possessed all
1 Cf. Gen. 2.7. , .
2 This difficult passage seems to mean, in the words of J. Patrick: The
creation of man, of something capable of knowledge of God, seems
to be represented in a sense as essential to the complete goodness of
the Creator* (Clement of Alexandria 93) .
10 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
along, and the creature whom God had willed to be, actually
came into existence. For there is nothing that God cannot do.
(8) Therefore, man, the creation of God, is desirable in
himself. But being desirable in oneself means being con-
natural to the person to whom one is desirable, and being
acceptable and pleasing. But what does being pleasing to
someone mean, if not being loved by him? Man is, then, an
object of love; yes, man is loved by God.
It must be so, for it was on man's account that the Only-
begotten was sent from the bosom of the Father, as the
Word evoking trust. Evoking trust, indeed, trust in abun-
dance, the Lord clearly professes to do when He says: 'The
Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me.' 3
And again: 'And thou hast loved them, just as thou hast
loved Me.' 4
I believe it is already evident what the Educator desires
and what He professes to accomplish, what He has in mind
in His words and in His deeds when He commands what we
are to do and what we are to avoid. It is clear, too, that the
other kind of discourse, that of the Teacher, is at once direct
and spiritual, in unmistakable language, but meant only for
those initiated into the mysteries. But, for the present, let that
be.
(9) As for Him who lovingly guides us along the way
to the better life, we ought to return Him love and live ac-
cording to the dictate of His principles. This we should do
not only by fulfilling His commandments and obeying His
prohibitions, but also by turning away from the evil examples
we just mentioned and imitating the good. In this way, we
shall make our own actions, as far as we are able, like those
3 John 16.27.
4 John 1753.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 1 1
of our Educator, that the ancient saying, 'according to His
own image and likeness,' 5 may be accomplished.
But we wander in thick darkness; we need an unerring
guide in life who will keep us from stumbling. The best
guide is not that blind one who, in the words of Scripture,
'leads the blind into a ditch,' 6 but the Word, keen of sight,
penetrating into the secret places of the heart. Just as there
cannot be a light that does not give light, nor a cause unless
it produces some effect, nor a lover unless he loves, just so
He can not be good unless He rendered us service and led
us to salvation.
Let us, then, express our love for the commandments of
the Lord by our actions. (Indeed, the Word Himself, when
He became flesh in visible form, unceasingly showed not only
the theory but also the practise of virtue.) Further, con-
sidering the Word as our law, let us see in His command-
ments and counsels direct and sure paths to eternity. For
His precepts are filled with the spirit, not of fear, but of
persuasion.
Chapter 4
(10) Let us welcome more and more gladly this holy
subjection, and let us surrender ourselves more and more
completely to the Lord, holding to the steadfast cable of His
persuasion. Let us recognize, too, that both men and women
practise the same sort of virtue. Surely, if there is but one
God for both, then there is but one Educator for both.
One Church, one virtue, one modesty, a common food,
wedlock in common, breath, sight, hearing, knowledge, hope,
5 Cf. Gen. 1.26.
6 Matt. 15.14.
12 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
obedience, love, all are alike [in man and woman]. They
who possess life in common, grace in common, and salvation
in common have also virtue in common and, therefore,
education too. The Scripture says: Tor in this world, they
marry and are given in marriage,' for this world is the only
place in which the female is distinguished from the male, 'but
in that other world, no longer.' 1 There, the rewards of this life,
lived in the holy union of wedlock, await not man or woman
as such, but the human person, freed from the lust that in this
life had made it either male or female.
(11) The very name 'mankind' is a name common to
both men and women. Similarly, the Attic Greeks called, I
believe, not only the boy but also the girl by the one name of
'child, 5 if Menander, the comic poet, is to be believed in a
passage of his play Rapizomene: 'My little daughter, . . .
indeed, she is by nature an exceedingly loving child.' 2
Notice, too, that 'sheep' is the general name used for the
male and female. Yet, 'the Lord is our shepherd' 3 for ever,
Amen. 'Now, neither sheep nor any other animal should live
without a shepherd, nor should children, without an ed-
ucator, nor servants without a master.' 4
Chapter 5
(12) That education is the training given children is
evident from the very name. 1 It remains for us to consider who
1 Cf. Luke 20.34.
2 Fragment 428, T. Kock, CAP III 124.
3 Cf. Ps. 22.1.
4 Plato, Laws VII 808D.
1 The Greek word for education, paidagogia, etymologically means the
guidance or training of children,
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 13
the children are as explained by the Scriptures and, from the
same Scriptural passages, to understand the Educator.
We are the children. Scripture mentions us very often and
in many different ways, and refers to us under different titles,
thereby introducing variety in the simple language of the faith.
For example, in the Gospel, it says : 'And the Lord, standing on
the shore, said to His disciples (they were fishing) : Children,
do you have no fish?' 2 Those who already had the position of
disciples He now calls 'children.'
Again, we read: 'And they brought the children to Him,
that He might lay hands on them and bless them, and when
the disciples tried to prevent it, Jesus said : Let the little chil-
dren be and do not hinder them from coming to Me, for of
such is the kingdom of heaven.' 3 What such a remark means
the Lord Himself explains plainly later on: 'Unless you turn
and become like little children, you shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven.' 4 Those words are not a figure of speech
for some kind of rebirth, but recommend the simplicity of
childhood for our imitation.
The Spirit, in prophetic strain, also describes us as children :
'Plucking branches of olives,' He says, 'or of palm, the chil-
dren came out to meet the Lord, and they cried out, saying:
Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He who conies in
the name of the Lord.' 5 The word 'Hosanna,' translated into
Greek, means 'light, glory, praise, supplication to the Lord.'
(13) Incidentally, it seems to me that the Scripture, in this
inspired passage, intends to accuse and condemn the luke-
2 Cf. John 21.4,5.
3 Cf. Matt. 19.14.
4 Matt. 18.3.
5 Cf. Matt. 21.8,9; John 12.1
14 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
warm: 'Have you never read that out of the mouths of
babes and sucklings, Thou hast brought forth praise? 56
Notice the same name again in the Gospel, when the Lord
shocked His disciples, attempting to arouse their attention
when He was about to go to His Father. To dispose them
to listen more intently, He tells them in advance that in a
little while He will go away; it is as if He would make them
understand that while the Word has not yet ascended into
heaven, they must gather in the fruits of truth with greater
care. So it is that once more He calls them children: 'Chil-
dren/ He says, 'yet a little while and I am with you.' 7
Another time He likened the kingdom of heaven to 'chil-
dren seated in the market-place and saying: We have piped
for you and you have not danced; we have wept and you
have not mourned. 58 He uses this same expression many other
times.
But it is not only the Gospel that speaks in this way. The
prophetic books also adopt the same attitude. David, for ex-
ample, says: 'Praise the Lord, O children, praise the name
of the Lord/ 9 And Isaias: 'Behold, I and my children whom
God has given me. 510
(14) Does it surprise you to hear that full-grown men
of all nations are children in God's eyes? Then you do not
know much about the Greek language, I think, where we
6 Matt. 21.16.
7 John 13.33.
8 Matt. 11.16,17. The Scholion calls attention to the fact that Clement
here applies Christ's words to the 'kingdom of heaven/ although
they were originally applied to 'this generation/ Cf., also, . L. Titus,
The Motivation of Change Made in the New Testament Text by
Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria (Chicago 1942) 27, for a
discussion of the change.
9 Ps. 112.1.
10 Isa. 8.18.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 15
can see that a beautiful and attractive young woman who is
moreover also free-born, is to this day called 'child,' and slaves
are called 'little children/ 11 although both are young women.
They are complimented by such pet names because of the
flower of their youth.
Whenever He says: c Let My lambs stand on My right/ 12
He means the simple : children, not men, for they are in the
category of sheep. He considers the lambs as deserving to be
mentioned first, thereby praising, before all other qualities
men can possess, gentleness and simplicity of mind and
guilelessness.
Again, whenever He speaks of 'young suckling calves/ 13
and of 'the guileless and meek dove/ 14 He means us. Through
Moses He orders that two young birds, a pair of pigeons or
of turtle doves, be offered for any sin; this means that the
sinlessness of such gentle birds and their guilelessness and
forgetfulness of injury is very acceptable to God. So He is
instructing us to offer a sacrifice bearing the character of that
which we have offended against. The plight of the poor doves,
moreover, will instil into us a beginning of abhorrence for
sin.
There is a passage in Scripture which shows that He refers
to us also as young birds: 'As the hen gathers her chicks
under her wings . . .' 15 In that sense we are young birds, a
name which graphically and mystically describes the sim-
plicity of soul belonging to childhood. At times, He calls us
children, at other times, chicks, sometimes, little ones, here
11 That is, paidiskc, a diminutive for pats ('child') , and paidishdrion, an
intensified diminutive.
12 Cf. Matt. 25.33.
IS Cf. Amos 6.4; 2 Kings 17.29.
14 Lev. 5.11; 12.8; cf. Luke. 2.24; Matt. 10.16.
15 Matt. 23.37.
16 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
and there sons, and very often offspring, a new people, a
young people. 'A new name,' He says, 'will be given My
servants' (by new name He means one that is different and
everlasting, pure and simple, suggestive of childhood and of
candor) , 'which will be blessed upon the earth.' 16
( 15 ) At another time, He speaks of us under the figure of
a colt. He means by that that we are unyoked to evil, unsub-
dued by wickedness, unaffected, high-spirited only with Him
our Father. We are colts, not stallions 'who whinny lustfully for
their neighbor's wife, beasts of burden unrestrained in their
lust.' 17 Rather, we are free and newly born, joyous in our
faith, holding fast to the course of truth, swift in seeking
salvation, spurning and trampling upon worldliness. 'Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Sion. Shout for joy, O daughter of
Jerusalem. Behold, thy King comes to thee, the just and
saviour, and He is poor and riding upon an ass and upon
a young colt.' 18 He is not satisfied to say 'colt'; He adds
'young,' to emphasize mankind's rejuvenation in Christ and
its unending, eternal youth and simplicity. Such young colts as
we little ones are our divine Tamer trains. Although the
passage means a young ass, it, too, is a colt.
Again, it is said: c He tethers his colt to the vine.' 19 This
means He united the simple, new people to the Word, whom
the vine signifies. For, the product of the vine is wine; of
the Word, blood. Both are saving potions: 20 wine, for the
health of the body; the other, blood, for the salvation of the
soul.
16 Isa. 65.15,16 (Septuagim) .
17 Cf. Jer. 5.8. ^ * '
18 Zach. 9.9.
19 Cf. Gen. 49.11.
20 Poton eis soterian. J. Patrick (op. cit. 123) has called attention to the
sense in which Clement uses this word, soteria: 'The fundamental
conception of salvation in Clement is that of spiritual health '
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 17
But that He calls us lambs, too, the Spirit gives unmistake-
able evidence. He says through Isaias: 'He shall feed His
flock like a shepherd; He shall gather together the lambs
with His arm.' 21 Once again, He uses the more innocent
class of sheep, lambs, as a figure for simplicity.
(16) There can be no doubt that we also call the most
excellent and perfect possessions in life by names derived
from the word 'child, 5 that is, education and culture. 22 We
define education as a sound training from childhood in the
path of virtue. Be that as it may, the Lord once very clearly
revealed what He means by the name 'little child' : A dispute
having arisen among the Apostles as to which of them was
greater, Jesus made a little child stand among them, saying:
'If anyone will humble himself as this little child, he is great-
er in the kingdom of heaven.' 23 Therefore, He does not mean
by 'little child' one who has not yet reached the use of reason
because of his immaturity, 24 as some have thought. When He
says: 'Unless you become as these children, you shall not
enter the kingdom of heaven,' we must not foolishly mistake
His meaning. We are not little ones in the sense that we
roll on the floor or crawl on the ground as snakes do. That
is to grovel in unreasoning desires with our whole body
prostrate. We strain upward with our minds, we have given
up sin and the world, we tread the earth, although with light
foot, only to the degree that appearances demand, that we may
be in this world. We, indeed, cultivate holy wisdom, which
seems foolishness to those bent on evil.
(17) Really, then, children are those who look upon
21 Isa. 40.11.
22 Paideia and paidagogia, words derived from pats ('child') .
23 Cf. Matt. 18.1-4.
24 Cf. 1 Cor. 14.20.
18 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
God alone as their father, who are simple, little ones, un-
contaminated, who are lovers of the horn of the unicorn. 25
To these, surely, who have matured in the Word, He has
proclaimed His message, bidding them not to be concerned
with the affairs of this life and encouraging them to imitate
children and devote themselves to the Father alone. So it is
that He says to those who have some possessions: 'Do not be
anxious about the morrow; for tomorrow will have anxieties
of its own.' 26 Here He commands us to lay aside the cares
of life and give our whole mind and heart to the Father
alone. Whoever fulfills this command is a little one, indeed,
and a child, both before God and the world: to the world,
in the sense of one who has lost his wits; to God, in the
sense of one dearly beloved.
Now, if there is, as the Scripture says, but 'one teacher, in
heaven, 527 then, surely all who are on earth can with good
reason be called disciples. The plain truth is that what is
perfect belongs to the Lord, who is ever teaching, while the
role of child and little one belongs to us, who are ever learn-
ing. (18) In fact, the inspired word reserves the name 'man*
to what is complete and consummate; David, for example,
says of the Devil: The Lord abominates the man of blood,' 28
man in the sense that he is consummate in wickedness. Scrip-
ture calls the Lord man, too, in the sense that He is con-
summate in goodness. The Apostle, for example, writing to
the Corinthians, says: Tor I have betrothed you to one man,
that I might present you a chaste virgin to Christ,' 29 or as little
25 Cf. Deut. 33.17; Ps. 91.11. This difficult figure suggests those who
rely upon the strength of God and of Christ.
26 Matt. 6.8.
27 Matt. 23.9,10.
28 Ps. 5.7.
29 2 Cor. 112.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 19
ones and saints, but, at any rate, only to the Lord. And in
writing to the Ephesians he expresses clearly just what we
are saying: 'Until we all attain to the unity of the faith
and of the deep knowledge of God, to perfect manhood, to
the mature measure of the fullness of Christ. And this He
has done that we may be no longer children, tossed to
and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine
devised in the wickedness of man, in craftiness, according to
the wiles of error. Rather are we to practise the truth in
love, and to grow up in all things in Him.' 30 He says these
things to build up the body of Christ, 31 'who is the Head, 532
and man because He alone is perfect in goodness. If we, the
children, protect ourselves from the winds that blow us off
our course into the pride of heresy and refuse to listen to those
who set up other fathers for us, we are made perfect by
accepting Christ as our Head and becoming ourselves the
Church.
(19) We ought now to be in a position to understand
that the name 'little one 9 is not used in the sense of lacking
intelligence. Childishness means that, but 'little one' really
means 'one newly become gentle,' 33 just as the word 'gentle'
means being mild-mannered. So, a 'little one' means one
just recently become gentle and meek of disposition. St. Paul
obviously suggests this when he says: 'Although as the
Apostle of Christ we could have claimed a position of honor
among you, still while in your midst we were children, 34 as
if a nurse were cherishing her own children.' 35 A little one is
30 Eph. 4.13-15.
31 Eph. 4.12.
33 Clement falsely derives the word for 'little one* (ntpios) from ne-
('new') and epios ('gentle') .
34 Nepios.
35 1 Thess. 2.7.
20 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
gentle and for that reason decidedly amenable, mild and
simple, without deceit or pretense, 36 direct and upright of
mind. Childlikeness is the foundation for simplicity and
truthfulness. Tor upon whom shall I look/ it is said in Scrip-
ture, 'if not the meek and the peaceful?' 37 Of such sort is
the virginal Word, gentle and unaffected. This is why, too,
we speak of a virgin as a tender maid, and of a child as
tender-minded. We are tender, too, in the sense that we have
become amenable to persuasion, and we are ever ready to
practise virtue, with anger under control and unhampered
by ill-will or dishonesty.
The old people were perverse and hard of heart, but we,
the new people, the assembly of little ones, are amenable as
a child. In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle declares
that he rejoices in 'the hearts of the innocent,' 38 but notice
that he goes on to set limits, so to speak, to this childlikeness:
'I would have you wise as to what is good, and guileless as to
what is evil.' 30 (20) That is well put, because we should not un-
derstand the Greek word nepios, little one, in a negative sense,
even though the grammarians have decided that the prefix ne-
is a privative. 40
Indeed, if they who decry childlikeness call us simple-
minded, you see they are really speaking evil of the Lord.
They imply that those who seek the protection of God are
lacking in intelligence. But, if even they will accept the term
'little one' in the sense of the innocent and it must be
taken in this sense then we glory in the name. Little ones
36 There is an interesting parechesis here: atalds, (h)apal6s t (H)aploils,
ado I os.
37 Isa. 66.2.
38 Cf. Rom. 16.18.
39 Rom. 16.19.
40 Cf. above, note 33.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 21
are indeed the new spirits, they who have newly become wise
despite their former folly, who have risen up according to
the new Covenant. Only recently, in fact, has God become
known, because of the coming of Christ. Tor no one has
known God, but the Son, and him to whom the Son has
revealed Him. 541
Then the new people, in contrast to the older people, are
young, because they have heard the new good things. The
fertile time of life is this unaging youth of ours in which we
are ever at the prime of intelligence, ever young, ever child-
like, ever new. For, those who have partaken of the new Word
must themselves be new. But whatever partakes of eternity
assumes, by that very fact, the qualities of the incorruptible;
therefore, the name 'childhood' is for us a life-long spring-
time, because the truth abiding in us is ageless and our being,
made to overflow with that truth, is ageless, too. (21 ) Surely,
wisdom is ever fruitful, ever fixed unchangeably on the same
truths, never varying.
'The children,' Scripture says, 'shall be put upon the
shoulders, and they^ shall be comforted on the knees, as one
whom the mother comforts, so will I comfort you.' 42 A mother
draws her children near her; we seek our mother, the Church.
Whatever is weak and young has an appeal and sweetness and
lovableness of its own, just because in its weakness it does
stand in need of assistance. But God does not withhold assist-
ance from such an age of life. Just as the male and female
parent regard their young tenderly whether it be horses
their colts, or co.ws their calves, or lions their cubs, or deer
their fawn, or men their children so, too, does the Father of
all draw near to those who seek His aid, giving them a new
41 Matt. 11.27.
42 Isa. 66.12,13.
22 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
birth and making them His own adopted sons. He recognizes
them as His little ones, He loves only them, and He comes to
the aid of such as these and defends them. That is why He
calls them His children.
I appeal to Isaac as an illustration of this sort of childhood.
Isaac means 'rejoicing.' The inquisitive king saw him playing
with his wife and help-mate, Rebecca. 43 The king (his name
was Abimelec) represents, I believe, a wisdom above this
world, looking down upon the mystery signified by such child-
like playing. Rebecca means 'submission.' Oh, what prudent
playing! Rejoicing joined to submission, with the king as
audience. 44 The Spirit exults in such merry-making in Christ,
attended with submissiveness. This is in truth godly child-
likeness.
(22) Heraclitus tells us that his Zeus, too, indulges in
such a pastime. 45 Indeed, what occupation is more becoming
a wise and perfect man than to play and rejoice at the cele-
bration of a solemn religious festival, with submissive recep-
tion and the performance of what is holy?
It is possible to interpret the meaning of the inspired word
in still another sense: that it refers to our rejoicing and
making merry because of our salvation, like Isaac's. He re-
joiced because he had been saved from death; that is why
he played and rejoiced with his spouse, as we with our help-
mate in salvation, the Church. The Church, too, has been
given the reassuring name 'submissive endurance,' either
because her enduring continues for all eternity in unending
joy, or because she is formed of the submission of those who
43 Cf. Gen. 26.8. For Clement's interpretation of this passage, cf Philo,
DC plant. 3 (p. 301) 169,170.
44 Cf. Philo, loc. cit.
45 Fragment 52 (H. Diels, op. cit.) .
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 23
believe : of us who are the members of Christ. The testimony
given by those who have submissively endured until the end,
and their gratitude, as well, is a mystical playing; the help-
mate of this holy gladness of heart is salvation. The king is
Christ, looking down from above on our rejoicing, and
'peering through the door,' 46 as Scripture says, on our
gratitude and benediction that works in us joy and cheer-
fulness with submission. He gazes upon the assembly of such
as these, His own Church; all He does is to manifest His
own absent person to the Church, thus become complete with
its kingly Head. (23) What is the door by which the Lord
makes Himself manifest? It is His flesh by which He becomes
visible.
Isaac is another type, too (he can easily be taken in this
other sense) , this time of the Lord. He was a son, just as is the
Son (he is the son of Abraham; Christ, of God) ; he was a
victim, as was the Lord, but his sacrifice was not consum-
mated, while the Lord's was. All he did was to carry the
wood of his sacrifice, just as the Lord bore the wood of the
Cross. Isaac rejoiced for a mystical reason, to prefigure the
joy with which the Lord has filled us, in saving us from
destruction through His blood. Isaac did not actually suffer,
not only to concede the primacy of suffering to the Word,
but also to suggest, by not being slain, the divinity of the
Lord; Jesus rose again after His burial, 47 as if He had not
suffered, like Isaac delivered from the altar of sacrifice.
(24) But there is another and even greater support for
this argument of ours, which I shall now explain. The Spirit
inspired Isaias to call the Lord a child: 'Behold, a child is
born to us, and a son is given us, and the government is upon
46 Cf. Gen. 26.8. ^
47 The sense is somewhat obscured here by damaged text.
24 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
His shoulders: and His name shall be called Angel of the
great council.' 48 What is this child, this little one, after whose
image we also are little ones? Through the same Prophet He
goes on to describe His greatness: 'Wonderful, Counsellor,
God the mighty, eternal Father, Prince of peace; because
He maintains His childhood, of His peace there shall be no
end. 549 O, the great God; O, the perfect Child! Son, while
He is Father; Father, while He is Son. Is not the childhood
of this child perfect, embracing as it does all of us children,
educating us little ones as His children? This is He who
stretches out His hands to us, 50 hands so clearly to be trusted.
Again, St. John, 'the prophet greatest among those born
of woman,' 51 also testifies to His childhood: 'Behold the
Lamb of God.' 52 Scripture speaks of children and little ones
as 'lambs'; then in this passage, in calling God the Word,
become man for us, 'the Lamb of God,' because of His desire
to be like us in all things, he is speaking of Him as the Son
of God, the little one of the Father.
Chapter 6
(25) It is possible, too, for us to make a completely
adequate answer to any carping critics. 1 We are children
and little ones, but certainly not because the learning we
acquire is puerile or rudimentary, as those puffed up in their
own knowledge falsely charge. On the contrary, when we
48 Isa. 9.6,7 (Septuagint) .
49 Idem. Cf. reading of Symmachus.
50 Cf. Isa. 65.2; Rom. 10.21. Possibly a reference to the Cross.
51 Luke 7.28.
52 John 1.29,36.
1 The Gnostics.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 25
were reborn, we straightway received the perfection for
which we strive. For we were enlightened, 2 that is, we came
to the knowledge of God. Certainly, he who possesses knowl-
edge of the Perfect Being is not imperfect.
But do not find fault with me for claiming that I have such
knowledge of God. This claim was rightfully made by the
Word, and He is outspoken. When the Lord was baptized, a
voice loudly sounded from heaven, as a witness to Him who
was beloved: Thou art My beloved Son; this day have I be-
gotten Thee.' 3
Now let us ask the wise : on that day when Christ was re-
born, was He already perfect, or a very foolish question
was He defective? If this last, then He needed to add to His
knowledge. But, since He is God, it is not likely that He
learned even one thing more. No one can be greater than
the Word, nor can anyone teach Him who is the one only
Teacher. Are they unwilling, then, to admit that the Word,
perfect Son born of a perfect Father, was perfectly reborn,
as a prefigurement of the divine plan? But, if He is perfect,
then why was one already perfect baptized?
It was necessary, they tell us, that the commandment given
to men might be fulfilled.
Very good, I reply. But was He, by that baptism con-
ferred through John, made perfect?
It is clear that He was.
But not by learning anything more?
No, indeed.
2, photizo, taken from pagan mysteries, but applied by Clement to
baptism. Cf. H. A. Echle, Terminology of the Sacrament of Regene-
ration according to Clement of Alexandria (Washington, D. C. 1949)
208-209.
3 Cf. Matt. 3.17; Ps. 2.7. This is the reading of Codex D and a tew
Latin manuscripts and of other early Christian writings. Cf. Titus,
op. cit. 14.
26 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Is it, then, that He was made perfect only in the sense of
being washed, and that He was consecrated by the descent
of the Holy Spirit?
Yes, that is the true explanation.
(26) This is what happens with us, whose model the Lord
made Himself. When we are baptized, we are enlightened;
being enlightened, we become adopted sons; 4 becoming
adopted sons, we are made perfect; and becoming perfect, we
are made divine. 'I have said,' it is written, 'you are gods and
all of you the sons of the most High.' 5
This ceremony is often called 'free gift/ 6 'enlightenment,' 7
'perfection/ 8 and 'cleansing' 9 'cleansing,' because through
it we are completely purified of our sins; 'free gift,' because
by it the punishments due to our sins are remitted ; 'enlighten-
ment,' since by it we behold the wonderful holy light of
salvation, that is, it enables us to see God clearly ; finally, we
call it 'perfection' as needing nothing further, 10 for what
more does he need who possesses the knowledge of God?
It would indeed be out of place to call something that was
not fully perfect a gift of God. He is perfect; therefore, the
gifts He bestows are ako perfect. Just as at His command
all things came into existence, so, on His mere desire to give,
there immediately arises an overflowing measure of His gifts.
What is yet to come, His will alone has already anticipated.
Moreover, release from evil is only the beginning of sal-
vation. (27) Only those who have first reached the end of
life, therefore, are those we can call already perfect. But we
4 Cf. Gal. 4.5.
5 Ps. 81.6.
6 Cf. Rom. 5.2; 5.15; 7.24.
7 Cf. Heb. 6.4; 10.52.
8 Cf. James 1.17; Hcb. 7.11.
9 Cf. Titus 3.5; Eph. 5.26.
10 aprosdces, a Stoic term applied to the wise man who is perfect.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 27
live, we who have even now been freed from commerce with
death. Salvation is the following of Christ. 'What was made
in Him is life.' 11 'Amen, amen,' He tells us, 'I say to you, he
who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has life
everlasting and does not come to judgment, but has passed
from death to life.' 12 The very fact that we believe in Him
and are reborn is perfection of life. For God is by no means
powerless. As His will is creation, and is called the universe,
so His desire is the salvation of men, 13 and is called the
Church. He knows whom He has called; and whom He has
called He has saved; He has called and at the same time
saved. 14 'Now you yourselves,' the Apostle says, 'are taught
of God.' 15 It is not right, then, for us to consider imperfect
the teaching that is given by Him, That teaching is the im-
mortal salvation that comes through the immortal Saviour,
to whom be thanksgiving for ever. Amen.
Even though a man receive nothing more than this rebirth,
still, because he is by that fact enlightened, he is straightway
rid of darkness, as the name itself suggests, and automatically
receives light. (28) It is just like men who shake off sleep and
then are wide-awake interiorly; or, better, like those suffering
from some blinding eye-disease who meanwhile receive no light
from the outside and have none themselves, but must first re-
move the impediment from their eyes before they can have
clear vision. In the same way, those who are baptized are
cleansed of the sins which like a mist overcloud their divine
spirit and then acquire a spiritual sight which is clear and un-
impeded and lightsome, the sort of sight which alone enables
11 Cf. John 1.3. This is the reading of some of the manuscripts.
12 John 5.24.
IS Cf. 1 Thess. 4.3.
14 Cf. Rom. 8.30.
15 1 Thess. 4.9.
28 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
us to behold divinity, with the help of the Holy Spirit who is
poured forth from heaven upon us. This is an admixture of
eternal sunlight, giving us the power to see the eternal light.
Like indeed attracts like; so it is that what is holy attracts Him
who is the source of holiness, who properly speaking is called
Light. Tor you once were darkness, but now light in the
Lord.' 1G That is why, I believe, the ancients once called man
by a name that means light. 17
But, they object, man has not yet received the gift of
perfection. I agree with them, except that I insist he is already
in the light and that darkness does not overtake him. 18 There
is nothing at all in between light and darkness. Perfection
lies ahead, in the resurrection of the faithful, but it consists
in obtaining the promise which has already been given to us.
We say emphatically that both of these things cannot co-exist
at the same time: arrival at the goal and the anticipation
of that arrival by the mind. Eternity and time are not the
same thing, nor are the beginning and the completion. They
cannot be. But both are concerned about the same thing, and
there is only one person involved in both. Faith, for example,
begotten in time, is the starting point, if we may use the term,
while the completion is the possession of the promise, made
enduring for all eternity.
The Lord has Himself revealed clearly that salvation will
be bestowed impartially, when He said : This is the will of My
Father . . . , that whoever beholds the Son, and believes in
Him, has life everlasting, and I will raise Him up on the last
day.' 19 (29) Certainly, as far as is possible in this world (which
16 Eph. 5.8.
17 phos, which, however, is not related etymological! y to the word for
light (phds) .
18 Cf. John 1.5.
19 John 6.40.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 29
is the significance of the expression 'last day'), \ve believe
that, while we wait for the time it will come to an end, we
have already been made perfect. For, the perfection of knowl-
edge is faith. That is why He says: 'He who believes in
the Son has life everlasting.' 20 Assuredly, if we who believe
already have life everlasting, what more remains but the
enjoyment of that life everlasting? Nothing is lacking to faith,
for of its nature it is perfect and entirely complete. If there
is anything lacking to it, it is not wholly perfect, nor is it
truly faith, if defective in any way. After our departure from
this life, there is not a different sort of thing awaiting us who
have believed in this life, and who have already received a
pledge and foretaste of the same nature [as the fulfillment]. In
believing, we already anticipate in advance what we will
receive as an actuality after the resurrection, that the words
may be accomplished: 'Be it done unto thee according to
thy faith.' 21 In this world, we have the promise of what we
believe; the enjoyment of that promise will be perfection.
Therefore, while our knowledge consists in enlightenment, the
goal of knowledge is enjoyment, which is the last thing to be
obtained.
In the same way that inexperience yields to experience,
and impossibility to possibility, so darkness is completely dispel-
led by light. Darkness is ignorance, for it makes us fall into
sin and lose the ability to see the truth clearly. But knowledge
is light, for it dispels the darkness of ignorance and endows us
with keenness of vision. The very act of expelling things that
are bad reveals what is good. To be sure, the things that
ignorance restricts, to our harm, knowledge sets free, for our
good. The quickest way to loose those bonds is to make use
20 John 3.36.
21 Matt. 9.29.
30 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
of man's faith, and God's grace, for sins are forgiven through
the one divine remedy, 22 baptism in the Word. (30) All our
sins, in fact, are washed away; instantaneously we are no
longer bad. This is one grace of enlightenment, that we no
longer are in the same state as before we were cleansed. Even
before this teaching was given us, we who were uninstructed,
but were learning, heard that knowledge is engendered to-
gether with enlightenment, bathing the mind in light. Yet, no
one could say just when. Instruction 23 is given to engender
faith, but faith comes by the Holy Spirit and by baptism.
The Apostle states very clearly that faith is salvation
reaching the whole of mankind, and that it is an impartial
share of union with the just and loving God, given to all. He
says: 'But before the faith came, we were kept imprisoned
under the Law, shut up for the faith that was to be revealed.
Therefore, the Law has been our educator in Christ, that we
might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we
are no longer under an educator/ 24
(31) Do you not hear those words: 'that we are no
longer under the Law' which was accompanied by fear, but
under the Word, the Educator of our free wills? Then, he
adds these words, without making any distinction of persons:
Tor you are all the children of God through faith in Christ
Jesus. For all you who have been baptized into Christ have
put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is
neither slave nor freeman; there is neither male nor female.
22 phdrmakbn paionion. This term refers literally to Paean, the healer,
or the physician of the gods. It also suggests Clement's interest in
medical terms, so prevalent in the Alexandria of Galen. Cf. Echle,
op. cit. 240 n. 45,
23 katechesis, the term used to designate elementary instruction of
catechumens.
24 Cf. Gal. 3.23-25.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 31
You are all one in Christ Jesus. 525 It is not, then, that some
are enlightened Gnostics and others are only less perfect
Spirituals 26 in the same Word, but all, putting aside their
carnal desires, are equal and spiritual before the Lord. He
writes again, in another passage : Tor in one Spirit we were
all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether
slaves or free; and we were all given one drink to drink/ 27
( 32 ) It will not be improper to adopt the words of those 28
who teach that the remembrance of higher things is a
dematerializing of the spirit and who hold that the process
of dematerialization is a withdrawal from inferior things by
recalling higher things. Recalling higher things necessarily
leads to repentance for the lower. That is to say, these [philo-
sophers] maintain that the spirit retraces its steps when it
repents. In the same way, after we have repented of our sins,
renounced our wickedness and been purified by baptism, we
turn back to the eternal light, as children to their Father. 'Re-
joicing in the spirit, Jesus said: I praise Thee, Father, God
of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from
the wise and prudent, and didst reveal them to little ones.' 29
The Educator and Teacher is there naming us little ones,
meaning that we are more ready for salvation than the
worldly wise who, believing themselves wise, have blinded
their own eyes. And He cries out in joy and in great delight, as
25 Gal. 3.26-28.
26 According to the Gnostics, they themselves were the perfect, posses-
sors of perfect knowledge; the less prefect, but still partially en-
lightened were the Psychikoi, or Spirituals, while the unenlightened
were Hylikoi, or Materialists. They base their terminology on 1 Cor.
15.44. Cf. E. de Faye, Clement d'Alexandric (Paris 1898) 188-190.
27 1 Cor. 12.13.
28 Clement tells us in Strdmatets V.ll, that he is referring to Pythagoras
and his followers. The Gnostics had adopted this teaching.
29 Luke 10.21.
32 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
if attuning Himself to the spirit of the little ones: 'Yes, Father,
for such was Thy good pleasure.' That is why He has revealed
to little ones what has been hid from the wise and prudent
of this world.
It is with good reason, then, that we consider ourselves, the
little ones, as the children of God, who, having put off the old
man and the cloak of wickedness, 30 have put on the incorrup-
tion of Christ, so that, being renewed, a holy people, reborn,
we might keep the [new] man unstained, and might be little
ones in the sense of new-born children of God, purified of un-
cleaness and vice. (33) St. Paul, at any rate, settles the matter
for us in unmistakable words, when he writes in the First
Epistle to the Corinthians : 'Brethren, do not become children
in mind, but in malice be children and in mind mature. 531
That other passage of his: 4 When I was a child, I thought
as a child, I spoke as a child,' 32 is a figure of speech for his
manner of living under the Law, when he persecuted the
Word, not as one become simple, but as one still senseless,
because he thought childish things, and spoke childish things,
blaspheming Him. (The word 'childish' can signify these two
different things, one good and one bad.)
'Now that I have become a man, 5 Paul continues, 'I have
put away the things of a child. 5 He is not referring to the
growing stature that comes with age, nor yet to any definite
period of time, nor even to any secret teaching reserved
only for men and the more mature when he claims that he
left and put away all childishness. Rather, he means to say
that those who live by the Law are childish in the sense that
30 This is most probably a reference to a rite in the baptismal ceremony
at which the clothes were put off, as symbol of the former way of
life. Cf. Echle, op. cit. 101.
31 1 Cor. 14. 20.
32 1 Cor. 13.11.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 33
they are subject to fear, like children afraid of ghosts, while
those who are obedient to the Word and are completely
free are, in his opinion, men: we who have believed, who
are saved by our own voluntary choice and who are not
subject to fear, save for an urgent cause. We will find proof
of this in the Apostle himself, for he says that the Jews were
heirs according to the Old Testament, but according to the
promise, we are : 'Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he
differs in no way from a slave, though he is the master of all;
but he is under guardians and stewards until the time set by
his father. So we, too, when we were children, were enslaved
under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time
came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the
Law, that He might redeem those who were under the
Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,' through
Him. :i3 (34) Notice that he claims that those who are subject
to fear and to sin are little ones, but considers those who are
subject to faith mature, and calls them sons, in contrast with
those little ones who live by the Law. 'For you are no longer
a slave,' he says, 'but a son; and if a son, an heir also through
God/ 34 But what is lacking to the son after he has obtained
the inheritance?
But it is well to expound that first passage. 'When I was a
child,' that is, when I was a Jew (he was a Hebrew from
the first), 'I thought as a child,' since I followed the Law;
'Now that I have become a man,' no longer thinking the
things of a child that is, of the Law but those of a man
that is, of Christ who is, as I remarked before, the only one
Scripture considers a man 'I put away the things of a
33 Gal. 4.1-5.
34 Gal. 4.7.
34 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
child.' Yet there is a childhood in Christ, which is perfection,
in contrast to that of the Law.
Now that we have reached this point, let us defend this
childlikeness of ours by interpreting the passage from the
Apostle in which he says: 'I fed you with milk, as little ones in
Christ, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Nor
are you now ready for it.' 35 Now, it does not seem to me that
these words should be taken as the Jews took them. I will
set beside it another passage from Scripture: 'I will bring
you forth to a good land that flows with milk and honey ,' 86
(35) A considerable difficulty arises from the figure used
in these passages; what do they mean to convey? If the
childhood implied by the reference to milk is only the be-
ginning of faith in Christ, and is minimized as puerile and
imperfect, then how can the repose enjoyed by the perfect
and the enlightened, implied by the expression 'strong meat,'
be spoken of in any favorable way as the milk of children?
Can it not be that the particle 'as,' which shows that a
metaphor is being used, really indicates some such thing as
this (in fact, do we not have to read the whole sentence
in this way?): 'I have fed you milk in Christ,' and then,
after a short pause, adding 'as little ones'? If we break up the
reading in this way, we shall convey this meaning: 'I have
instructed you in Christ, who is the simple and true and
real spiritual nourishment.' That is what life-giving milk
really is by nature, flowing from breasts of tender love. There-
fore, understand the whole passage in this way: 'Just as
nurses nourish new-born children with milk, so also I have
nourished you with Christ the Word who is milk, feeding
you, bit by bit, a spiritual nourishment.'
35 1 Cor. 3.2.
36 Excel. 3.8,17.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 35
(36) Therefore, milk is perfection because it is the per-
fect food, and leads those who are without rest to perfection.
So it is that even for their place of rest this same milk, with
honey, is promised them. With reason, then, is milk promised
the just in the other passage, that the Word may be revealed
unmistakably as both Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the end: 37 the Word, symbolized by milk. Even Homer
unwittingly foreshadowed some such thing when he called the
just among men 'milk-fed.' 38
We can also interpret the Scripture in another sense:
'And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men,
but only as carnal, as to little ones in Christ.' 39 So, it is
possible to consider those who are just recently instructed in
the faith and are still little ones in Christ as carnal, for he
calls those who have already believed by the Holy Spirit,
spiritual, and those newly taught and not yet purified, carnal.
He speaks of these last as carnal with good reason, for, like the
pagans, they still 'mind the things of the flesh.' 40 'For since
there are jealousy and strife among you, are you not carnal
and walking as mere men?' 41 For the same reason he says: 'I
gave you milk to drink' : I have poured out upon you knowl-
edge in instruction as nourishment for life everlasting. Even
the word 'drink' is a figurative sign for perfection, since it is
only the completely mature who are said to drink, while
infants suck.
The Lord says: 'My blood is true drink.' 42 Do not, then,
the words 'I gave you milk to drink' signify perfect happiness
in the Word who is milk, that is, knowledge of the truth?
37 Apoc. 1.8; 21.6.
38 Iliad 13.6.
39 1 Cor. 3.1.
40 Rom. 8.5.
41 1 Cor. 3.3.
,10 _l C. C*7
36 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
The rest of the passage, 'not solid food, for you were not yet
ready for it,' can signify the full revelation, face to face, in
the world to come, likened to solid food. 'We see now through
a mirror,' the same Apostle says, 'but then, face to face.' 43
That is why he adds to the first sentence : 'but you are not yet
ready for it, for you are still carnal.' He means that you think,
love, desire, seek, are angry and envious over the things of the
flesh. It is not only that we are still in the flesh, as some have
thought. For then, in the flesh, possessing an appearance like
the angels', we shall see face to face what we have been prom-
ised. (37 ) But if, after our departure from this life, the promise
really is that 'which eye has not seen, nor has it entered into
the mind of man,' 41 how can we be said to see, if the meaning
is not that we contemplate it in spirit, but that we receive
in instruction 'what ear has never heard,' save only he who
was rapt to the third heaven, 15 and even he was bidden to
hold his peace?
But, if it is human wisdom which is the crowning boast of
knowledge, as we are now to consider, listen to the command
laid down in the Scripture : 'Let not the wise man boast in his
wisdom, and let not the strong man boast in his strength.' 46
We, however, are they who are 'taught of God,' 47 and who
boast in the name of Christ. Is there any reason, then, that
we should not understand the Apostle to be referring to this
when he speaks of the 'milk of little ones'? Whether we are
the shepherds who rule the churches in imitation of the
Good Shepherd, 48 or the sheep, should we not understand
43 1 Cor. 13.12.
44 1 Cor. 2.9.
45 2 Cor. 12.1-4.
46 Jer. 9.23; cf. 1 Cor. 1.31; 2 Cor. 10.17.
47 1 Thess. 4.9.
48 John 10.11,14. A. de la Barre sees in this passage an indication that
Clement had received priestly orders ('Clement d'Alexandrie/ Die-
tionnaire de Theologie Catholique III col. 137).
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 37
that in speaking of the Lord as the milk of the flock, he is
merely safeguarding the unity of his thought by a metaphor?
Certainly, the passage, 'I gave you milk to drink, not solid
food, for you were not yet ready for it,' can be adapted to
this sense, too, if we only take 'solid food' as substantially
the same thing as milk, not something superior to it. Either
way, it is the same Word, whether light and mild as milk or
become firm and solid as food.
(38) Still, taking it in this sense, we can also consider
preaching as milk, poured out far and wide, and faith as food,
made solid by instruction as the foundation. Faith is more
substantial, in fact, than hearing, and is assimilated into the
very soul and is, therefore, likened to solid food. The Lord
presents the same foods elsewhere as symbols of another sort,
when He says in the Gospel according to John: 'Do you eat
My flesh and drink My blood.' 49 Here He uses food and
drink as a striking figure for faith and for the promise.
Through these, the Church, made up of many members, as
man is, takes her nourishment and grows; she is welded
together and formed into a unit 50 out of both body, which is
faith, and soul, which is hope; just as the Lord, out of
flesh and blood. Hope, indeed, which holds faith together as
its soul, is the blood of faith. Once hope is extinguished, then
the life-principle of faith expires, as when blood is drawn
from the veins.
(39) If there are any contentious objectors who think to
rise to a higher knowledge, and insist that milk means primary
instructions in the sense of primary food, and that meat means
spiritual knowledge, let them understand this: when they
claim that solid food, meat, is the Body and Blood of Jesus,
49 John 6.55.
ftO Cf. Eoh. 2.21; 4.16.
38 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
they are being carried away by their boastful wisdom, con-
trary to the simple truth. For blood is the first substance
produced in a man; some go so far as to call it the very
substance of the soul. It is blood which is changed by the
heat of the body once the mother has conceived, and in a
maternal response develops and matures, for the well-being of
the child. Blood is more liquid than flesh in fact, it is a
sort of liquid flesh yet milk is more nourishing than blood
and more finely broken down. At any rate, whether it is a
question of the blood supplied to the embryo, flowing directly
through the umbilical cord from the mother, or of the
menstrual flow which by the command of the All-nourishing
God, Author of life, is prevented from following its normal
course and made to course to the already swelling breasts
by a process of physical diffusion, and there, changed by
the heat of the spirit, is provided the infant as his eagerly
desired nourishment, in either case, what is changing is blood.
Of all the organs of the body, the breasts are the most
sensitive to the condition of the womb. After childbirth, when
the vein through which the blood was carried to the embryo
has been cut off, then, with the passage obstructed, the blood
is forced up into the breasts. As the blood accumulates, the
breasts begin to distend and the blood begins to turn into
milk, like its change in an infected wound into pus. Then,
either the blood is drawn out into the natural pores of the
breasts from the veins located there and dilated by the natural
effects of pregnancy, or, mixed with air absorbed from the
lungs near by, it becomes white as it is cast off, and though
remaining blood in substance, turns into something different,
much like foam spumed off from the sea which 'belches forth
foam' 51 when mixed with air, as the poets tell us. Regardless of
51 Iliad 4.426.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 39
which explanation is true, milk retains its underlying substance
of blood. (40) It is like a river which is churned into froth as
it rushes along, swallowing air and letting out its roar, or
like saliva in our mouth which turns white from contact with
air. Is it unreasonable, then, to say that blood, united with
air, is transformed into the lightest and whitest of all sub-
stances? It suffers change in its qualities, but not in its sub-
stance. There can be no doubt that we can find nothing more
nourishing, more palatable, or whiter than milk. But heavenly
food is similar to milk in every way: by its nature it is
palatable through grace; nourishing, for it is life; and
dazzling white, for it is the light of Christ. Therefore, it is
more than evident that the Blood of Christ is milk.
(41) Thus is milk supplied to the infant, and it derives
its purpose from its function in childbirth. The breasts which
up to then had been pointing out, straight toward the hus-
band, now begin to incline in the direction of the child,
indicating that the nourishment produced by nature to
sustain health is easy to obtain. The breasts, unlike springs,
are not always full of milk ready to be drawn off, but manu-
facture milk by changing the nourishment stored up in them
and then they become dry. There is a spiritual nourishment
corresponding to this [physical] food, a food satisfying the
needs of the re-created, reborn child; it also is prepared by
God, the Nourisher and Father not only of those who are
born, but also of those who are born again. This food is of
the same kind as the manna which He made to rain down
from heaven upon the ancient Hebrews, the celestial food of
angels. In fact, even to this day, nurses still call the first flow of
milk by the name manna, 52 but, even though women continue
52 This Greek noun, however, has apparently no etymological con-
nection with the Hebrew word.
40 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
to give a flow of milk after they have conceived and given
birth, it was not the breasts of women that were blessed by the
Lord, 53 the fruit of a Virgin, or named as the true nourish-
ment. No, because now that the loving and kind Father has
rained down the Word, it is He Himself who has become the
spiritual nourishment of the saints.
(42) O mystic wonder! The Father of all is one, the
Word who belongs to all is one, the Holy Spirit is one and
the same for all. And one alone, too, is the virgin Mother. I
like to call her the Church. She alone, although a mother,
had no milk because she alone never became a wife. She is at
once virgin and mother: as virgin, undefiled; as mother, full
of love. Calling her children about her, she nourishes them
with milk that is holy : the Infant Word. That is why she has no
milk, 54 because this Son of hers, beautiful and all hers, the
Body of Christ, is milk. The new people she fosters on the
Word, 55 for He Himself begot them in throes of His flesh
and wrapped them in the swaddling clothes of His precious
blood. What a holy begetting ! What holy swaddling clothes !
The Word is everything to His little ones, both father and
mother, educator and nurse. 'Eat My flesh,' He says, 'and
drink My blood.' 56 He is Himself the nourishment that He
gives. He delivers up His own flesh and pours out His own
blood. There is nothing lacking His children, that they may
grow. (43 ) What a mysterious paradox ! He bids us put off the
former mortality of the flesh and, with it, the former nourish-
ment, and receive instead this other new life of Christ, to
find place in ourselves for Him as far as we can, and to
53 Cf. Luke 11.27,28.
54 The text is defective here.
55 The reading is obscure here. Stahlin's text differs from that of
Schwartz, but both are very difficult.
56 John 6.55.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 41
enshrine the Saviour in our hearts that \ve may be rid of the
passions of the flesh.
Yet, possibly you do not relish this turn of thought, but
prefer to be more down to earth. Then listen to this inter-
pretation: the flesh is a figure of speech for the Holy Spirit,
for it is He, in fact, who created the flesh; the blood means
the Word, for He has been poured forth as precious blood to
give us life; the union of the two is the Lord, nourishment of
little ones: the Lord, both Spirit and Word. Our nourishment,
that is, the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, is Spirit become
flesh, flesh from heaven made holy. This is our nourishment,
the milk flowing from the Father by which alone we little
ones are fed. I mean that He, the 'well-beloved,' 57 the Word,
our provider, has saved mankind by shedding His blood for
us. Therefore, we fly trustfully to the 'care-banishing breast' 58
of God the Father; the breast that is the Word, who is the
only one who can truly bestow on us the milk of love. (44)
Only those who nurse at the breast are blessed. Peter
tells us: 'Lay aside therefore all malice and all deceit
and all pretense, and envy and slander. Crave, as new-born
babes, spiritual milk, that by it you may grow to salvation;
if indeed, you have tasted that the Lord is sweet.' 59
But, if we concede to our critics that 'solid food' is some-
thing more than milk, then we are creating confusion for
ourselves and we prove that we have little understanding of
nature. The truth is that, when the atmosphere becomes
heavier during the winter, and, retaining the heat within the
body, prevents it from passing off, then food is more readily
digested by natural heat and changed into blood, which flows
57 Matt. 3.17.
58 Iliad 22.83.
59 1 Peter 2.1-3.
42 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
out through the veins. The veins, which had not been full
before, now begin to pulse and to enlarge, and those who
are nursing yield a greater abundance of milk precisely
during this season. We have already shown that it is blood
that changes into milk, but not in its substance, very much
like light hair which, as we know, turns gray with the passing
of the years. During the summer, however, the body is more
porous, so that food is passed off much more quickly in per-
spiration; for that reason, since less food is retained, there is
less blood and less milk. (45) But, if food that is retained
turns into blood, and the blood into milk, then blood is the
source of milk, just as semen is of man, and the grape-stone is
of the vine.
We are nourished with milk, the Lord's own nourishment,
as soon as we leave our mother's womb; and as soon as we
are born anew we are favored with the good tidings of hope
of rest, that heavenly Jerusalem in which, as it is written,
'milk and honey rain down.' In this material figure, 60 we are
given a pledge of the food of holiness, for, though solid food
must be put away sooner or later, as the Apostle says, the
nourishment that we derive from milk leads us directly to
heaven, since it educates us to be citizens of heaven and
companions of the angels. If the Word is an overflowing
fountain of life, 61 and is also called a river of oil, 62 then
certainly Paul can use a similar figure of speech and call Him
'milk,' adding: 'I gave you to drink.' We do drink the
Word, nourishment of truth. As we know, drink is called
liquid food, for the same thing can possess the qualities of
both solid food and of drink if we consider it from different
60 Cf, Exod. 3.8,17. Echle sees in this passage a reference to the milk
and honey that was given to the newly baptised (op. cit. 88-89) .
61 Cf. Apoc. 21.6.
62 Cf. Deut. 32.13.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 43
aspects, as cheese which may be considered either a solid
made from milk, or milk become solid. Now, I am not inte-
rested in splitting hairs; I am only trying to show that the
one substance can serve as both kinds of nourishment. For
instance, infants at the breast find in milk alone all the food
and drink they need.
The Lord said : C I have a food to eat of which you do not
know. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.' 63 Here
is another food, a figure very similar to that of milk : it is the
will of God. (46) And He called the accomplishment of His
sufferings a 'chalice,' 64 in the sense that He had to drain it, by
Himself, to the dregs. Just as the fulfillment of His Father's
will was food for Christ, so, for us little ones who draw
milk from the breast, that is, the Word of Heaven, it is Christ
Himself who is our food. Again, the Greek word for 'seeking'
also means 'craving,' 65 implying that to little ones who seek
the Word the craved-for milk is given from the Father's
breasts of love for man.
There was another time that the Word proclaimed Him-
self Bread from heaven: 'Moses did not give you the bread
from heaven,' He said, 'but My Father gives you the true
bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes
down from heaven and gives life to the world. And the
bread which I will give is My flesh for the life of the world.' 66
In this passage, we must read a mystic meaning for bread.
He says that He is flesh, and very likely means flesh that
has risen after having passed through the fire, 67 as wheat
63 John 4.32,34.
65 5if whff Clement suggests here as etymologically related to
the word for 'breast,' mastds.
V K p^^comes clearer when we note Clement's play on words:
fire is p&r, while wheat it pur6t.
44 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
destined to become bread rises from the destruction of the
seed, and flesh which yet has gathered all the churches to-
gether in gladness of heart through fire, as the wheat is
gathered together and baked by fire to become bread. But
we will treat this more clearly and in greater detail in a
treatise On the Resurrection.
(47) 'And the bread which I will give you," the Lord
said, 'is My flesh.' 69 But flesh is nourished by blood, and
blood is spoken of under the figure of wine. Therefore, we
must understand Him to mean that just as bread dipped in
a mixture of water and wine absorbs the wine and leaves the
water, so the flesh of the Lord, Bread of heaven, absorbs the
blood, that is, it raises to immortality those among men who
are heavenly minded, and leaves for corruption only the
desires of the flesh.
In all these various ways and figures of speech is the
Word spoken of: solid food, flesh, nourishment, bread, blood
and milk. The Lord is all these things for the refreshment of
us who believe in Him. Let no one think it strange, then, that
we speak of the blood of the Lord also under the figure of
milk. Is it not named wine, metaphorically? 'He washes his
garment in wine,' Scripture says, 'and his robe in the blood
of the grape.' 70 That means He will attire the body of the
Word with His own blood, just as He will nurture those
who hunger for the Word with His own Spirit.
The blood of just Abel, too, pleading before the throne of
God, 71 gives evidence that the Word is blood, because blood,
of itself, could never plead, unless it were considered a word.
68 If Clement ever wrote such a work, it is not extant.
69 John 6.52.
70 Gen. 49.11.
71 Cf. Gen. 4.10; Heb. 11.4.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 45
The man of ancient times is, indeed, a type of the new just
Man, and the blood that once made its plea, in reality, was
pleading as a symbol of the new Blood. The blood, as the
Word, sent up its cry, foreshadowing that the Word would
suffer.
(48) This flesh and the blood it contains, fostering one
another mutually, are fed and made to increase by milk. In
fact, the development of a fetus after it has been conceived
comes about by contact with the pure blood left from the
monthly purification; just as the beestings of the cow
cause its milk to coagulate, so, by congealing the blood, the
power contained in the fetus accomplishes the substance of
that development. The union of the two thrives, but an
excess of either is likely to end in barrenness. Certainly, a
seed planted in the ground will be laid bare by a heavy down-
pour of rain, while, even during a drought when moisture
dries up, a viscous-like juice holds the seed together and
makes it germinate. There are those who hold that the animal
semen is substantially foam of its blood, violently agitated in
the act of intercourse by the natural heat of the male, and in
its agitation, turned into foam and then deposited in the
spermatic ducts. According to Diogenes Apolloniates, this
is the derivation of the Greek word for sexual pleasure,
aphrodisia. 12
(49) From all these arguments it becomes clear that
blood is the fundamental matter of the human body. Recall
that the first substance in the womb is a milk-like liquid that
gathers there and turns into blood and then into flesh and
finally, when the heat of the spirit which forms the embryo
solidifies this composite, develops into a living being. Even
72 Clement falsely believed that aphrodisia is derived from aphrds
('foam') .
46 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
after birth, the infant is still nurtured on the same blood, for
the flow of milk possesses the nature of blood.
Milk is the spring that gives nourishment. By its presence,
a woman is known to have given birth and become a mother,
and therefore, it bestows on her a certain lovableness that
arouses reverence, That is the reason the Holy Spirit mystically
puts these words of the Apostle on the lips of the Lord: 1
have given you milk to drink. 5 For, if we have been reborn to
become members of Christ, then He who gives us this new
birth nurtures us with milk flowing from Himself, the
Word. 73 Anyone who begets naturally provides sustenance
for him whom he has begotten; with man, his sustenance,
as his rebirth, must needs be spiritual. Doubtless, then, we
belong entirely to Christ as His property from every point of
view: by reason of relationship, because His blood has re-
deemed us; by our resemblance to Him, through the up-
bringing we receive from the Word, and in immortality,
because of the guidance He imparts. 'Raising children, for
mortals, is often the cause of greater affection than begetting
them.' 74 So, too, the blood and the milk of the Lord are a
symbol of His sufferings and of His teachings. (50) Accord-
ingly, each of us little ones may make our boast in the Lord,
crying out: 'From out a noble father and noble blood, I
make my claim to be.' 75
Surely, it is clear by now that milk is developed from
blood by some sort of change. But that is not to say that we
cannot learn something more, from sheep-folds and ox-
stalls. During the time of year called spring, when the climate
has a higher degree of humidity and when the grass and the
73 A veiled reference, again, to the rite of baptism.
74 Biotus, Fragment l t TGF 825
75 Iliad 14.1 IS.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 47
meadows become green and filled with the sap of life, then
the sheep and the oxen right away take on a greater abun-
dance of blood, as the protuberance of their veins prove, and
so, because of more blood, they yield milk in more copious
supply. But in summertime, their blood is warmed and dried
up by the scorching heat, and so does not form into milk, so
that these animals yield much less milk.
Milk has a real physical relationship with water, just as the
spiritual water of cleansing has with spiritual nourishment,
as we know. This may be proved by the fact that one who
swallows a bit of cold water, along with the milk we are
talking about, immediately feels the good effects; actually, the
water keeps milk from turning sour, not because it reacts on
it adversely, but because it is so much akin to what is being
consumed with it. In fact, milk has the same intimate relation-
ship with water that Christ has with the waters of baptism.
For, milk is the only liquid that absorbs water into itself, and
is used as a cathartic when so mixed, just as baptism purifies
us from sin.
(51 ) On the other hand, milk is mixed with honey, too,
with good results, again as a cathartic that is also a sweet-tast-
ing food. In the same way, the Word, penetrated with love
for man, heals sicknesses and purifies from sin. The expression,
'the word flows sweeter than honey,' 76 is said, I believe, of
the Word who is also honey, for the inspired word so often
praises Him 'above honey and the honeycomb.' 77
Again, we find that milk is mixed with sweet wine. Such
a mixture is very beneficial, just as suffering tempers men to
gain immortality. The reason is that milk is curdled by wine
and separated into its component parts, so that the whey can
76 Iliad 1.249.
77 Cf. Ps. 18.11; 118.103.
48 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
then be drawn off as a less essential part of the milk. In the
same way, the spiritual intermingling of faith with the
passions of men curdles their carnal lusts and raises them to
eternity, making them divine with the qualities of divinity.
Then there are many people who use the oily part of milk,
the part called butter, for light. This is an unmistakable
analogy for the rich oil of the Word who is the only one who
can give to little ones both nourishment and growth and
light. (52) And so, Scripture says of the Lord: 'He fed them
with the fruits of the fields, and He suckled them with honey
from rocks and oil from out the hardest rocks, butter of the
herd and milk of the sheep, with the fat of lambs,' 78 and He
gave them, too, all the other things it mentions. The Prophet,
too, used the same words when he referred to the birth of the
Child: 'And he will eat butter and honey. 579
It is a matter for wonder to me that some people dare to
call themselves perfect and Gnostics, laying claim in their
inflated pride to a loftier state than the Apostle. Paul himself
made only this claim: 'Not that I have already obtained
this, or already been made perfect, but I press on hoping
that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid
hold of me. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind, I
strain forward to what is before, I press on toward the goal,
to the prize of God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.' 80 He
considers himself perfect in the sense that he has changed his
old way of life and follows a better one, but not in the sense
that he is perfect in knowledge. He only desires what is per-
fect. That is why he adds: 'Let us then, as many as are per-
fect, be of this mind,' 81 meaning simply that perfection is
78 Cf. Deut. 32.13,14.
79 Isa. 7.15.
80 Phil. 3.12-14.
81 Phil. 3.15.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 49
turning away from sin and being reborn, after we have for-
gotten the sins that are behind, to faith in the only Perfect
One.
Chapter 7
(53) We have now shown that not only does Scripture
call all of us children, but also it figuratively calls us who
follow Christ, little ones, and that the only perfect being is the
Father of all (in fact, the Son is in Him, and the Father is in
the Son). If we would follow right order, we should now
speak of the Educator of little ones and explain who He is.
He is called Jesus. On occasion, He speaks of Himself as a
Shepherd, as when He says: 'I am the Good Shepherd.' 1
In keeping with this metaphor of shepherds leading their
sheep, He leads His children, the Shepherd with the care of
His little ones. The little ones, in their simplicity, are given the
figurative name of sheep; 'And there shall be one sheep-fold,'
He says, 'and one Shepherd.' 2
Therefore, the Word who leads us His children to salvation
is unquestionably an Educator of little ones. In fact, through
Osee, the Word says plainly of Himself: 'I am your Ed-
ucator.' 3 The material He educates us in is fear of God, for
this fear instructs us in the service of God, educates to the
knowledge of truth, and guides by a path leading straight up
to heaven.
(54) Education is a word used in many different senses.
There is education in the sense of the one who is being led
and instructed; there is that of the one who leads and gives
instruction; and thirdly, there is education in the sense of
1 John 10.11,14.
2 John 10.16.
3 Osee 5.2. The word used is patdeutes.
50 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
the guidance itself; and finally, the things that are taught,
such as precepts. The education that God gives is the im-
parting of the truth that will guide us correctly to the con-
templation of God, and a description of holy deeds that
endure forever. Just as the general directs a line of battle with
the safety of his soldiers in mind, and as the helmsman pilots
his ship conscious of his responsibility for the lives of his pas-
sengers, so the Educator, in his concern for us, leads His
children along a way of life that ensures salvation. In brief,
all that we could reasonably ask God to do for us is within the
reach of those who trust in the Educator of little ones. Again,
just as the helmsman does not always sail with the wind, but
sometimes when there is a squall, sets his prow head on
against it, so, too, the Educator never falls in with the winds
sweeping through this world, nor does He suffer His children
to be driven like a ship into a wild and unregulated course
of life. Rather, assisted only by the favorable breeze of the
Spirit of truth, He holds steadfastly to the rudder, that is, the
hearing of His children, until He brings them safely to anchor
in the port of heaven.
The habits that men speak of as hereditary, for the most
part pass away, but the education God gives is a possession that
endures forever. (55) It is related how Phenix was the peda-
gogue of Achilles; Adrastrus, of the sons of Croesus; Leonides,
of Alexander; and Nausithoon, of Philip. Yet one of them,
Phenix, was mad with lust; another, Adrastrus, was a fugi-
tive ; Leonides did not rid his Macedonian pupil of his vanity,
and Nausithoon did not cure the Pelican of his drunkenness.
Again, the Thracian Zoporus was unable to restrain Alcibiades
from immorality, and, besides, he was a bought slave. The
pedagogue of the children of Themistocles, Sicinnos, was a
spineless menial. The story goes that he used to dance and
invented the dance step called the Sicinnis. We must not for-
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 51
get, either, the so-called royal pedagogues of the Persian
court, four in number, whom the Persian kings chose from all
the Persians according to merit and set over their children;
but the children learned only how to use the bow and arrow,
and once they come of age begin to have intercourse with
sister and mother, with married women and others without
number, like wild boars well-practised in sexual indulgence.
But our Educator is the holy God, Jesus, the Word guiding
all mankind. God Himself, in His love for men, is our Ed-
ucator. (56) The Holy Spirit says about Him somewhere in a
canticle: 'He founded the people in a desert land, in a
drought of burning heat, in a place without water: He
encircled him and taught him : and He kept him as the apple
of His eye. As an eagle might shelter its brood, and yearn after
its young, and having flown about, show them its wings and
take them upon its shoulders. The Lord alone was their
leader, and there was no strange god with them. 34 As far as
I can see, Scripture is undoubtedly presenting a picture of
the Educator of children, and describing the guidance He
imparts. When He speaks in His own person, He also confesses
Himself to be the Educator: 'I am the Lord thy God, who
brought thee out of the land of Egypt.' 5 But who has the
authority to lead in or out? Is it not the Educator? It is He
who 'appeared to Abraham and said to him: 'I am your
God: be pleasing before Me.' 6 He fashioned Moses by a
gradual process into a worthy child, truly as an educator
would, commanding him: 'Be without blame. And I will
establish My covenant between Me and your descendants.' 7
Here is a share, indeed, in friendship that is undying.
4 Deut. 32.10-12 (Septuagint) .
5 Exod. 20.2. For this more literal sense of 'Educator, cf. Introd.
6 Cf. Gen. 17.1,2.
7 Gen. 17.7.
52 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
He manifests Himself plainly as the Educator of Jacob, too.
For example, He said to him: 'I will be with you and protect
you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land;
indeed I will not forsake you till I fulfill My promise' 8
to you. He is also said to have wrestled with him: 'Jacob
remained behind, all alone. Someone wrestled with him,'
that is, the Educator, 'until the break of dawn.' 9 (57)
This is the Man who leads and who carries, He who
wrestled with Jacob and anointed him for his toil as an
athlete. But because the Word was not only the wrestling
Master of Jacob, but also the Educator of all mankind, when
'Jacob asked,' as Scripture says, 'What is your name? He
answered: Why do you ask My name?' 10 He was saving His
new name for His new people, the little ones. The Lord
God still remained without a name, since He had not yet
become man. However, 'Jacob named the place Phanuel,
saying: I have seen a heavenly being face to face, yet my
life has been saved.' 11 The face of God is the Word, for God
is revealed by Him and made known. Jacob also received the
name Israel from the time that he had seen the Lord. 12 It was
God the Word, the Educator, who said to him on another
occasion: 'Do not fear to go down to Egypt.' 13 See how the
Educator follows a just man, anoints the athlete, and teaches
him how to overcome his adversary.
It was He who taught Moses also to act the part of ed-
ucator. For the Lord said: 'He that hath sinned against Me,
him will I strike out of My book: but go there, and lead the
8 Gen. 28.15.
9 Gen. 32.25.
10 Gen. 32.30.
11 Gen. 32.31.
12 Gen. 32.29.
13 Gen. 46.3.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 53
people whither I have told thee.' 14 (58) In this passage, He
teaches him the art of educating. And well He might, for it
was through Moses, in fact, that the Lord of the ancient peo-
ple was the Educator of His children. It is in His own person,
however, face to face, that He is the guide of the new people.
He said to Moses: 'Behold, My angel shall go before
thee,' to establish the Gospel and the authority of the Word
to guide; and then, adhering to His own divine decree, He
adds: 'On the day I shall visit, I shall bring down on them
their sin/ 15 that is, on the day I shall sit as Judge, I shall
mete out the punishments due to sin. He passes sentence on
those who disobey Him, both as Educator and as Judge; the
Word, with all His love for man, does not pass over their
sin in silence, but punishes that they may repent. The Lord,
indeed, desires the conversion of the sinner more than his
death.' 1(i Let us little ones, then, attending to the story of the
sins of others, refrain from like offenses, from fear of the
threat of suffering like punishment. What sin did they com-
mit? 'In their fury, they slew men, and in their willfulness,
they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their fury.' 17
(59) Who could teach with greater love for men than
He? In other times, the older people 18 had an old Covenant:
as law, it guided them through fear; as word, it was a mes-
senger. But the new and young people have received a new
and young Covenant: the Word has become flesh, fear has
been turned into love, and the mystic messenger of old has
14 Exod. 32.33.
15 Exod. 32.34 (Septuagint) .
16 Cf. Ezech. 18.23; 33.15.
17 Gen. 49.6,7 (Septuagint).
18 The Scholion sees in this passage a reference to the elder son Ruben,
disinherited for his sin. Cf. Gen. 49.3,4.
54 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
been born, Jesus. Of old, this same Educator proclaimed:
Thou shalt fear the Lord, thy God.' 19 But to us He appeals:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.' 20 And so He gives com-
mand: 'Cease from thy deeds,' that is, your old sins, 'and
learn to do well; turn away from evil and do good. Thou
hast loved justice and hated iniquity.' 21 This is My new
Covenant, written with the letters of the old.
But the newness of the Word does not at all lessen respect
due Him. The Lord says through Jeremias: 'Say not, I am a
child. Before I formed thee in the bowel of thy mother, I knew
thee: and before thou earnest forth out of the womb, I
sanctified thee/ 22 In this passage, possibly the inspired Word
refers to us who before the foundation of the world have been
destined by God for the faith, and now, by the will of God just
being fulfilled, are little ones, in that we have become new-
born into the calling and into salvation. (60) For that reason,
Scripture adds these words: 'I have made thee a prophet unto
the nations,' 23 meaning that he must needs begin to prophesy
and that the name 'young' ought not to seem a reproach to
those who are called little ones.
The Law is the old gift bestowed by the Word through
Moses. So Scripture says: 'The law has been given through
Moses' (not by Moses, but by the Word through Moses His
servant; and at that, given only for a time), c but everlasting
grace and truth was through Jesus Christ.' 24 Notice the
wording of Scripture: in speaking of the Law, it says it was
only given, but the truth, being the gift of the Father, is the
19 Deut. 6.2.
20 Matt. 22.37.
21 Cf. Isa. 1.16-17; Ps. 33.15.
22 Jer. 1.7.
23 Jer. 1.5.
24 John 1.17.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 55
eternal achievement of the Word, and so is no longer said to
be given, but rather 'was, through Jesus Christ, without whom
was made nothing.' 25
For his part, Moses made way for the perfect Educator, the
Word, prophesying both His name and His method of ed-
ucating, and placed Him in charge of the people with the
command to obey Him. He said: 'God will raise up to thee
a prophet of thy brethren like unto me,' 26 meaning Jesus, son
of Nairn, but implying Jesus, the Son of God. That name,
Jesus, already predicted in the law, described the Lord, for
Moses, taking thought for the best interests of the people,
said: 'Him thou shalt hear: and he that will not hear this
prophet, him He threatens.' 27 (61 ) The name that He has tells
us by divine inspiration that the Educator will save. It is for
this reason that the Scripture associates Him with a rod that
suggests correction, government and sovereignity. Scripture
seems to be suggesting that those whom the Word does not
heal through persuasion He will heal with threats; and those
whom threats do not heal the rod will; and those whom the
rod does not heal fire will consume. 'And there shall come
forth,' it is said, 'a rod out of the root of Jesse.' 28
Consider the carefulness and the wisdom and the power
of this Educator: 'He shall not judge according to appear-
ance, nor reprove according to gossip, but He shall judge
judgment with humility, and shall reprove the sinners of the
earth. 529 And through the lips of David, He says: 'The Lord
chastising has chastised me, but He hath not delivered me
over to death.' 30 Indeed, the very act of being chastised, and
25 John 1.5.
26 Deut. 18.15.
27 Cf. Deut. 18.15,19.
28 Isa. 11.1.
29 Isa. 11.3.
30 Ps. 117.18.
56 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
being educated by the Lord as a child, means deliverance
from death. Again, He says through the same Psalmist: Thou
shalt rule them with a rod of iron.' 31 Similarly, the Apostle
exclaimed when he was aroused by the Corinthians: 'What is
your wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and in
the spirit of meekness?' 32 By another Psalmist, the Lord says
again: The Lord will send forth the rod of power out of
Sion.' 33 This 'rod and staff of Thine, 5 bespeaking education,
'they have comforted me,' 34 another says.
Such, then, is the authority wielded by the Educator of
children, awe-inspiring, consoling, leading us to salvation.
Chapter 8
(62) Thereupon certain persons 1 have arisen denying
that the Lord is good, because of the rod and threats and the
fear that He resorts to. First of all, it seems to me that such
an attitude turns deaf ear to the Scripture which says some-
where: 'And he that feareth God will turn to his own heart.' 2
It is to forget, too, the supreme proof He has given of His
love for men, in that He has become man on our account.
Surely, the words the Prophet uses in his prayer to God are
very appropriate: 'Remember us, that we are dust,' 3 that is,
sympathize with us because by Thy own experience Thou
hast made trial of the weakness of our flesh. The Lord our
31 Ps. 2.9.
32 1 Cor. 4.21.
33 Ps. 109.2 (Septuagint) .
34 Ps. 22.4.
1 The Marcionites.
2 Eccli. 21.7.
3 Ps. 102.14.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 57
Educator is completely good and blameless, for out of the
excess of His love for man He has Himself experienced the
sufferings which are common to every man by his nature.
There is nothing that the Lord hates. 4 Surely, He does not
hate a thing and still at the same time will it to exist; nor
does He will something not to exist and yet cause what He
does not will to exist to come into being; and, most surely, it
does not happen that He wills a thing not to be and that
nevertheless it is. Remember that if the Word hates anything,
His will is that it not exist: there is nothing in existence for
which God is not the cause. It must be, then, that there is
nothing that God hates, nothing that the Word hates. Both
are one, and both are God, because Scripture says: 'In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was in God, and
the Word was God.' 5 But if He does not hate any of the
things He has made, then it follows that He loves them. (63)
But He loves man with a great love above all others, since
man is the living being that is the noblest of those He
has made, and the one dearly beloved of God. Therefore,
God loves man; therefore, the Word loves man.
But he who loves desires to benefit the object of his love.
Now, there can be no doubt that the one who benefits must
be better than the one who does not; nothing is better than
goodness; therefore, goodness must render benefit. But, God
is admitted to be good; therefore, God confers benefits. But
goodness, as goodness, does nothing else but confer benefits;
therefore, God is beneficent to all things. If God does not do
good to man in any way, then, naturally, He is not interested
in him; and if He is not interested in man, then He does not
take care of him. But one who deliberately does good is better
5 Cf! John. 1.1. For the change in the text, cf. E. L. Titus, op. cit. 28.
58 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
than one who deliberately neglects doing so. But, nothing is
better than God. Yet, doing good to man deliberately is simply
taking care of him; therefore, God must be interested in man
and take care of him. He manifests this care, in deed, by
educating him by His Word, who shares by nature in His love
for man.
Being good does not deserve the name of good simply be-
cause a person possesses virtue. Justice, for example, is spoken
of as good, not because it possesses virtue (for it is itself
a virtue), but because it is good in itself and of itself. (64)
The useful is called good, too, but in another way, be-
cause it gives, not pleasure, but service. Actually, justice is all
these things : it is good because it is a virtue, because it is some-
thing desirable in itself, and because it does more than give
pleasure. For, it does not judge with an eye to please, but is
a disposition to distribute to each according to his merit,
and renders service because it is also useful. As a consequence,
justice is typified by all the different things which goodness
embraces, both of them sharing the same things in the same
way. But, equals that are characterized by equals are similar
to each other; therefore, justice must be good.
But, if the Lord loves man and is good, some object, then
how is it that He becomes angry and inflicts punishments? We
want to be as brief as possible in our reply, for a concise style
gains much in the correct training of children when it restricts
itself to the help needed.
Many passions are healed by punishment and by the im-
position of severe commands and, more particularly, by the
teaching of certain principles. Reproof is like surgery per-
formed on the passions of the soul; the passions are like a
disease of truth, which need to be removed by the surgeon's
knife. (65) Rebuke is like a physic, dissolving the hardness of
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 59
passion and purging the lusts, the impurities of life; besides,
it levels the swelling of pride and restores man to normalcy
and health. Then there is admonition which is like the diet
given one who is sick, counseling what should be taken and
forbidding what should not. All these things tend to sal-
vation and eternal good health.
When a general inflicts upon evil-doers pecuniary fines
and confinement in chains affecting the body as well, and
complete disgrace, and even when he exacts the death penalty,
it is for a good purpose: he is using his authority as gene-
ral to serve warning to his subjects. Similarly, when that
mighty General of ours, the Word, Guide of the whole
world, serves notice on those who disobey the law to restrain
the passions of their heart, it is to release them from error and
from slavery and captivity to the enemy, and to guide them
in peace to a holy concord of life.
(66) Just as exhortation and encouragement are types
of discourse allied to the type called advice, so the type
called encomium is allied to that of reproach and blame. This
last is the art of rebuke; it indicates, not hatred, but good will.
Both he who is friendly and he who is not express disap-
proval: the one who is hostile does so out of contempt; the
friend, in good will. Therefore, it is not from hatred that the
Lord reproves men, for instead of destroying him because
of his personal faults, He has suffered for us. Because He is the
good Educator, He wisely assumes the task of correcting by
means of reproach, as though to arouse by the whip of sharp
words minds become sluggish, and then He attempts to en-
courage the same men. Those whom praise does not stimulate
blame arouses; and those whom blame does not stir up to seek
salvation, as if they were already dead, denunciation raises to
the light of truth. The stripes and instruction of wisdom are
60 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
never out of time. He that teacheth a fool is like one that
glueth a potsherd together,' Scripture remarks, seeking to
make the earth attend and to arouse those without hope to
understand. So it is that it dramatically adds: 'like one that
waketh out of a deep sleep,' which of all things is most like
death.
The Lord, in fact, presented Himself in the same light very
clearly when He described under an allegory the many dif-
ferent ways in which He benefits us, saying: 'I am the true
Vine, and My Father is the Vine-dresser,' and then adding :
'Every branch in Me that bears no fruit He will take away;
and every branch that bears fruit He will cleanse that it may
bear more fruit.' 7 For, unless the vine's branches are pruned,
it turns into a mere mass of branches; so, too, does man. The
pruning-knife, the Word, cuts away excessive offshoots, and
so restricts the efforts of man to bring forth fruit, not merely
desires.
The punishments that are inflicted on those who sin aim
at their salvation. The Word adapts Himself completely to
the disposition of each, being strict with one, forgiving an-
other. (67) In fact, He says very plainly, through Moses: 'Be
of good heart, for God has come to prove you, that the dread
of Him might be in you, that you may sin not.' 8 Similarly,
Plato teaches beautifully: 'Now all who are punished, in
reality suffer what is good. For they are benefitted by those
who punish justly, in that their soul is improved.' 9 But if
they who are corrected suffer what is good, even according
to Plato, then, admittedly, justice is good. Even fear, indeed,
6 Eccli. 22.7.
7 John 15.1.
8 Exod. 20.20.
9 Gorg. 477A.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 61
is beneficial, and has a good effect upon men, because 'the
spirit fearing the Lord will live, for his hope is upon Him who
saveth him. 310
This same Word is the Judge passing sentence, for Isaias
says of Him: The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us
all,' 11 that is, to correct our iniquities and set them right.
(68) For that reason, He alone is able to forgive our sins,
He who has been appointed by the Father of all as our Ed-
ucator, for He alone is able to separate obedience from disob-
edience.
It is clear that He who threatens desires to do nothing that
will harm us, or to execute none of His threats. Yet, by giving
us cause for fear, He takes away any inclination to sin, and at
the same time reveals His love for men by delaying over and
over, and repeatedly manifesting to them, what they will
suffer if they continue in their sins, unlike the serpent that
bites without delay. Therefore, God is good.
The Lord frequently turns to words before He acts. *I
will spend My arrows among them,' He says. 'They shall be
consumed with famine, and by the bite of birds, and the bend-
ing of their back shall be incurable; I will send the teeth of
beasts upon them, with the fury of creatures that trail upon
the ground. Without, the sword shall destroy their children
and there will be fear within the storehouse.' 12 Really, then,
the Divinity is not angry, as some suppose, but when He
makes so many threats He is only making an appeal and
showing mankind the things that are to be accomplished.
Such a procedure is surely good, for it instils fear to keep
us away from sin. 'The fear of the Lord driveth out sin : for
10 Eccli. 34.14 (Septuagint) .
11 Isa. 53.6.
12 Deut. 32.23-25 (Septuagint) .
62 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
he that is without fear cannot be justified.' 13 The punishment
that God imposes is due not to anger, but to justice, for the
neglect of justice contributes nothing to our improvement.
(69) It is each one of us who makes the choice to be
punished, for it is we who deliberately sin. 'The blame be-
longs to the one who makes the choice; God is blameless.' 14
'But if our wickedness shows forth the justice of God, what
shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts punishment? By no
means!' 15 For instance, He makes this threat: 'I shall whet
My sword, and My hand will take hold of judgment, and I
will render vengeance to My enemies, and will render ven-
geance to them that hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk
with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh of the blood of
the wounded. 316 Obviously, then, unless a man were an enemy
of the truth and hostile to the Word, he would not be indif-
ferent to his own salvation, but would seek to escape the
penalties for such hostility. 'The crown of wisdom,' says Wis-
dom, 'is the fear of the Lord.' 17
Through the Prophet Amos, the Word explains His own
conduct fully: 'I destroyed you,' He says, 'as God destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrha, and you were as a fire-brand plucked
out of the burning. Yet you returned not to Me, saith the
Lord.' 18 (70) Notice how God seeks their conversion in loving
kindness and, in the very words with which He makes His
threats, sweetly reveals the love He has for men. 'I will hide
My face from them,' He says, 'and I will show what will hap-
pen to them.' 19 There is peace and joy in the hearts of those
IS Eccli. 1.2728.
14 Plato, Repub. X 617E.
15 Rom. 3.5,6.
16 Deut. 32.41.
17 Eccli. 1.22.
18 Amos 4.11.
19 Deut. 52.20.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 63
upon whom the face of the Lord looks, but for those from
whom He turns away there is an accumulation of evils.
He does not desire to look upon evil, because He is good.
But, if He deliberately overlook it, then wickedness takes
root, because of mankind's infidelity. 'See then,' Paul says, 'the
goodness and the severity of God: His severity toward those
who have fallen, but the goodness of God toward thee, if
thou abidest in His goodness,' 20 that is, in faith in Christ.
It is of the very nature of goodness that it arouse a hatred for
what is evil. I can readily grant, then, that He punishes those
who are faithless (punishment inflicted for the greater good
and for the advantage of the one punished is a corrective of
the one who resists), but I can never grant that He wishes to
exact revenge. Revenge is returning evil for evil, imposed
for the satisfaction only of the one taking vengeance, but He
would never desire revenge who has taught us to pray for
those who calumniate us. 21
(71) Now, everyone admits that God is good, even if
they do so reluctantly. That the same God is also just, I
need no further argument than the words used by the Lord
in the Gospel when He claimed that He was one [with the
Father] : That all may be one, even as Thou, Father, in Me
and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us, that the
world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory that
Thou hast given Me, I have given to them, that they may be
one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me; that
they may be perfected in one.' 22 God is one, and He is more
than one, beyond unity. The point is that the pronoun Thou,'
with its vocative force, refers to God, He who alone is, that
20 Rom. 11.22.
21 Cf. Matt. 5.44; Luke 6.28.
22 John 17.21-23.
64 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
is, who was and who is and who will be, according to the
three different time values that the one phrase 'He who is'
connotes. In the same passage, the Lord goes on to say that
this same God, the only one who fully is, is also just (that is,
the same and only one Being) : 'Father, I will that where I
am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me; in
order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast
given Me, because Thou hast loved Me before the creation of
the world. Just Father, the world has not known Thee, but
I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast
sent Me. And I have made known to them Thy name, and
will make it known.' 23
This is He who 'visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children of them that hate and shews mercy upon those that
love.' 24 He who makes some to stand on His right hand, and
others on His left, 25 if He is considered as the Father, who
is good, is called that very thing which He alone is good;
but if He is thought of as being the Son, His Word, who is in
the Father, then He is given the title, just, because of their
relationship of love, one for the other, since justice is the term
to describe equality of degree. 'He judgeth a man,' Scripture
says, 'according to his works,' 26 for God makes known to us
the countenance of the good scale of justice, Jesus, through
whom we know God as by a perfectly balanced scale.
(72) Therefore, Wisdom expressly declares: 'Mercy and
wrath are with Him.' 27 He alone is the Lord of both. 'He is
mighty to forgive and to pour out indignation. According as
23 John 17.24-26.
24 Exod. 20.5.
25 Cf. Matt. 25.33.
26 Cf. Eccli. 16.13.
27 Eccli. 16.12.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 65
His mercy is, so is His correction/ 28 The aim of both mercy
and of correction is the salvation of the one being corrected.
In fact, the Word Himself, on His part, declares that 'the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus* 29 is good, because 'He is
kind toward the ungrateful and the evil'; again, He says:
'Be merciful even as your Father is merciful.' 30 Besides, on one
occasion, He explicitly states: 4 No one is good but My Father
in heaven,' 31 and, again: 'My Father makes His sun to shine
upon all.' 32 It is easy to go on to show how He declares that
His Father, who is good, is also the Creator, and it cannot
be denied that the Creator is just. Another time, He did say:
'My Father sends His rain upon the just and the unjust.' He
sends rain, because He is the Creator of the waters and of the
clouds; and He sends them upon all, because He portions out
an equal share of virtue justly; He is good, because He
sends it upon the just and the unjust alike.
( 73 ) We conclude unhesitatingly, then, that one and the
same God is both of these things, because, as the Holy Spirit
says in the Psalms: 'We shall see the heavens, the work of Thy
hands,' 33 and 6 He who founded the heavens, dwells in the
heavens,' 34 and 'Heaven is Thy throne.' 35 The Lord also says
in His prayer: 'Our Father, who art in heaven.' 36 The
heavens belong to Him who founded the world. Yet, it is cer-
tainly undeniable that the Lord is the Son of the Creator; if
all admit that the Creator is just, and that the Lord is
28 Eccli. 16.12,13.
29 2 Cor. 1.3.
30 Luke 6.35,36.
31 Matt. 19.17.
32 Matt. 5.45.
33 Ps. 8.4.
34 Ps. 2.4.
35 Ps. 10.4; 102.19.
36 Matt. 6.9.
66 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
the Son of the Creator, then the Lord is also the Son of the
Just One. Paul says: 'But the justice of God has been made
manifest independently of the Law,' and, to make us regard
Him as God: 'the justice of God, through faith in Jesus
Christ, upon whom all believe; for there is no distinction.'
After a few lines, testifying to the truth, he adds: 'in the
patience of God, to manifest that He Himself is just and
makes just him who has faith in Jesus.' 37 Paul proves also that
he considers justice good when he places these two virtues to-
gether in the same context, saying somewhere: 'So that the
Law indeed is holy, and the commandments holy and just
and good.' 38
(74) Yet, 'No one is good except His Father'; 39 He
describes this same Father of His under many different qual-
ities. That is the meaning of His words: 'No one knows the
Father/ 40 that is, how He can be all these different things,
until the Son came. It is more than clear, then, that the one
only God of the whole world is truly good and just and the
Creator, and the Son is in the Father, to whom be glory for
ever and ever. Amen.
It is not inconsistent that the Word who saves should make
use of reproof in His care for us. As a matter of fact, reproof
is simply the antidote supplied by the divine love for man,
because it awakens the blush of confusion and shame for sins
committed. And if there is need for reproach and for harsh
words, then there is also occasion to wound, not to death, but
to its salvation, a soul grown callous; in such a way He
inflicts a little pain, but spares it eternal death.
37 Rom. 3.21,2256.
38 Rom. 7.12.
39 Cf. Matt. 19.17; Mark 10.18.
40 Matt. 11.27.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 67
His wisdom is profound in His education of His children;
His method of conducting them to salvation is manifold.
He furnishes proofs for the good ; He summons the elect to a
more excellent life; and those who are bent on evil He re-
strains from their course and encourages to turn to a better
life. Neither way of life lacks its testimony; in fact, the one
supplies testimony to the other. Our gratefulness for the
testimony is unbounded, especially when the motive of
His wrath if we can call His words of warning, wrath is
really love for man. It is God falling into a passion for the
sake of man, for whom the Word of God also became man.
Chapter 9
(75) Truly, the Educator of mankind, the divine Word
of ours, has devoted Himself with all His strength to save His
little ones by all the means at the disposal of His wisdom:
warning, blaming, rebuking, correcting, threatening, healing,
promising, bestowing favors in a word, 'binding as if with
many bits' 1 the unreasonable impulses of human nature. In
fact, the Lord acts toward us just as we do toward our chil-
dren: 'Hast thou children? Chastise them,' Wisdom advises,
'and hast thou daughters? Have a care of their body and
shew not thy countenance gay toward them/ 2 Yet we have
a great love for our children, sons or daughters, more than
that we have for anything else. Indeed, those who are very
affable in their relations with others really show less love
simply because they never become provoked, while those who
administer rebuke for the good of someone else, although they
1 Plato, Laws VII 808D.
2 Eccli. 7.25.
68 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
are disagreeable at the moment, render a service that affects
the life after the grave. So, too, the Lord is interested, not in
promoting our present pleasure, but the happiness that is to
come. Let us consider the nature of the loving education
which He imparts, together with the testimony which the
Prophets have made concerning it.
(76) Admonition is solicitous disapproval, seeking to
arouse the mind. The Educator uses admonition when He says
in the Gospel: 'How often would I gather thy children to-
gether, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but thou
wouldst not.' 3 Another time, Scripture admonishes: They
fornicated with sticks and stones, and they lusted after Baal.' 4
Surely, the proof of His love for men is striking, for, although
He sees clearly the shamelessness of His people in their reveling
and merry-making, He calls them to conversion and says to
Ezechiel: 'O son of man, thou dwellest with scorpions, thou
shall speak my words to them, if perhaps they will hear.' 5 He
said to Moses: 'Go and speak to Pharaoh, that he may let My
people go, but I know that he will not let them go.' 6 In both
these passages, He manifests His divinity by foreseeing what is
to happen, and also His love for man by offering to the
free will of man an opportunity to repent. In His concern
for His people, He admonishes through Isaias, also: 'This
people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
Me' (this is really to correct them), 'but in vain do they
worship Me, teaching for doctrine precepts of men.' 7 There-
fore, while His solicitude lays their sin bare, at the same time
He points out the way to salvation.
3 Matt. 23.37.
4 Jer. 3.9.
5 Ezech. 2.6.
6 Exod. 6.11; 3.19.
7 Isa. 29.13; cf. Matt. 15.8.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 69
(77) Censure is disapproval of something that is shame-
ful, seeking to dispose the individual to perform good deeds.
This is what He expresses in the words of Jeremias: 'They
are become as amorous horses: every one neighed after his
neighbor's wife. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the
Lord? And shall not My soul take revenge on such a nation?' 8
He weaves the thread of fear into everything because 'fear of
the Lord is the beginning of understanding.' 9 Another time,
He says through Osee: 'I will not visit upon them, because
they themselves conversed with harlots, and offered sacrifice
with the initiate, and the people that does not understand
shall have intercourse with the harlot.' 10 Here He describes
their sin in unmistakable language and implies that they
understand that they are sinning deliberately. Understanding
is the sight of the soul, just as the name Israel means 'he who
sees God,' 11 that is, with his understanding.
Complaint is disapproval of those who manifest uncon-
cern or indifference. This kind of education He employs when
He says through Isaias: 'Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear,
O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have brought up children
and exalted them : but they have despised Me. The ox knoweth
his owner and the ass his master's crib. But Israel hath not
known Me.' 12 Now, is it not a fearsome thing that one who
knows of God will not acknowledge the Lord, or that, while
the ox and ass, dumb and unreasoning beasts that they are,
recognize the one who feeds them, Israel is more unreasoning
than they? He makes many complaints of His people through
8 Jer. 5.8.
9 Cf. Prov. 1.7.
10 Osee 4.H.
11 Cf. Gen. 32.28,30; cf. above, p. 52.
12 Isa. 1.2.
70 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Jeremias, also, and concludes: They have forsaken Me,
saith the Lord.' 13
(78) Reprimand is disapproval expressed in correction,
or strongly worded blame. The Educator resorts to this
method of training when He says through Isaias: 'Woe to
you, apostate children, saith the Lord, that you would take
counsel and not of Me, and make treaties, and not of My
Spirit.' 14 He flavors each pronouncement in turn with the
tart spice of fear, to whet the appetite of His people for sal-
vation and make them more aware of it, just as wool to be
dyed is usually steeped first in an astringent to prepare it to
preserve the dye.
Correction is rebuke for sin expressed publicly. He employs
it in a special way, as a necessity in our education, because
of the weakness of faith of so many. For example, He says
through Isaias: 'You have forsaken the Lord, you have pro-
voked the Holy One of Israel.' 15 And through Jeremias He de-
clares: 'Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and O earth,
be very desolate. For My people have done two evils. They
have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and have
digged broken cisterns that can hold no water.' 16 And again,
through the same Prophet : 'Jerusalem has grieviously sinned,
therefore is she become unstable. All that honored her have
despised her, because they have seen her shame.' 17 Then, to
soften the severity of the correction and weaken its sting,
He advises through Solomon (suggesting His love for us as our
Educator by the very fact that He does not expressly mention
it) : 'My son, reject not the correction of the Lord, and do
13 Jer. 1.16; 2.13,19.
14 Isa. 30.1.
15 Isa. 1.4.
16 Jer. 2.12.
17 Lam. 1.8.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 7 1
not faint when thou art chastised by Him. For whom the
Lord loveth, He chastiseth : and He scourges every son whom
He receives.' 18 As a natural consequence, Scripture remarks:
'Let a just man correct me and reprove me, but let not the
oil of the sinner anoint my head.' 19
(79) Caution is disapproval that brings a man to his
senses. He does not neglect this manner of educating, either,
but exclaims through Jeremias: To whom shall I cry out and
they will not listen? Behold their ears are uncircumcised.' 20
What blessed long-suffering ! Again, through the same Proph-
et He says: 'All the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh,
but this people is uncircumcised in the heart,' 21 'for it is a
disobedient people, sons in whom there is no fidelity.' 22
Retribution is very severe rebuke. This kind He resorts to
in the Gospel: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who killest the
prophets and stonest those who are sent to thee.' (He repeats
the name to make His rebuke emphatic, for how is it possible
that one who has known God should persecute the ministers
of God? Therefore, He continues: ) 'Your house is left to you
desolate. For I say to you, you shall not see Me henceforth
until you shall say: Blessed is He who comes in the name of
the Lord.' 23 If you do not accept His love, you will experience
the might of His power.
(80) Excoriation is disapproval expressed in vigorous
terms. He made use of excoriation as a remedy when He said
through Isaias: 'Woe to the sinful nation, lawless sons, a
people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed.' 24 And in the
18 Prov. 3.11.
19 Ps. 140.5.
20 Jer. 6.10.
21 Jer. 9.26.
22 Isa. 30.9.
23 Matt. 23.37-39.
24 Isa. 1.4.
72 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Gospel, through John, He calls them 'serpents, brood of
vipers.' 25
Reprobation is disapproval of evil-doers. He uses this sort
of education when He says through David : 'A people which
I knew not have served Me and at the hearing of the ear
they have obeyed Me. The children that are strangers have
lied to Me and have halted from their paths.' 26 And through
Jeremias: 'And I gave to her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous
Judah was not afraid.' 27 And again: 'And the house of Israel
has rebelled against Me, and the house of Judah has denied
the Lord.' 28
Lamentation is implied disapproval, contributing to salva-
tion also by the influence it exerts, although as if under a
veil. He avails Himself of it in the words of Jeremias: 'How
did the city sit solitary that was full of people! She has
become as a widow. Ruling over provinces, she has be-
come tributary. Weeping, she hath wept in the night.' 29
(81 ) Derision is scornful disapproval. This also the divine
Educator uses to aid us, in the passage of Jeremias: 'Thou
hast the look of a harlot without shame before all. And you
did not call Me to the house, your Father and the Guide
of thy virginity.' 30 And, 'a harlot beautiful and agreeable
that made use of witchcraft.' 31 By shaming the virgin in
calling her a harlot, He skillfully calls her back to holiness.
Righteous indignation is justified rebuke, or the rebuke of
paths that are exalted beyond measure. He educates in this
way, saying through Moses: 'Children to be blamed, wicked
25 Matt. 23.33.
26 Ps. 17.45,46.
27 Jer. 3.8.
28 Jer. 5.11.
29 Lam. 1.1.
30 Jer. 3.3.
31 Nah. 3.4.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 73
and perverse generation. Is this the return thou makest to the
Lord? This is a foolish and senseless people ! Is He not thy
Father that has possessed thee?' 32 And, in the words of
Isaias: 'Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves; they
all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for
the fatherless. 533
Generally speaking, His use of fear is a device for saving
us, but to save proves that a person is good. 'The mercy of
God is upon all flesh. He corrects and chastises and teaches
as a shepherd does his flock. He hath mercy on those that
receive chastisement and that eagerly seek His friendship.' 34
With such guidance He watched over 'the six hundred thou-
sand wanderers that were gathered together in the hardness
of their heart,' 35 with pity and with chastisement, scourging,
showing mercy, striking and healing. 'According to the great-
ness of His mercy, so also is His correction.' 36 It is a wonderful
thing, indeed, not to sin at all, but it is good also that the
sinner repents; just as it is better to remain healthy
always, but good, too, to recover from an illness. (82) So He
counsels through Solomon: 'Thou shalt beat thy son with a
rod and deliver his soul from death.' And again: 'Withhold
not correction from a child; for if thou strike him with the
rod, he shall not die.' 37
Correction and chastisement, as their very name implies,
are blows inflicted upon the soul, restraining sin, warding
off death, leading those enslaved by vice back to self-control.
Thus, Plato, recognizing that correction has the greatest in-
fluence and is the most effective purification, echoes the
32 Deut. 32.5.
33 Isa. 1.23.
34 Eccli. 18.12,13 (Septuagint) .
35 Eccli. 16.11.
36 Eccli. 16.13.
37 Prov. 23.14,13.
74 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Word when he claims that one who is notably lacking in
purification becomes undisciplined and degenerate because
he was left uncorrected, while one who is to be truly happy
should be the most purified and virtuous. 38 For, if 'rulers are
a terror not to the good work, 539 how can He who is
by nature good, God, be a terror to one who does not
sin? 'But if thou dost what is evil,' as the Apostle says, 'fear. 5
(83) So it is that the Apostle himself, in imitation of the
Lord, after he had rebuked each of the churches in turn,
takes into account his own boldness of speech and their
weakness, and asks the Galatians: 'Have I then become
your enemy, because I tell you the truth? 540
Just as those who are well do not need a physician in that
they are strong, but only those who are sick 41 and in need
of his skill, so, too, we need the Saviour because we are sick
from the reprehensible lusts of our lives, and from blame-
worthy vices and from the diseases caused by our other pas-
sions. He applies not only remedies that soothe, but also others
that sear, such as the bitter herb of fear which arrests the
growth of sin. Fear, then, is bitter, but it confers health. Truly,
then, we need the Saviour, for we are sick; the Guide, for we
are wandering; Him who gives light, for we are blind; the life-
giving Spring, for we are parched with thirst, and, once we
have tasted of it, we will never thirst again. We are in need
of Life, for we are dead; of the Shepherd, for we are sheep;
of the Educator, for we are children. In a word, throughout
the whole of our human lives, we need Jesus that we may not
go astray and at length merit condemnation as sinners, but may
be separated from the chaff and gathered into the storehouse of
38 Cf. Plato. Soph. 230DE.
39 Rom. 13.3.
40 Gal. 4.16.
41 Cf. Luke 5.31.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 75
the Father. Tor the winnowing-fan is in the hand of the
Lord,' 42 with which He will separate the chaff destined for
the fire from His wheat.
(84) To make it easy for us to understand the supreme
wisdom, if you will, of the all-holy Shepherd and Guide, the
almighty Word of the Father, He makes use of a metaphor,
calling Himself the Shepherd of his sheep. He is truly the
Educator of His children, who are little ones. In fact, through
Ezechiel, He makes a long address to the rulers in which He
presents a helpful description of His wise care: 'The lame
I shall bind up and the wounded I shall heal and the wander-
ing I shall bring back, and I shall feed them on My holy
mountain.' 43 This is the promise of Him who is the Good
Shepherd.
Feed us, Thy little ones, for we are Thy sheep! Yes, O
Master, fill us with Thy food, Thy justice. Yes, O Educator,
shepherd us to Thy holy mountain, the Church, which is
lifted up above the clouds, touching the heavens. c And I
shall be their shepherd,' He says, 'and I will be near them,' 44
as the garment is to the skin. He wills to save my body by
clothing it with the cloak of immortality, and my flesh He has
anointed. 'They will call to Me and I shall say : Behold I am
near.' 45 More quickly did You answer me than I expected, O
Master. 'Even if they cross over, they shall not slip, saith the
Lord.' 46 We shall not slip into corruption, we who are
crossing over into incorruption, because He Himself will
support us. For so He Himself has said and so He has willed.
(85) Such is our Educator, good beyond a doubt. 'I have
not come,' He declared, 'to be ministered unto, but to
42 Matt. 5.12.
43 Cf. Ezech. 34.11-16.
44 Ibid.; Isa. 51.5; Ps. 118.151.
45 Isa. 53.9.
46 Isa. 43.2.
76 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
minister.' For that reason He is represented in the Gospel
as afflicted, for He is afflicted on our account and undertakes
'to give His life as a redemption for many. 547 He alone, He
asserts, is the Good Shepherd. 48 He is generous indeed who
gives us the greatest thing He has, His own life, and liberal
and kind because He willed to be man's brother, though He
could have been His Lord; so good that He even died for
our sake. 49
His justice, however, also cries out: 'If you come to Me up-
right, I will come to you also upright; but if you walk per-
versely, I also will be perverse, saith the Lord of princes.' 5 " By
perverse, He means He will chastize sinners. For His natural
uprightness, which the T of Jesus 51 suggests, and His goodness
toward those who believe obediently, are immovable and un-
shakable. 'Because I called and you did not obey, saith the
Lord, you have despised all My counsel and have neglected
My reprehensions.' 5 - So, the correction of the Lord is very
beneficial. (86) He calls the same people, through David, also,
'a perverse and exasperating generation, a generation that set
not their heart aright: and whose spirit was not faithful to
God. They kept not the convenant of God: and in His law
they would not walk.' 53 These are the reasons for His exas-
peration, and for these reasons He will come as Judge to
pass sentence on those who are unwilling to preserve goodness
in their lives. Therefore, He treats them severely in the
hope that perhaps He might curb their impulse toward death.
At least He speaks very plainly of the reason for His threats
47 Matt. 20.28.
48 John 10.11,12.
49 Cf. 1 Thess. 5.10.
50 Cf. Ps. 17.26,27.
51 That is, the first letter of lesotis.
52 Prov. 1.24,25.
53 Ps. 77.8-10.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 77
when He says through David: They believed not for His
wondrous works. When He slew them, then they sought Him:
and they returned and came straight to God and they re-
membered that God was their helper, and the most high
God, their redeemer/ 54 He knew that they repented out of
fear, after neglecting His love; as a general rule, men always
neglect the good that is kind, but serve it with loving fear if
it keeps recalling justice.
(87) There are two sorts of fear, one of which is accom-
panied by reverence. This sort citizens feel toward their rulers
if they are good, and we toward God, as well-trained children
do toward their father. 'A horse not broken, 5 Scripture says,
'becomes stubborn, and a child left to himself will become
headstrong.' 55 The other kind of fear is mixed with hate: this
is the way slaves feel toward harsh masters, and the Hebrews
when they looked on God as their Master and not their
Father. It seems to me that what is done willingly and of one's
own accord is far more excellent from every point of view
than that which is done under duress in the service of God.
'He is merciful,' it is said, 'and will forgive their sins, and
will not destroy them. And many a time did He turn away
His anger; and did not kindle His wrath.' 56 Notice how the
justice of the Educator is manifest in His chastisements and
the goodness of God in His mercies. That is why David, or
rather, the Spirit through him, includes both when he says,
in the psalm, of the same God: 'Justice and judgment are the
preparation of Thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
Thy face.' 57 He is suggesting that judging and doing good are
acts of the same faculty, for judging what is just, distin-
54 Ps. 77.32-35.
55 Eccli. 30.8.
56 Ps. 77.38.
57 Ps. 88.15.
78 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
guishing it from what is not just, is the basis for both. (88)
And so, the same person is both just and good, He who is truly
God, who is Himself all things, and all things are He, because
He is Himself God, the only Good.
As the mirror is not unjust to an ugly man for showing him
exactly as he is, and as the doctor is not unjust to the sick man
for diagnosing his fever (for he is not responsible for the fever,
but simply states it is present), so he who corrects is not ill
disposed toward one sick of soul. He does not put the sins there,
but only shows that they are present, so that similar sins may be
avoided in the future. Therefore, God is good of Himself, but
just for our sake and because He is good. His justice is revealed
to us through His Word who has descended from above where
the Father has always been. Before becoming the Creator, He
was God, and good; that is why He wished to become Creator
and Father. The nature of His love is the origin of His justice,
making His sun to shine and sending down His own Son. The
Son was the first to proclaim the good justice which is from
heaven, for He said: 'No one knows the Son but the Father,
and no one knows the Father but the Son.' 58 This balanced
reciprocity of knowledge is a symbol of the justice that existed
at the beginning. Afterwards, justice came down among men,
both in the Scriptures and in the flesh: in the Word and in the
Law, 59 drawing men to salutary repentance; for it is good.
But you do not obey God. Then blame yourself if you draw
down upon yourself the judgment of the Judge.
58 Luke 10.22.
59 Cf. C. Mond&ert, Clement D'Alexandrie (Paris 1944) 99-100: 'Cle-
ment speaks ... of a sort of first incarnation of the Logos in letters,
preceding that in the flesh and already realizing, in the midst of
men, a presence of the justice of God which works for their salvation.'
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 79
Chapter 10
( 89 ) We have shown that the correction of men is a good
thing, contributing to their salvation, and that it has been
assumed by the Word, necessarily, because it is the most ef-
fective means to lead them to repentance and to restrain them
from sin.
The next point that we should consider is the gentleness
of the Word. He has been pictured as just, but He also offers
us sentiments characteristic of Him, that encourage us on the
way to salvation, and by which He intends to make us know
what is good and useful in the light of His Father's will. Now,
this is a point to keep in mind : all that is good is the proper
subject matter of encomium, and whatever is useful, of advice.
The nature of advice extends to both persuasion and dissua-
sion ; encomium to both praise and blame. If the intention of
advice is directed one way, it is persuasion, but if in the
opposite way, it is dissuasion; similarly, if encomium is
expressed in one way, it is blame, but if in contrary way, it
is praise. The just Educator, desiring our improvement, con-
cerns Himself with these forms of speech. But, since blame
and dissuasion have already been discussed in the previous
chapter, let us now turn our attention to praise and persua-
sion, and balance as though on scales the evenly matched,
contrasting parts of justice.
(90) When the Educator says in one of the passages of
Solomon's work: 'O ye men, to you I call, and My voice is
to the sons of men. Hear, for I will speak of great things,' and
the rest, of the passage, 1 He is making use of persuasion, per-
suasion to something that is useful. Since advice is called for
when there is a question of free acceptance or rejection, He is
1 Prov. 8.4,6.
80 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
here advising what will lead to salvation. He does the same
thing when He says through David: 'Blessed is the man who
hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in
the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his
will is in the law of the Lord.' 2
There are three possible methods of giving advice. The
first is to take examples from times gone by, such as the
punishments the Jews met with after they had worshiped the
golden calf, 3 or when they had committed fornication, 4 or
after similar misdeeds. The second method is to call attention
to some conclusion drawn from present events, as a con-
clusion readily grasped by the mind; such was the answer
given by the Lord to those who asked Him: 'Art thou the
Christ or look we for another?' 'Go,' He said, 'report to John
that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
the dead rise, and blessed is he who is not scandalized in
Me.' 5 Truly, David had already said, by divine inspiration:
(91) 'As we have heard, so we have seen.' 6 Finally, the
third method of advice is drawn from future events, in which
things that are to come put us on our guard; an example is
that saying that those who fall into sin 'will be put forth into
the darkness outside, there will be weeping and the gnashing
of teeth,' 7 and sayings of the same import. Therefore, it can
be clearly seen that the Lord calls mankind to salvation by
using progressively every kind of treatment.
He uses encouragement to alleviate sin, for by it He
mitigates concupiscence and at the same time instils hope of
salvation. Through the mouth of Ezechiel He says: 'If you
2 PS. 1.1.
3 Cf. Exod. 3256-28.
4 Cf. Num. 25.4-9.
5 Cf. Matt. 11.3-6.
6 Ps. 47.9.
7 Matt. 8.12.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 81
be converted with all your heart and say : Father, I will hear
you as a holy people.' 8 And another time, He says: 'Come to
Me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you
rest,' 9 and the words that follow which the Lord Himself said.
As plainly as He can, He invites us to goodness when He says
through Solomon: 'Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom,
and the mortal who findeth prudence,' 10 and 'Goodness is
found by him who seeks it, and is easily seen by him that has
found her.' 11 He explains what He means by prudence in the
words of Jeremias: 'We are happy, O Israel, because the
things that are pleasing to God are made known to us,' 12
made known through the Word who makes us both prudent
and happy. For, knowledge is prudence, according to the
words of the same Prophet: 'Hear, O Israel, the command-
ments of life: give ear that thou mayest learn wisdom.' 13
And, again, in His love for men, He generously gives further
promises to those laboring for salvation, through Moses, when
He says: 'I will bring you into the good land, for which I
swore to your fathers,' 14 and He adds, in the words of Isaias:
'I will bring you unto My holy mount, and will make you
joyful.' 15
(92) There is still another sort of education He resorts
to, that is, blessing. 'Blessed is he who does not sin, 9 He de-
clares through David; 'he shall be like a tree which is
planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth
its fruit in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off' (refer-
8 Not in Ezechiel, but cf. Ezech. 18.21-23; 33.11; Deut. 30.1-5.
9 Matt. 11.28.
10 Cf. Prov. 3.13 (Septuagint) .
11 Cf. Wisd. 6.13.
12 Bar. 4.4.
13 Bar. 3.9.
14 Cf. Deut. 31.20.
15 Isa. 56.7.
82 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
ring to the resurrection), 'And all whatsoever he shall do
shall prosper.' 16 This is what He wants us to be, blessed. Then,
by way of contrast, to manifest the balance of the scales of
justice, He continues: 'Not so the wicked, not so; but like the
dust which the wind driveth from the face of the earth. 517
Our Educator seeks to turn His children from sin and punish-
ment by disclosing the punishment inflicted on sinners, and
their insecurity and instability. When He reveals the punish-
ment they deserve, He is suggesting the advantages of doing
good, and adroitly urging us to acquire and to practise virtue.
Even more, He calls us to knowledge 18 by saying through
Jeremias : 'If thou hast walked in the way of God, thou hast
surely dwelt in peace for ever.' 19 He encourages the prudent
to embrace knowledge by indicating in these words the reward
for it, and by offering pardon to those who have erred, in
these words: Turn back, turn back, as a grape-gatherer into
his basket.' 20 Do you not detect the goodness in that justice
as He counsels repentance? (93) Another time, He causes the
light of truth to be shed upon the erring when He says through
Jeremias: 'Thus saith the Lord: Stand ye on the ways and
see, and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord, which is the
good way, and walk ye in it : and you shall find refreshment
for your soul.' 21 He desires to draw us to repentance that we
might be saved, and therefore says: *If thou repent, the Lord
will circumcize thy heart, and the heart of thy seed.' 22
To corroborate our argument, we might possibly include
the philosophers 23 who hold that only he who is perfect
16 Ps. 1.1-3.
17 PS. 1.4.
18 That is, gndsis. Cf. Introduction, pp. ix-x.
19 Bar. 3.13.
20 Cf. Jer. 6.9.
21 Jer. 6.16.
22 Deuc. 30.6.
23 Probably the older Stoics and Cynics.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 83
deserves praise and he who is imperfect deserves blame. But,
since there are those 24 who misconstrue happiness by main-
taining that it does not ever become disturbed, or disturb
anyone else, not understanding the love for man that hap-
piness implies, therefore, because of them as well as of those
who separate justice from goodness, we add the following
remark. Since they hold that all men are bad, it follows that
we should admit that only the sort of education that
makes use of correction and discipline is suitable for men.
And since God alone is wise, from whom wisdom pro-
ceeds, and He alone is perfect, He alone deserves praise.
(94) But I do not agree with the reasoning. I hold that
praise and blame, or something very similar to praise and
blame, are the remedies more necessary for men than any
other sort. The apathetic need to be forged as iron is with
fire and hammer and anvil, that is, fired by threats and re-
proach and punishment, while others who adhere to faith for
its own sake, almost instinctively and of their own choice, will
expand if they are praised. 'Virtue, if it be praised, like a tree
doth grow.' 25 And Pythagoras the Samian agrees, I believe, for
he gives this advice: 'If you have done evil deeds, correct
them; if noble deeds, rejoice in them.' 26 Correction is also
called in Greek nouthetein, whose etymology 27 means placing
something in the mind; therefore, correction is really trans-
formation of the mind.
There are, indeed, countless words of advice to be found,
directing us to acquire what is good and to avoid what is
24 The Scholion says he means Epicurus.
25 Cf. Pindar, Nem. 8.40, or Bacchylides, cf. Blass, Hermes, 36 (1901)
S.285.
26 Pythagoras, Carm. aur. 44.
27 nouthetein is derived from nous ('mind') and tithemi ('place*) .
For once, Clement's etymological analysis is correct.
84 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
evil. 'There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.' 28
Therefore, He advises His little ones to be on their guard, in
the words of Solomon : 'My son, let not sinners lead thee astray,
walk not thou with their ways. Do not walk if they entice you
saying : Come with us, let us share innocent blood : let us hide
the just man in the earth unjustly, let us swallow him up alive
as in hell.' 29 (95) (This last passage is also a prophecy of the
Passion of the Lord. ) In the words of Ezechiel, even life is de-
pendent upon the commandments : -The soul that sinneth, the
same shall die. And if a man be just and do justice, and hath
not eaten upon the mountain, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols
of the house of Israel; and hath not defiled his neighbor's
wife, nor come near to a menstrous woman; and hath not
wronged any man; but hath restored his pledge to the debtor,
hath taken nothing away by violence; hath given his bread
to the hungry, and hath covered the naked, hath not lent
upon usury, nor taken any increase; hath withdrawn his hand
from iniquity, and hath executed true judgment between man
and his neighbor; hath walked in My commandments, and
kept My judgments to do them: he is just, he shall surely
live, saith the Lord.' 30 These words present a complete de-
scription of the Christian life and are a wonderful encour-
agement to work for the blessed life, which is the reward of
good living, that is, life everlasting.
Chapter 11
(96) The nature of His love for men and of His method
of educating His little ones we have described as far as lay
28 Isa. 48.22; 57.21.
29 Prov. 1.10-15.
50 Ezech. 18.4-9.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 85
in our power. He pictures Himself cogently by likening Him-
self to a 'grain of mustard-seed.' 1 With such a figure, He
depicts the spiritual nature of the word that is sown, the pro-
ductiveness it has by nature, and the growth and the greatness
latent in the power of the word. By the bitterness of the
mustard-seed he suggests, too, that the unpleasantness and
the purgative nature of correction are all to our advantage.
At any rate, through this allegory of the small mustard-seed,
applicable in so many ways, He proves that He bestows
salvation on all mankind.
Honey, because it is so sweet, gives rise to bile just as
virtue to derision, which in its turn is the cause of sin. But
mustard diminishes bile, that is, wrath, and dispels morbid
humors, that is, pride. From the Word comes true health oi
soul and immortal robustness.
Of old, the Word educated through Moses, and after
that through the Prophets; even Moses was in fact a Proph-
et. For the Law was the education of children difficult
to control. 'Having eaten their fill, 5 Scripture says, 'they
got up to play,' 2 using a Greek word which means, not
food, but cattle-fodder, because of their irrational gorging.
(97) And since they were continually filling themselves
without obeying reason, and playing without listening to
reason, the Law and fear followed them to restrain them from
sin and to encourage them to reform themselves. So it dis-
posed them to give ready obedience to the true Educator; then
the one same Word directed their docility toward what was
of obligation. The Law has been given, 3 Paul says, 'as our
educator in Christ.' 3 Then it is obvious that the one person
1 Matt. 13.31.
2 Exod. 32.6. The word referred to is chdrtasma.
3 Cf. Gal. 3.24.
86 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
who is alone reliable, just, good, Jesus, the Son of the Father
as His image and likeness, 4 the Word of God, is our Educator.
It is to Him that God has entrusted us, as a loving Father
delivering His children to a true Educator, for He expressly
commanded us: 'This is My beloved Son: hear Him.' 5
Our divine Educator is trustworthy, for He is endowed
with three excellent qualities: intelligence, good will and
authority to speak. With intelligence, because He is the Wis-
dom of the Father: 'All wisdom is from the Lord and hath
been always with Him.' 6 With authority to speak, because He
is God and Creator : 'All things were made through Him, and
without Him was made nothing.' 7 With good will, because He
is the only one who has given Himself as a sacrifice for us:
'The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep,' 8 and
in fact He did lay it down. Surely, good will is nothing else
than willing what is good for the neighbor for his own sake.
Chapter 12
(98) From the subjects that we have already discussed
it must be concluded that Jesus, our Educator, has outlined
for us the true life, and that He educates the man who abides
in Christ. His character is not excessively fear-inspiring, yet
neither is it overindulgent in its kindness. He imposes com-
mands, but at the same time expresses them in such a way
that we can fullfill them.
It seems to me that the reason that He formed man from
dust with His own hands, gave him a second birth through
4 Cf. Col. 1.15.
5 Matt. 17.5.
6 Eccli. 1.1.
7 John 1.3.
8 John 10.11.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 87
water, increase through the Spirit, education by the Word,
thereby guiding him surely to the adoption of sons and to
salvation with holy precepts, was precisely that He might
transform an earth-born man into a holy and heavenly
creature by His coming, and accomplish the original divine
command: 'Let us make mankind in our image and like-
ness.' 1 It is Christ, in fact, who is, in all its perfection, what
God then commanded; other men are so only by a certain
image.
As for us, O children of a good Father, flock of a good
Educator, let us fulfill the will of the Father, let us obey
the Word, and let us be truly molded by the saving life of
the Saviour. Then, since we shall already be living the life
of heaven which makes us divine, let us anoint ourselves
with the never-failing oil of gladness, the incorruptible oil
of good odor. We possess an unmistakable model of incor-
ruptibility in the life of the Lord and are following in the
footsteps of God.
His main concern is to consider the way and the means by
which the life of man might be made more conformable to
salvation. He does truly make this His concern. He seeks
to train us to the condition of a wayfarer, that is, to make
us well girded and unimpeded by provisions, that we might
be self-sufficient of life 2 and practise a moderate frugality in
our journey toward the good life of eternity, telling us that
each one of us is to be his own storehouse: 'Do not be
anxious about tomorrow.' 3 He means to say that he who has
dedicated himself to Christ ought to be self-sufficient and his
own servant and, besides, live his life from day to day.
(99) We are educated not for war but for peace. In
1 Gen. 1.26.
2 autarkcia, a virtue the Stoics emphasized.
3 Matt. 6.34.
88 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
war, there is need for much equipment, just as self-indulgence
craves an abundance. But peace and love, simple and plain
blood sisters, do not need arms nor abundant supplies. Their
nourishment is the Word, the Word whose leadership en-
lightens and educates, from whom we learn poverty and
humility and all that goes with love of freedom and of man-
kind and of the good. In a word, through Him we become
like God by a likeness of virtue. Labor, then, and do not grow
weary; you will become what you dare not hope or cannot
imagine. 4
As there is one sort of training for philosophers, another
for orators and another for wrestlers, so, too, there is an excel-
lent disposition imparted by the education of Christ that
is proper to the free will loving the good. As for deeds,
walking and reclining at table, eating and sleeping, marriage
relations and the manner of life, the whole of a man's educa-
tion all become illustrious as holy deeds under the influence
of the Educator. The education He gives is not overstrained,
but in harmony [with man's needs]. (100) That is why
the Word is called Saviour, because He has left men
remedies of reason to effect understanding and salvation,
and because, awaiting the favorable opportunity, He
corrects evil, diagnoses the cause for passion, extracts the
roots of unreasonable lusts, advises what we should avoid,
and applies all the remedies of salvation to those who are
sick.
This is the greatest and most noble of all God's acts:
saving mankind. 5 But those who labor under some sickness
are dissatisfied if the physician prescribes no remedy to restore
their health; how, then, can we withhold our sincerest
4 Cf. 1 Cor. 2.9.
5 Cf. Isa. 33.22; Jer. 30.11; Matt, 18.11.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 89
gratitude from the divine Educator when He corrects the
acts of disobedience that sweep us on to ruin and uproots the
desires that drag us into sin, refusing to be silent and connive
at them, and even offers counsels on the right way to live?
Certainly we owe Him the deepest gratitude.
Do we say, then, that the rational animal, I mean man,
ought to do anything besides contemplate the divinity? I
maintain that he ought to contemplate human nature, also,
and live as the truth leads him, admiring the way in which
the Educator and His precepts are worthy of one another
and adapted one to the other. In keeping with such a model,
we ought also to adapt ourselves to our Educator, conform
our deeds to the Word, and then we will truly live.
Chapter 13
(101) Everything contrary to right reason is a sin. The
philosophers, 1 for example, maintained that the more generic
passions are defined in some such way as this: lust is desire
disobedient to reason; fear, aversion disobedient to reason;
pleasure, elation of mind disobedient to reason; and grief,
depression of mind disobedient to reason. Now, if it is in
its relationship with reason that disobedience is the origin of
sin, is it not necessarily true that obedience to reason, or the
Word, 2 which is what we call faith, is the very substance of
what is called a person's duty? 3 This is said with good reason,
1 Principally, the Stoics.
2 That is, Idgos. This whole chapter is a play on the twofold meaning
of this word: according to the Stoics, sin is acting contrary to reason
(Idgos) ; according to Christians, this Idgos is the Second Person of
the Trinity, the Word.
3 to kathekon, a familiar Stoic term.
90 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
for virtue itself is a disposition of soul attuned to the dictate
of reason in the whole course of life. Besides, even philosophy
is defined as the pursuit of right reason, so that an error
arising from faulty reasoning is necessarily, and properly,
called a defection. 4
By way of illustration, when the first man sinned and
disobeyed God, 'man became,' as Scripture puts it, 'like to the
beasts,' 5 because he sinned against reason. With good cause
was he considered unreasonable and likened to the beasts.
(102) Similarly, Wisdom says: The pleasure-seeker and
the adulterer is a stallion-horse,' 8 because they have become
like the most unreasoning of animals. Therefore, it adds; 'He
neighed under everyone that sitteth upon him.' Such a man
is no longer said to speak, for he who sins against reason is no
longer rational, but is an irrational animal wholly given up to
lust, whom every sort of pleasure sits upon and drives.
The followers of the Stoics call virtuous action performed
in obedience to reason 'the dutiful and the fitting.' 7 But what
is a duty is also fitting, and obedience has as its foundation
commands. Since these are the same as counsels, in the
sense that both have the truth as their goal, they guide us to
the final goal we desire, which is spoken of as the end. 8 The
end of service of God is eternal rest in God; our end is the
beginning of eternity. But, that which is done properly in
the service of God fulfills in deeds the duty imposed on it.
Therefore, duty consists not in words but in actions. But the
deed of a Christian soul is the work of its reason accomplished
4 A play on words: 'error* is diamartia, or 'missing the goal*; 'sin* is
hamdrtema, or 'defection.'
5 Ps. 48.13,21.
6 Cf. Eccli. 33.6.
7 kathekon kai prose kon, a Stoic definition of virtue.
8 tttos, end or purpose.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 91
by means of its friend and companion, the body, obeying the
dictate of an educated judgment and of a desire for the
truth. But man's duty is to cultivate a will that is in con-
formity and united throughout his life to God and Christ,
properly directed to eternal life. Indeed, the life of the
Christian, in which we are now being educated, is a united
whole made up of deeds controlled by reason; that is, it is
the persevering accomplishment of the truths taught by reason,
or rather, the Word, an accomplishment which we call fidelity.
( 1 03 ) The whole is the sum total of the Lord's commands
which, as the sentiments of God, are prescribed for us as
spiritual counsels, imposed upon ourselves and upon the
neighbor for our greater good. But it must be borne in mind
that, like an elastic ball that comes back to the one who
throws it, they recoil upon us.
Therefore, in the divine education, it is necessary that
duties be imposed upon us, as things commanded by God
and provided for our salvation. But, since of things that are
necessary, some are for this life alone, while others cause the
soul to aspire after a good life in the next world, it is but right
that some obligations be imposed merely for living, and others
for living well. Whatever is imposed for material life is bind-
ing upon the multitude, but what is adapted to living well, that
is, the things by which eternal life is gained, should be able to
be gathered from the Scriptures by those who read them,
gathered at least in their general outline.
BOOK TWO
Chapter 1
|N KEEPING WITH the purpose we have in mind, we
must now select passages from the Scriptures that
bear on education in the practical needs of life, and
describe the sort of life he who is called a Christian should
live throughout his life. We should begin with ourselves, and
with the way we should regulate [our actions].
In the effort to maintain a proper proportion ih this
treatise, let us speak first of the way each should conduct him-
self in reference to his body, or, rather, of the manner in
which he should exercise control over it. Now, whenever a
man is drawn by reason away from external things and even
from any further concern for his body to the realm of the
understanding, and acquires a clear insight into the natural
attributes of man, 1 he will understand that he is not to be
eager about external things, but is to purify that which is
proper to man, the eye of his soul, 2 and to sanctify even his
1 A Stoic phrase for the standard of virtuous living.
2 Cf. Plato, Republic VIII 533D.
93
94 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
body. For, if a man is completely purified and freed from the
things that make him only dust, what could he have more
serviceable for walking in the path that leads to the perception
of God than his own self? 3
Other men, indeed, live that they may eat, just like un-
reasoning beasts; for them life is only their belly. 4 But as for
us, our Educator has given the command that we eat only
to live. Eating is not our main occupation, nor is pleasure our
chief ambition. (2) Food is permitted us simply because of
our stay in this world, which the Word is shaping for im-
mortality by His education. Our food should be plain and
ungarnished, in keeping with the truth, suitable to children
who are plain and unpretentious, adapted to maintaining life,
not self-indulgence.
Viewed in this sense, life depends upon two things only:
health and strength. To satisfy these needs, all that is required
is a disposition easily satisfied with any sort of food; it aids
digestion and restricts the weight of the body. Thus, growth
and health and strength will be fostered; not the unbalanced
and unhealthy and miserable state of men such as athletes fed
on an enforced diet. Surely, excessive variety in food must be
avoided, for it gives rise to every kind of bad effect: indis-
position of body, upset stomach, perversion of taste due to
some misguided culinary adventure or foolish experiment
in pastry cooking. Men have the nerve to style such self-
indulgence nourishment, even though it degenerates into
pleasures that only inflict harm. Antiphanes, the Delian
physician, has said that rich variety in food is one of the
causes of disease. Yet, there are those who grow dissatisfied
with the truth in their restless ostentation, and reject simplicity
3 Cf. Seneca, Ep. 23.6.
4 Cf. Phil. 3.19.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 95
of diet to engage in a frantic search for expensive menus that
must be imported from across the seas.
(3) I feel pity for their disease; but they themselves show
no shame in flaunting their extravagances, going to no end of
trouble to procure lampreys from the Sicilian straits and
eels from Maeander, kids from Melos and mullets from
Sciathos, Pelordian mussels and Abydean oysters, to say
nothing of sprats from Lipara and Mantinean turnips and
beets from Ascra. They anxiously search for Methymnian
scallops, Attic turgots, laurel-thrushes, and the golden-brown
figs for five thousand of which the notorious Persian sent to
Greece. On top of all this, they buy fowl from Phasis, fran-
colins from Egypt and peacocks from Medea. Gourmands
that they are, they greedily yearn for these fowl and dress
them up with sweet sauces, ravenously providing themselves
with whatever the land and the depth of the sea and the
vast expanse of the sky produce as food. Such grasping and
excitable people seem to scour the world blunderingly for their
costly pleasures, and make themselves heard for their 'sizzling
frying-pans, 5 wasting the whole of their lives in hovering over
mortar and pestle, omnivorous fellows who cling as close to
matter as fire does. Why, they deprive even the stable food,
bread, of its strength by sifting away the nourishing parts of
wheat, turning a necessity of life into a dishonorable pleasure.
(4) There is no limit to the gluttony that these men
practise. Truly, in ever inventing a multitude of new sweets
and ever seeking recipes of every description, they are ship-
wrecked on pastries and honey-cakes and desserts.
To me, a man of this sort seems nothing more than one
great mouth. 'Be not desirous,' Scripture says, 'of the meats
of the rich. For these belong to a false and shameful life.' 5
5 Prov. 23.3.
96 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
These men hug their delicacies to themselves, yet after a
while they must yield them to the privy. As for us, who seek
a heavenly food, we must restrain the belly and keep it
under the control of heaven, and even more that which is
made for the belly which 'God will destroy,' 6 as the Apostle
says, intending, no doubt, to curse gluttonous desires. 'Food
is for the belly,' and the life of the body, belonging completely
to this world and made for corruption, depends upon it.
If anyone dares mention the Agape with shameless tongue
as he indulges in a dinner exhaling the odor of steaming
meats and sauces, then he profanes the holy Agape, sublime
and saving creation of the Lord, with his goblets and servings
of soup; he desecrates its name by his drinking and self-in-
dulgence and fragrant odors; he is deceiving himself com-
pletely, for he thinks he can buy off the commands of God
with such a banquet. We can indulge in such gatherings for
the sake of entertainment, and we would rightly call them
banquets and dinners and receptions, but the Lord never
called such feasts His Agape. He did say somewhere : 'When
thou art invited to a wedding feast, do not recline in the
first place, but when thou art invited, go and recline in the
last place.' 7 And somewhere else: 'When thou givest a dinner
or a supper . . .' And again: 'But when thou givest a feast,
invite the poor, 5 for whom a supper should be given more
than for anyone else. And once more: 'A certain man gave
a great supper and he invited many.' 8
(5) No, I know where the beguiling lure of dinners
originated: from 'the gullets and mad frequentation of the
table,' 9 in the words of the comic poet. 'There are many
6 1 Cor. 6.13.
7 Luke 14.8-10.
8 Luke 14.12.1S.16.
9 Adespota 782, CAF 111 545.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 97
things for many people at a dinner 5 ; 10 never did they learn that
God has provided food and drink for His creature, I mean
man, not for his dissipation, but for his welfare. It is a natural
law that the body is not benefitted by excessively rich food;
quite the contrary, those who live on simpler foods are
stronger and healthier and more alert, as servants are, for
example, in comparision with their masters, or farmer-tenants
in comparision with their landlords. It is not only that they
are more robust; they are also sharper of mind than the
wealthy, as the philosophers are, for they have not sated
their minds with food nor seduced it with pleasure.
An Agape is in reality heavenly food, a banquet of the
Word. The Agape, or charity, 'bears all things, endures all
things, hopes all things; charity never fails.' 11 'Blessed is he
who eats bread in the kingdom of God.' 12 Surely, of all down-
falls, the most unlikely is for charity, which faileth not, 13 to be
cast down from heaven to earth among all these dainty
seasonings. Do you still imagine that I refer to a meal that
is to be destroyed? 14 'If I distribute my goods to the poor
and have not charity, 3 Scripture says, 'I am nothing. 515
(6) On this charity depend the whole Law and the word. 16
If you love the Lord thy God and thy neighbor, 17 there
will be a feast, a heavenly one, in heaven. The earthly feast, as
we have proved from Scripture, is called a supper, one per-
meated with love, yet not identified with it, but an expression
of mutual and generous good will.
10 Adesp. 432, CAF III 490.
11 1 Cor. 13.7.
12 Luke 14.15.
13 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.8.
14 Cf. 1 Cor. 6.13.
15 1 Cor. 13.3.
16 Cf. Matt. 22.40.
17 Cf. Mark. 12.30,31.
98 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
'Let not then our good be reviled,' the Apostle says, 'for the
kingdom of God does not consist in food and drink/ meaning
the daily meal, 'but justice and peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit.' 18 Whoever eats of this feast is put in possession of the
most wonderful 19 of all things, the kingdom of God, and takes
his place in the holy assembly of love, the heavenly Church.
(7) Certainly, love is pure, worthy of God, and its fruit is
giving. 'The care of discipline is love,' Wisdom says, 'and love
is the keeping of the laws.' 20 Festive gatherings of themselves
do contain some spark of love, for from food taken at a com-
mon table we become accustomed to the food of eternity.
Assuredly, the dinner itself is not an Agape, yet let the feasting
be rooted in love. 'Thy children, O Lord,' it is said, 'whom
Thou lovest, know that it is not the growing of fruit that
nourishest men, but Thy word preserves them that believe in
Thee.' 21 'For it is not on bread that the just man will live.' 22
Let the meal be plain and restrained, of such sort that it will
quicken the spirit. Let it be free of a too rich variety, and let not
even such a meal be withdrawn from the guidance of the Ed-
ucator. An Agape fosters communal living very well, for it sup-
plies ample provisions for its journey, that is, self-sufficiency. 23
Self-sufficiency, in dictating that food be limited to the proper
amount, ministers to the health of the body, and, besides, can
distribute some of its substance to its neighbor. But, if the diet
overstep the limits of self-sufficiency, it harms man by dulling
his mind and making his body susceptible to disease. Indeed,
the pleasures of a luxurious table inflict untold damage:
18 Rom. 14.17.
19 A play on words: 'feast' is driston; 'most wonderful/ dristos.
20 Wisd. 6.19.
21 Wisd. 16.26.
22 Cf. Matt. 4.4; Hab. 2.4. For a possible explanation of the addition
of 'just man* to this passage, cf. E. L. Titus, op. cit. 19.
23 Cf. above, p. 87 n. 2.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 99
gluttony, squeamishness, gourmandizing, insatiability of ap-
petite, voraciousness. Carrion flies and wheedling weasels and
gladiators, as well as 'that wild tribe of parasites,' 24 are of the
same type, for the first have sacrificed reason, the second
friendship, and the last life itself for the pleasures of the
belly, creeping upon their bellies, beasts that merely resemble
man, made to the likeness of their father, the ravening beast.
Those who first called such men in Greek, asotoi, that is,
abandoned and dissolute, suggested their end, I think, mean-
ing, instead, asostoi, with elision of the sigma, that is, beyond
salvation. Are not such men who waste their lives on dishes
and frivolous elaborate preparations of highly seasoned foods,
whose minds have become base, are they not hidebound to
earth, living for the passing moment as though they did not
live at all?
(8) The Holy Spirit complains of such men, in the
words of Isaias, subtly refusing them the name of Agape,
since their feast is contrary to reason : 'They made good cheer,
killing calves and slaying rams, saying: Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.' 25 Because He considers such revelry a
sin, He adds: 'And this iniquity shall not be forgiven
till you die,' meaning, not that death, which will be unfelt,
will be forgiveness for their sin, but that death to salvation
will be its punishment. Wisdom says: 'Take no pleasure in
luxury, be it ever so small.' 26
But let us turn our attention now to the food that is spoken
of as 'idol-offered,' 27 and to the command enjoining us to
avoid it. These foods I consider a sacrilege and an abomina-
tion: from the blood of them fly 'the shades from out of
24 Cf. Iliad 19.30,31.
25 Isa. 22.13.
26 Eccli. 18.32.
27 Cf. Acts 15.29; 21.25.
100 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Erybus now dead.' 28 'I would not have you become associates
of devils,' 29 the Apostle says. There are two sorts of food,
one minstering to salvation, and the other proper to those who
perish. We should abstain from this last sort, not out of fear
(for there is no power in them), but to keep our consciences
pure and to show our contempt for the devils to whom they
have been dedicated. And another reason is the impres-
sionability of those who interpret so many things in a way
that harms themselves, 'whose conscience, being weak, is de-
filed. Now, food does not commend us to God,' 30 'nor does
what goes into a man defile him, but what comes out of the
mouth,' 31 in the words of Scripture. (9) The physical act
of eating is indifferent. Tor neither do we suffer any loss if
we eat,' Scripture continues, 'Nor if we do not eat shall we
have any advantage.' 32 But it is not right for those judged
worthy of partaking of divine and spiritual food to share 'the
table of devils.' 33 'Have we not a right,' the Apostle asks, 'to
eat and drink and to take about with us a woman?' 34 But it
stands to reason that we forestall passion when we keep
pleasures under control: 'Still, take care lest this right of
yours become a stumbling-block to the weak/ 35
We ought not to misuse the gifts of the Father, then, acting
the part of spendthrifts like the rich son 36 in the Gospel; let
us, rather, make use of them with detachment, keeping them
under control. Surely we have been commanded to be the
28 <
Odysseus 11.37.
29
Cor. 10.20.
50
Cor. 8.7.
31 (
f. Matt. 15.11.
32
Cor. 8.8.
33
Cor. 10.21.
34
Cor. 9.4.
35
Cor. 8.9.
36 Cf. Luke 15.11-14.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 101
master and lord, not the slave, of food. It is an admirable
thing indeed for a man to depend upon divine food in con-
templation of the truth, and to be filled with the vision of that
which really is, which is inexhaustible, tasting pleasure that is
enduring and abiding and pure. Unquestionably, it is con-
trary to reason, utterly useless, and beneath human dignity
for men to feed themselves like cattle being fattened for the
slaughter, for those who come from the earth to keep looking
down to the earth and ever bowed over their tables. Such
men practise a life only of greed, by burying the good of this
life in a way of life that will not last, and paying court only
to their bellies, for whose sake they rate cooks more highly
than they do those who work the soil. Not that we condemn
conviviality, but we do suspect the danger lurking in banquets
as unfortunate.
(10) We must shun gluttony and partake of only a few
things that are necessary. And if some unbeliever invites us to
a banquet and we decide to accept although it is well not to
associate with the disorderly [the Apostle] bids us eat what
is set before us, 'asking no question for conscience' sake.' 37
We do not need to abstain from rich foods completely, but
we should not be anxious for them. We must partake of
what is set before us, as becomes a Christian, out of respect
for him who has invited us and not to lessen or destroy the
sociability of the gathering. We should consider the rich
variety of dishes that are served as a matter of indifference,
and despise delicacies as things that after a while will cease
to be. 'Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat,
and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats.' 38 A
little later [the Apostle] explains the reason for his com-
37 1 Cor. 10.27.
38 Rom. 14.3.
102 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
mand: 'He who eats,' he says, 'eats for the Lord and he
gives thanks to God. And he who does not eat, abstains for
the Lord and gives thanks to God.' 39 We conclude, then, that
the true food is thanksgiving. 40 At any rate, he who always
offers up thanks will not indulge excessively in pleasure.
But, if we would draw any of our fellow banqueters to
virtue, we should refrain from these delicacies of the palate
all the more, and make ourselves unmistakable examples of
virtue, as Christ has done for us. 'For if any of these foods
scandalize my brother, I will eat it no more for ever, lest I
scandalize my brother, 5 that is, gaining the man by a little
self-control. 'Have we not the right to eat and to drink?'
'We know the truth that there is no such thing as an idol in
the world, and that there is no God but one, from whom
are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.' But he adds:
'through thy knowledge, the weak one will perish, the brother
for whom Christ died. Now when you wound the conscience
of your weak brother, you sin against Christ.' 41 Therefore, the
Apostle takes great pains to reach this decision with regard
to these dinners of ours: 'Not to associate with one who is
called a brother if he is immoral, or an adulterer, or an
idolator; with such a one not even to take food,' 42 neither
the food of words nor that of meat, foreseeing the defilement
of such contact, as with 'the table of devils.'
(11) 'It is good,' he says, 'not to eat meat and not to
drink wine,' 43 just as the Pythagoreans say. Eating and
drinking is the occupation of animals, and the fumes rising
59 Rom. 14.6.
40 eucharistia. Probably a veiled reference to the Sacrament. This term
was already in use for the Body and Blood of Christ, as can be seen
in Ignatius, Ad Smyrn. 7.1; Ad Phil. 4.1.
41 1 Cor. 8.13,4,6,11,12.
42 1 Cor. 5.11.
43 Rom. 14.21.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 103
from them, heavy and earth-laden, cast a shadow over the
soul. But, if anyone does partake of them, he does not sin;
only let him partake temperately, without being attached to
them or dependent upon them, or greedy for any delicacy. A
voice will whisper to him: 'Do not for the sake of food,
destroy the work of God.' 44
Only a fool will hold his breath and gape at what is
set before him at a public banquet, expressing his delight
in words. But it is only a greater fool who will let his eyes
become enslaved to these exotic delicacies, and allow self-
control to be swept away, as it were, with the various dishes.
Is it not utterly inane to keep leaning forward from
one's couch, all but falling on one's nose into the dishes,
as though, according to the common saying, one were
leaning out from the nest of the couch to catch the escaping
vapors with the nostrils? Is it not completely contrary to rea-
son to keep dipping one's hands into these pastries or to be
forever stretching them out for some dish, gorging oneself
intemperately and boorishly, not like a person tasting a food,
but like one taking it by storm? It is easy to consider such
men swine or dogs rather than men, because of their vora-
ciousness. They are in such a hurry to stuff themselves that
both cheeks are puffed out at the same time, all the hollows
of their face are filled out, and sweat even rolls down as they
exert themselves to satisfy their insatiable appetite, wheezing
from their intemperance, and cramming food into their
stomachs with incredible energy, as though they were gath-
ering a crop for storage rather than nourishment.
Lack of moderation, an evil wherever it is found, is par-
ticularly blameworthy in the matter of food. (12) Gourmand-
ising, at least, is nothing more than immoderate use of de-
44 Rom. 14.20.
104 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
licacies; gluttony is a mania for glutting the appetite, and
belly-madness, as the name itself suggests, is lack of self-
control with regard to food. The Apostle, in speaking of those
who offend at a banquet, exclaims: Tor at the meal, each
one takes first his own supper, and one is hungry, and another
drinks overmuch. Have you not houses for your eating and
drinking? Or do you despise the church of God and put to
shame the needy?' 45 If a person is wealthy, yet eats without
restraint and shows himself insatiable, he disgraces himself in
a special way and does wrong on two scores: first, he adds to
the burden of those who do not have, and lays bare, before
those who do have, his own lack of temperance. Little
wonder, then, that the Apostle, after having taken to task
those who were shamelessly lavish with their meals, and
those who were voracious, never getting their fill, cried out
a second time with an angry voice: 'Wherefore, my brethren,
when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If any-
one is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together
unto judgment.' 46
(13) Therefore, we must keep ourselves free of any
suspicion of boorishness or of intemperance, by partaking of
what is set before us politely, keeping our hands, as well as our
chin and our couch, clean, and by preserving proper decorum
of conduct, without twisting about or acting unmannerly
while we are swallowing our food. Rather, we should put our
hand out only in turn, from time to time; keep from speaking
while eating, for speech is inarticulate and ill-mannered
when the mouth is full, and the tongue, impeded by the food,
cannot function properly but utters only indistinct sounds.
It is not polite to eat and drink at the same time, either, be-
45 1 Cor. 11.21.
46 1 Cor. 11.23.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 105
cause it indicates extreme intemperance to try to do two
things together that need to be done separately.
'Whether you eat or drink,' the Apostle tells us, 'do all for
the glory of God, 547 cultivating the frugality of truth. It
seems to me that the Lord was teaching frugality when He
blessed the loaves and fishes with which He fed the disciples, 48
excellently illustrating indifference about food. (14) Then,
that other fish which Peter caught at the Lord's bidding 49 is
a good example of food easily gained, given by God, yet with-
in the limits of self-restraint. In reality, Peter was commanded
to rid those who rise to the bait of justice, from out the
water, of all extravagance and love of money, just as he
took the coin from the fish, in order to free them of vain
ostentation; though he gave the stater to the tax-collector,
rendering to Caesar what was Caesar's, he was commanded
to keep for God what belonged to God. The stater could be
explained in other ways, too, which would all be reasonable
enough, but this is not the proper place to treat such ex-
planations. It is enough to mention them in passing as we go
on to ideas in keeping with our theme, ever keeping before
ourselves the subject under discussion. This we have already
done many times, drawing from the ever-useful fountain to
irrigate the plants sown by our discussion for the main point at
issue.
If it is true that 'it is lawful for me to partake of all
things,' still, 'not all things are expedient.' 50 For, they who
take advantage of everything that is lawful rapidly deteriorate
47 1 Cor. 10.31.
48 Cf. John 21.9.
49 Cf. Matt. 17.27.
50 1 Cor. 10.23.
106 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
into doing what is not lawful. Just as justice is not acquired
through covetousness, or temperance through licentiousness,
so, too, the Christian way of life is not achieved by self-indul-
gence. Far from 'lust-exciting delicacies' 51 is the table of
truth. Even though all things have been created particularly
for man, it is not well to make use of all things, nor to use
them at all times. Surely, the occasion and the time, the
manner and the motive, make some difference to one who
is being educated [by Christ] to what is profitable. It is
this goal that provides the strength we need to restrain our-
selves from living lives centered about the table. Wealth
chooses that sort of life, for its vision is blunted; it is an
abundance that blinds in the matter of gluttony.
No one is destitute when it comes to the necessities of life,
nor does any man need to look far for these. 52 For, He who
provides for the birds and the fish, and, in a word, for un-
reasoning beasts, is one God. 53 They lack nothing, yet they
are not anxious about their food. But we are better than they,
because we are their masters, and are more akin to God,
to the degree that we practise self-control. We have been
created, not to eat and drink, but to come to the knowledge
of God. The just man,' Scripture says, 'eateth and filleth his
soul; but the belly of the wicked is ever in want,' 54 ever hun-
gry with a greed that cannot be quenched.
Lavishness is not capable of being enjoyed alone ; it must be
bestowed upon others. (15) That is why we should shy
away from foods that arouse the appetite and lead us to eat
when we are not hungry. Even in moderate frugality, is there
51 Cf. Adesp. 887, CAF III 562.
52 Cf. Seneca, Ep. 17.9.
53 Cf. Matt. 6.26; Job 38.41.
54 Prov. 13.25.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 107
not a rich and wholesome variety? Roots, 55 olives, all sorts
of green vegetables, milk, cheese, fruits, and cooked vegetables
of all sorts, but without the sauces. And should there be
need for meat, boiled or dressed, let it be given. 'Have you
anything here to eat? 5 the Lord asked His Apostles after His
resurrection. 'And they offered Him a piece of broiled fish,'
because He had taught them to practise frugality. 'And when
He had finished eating, He said to them,' 56 and Luke goes on
to record all that He said. We should not overlook the fact,
either, that they who dine according to reason, or, rather,
according to the Word, 57 are not required to leave sweet-
meats and honey out of their fare. Surely, of all the foods
available, the most convenient are those which can be used
immediately without being cooked. Inexpensive foods come
next in order, since these are so accessible, as we have already
said.
As long as those other fellows stay hunched over their
groaning tables, catering to their lusts, the devil of gluttony
leads them by the nose. I, for one, would not hesitate to call
that devil the devil of the belly, the most wicked and deadly
of them all. He is very much like the so-called engastri-
mythos because he speaks, as it were, through his belly. It
is far better to possess happiness than to have any daemon as
a companion; 59 happiness is the practise of the virtues.
(16) Matthew the Apostle used to make his meal on
55 The Scholion says here: 'Father, what a word escapes the fence of
thy teeth! (Iliad 4.350) For what food is harder to cook and more
difficult to prepare than roots?'
56 Luke 24.41-44.
57 Idgos, here used to suggest both 'reason* and the 'Word/
58 A woman who delivered an oracle, usually by ventriloquism, throwing
her voice to her stomach. Literally, the word means 'speaking through
the stomach.' Cf. Aristotle, NIC. Eth. 3.11 18B.
59 Aristotle, op. cit. 1.1097R-1098A. A play on the word for 'happiness'
(cu-daimon) .
108 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
seeds and nuts and herbs, without flesh meat; John, maintain-
ing extreme self-restraint, 'ate locusts and wild-honey' ; 60 and
Peter abstained from pork. But, 'he fell into an ecstasy,' it is
written in the Acts of the Apostles, 'and saw heaven standing
open and a certain vessel let down by the four corners to the
earth; and in it were all the four-footed beasts and creeping
things of the earth and birds of the air. And there came a
voice to him : Arise and kill and eat. But Peter said : Far be
it from me, Lord, for never did I eat anything common or
unclean. And there came a voice a second time to him : What
God has cleansed, do not thou call common.' 61 The use of
these foods is a matter of indifference for us, too, 'for not
that which goes into the mouth defiles a man,' 62 but the
barren pursuit of wantonness. When God formed man, He
said: 'All these things will be food for you.' 63
'Herbs with love rather than a fatted calf with deceit.' 64
This is reminiscent of what we said before, that herbs are
not the Agape, but that meals should be taken with charity.
A middle course is good in all things, and no less so in serving
a banquet. Extremes, in fact, are dangerous, but the mean is
good, 65 and all that avoids dire need is a mean. Natural
desires have a limit set to them by self-sufficiency.
(17) Among the Jews, frugality was made a matter of
precept by a very wise dispensation of the Law. The Educator
forbade them the use of innumerable things, and He ex-
plained the reasons, the spiritual ones hidden, the material
ones obvious, but all of which they trusted. Some animals
[were forbidden] because they were cloven-footed; others,
60 Matt. 3.4.
61 Acts. 10.10-15.
62 Matt. 5.11.
63 Cf. Gen. 129.
64 Prov. 15.17.
65 Cf. Seneca, Ep. 5, passim.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 109
because they did not ruminate their food; a third class, be-
cause they, alone among all the fish of the seas, had no
scales; 66 until, finally, there were only a few things left fit
for food. And, even of those He permitted them to touch,
He placed a prohibition on the ones found dead or offered
to idols or strangled. 67 They could not even touch them. He
imposed upon them a contrary course of action until the
inclination engendered by habits of easy living be broken, be-
cause it is difficult for one who indulges in pleasures to keep
himself from returning to them.
Among men, pleasure generally gives rise to some sense of
loss and of regret; overeating begets in the soul only pain and
lethargy and shallow-mindedness. It is said, too, the bodies of
the young in the period of their physical maturing are able
to grow because they are somewhat lacking in nourishment;
the life-principle which fosters growth is not encumbered
on the contrary, an excess of food would block the freedom
of its course.
(18) So it is that he who of all philosophers so praised
truth, Plato, gave new life to the dying ember of Hebrew
philosophy by condemning a life spent in revelry: 'When
I arrived,' he said, 'what is here called a life of pleasure,
filled with Italian and Syracusan meals, was very repulsive
to me. It is a life in which one gorges oneself twice a day,
sleeps not only during the night, and engages in all the pas-
times that go with this sort of life. No one upon earth could
ever become wise in this way, if from his youth he had fol-
lowed such pursuits as these, nor would he ever attain in that
way any reputation for an excellent physique.' 68 Surely, Plato
was not unacquainted with David, who, when he was settling
66 Cf. Lev. 11; Deut. 14.
67 Cf. Deut. 14.3-21; Acts 2155.
68 Plato, Ep. 7.326BC.
1 10 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
the holy ark in the middle of the tabernacle of his city, made
a feast for all his obedient subjects and 'before the face of the
Lord, distributed to all the multitude of Israel, both men and
women, to everyone, a cake of bread and baked bread and
pan-cakes from the frying-pan/ 69 This food sufficed, this food
of Israel; that of the Gentiles is extravagance.
'You will never be able to become wise 5 if you indulge in
such extravagance, burying your mind deep in your belly;
you will resemble the so-called ass-fish which Aristotle claims
is the only living thing which has its heart in its stomach, 70
and which the comic poet Epicharmis entitles 4 the huge-
bellied.' 71 Such are the men who trust in their belly, 'whose
god is their belly, whose glory is their shame, who mind the
things of earth.' 72 For such men the Apostle makes a predic-
tion foreboding nothing good, for he concludes: ' whose end
is ruin. 5
Chapter 2
(19) 'Use a little wine,' the Apostle cautions the water-
drinking Timothy, 'use a little wine for thy stomach's sake. 51
Shrewdly, he recommends a stimulating remedy for a body
become ill-disposed and requiring medical attention, but he
adds 'a little,' lest the remedy, taken too freely, itself come
to need a cure.
Now, the natural and pure drink demanded by ordinary
thirst is water. This it was that the Lord supplied for the
69 2 Kings 6.19. (Septuagint) .
70 Aristotle, Frag. 326, in V. Rose, Aristotelis Fragmenta (Leip/ig 1886) .
71 Epicharmis, Frag. 67, in G. Kaibel Fragmenta poetarum graecorum
VI 1 (1899).
72 Phil. 3.19.
1 1 Tim. 5.23.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 1 1 1
Hebrews, causing it to gush from the split rock, 2 as their only
drink, a drink of sobriety; it was particularly necessary that
they who were still wandering should keep far from wine.
Later on, a sacred vine put forth a cluster of grapes that was
prophetic; 3 to those who had been led by the Educator to
a place of rest after their wanderings it was a sign, for the
great cluster of grapes is the Word crushed on our account. 4
The Word desired that the 'blood of the grape' 5 be mixed
with water as a symbol that His own blood is an integral
element in salvation.
Now, the blood of the Lord is twofold: one is corporeal,
redeeming us from corruption; 6 the other is spiritual, and it
is with that we are anointed. To drink the blood of Jesus is to
participate in His incorruption. 7 Yet, the Spirit is the strength
of the Word in the same way that blood is of the body. (20)
Similarly, wine is mixed with water and the Spirit is joined to
man; the first, the mixture, provides feasting that faith may
be increased; the other, the Spirit, leads us on to incorruption.
The union of both, that is, of the potion and the Word, is
called the Eucharist, 8 a gift worthy of praise and surpas-
singly fair; those who partake of it are sanctified in body and
soul, for it is the will of the Father that man, a composite
made by God, be united to the Spirit and to the Word. 9 In
2 Cf. Exod. 17.6: Num. 20.11.
3 Cf. Num. 13.24.
4 Cf. Isa. 53.5,10.
5 Cf. Gen. 49.11; Eccli, 50.16.
6 1 Pet. 1.8.
7 Cf. John 6.55. . , r
8 Cf above p. 122 n. 40. De la Barre sees in this passage a clear reference
to ' the Eucharistic Sacrament ('Clement de'Alexandrie,' DTC III,
9 pneuma and I6gos: these two words seem to refer in this context to
the Third and Second Persons of the Trinity.
112 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
fact, the Spirit is closely joined to the soul depending upon
Him, and the flesh to the Word, because it was for it that
'the Word was made flesh/ 10
I have, then, only admiration for those who profess an
austere life, limiting their desires to water, nourishment of
sobriety, and avoiding wine as completely as they can, as they
would the least threat of fire. It is conceded that boys
and girls should, as a general rule, be kept from this sort of
drink. It is not well for flaming youth to be filled with the
most inflamable of all liquids, wine, for that would be like
pouring fire upon fire. When they are under its influence,
wild impulses, festering lusts, and hot-bloodedness are aroused;
youths already on fire within are so much on the verge of
satisfying their passions that the injury inflicted on them
becomes evident by anticipation in their bodies, that is, the
organs of lust mature before they should. I mean that, as the
wine takes effect, the youths begin to grow heated from
passion, without inhibition, and the breasts and sexual organs
swell as a harbinger and an image of the act of fornication.
The wound in their soul compels the body to manifest all
the signs of passion, and the unrestrained throbbings aroused
by temptation drive on into sin the curiosity of him who before
had been sinless. (21 ) At that point, the freshness of youth has
exceeded the bounds of modesty. Therefore, it is imperative
to attempt to extinguish the beginnings of passion in the
young, as far as posible: first, by excluding them from all
that will inflame them Bacchus and his threat and second,
by pouring on the antidote 11 that will restrain the smouldering
soul, contain the aroused sexual movements, and calm the
agitation of the storm-tossed desires.
10 John 1.4.
11 The Scholion says this refers to water.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 113
As for adults, when they take their midday lunch, if that is
their practise, let them take only a little bread and no liquids
at all, so that the excessive moisture in their bodies may
be assimilated and absorbed by the dry food. It is an indi-
cation, in fact, of disorder in the body caused by an excessive
accumulation of liquids flowing through it, if we need to blow
our noses constantly and experience a persistent urge to
urinate. If they should become thirsty, let them relieve their
thirst with water, but not too much of it. It is not good to
drink water too freely, lest the food be simply washed away;
the meal should be masticated to prepare it for digestion, only
a little of it finally passing off as waste.
(22) Minds that bear something of the divine should not
be overcome with wine for another reason, too. 'Strong wine/
in the words of the comic poet, 'keeps a man from thinking
many thoughts' 12 or, in fact, from being wise at all. But
toward evening, near the time for supper, we may use wine,
since we are no longer engaged in the public lectures which
demand the absence of wine. At that time of day, the tem-
perature has turned cooler than it was at midday, so that we
need to stimulate the failing natural heat of the body with a
little artificial warmth. But, even then, we must use only a
little wine; certainly, we should not go so far as to demand
whole bowls of it, because that would be sheer extravagance.
Again, those who have already passed the prime of life may
be permitted more readily to enjoy their cup. They are but
harmlessly making use of the medicine of wine to stimulate
new warmth for the growing chill of old age as its heat dies
down with the years. The passions of the aged are, for the
most part, no longer storm-tossed with the threat of shipwreck
from intemperance. Securely moored by the anchors of rea-
12 Menander, Frag. 779, CAf 111 216.
1 14 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
son and of maturity, they easily bear the violent storm of
passion aroused by drink, and they can even indulge in the
merriment of feasts with composure. But, even for them, there
is a limit: the point where they can still keep their minds
clear, their memories active, and their bodies steady and
under control, despite the wine. Those who know about these
things call this the last drop before too much. (23) It is well
to stop short before this point, for fear of disaster.
A certain Artorius, I recall, in a book on longevity, is of
the opinion that we should drink only so much as is needed
to moisten our food, if we would live a long life. It is certainly
a good idea to use wine, as some do, only for the sake of
health, as a tonic, or for relaxation and enjoyment, as others
do. Wine makes the man who drinks more mellow toward
himself, better disposed toward his servants, and more genial
with his friends. 13 But, when he is overcome by wine, then
he returns every offense of a drunken neighbor.
Wine is warm and gives out a sweet smell; therefore, in the
proper mixture it thaws out the constipation of the intestines
and with its sweetness dilutes every pungent or offensive
odor. A quotation from Scripture will express it aptly : 'Wine
drunken with moderation was created from the beginning as
the joy of the soul and of the heart.' 14 But it is wise to dilute
the wine with as much water as possible (and to avoid de-
pending upon it as we do water), as well as to restrain our
appetite for drinking bouts and to keep from drinking wine
like water simply from intemperance. Both are creatures of
God, and so the mixture of both, water and wine, contributes
to our health. Life is made up of what is necessary, together
with what is merely useful. (24) The merely useful should
13 Cf. Plato, Laws 649A.
14 Eccli. 31.36.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 1 15
be combined with a very large part of what is necessary, that
is, with water.
When wine is indulged in too freely, the tongue becomes
thick, the jaw sags, the eyes begin to roll, for all the world as
if they were swimming in pools of moisture, and the vision,
forced to deceive, conceives everything as going round in a
circle, and is not sure whether things are single or double.
Indeed, I think I see two suns/ the old Theban in his cups
complained. 15 Truly, the sense of sight is deranged by the
heat of wine and imagines it sees many times over what is only
one. But there is no difference between deranging the sense
of sight and distorting the object that is seen : in either case,
the vision is affected the same way in its derangement and
cannot accurately perceive the object. Similarly, the gait takes
on the appearance of being swept along in a stream, and then
there arises, as maids-in-waiting, hiccoughing, retching, and
silliness. For, 'every man overcome by wine,' says the trage-
dian, 'becomes subject to his passions and empty of mind,
pours out idle chatter and is forced to hear against his will
things he had said so willingly.' 16 Even before these words
were written, Wisdom had warned: 'Wine drunken with
excess raiseth quarrels and many ruins.' 17
(25) That is why there is a common saying that we
should relax over our cups and postpone serious business until
dawn. But it seems to me that it is especially at that time
that we should invite reason to be our companion at a feast
and the controlling guide of our drinking, lest our feasting
turn gradually into rioting. For, just as no one in his right
mind would think of going about with his eyes shut until he
15 Euripides, Bacch. 918. The Scholion, however, says he means Pindar.
16 Sophocles, Frag. 843.
17 Eccli. 31.38.
116 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
was trying to sleep, so, too, no one has the right deliberately
to dismiss reason from his table, or lull it to sleep on set
purpose before some action. On her part, reason will never
be able to separate herself from those who belong to her,
even when they sleep; in fact, reason must be summoned to
our beds. Wisdom, in its perfection, is the understanding of
things human and divine, and includes all things; therefore, it
is the art of living in that it presides over the human race. In
that way, it is everywhere present wherever we live, ever
accomplishing its work, which is living well.
But those pitiable people who exile temperance from their
gatherings deem life the happiest when it turns into a wild
drinking bout. Their life is nothing but carousing, drunken
headaches, baths, undiluted wine, chamber-pots, idleness,
and drinking. (26) You can see some of them, indeed, half-
drunk, stumbling over themselves, with wreathes around
their necks as though they were bottles, 18 spitting wine on one
another in the name of good-fellowship; and others, too, suf-
fering from the after-effects, unwashed, pallid, with flushed
faces, yet, despite yesterday's spree, still gulping down one
drink after the other. It is worth while, my friends, worth
while indeed, to study this ridiculous yet pitiful picture, but
at as great a distance as we can manage, and mend ourselves
for the better, lest we ourselves some time may make a similar
spectacle of ourselves, as ridiculous as they. It has been well
said: 'As the kiln trieth the hard iron dipped in it, wine
makes the heart arrogant' (in drunkenness). 19
The excessive use of undiluted wine is intemperance; the
18 According to the Scholion, Clement is thinking here of the cords and
strings attached to amphorae.
19 Cf. Eccli. 31.31; but in the Septuagint, from which this text is taken,
34.26.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 117
disorderliness resulting from it is drunkenness; and the dis-
comfort and indisposition felt after indulgence is called the
after-effect. The Greek name for this is a word that etymolo-
gically means 'to lose control of the head.' 20 (27) This sort
of life if it can be called living is sluggish, intent only on
enjoying pleasure, yet feverish in its passion for wine. Divine
Wisdom, in its distrust for such a life, commands her children :
'Be not a wine-bibber, and do not reach out with your money
for purchases of meat, for every drunkard and fornicator shall
come to beggary, and every sleeper shall put on rags.' 21 Every-
one who does not bestir himself to gain wisdom is a sleeper;
he prefers to sleep deluged in drink. The drunkard, it says,
will put on rags; he will become ashamed of his drunken-
ness because of those who see him. The rags of earthly gar-
ments are the torn [vesture] of the sinner, rent by his self-
indulgences through which the shame of his soul within is
exposed to view, that is, his sin because of which the garment
that is so hopelessly tattered, so rotted away into countless
lusts, so alien to salvation, will not easily be saved.
So it is that it adds as a stern warning: 'Who hath woe?
Who hath contentions? Who falls into judgment? Who hath
wounds without cause?' There you see the drunkard all in
rags, neglecting reason and surrendering entirely to drink,
despite all that Scripture has threatened him with. It adds
more to the threat : 'Who hath redness of eyes? Are they not
those that pass their time in wine? And those that seek where
drink is?' 22 By the mention of redness of eyes a sign of
death it is made clear that the wine-bibber is already dead
to the Word and to reason: it declares his death to the Lord.
20 kraipdle, which Clement wrongly derives from kdra pdllein.
21 Prov. 23.20,21 (Septuagint) .
22 Prov. 23.29,30.
118 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
If one forgets the motives that prompt him to seek the true
life, he is dragged down to corruption. (28) With good rea-
son, then, the Educator, in His concern for our salvation,
sternly forbids us: 'Do not drink wine to drunkenness.' And
do you ask why? 'Because, 5 He answers, Thy mouth will utter
wicked things, and you will lie as though in the middle of the
sea, and as the pilot in the great billowing.' 23
Poetry comes to our aid, too, and warns: 'Whenever wine
enters into a man with strength like fire, it tosses him on
waves, as the north or south wind does the Libyan Sea/ 24
and 'Making them talk wildly, wine reveals all that has been
hid; it is the ruin of those who drink; soul-deceiving wine,' 25
and so on through the rest of the passage. Do you not see the
danger of shipwreck? The heart is battered by the flood of
drink, and the quantity of wine drunk is like a threatening
sea in which a man is swallowed like a ship in distress at sea;
he sinks to the depths of disorderliness, drowned by huge
waves of wine. The pilot, that is, the human mind, is tossed
about by the billows of the overabundant wine, and in the
middle of the whirlpool of a hurricane with its darkness fails
to discover the harbor of truth, until, dashed against the
hidden reefs, it is hurled upon the rocks of pleasure and
destroyed.
(29) The Apostle commands, therefore, with good rea-
son: 'Do not be drunk with wine, for in that is much de-
bauchery/ 26 by debauchery meaning the hopeless state of
the drunkard. Christ turned water into wine at the marriage
feast, 27 but He did not encourage them to become drunk. He
23 Prov. 23.31,33,34 (Septuagint) .
24 Eratosthenes, Frag. 34 (Hiller) .
25 From an unknown poet.
26 Eph. 5.18
27 John 2.7,8.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 1 19
was infusing life into the water of a [lukewarm] heart, pouring
the blood of the vine into the whole world that was expected
to fulfill the law born of Adam; 28 that is, He was supplying
piety with a drink of truth, a mixture of the Old Law and the
New Word, until the fulfillment of the time already decided
upon. Scripture, then, always uses wine in a mystical sense,
as a symbol of the holy Blood, and always repudiates any
intemperate use made of it : 'Wine is licentious, and drunken-
ness is wanton.' 29
It is in conformity with right reason that those who are
very susceptible to cold use wine during the winter to keep
from shivering and at other seasons of the year to take
proper care of their stomach. Just as food is permitted to
relieve hunger, so drink is to ease thirst, provided the
greatest caution is taken against any abuse, for tasting wine
is fraught with danger. If such a policy is followed, our
souls should become clean and dry and lightsome: 'a soul
that is dry is a light very wise and very noble.' 30 So, too, it
will be initiated into the mysteries; its substance will not be-
come oversaturated with water, from the mists rising like a
cloud from wine.
(30) There should never be any wild search for Chian
wine when it is not available, nor for Ariousian when that
28 This is a difficult passage, with the syntax almost unintelligible.
Another possible translation, that of E. Molland, The Conception of
the Gospel in the Alexandrian Theology (Oslo 1938) 25-26: 4 He gave
life to the watery element of the meaning of the Law, filling with
the blood of the Vine, the true drink, him who was the doer of the
Law ever since Adam, i.e., the whole world, holding out to the [sic]
piety the mixture of the Old Law and the New Word as a fulfillment
of the time which had been foreordained in the preaching [of the
Old Testament].'
29 Prov. 20.1.
30 Heraclitus, Frag. 74, in H. Diels, Die Fragmente der Vorsakratikcr,
griechisch und deutsch (Berlin 1903) .
120 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
fails. Thirst is simply the awareness of a need and requires
only a relief corresponding to the need, one that will satisfy
it, not deluge the mind. Importing wines from across the
seas indicates cupidity grown soft from self-indulgence and a
soul deranged by passion before it took to drink. There is the
Thasian wine, which is sweet-smelling; Lesbian wine, which is
fragrant; the Crean sweet wine; Syracusan pleasant-tasting
wine; Mendesian wine from Egypt; insular Nazian wine; and
Italian wine that is redolent of flowers. There exist all these
various brands of wine, but for the temperate drinker it is
only wine cultivated by the one only God. Why in the world is
native wine insufficient to satisfy the taste? They even import
water, as those foolish kings imported Choaspian water
(from the so-called Choaspis river where the purest drinking
water is found), cherishing this water as they would their
dearest friends. 31 The Holy Spirit declares the rich wretched
in their self-indulgence, exclaiming through the mouth of
Amos: 'Those who drink purified wine, and sleep upon
beds of ivory,' 32 and He adds other remarks to manifest His
displeasure.
(31) We ought also to give special thought here to pro-
per decorum. (Legend has it that even Athena, whoever she
is, prudently renounced the pleasure of her flute because it
made her look undignified.) We should drink without turning
our head about, without swallowing all we can hold, without
feeling compelled to roll our eyes around in the presence of
the drink, and without draining the cup in one gulp with
utter lack of self-control; thus we will not wet our chin or
our clothes as we tip the cup all at once, practically washing
or bathing our face in it. It is certainly a disgusting and
31 Modern Karhkeh in Iran and Iraq.
32 Cf. Amos 6.6,4.
CHRIST THF EDUCATOR 121
undignified spectacle of self-indulgence to see a person
greedily swallowing a drink with noisy intake of air, with a
noise like a liquid being poured into an earthen jar, and
making sounds with his throat from the forced swallowing.
Besides, hasty drinking is a harmful practise to one who does
it. If you are such a one, do not by excessive haste hurt
yourself; your drink will not be snatched away; it was but
just now given you, it will wait. Do not hurry to burst with such
hasty drinking. Your thirst will be relieved just as well if you
drink slowly, maintaining proper dignity and sipping the
drink bit by bit in becoming manner. Time will not rob
self-indulgence of that which it is in such hurry to grasp. 'Do
not be foolhardy in wine,' Scripture says, 'for wine has
destroyed very many. 533
(32) 'The Scythians and the Celts and the Iberians and
the Thracians engage in drunkenness freely, for all of them
are warrior nations, and they think they are following a noble
and pleasant occupation.' 34 Let us who are a peaceful people
give our feasts and drink our cup of friendship without wine,
just to enjoy ourselves, not to commit sin; then, indeed, in
keeping with its name, that cup will be recognized as proving
friendship. How do you think the Lord drank when He had
become man for our sake? As shamelessly as we do? Was it not
rather with good manners, with dignity, and leisurely? You
are aware, of course, that He, too, took wine; He, too, was
man. In fact, He blessed wine, saying: 'Take, drink, this is
My blood.' 35 He used the 'blood of the vine' 36 as a figure of
the Word who 'was shed for us unto the remission of sins,' 37 a
33 Cf. Eccli. 31.30; in the Septuagint, from which this reading is taken,
34.24.
34 Plato, Laws I 637DE.
35 Cf. Mark 14.25.
36 Cf. Cen. 49.11; Eccli. 50.16.
37 Matt. 26.28.
122 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
stream of gladness. From the things He taught about banquets,
He plainly insisted that one who drinks must keep self-control.
He set the example by not drinking freely Himself. Yet, He
proved that what He blessed was really wine when He said to
His disciples: 'I will not drink of this fruit of the vine, until
that day when I shall drink it with you in the kingdom of
My Father/ 38 And that it was really wine which He drank,
He said on another occasion when He reproached the Jews
with their hardness of heart: 'The Son of Man came, and
they say: Behold a glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of
publicans.' 39 (33) This is a quotation we can use to make
the Encratites 40 look ridiculous.
As for women, who are especially trained in good manners,
if only they would not keep their lips wide open as they
drink from big cups, with their mouths distorted out of
shape! And if only they would not lean their heads back
when they drain vessels narrow of neck, thereby exposing their
throats with or so it seems to me such immodesty ! They
hold their chins high as they pour the drink down, as if they
were trying to reveal as much of themselves as they can to their
companions at table ; then they belch like men, or, rather, like
slaves, and at their carousals begin to play the coquet. There
is no fault that can be excused in a man of reason, and much
less so in a woman to whom notoriety, whoever she is, brings
only disgrace. 'A drunken woman,' in the words of Scripture,
'is a great wrath,' 41 as if to say that a woman become dis-
solute from wine is the wrath of God. Why? Because 'her
shameless conduct shall not be hid.' A woman is quickly
38 Matt. 26.29.
39 Matt. 11.19.
40 An heretical sect which practised austere asceticism in a Gnostic
distrust of matter.
41 Eccli. 26.11.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 123
drawn into immorality even by only giving consent to pleasure.
Now, we have not proscribed drinking from precious al-
abaster cups, but we do condemn as overostentatious the
practise of drinking from them alone. We recommend indif-
ference in using whatever is at hand, and a desire to restrain
desires, for desires always and repeatedly betray a person into
sin. The emission of the breath in a belch should be made
noiselessly. Women are not at all to be allowed to expose or
lay bare any part of their bodies, lest both men and women
fall: the one by being aroused to steal glances, the other by
attracting the eyes of men to themselves. We must always be-
have with good manners, realizing that the Lord is present,
so that He may never say to us reproachfully what the
Apostle said to the Corinthians: 'When you meet together, it
is no longer to eat the Lord's Supper.' 42
(34) It strikes me that the constellation called by astron-
omers 'the Headless', enumerated just before the Wandering
Star, its head sunk upon its breast, is a figure of those who are
so indulgent in their foods, so given over to pleasure, and of
those who are so fond of wine. Certainly, the reasoning power
of such men is not located in their head, but in their stomach,
for it is the slave of passion and lust and gluttony. Truly,
just as Elpenor fell down in a drunken stupor and broke his
neck, 43 their mind, become dizzy from excessive drink, falls
down to the liver and the heart, that is, to love of pleasure and
to passion. This is a greater fall than that which the tribe of
poets tell us Hephaestus took when cast down by Zeus from
heaven to earth. 44
'The pain of sleeplessness and cholera and cramp are with
42 1 Cor. 11.20.
43 Odysseus 10.560.
44 Cf. Iliad 1.590-593.
124 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
the intemperate man, 545 it is written. That is why the drunken-
ness of Noe also has been described, 40 so that we may guard
against drunkenness as much as possible, with the picture of
such a fall clearly described before our eyes in Scripture. That
is why, too, the Lord blessed those who covered the shame of
his drunkenness.
Scripture, summing everything up in one succint verse,
has said : 'Wine that is sufficient for a man well taught, and
upon his bed, he shall rest. 547
Chapter 3
(35) The use of drinking cups made of gold or silver,
and of those set with precious stones, is without any purpose
at all, a fraudulent display merely for the eyes. Either some-
one pours a hot drink into such a cup, and it becomes too
hot to be handled with comfort ; or something cold, and then
the drink is spoiled, no matter how costly it was, because it
changes its nature and even becomes poisonous. Away, then,
with all Thericleian and Antigonidan chalices, with scarab-
and greed- and limpet-cups and the thousand and one other
varieties, and along with them, wine-coolers and wine-pourers
as well! 1
'Gold and silver, in general, are a possession that corrupts
both the individual and the community/ 2 for they exceed the
45 Eccli. 31.23.
46 Cf. Gen. 9.21.
47 Eccli. 31.22.
1 According to the Scholion, these cups were of all different shapes,
adapted to the convenience of the drinkers. The first two were named
from their inventors; the next three, from their shapes.
2 Cf. Plato, Laws XII 955E.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 125
demands of real need, are possessed too rarely, are difficult to
retain, and are not suited for ordinary use. Surely, the
elaborate ostentatiousness of glass-workers should find no
place in a well-regulated way of life, because the overdelicate
artistry of the glass makes it more easily broken, and us ever-
fearful as we drink. Besides that, couches made of silver,
dishes and saucers, the smaller dishes and bowls of silver, and
other gold and silver utensils, some for serving food, others
for needs I blush to name, 'three-legged stools worked of
soft cedar, of thyme, ebony and ivory,' 3 couches with silver
legs and inlaid with ivory, folding-doors speckled with gold
and embellished with tortoise-shell, blankets dyed in purple
and other fast dyes, all these things are manifestations of
vulgar self-indulgence, of the treacherous and selfish devices
of envy and sloth and must be absolutely forbidden, for they
do not serve one single worth-while purpose. Tor the time is
short,' the Apostle says. 4
This is to say that we should not make ourselves ridiculous,
like the women who can be seen in processions, painted up
outlandishly exteriorly, but interiorly wretched. (36) To
leave no doubt, [the Apostle] adds in greater detail: 'It re-
mains that those who have wives be as if they had none, and
those who buy as though not possessing.' 5 Now, if that is
said of wedlock, of which God commands: 'Increase and
multiply,' 6 can you doubt that such vulgar display is to be
banished, on the authority of the Lord Himself? Indeed, the
Lord also said: 'Sell what thou hast, and give to the poor and
come follow Me.' 7 Follow God, rid of false pretenses, rid of
3 Odysseus 5.60.
4 1 Cor. 7.29. The text is defective here.
5 1 Cor. 7.29,30.
6 Gen. 1.28.
7 Matt. 19.21.
126 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
pomp that perishes, possessing only what is really yours, the
good that cannot be taken from you: faith in God, belief
in Him who suffered, good works toward men, your most
valuable possessions.
As for me, I heartily approve of Plato's forthright legisla-
tion : 'one ought not to labor to possess wealth of gold or sil-
ver,' 8 or superfluous utensils, either, because they exceed the
limits of moderation if they do not serve some practical pur-
pose. A utensil should be adaptable to many varied services,
so that we can eliminate excessive possessions. Divine Scrip-
ture says aptly somewhere: 'Where are the princes of the
nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon
the earth? That take their diversion with the birds of the air?
That hoard up silver and gold wherein men trust, and there
is no end of their getting? Who work in silver and gold and
are solicitous? And their works are unsearchable. They are
cut off and gone down to hell.' 9 (37) That is the reward
for their cheap ostentatiousness. Certainly, if we need a hoe or
a plough for farm work, we would never fashion a one-
pronged silver pickaxe to serve as a two-pronged hoe, or a
golden harrow for our plough. We would look not for a
precious metal, but for one suitable for tilling the soil. When
it comes to household utensils, what prevents those who have
a similar useful purpose in mind from manifesting the same
sense of values? Expensiveness should not be the goal in
objects whose purpose is usefulness. Why? Tell me, does a
table knife refuse to cut if it be not studded with silver or
have a handle of ivory? Must it be made of Indian steel to
cut a piece of meat, like a man in search of an ally? What
difference does it make if the wash basin be only of clay?
8 Plato, Laws VII 801B.
9 Bar. 3.16-19.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 127
Will it not hold water anyway to wash the hands? And the
foot basin, water to wash the feet? Will a table with legs
carved of ivory take it ill that it supports only bread worth
one obol, or will a lamp refuse to shed light because it came
from the hands not of a goldsmith, but of the potter? A lowly
cot affords no worse repose than an ivory bed, and the goat-
hair cloak can so easily be thrown over one as covering that
there is no need of special purple and crimson-dyed blankets. 10
Yet, for my part, I still say that I am accused of frugality
because of the stupidity engendered by self-indulgence, the
mother of all evil.
(38) See how great an error this is, and what a false
sense of beauty. The Lord ate His meal from an inexpensive
bowl; 11 made His disciples recline on the ground, upon
grass; 12 washed their feet, girding Himself with a linen towel;
He, the humble God, Lord of the universe, carried a foot
basin made, be it noted, of no precious silver brought from
heaven. 13 He asked the Samaritan woman, who had drawn
water from the well with a bucket made only of clay, to give
Him to drink; 14 He did not seek the gold of kings, but taught
us to rest content with what will quench thirst. Beyond
question, He confined Himself to the useful, not the ostenta-
tious, good. When He ate and drank at banquets, He did not
require metals dug out of the earth, or dishes that tasted of
gold or silver, that is, poison, as if exuding from steaming
matter.
I maintain, then, that food and clothing and dishes, and, in
a word, all the items of the household, ought to be, as a gene-
10 Cf. Musonius, in Stobaeus, Florilegium 85.20.
11 Cf. Matt. 26.23.
12 Cf. Matt. 14.19.
13 John 13.43.
14 John 4.7.
128 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
ral rule, in keeping with a Christian way of life and in con-
formity with what is fitting, adapted to person, age, occupa-
tion, and occasion. For we are servants of the one God, and so
ought to insure that our belongings and the equipment needed
for them manifest the one noble way of life. Every individual,
in unquestioning faith and in his own individual way of life,
should openly perform the duties that naturally follow from,
and are consonant with, this one mentality. We easily praise
what we acquire by using them with contentment of mind,
by preserving them readily, and by sharing them readily.
Certainly, things that have a practical utility are better; there-
fore, inexpensive things are obviously better than costly.
Generally speaking, riches that are not under complete
control are the citadel of evil. If the ordinary people look
on them covetously, they will never enter the kingdom of
heaven, 15 because they are letting themselves become con-
taminated by the things of this world and are living above
themselves in self-indulgence. (39) Those concerned for their
salvation should take this as their first principle, that, although
the whole of creation is ours to use, the universe is made for
the sake of self-sufficiency, which anyone can acquire by a
few things. They who rejoice in the holdings in their store-
houses are foolish in their greed. 'He that hath earned wages,'
Scripture reminds us, 'put them into a bag with holes.' 16
Such is the man who gathers and stores up his harvest, 17 for
by not sharing his wealth with anyone he becomes worse off.
It is farcical and downright ridiculous for men to bring out
urinals of silver and chamber-pots of transparent alabaster, as
if grandly ushering in their advisers, and for rich women in
15 Cf. Matt. 19.23.
16 Ag. 1.6.
17 Cf. Luke 12.16-21.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 129
their silliness to have privies made of gold. It is as if the wealthy
were not able even to relieve nature except in a grandiose
style. Yet I would wish that for the rest of their lives they
considered gold worthy only of dung. 18
But, as it is, love of money is proved to be the citadel of
evil, and, as the Apostle says, 'the root of all evil.' 'Some in
their eagerness to get rich have strayed from the faith, and
have involved themselves in many troubles.' 19 Poverty of
heart is the true wealth, 20 and the true nobility is not that
founded on riches, but that which comes from a contempt for
it. 21 It is disgraceful to boast about one's possessions; not to be
concerned about them any longer very clearly proves the
just man. Anyone who wishes can buy such things from the
market; but wisdom is bought, not with any earthly coin, nor
in any market, but is acquired in heaven, at a good price:
the incorruptible Word, the gold of kings.
Chapter 4
(40) In the feasts of reason that we have, let the wild
celebrations of the holiday season have no part, or the sense-
less night-long parties that delight in wine-drinking. The wild
celebration ends up as a drunken stupor, with everyone freely
confiding the troubles of his love affairs. But love affairs and
drunkenness are both contrary to reason, and therefore do not
belong to our sort of celebrations. And as for all-night drink-
ing parties, they go hand-in-hand with the holiday celebration
18 Cf. Phil. 3.8.
19 Cf. 1 Tim. 6.10.
20 Cf. Matt. 5.3. , . , . . ,
21 A play on words: 'true nobility* he calls megalo-phronetn, ( to tnmK
great things') , identifying it with kato-phronein ('to think down
upon') .
130 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
and, in their wine-drinking, promote drunkenness and prom-
iscuity. They are brazen celebrations that work deeds of
shame. The exciting rhythm of flutes and harps, choruses and
dances, Egyptian castanets and other entertaiments get out
of control and become indecent and burlesque, especially
when they are re-enforced by cymbals and drums and ac-
companied by the noise of all these instruments of deception.
It seems to me that a banquet easily turns into a mere ex-
hibition of drunkenness. The Apostle warned: 'Laying aside
the works of darkness, put on the armor of light. Let us walk
becomingly as in the day, not occupying ourselves in revelry
and drunkenness, not in debauchery and wantonness.' 1
(41 ) Leave the pipe to the shepherd, the flute to the men
who are in fear of gods and are intent on their idol-worship-
ing. Such musical instruments must be excluded from our
wineless feasts, for they are more suited for beasts and for the
class of men that is least capable of reason than for men. We
are told that deer are called by horns and hunted by huntsmen
to traps, there to be captured by the playing of some melody;
that, when mares are being foaled, a tune is played on a
flute as a sort of hymeneal which musicians call a hip-
pothorus. 2 In general, we must completely eliminate every
such base sight or sound in a word, everything immodest
that strikes the senses (for this is an abuse of the senses) if we
would avoid pleasures that merely fascinate the eye or ear, and
emasculate. Truly, the devious spells of syncopated tunes and
of the plaintive rhythm of Carian music 3 corrupt morals by
their sensual and affected style, and insidiously inflame the
passions.
1 Rom. 13.12.
2 Literally, 'horse's mating-song.'
3 Carian melodies were a sort of funeral dirge.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 131
The Spirit, to purify the divine liturgy from any such un-
restrained revelry, chants: 'Praise Him with sound of trum-
pet/ 4 for, in fact, at the sound of the trumpet the dead will
rise again ; 'praise Him with harp/ for the tongue is a harp of
the Lord; 'and with the lute, praise Him,' understanding the
mouth as a lute moved by the Spirit as the lute is by the
plectrum; 'praise Him with timbal and choir/ that is, the
Church awaiting the resurrection of the body in the flesh
which is its echo; 'praise Him with strings and organ/ calling
our bodies an organ and its sinews strings, for from them
the body derives its co-ordinated movement, and when
touched by the Spirit, gives forth human sounds; 'praise Him
on high-sounding 5 cymbals/ which mean the tongue of the
mouth, which, with the movement of the lips, produces
words. (42) Then, to all mankind He calls out: 'Let every
spirit praise the Lord/ because He rules over every spirit
He has made. In reality, man is an instrument made for
peace, but these other things, if anyone concerns himself
overmuch with them, become instruments of conflict, for
they either enkindle desires or inflame the passions. The
Etruscans, for example, use the trumpet for war; the Arca-
dians, the horn; the Sicels, the flute; the Cretans, the lyre; the
Lacedemonians, the pipe; the Thracians, the bugle; the Egyp-
tians, the drum; and the Arabs, the cymbal. But as for us, we
make use of one instrument alone: only the Word of peace,
by whom we pay homage to God, no longer with ancient harp
or trumpet or drum or flute which those trained for war em-
ploy. They give little thought to fear of God in their festive
4 Cf. Ps. 150.3-6. u t .
5 The Scholion says: 'This word (alalagmod) means a shout of victory.
To those who have conquered sensual uncleanness, a shout of victory
is very appropriately assigned.'
132 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
dances, but seek to arouse their failing courage by such
rhythmic measures.
(43) But make sure that the sociability arising from
our drinking is twofold, in keeping with the direction of the
Law. For, if 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God/ and after
that, 'thy neighbor,' 6 then intimacy with God must come
first, and be expressed in thanksgiving and chanting of
psalms. Only then are we free to show sociability toward our
neighbor in a respectful comradeship. 'Let the word of the
Lord dwell in you abundantly,' the Apostle says. But this
Word adapts Himself and adjusts Himself to the occasion,
person, and place; in our present discussion, He is the con-
genial companion of our drinking. The Apostle adds further:
'In all wisdom teach and admonish one another by psalms,
hymns and spiritual songs, singing in your hearts to God by
His grace. Whatever you do in word or in work, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God His Father/ 7
This Eucharistic feast of ours is completely innocent, even
if we desire to sing at it, or to chant psalms to the lyre or
lute. Imitate the holy Hebrew king in his thanksgiving to
God: 'Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just; praise becometh the
upright,' as the inspired psalm says : 'Give praise to the Lord
on the harp, sing to Him with the lyre' an instrument with
ten strings 'Sing to Him a new canticle.' 8 There can be little
doubt that the lyre with its ten strings is a figure of Jesus the
Word, for that is the significance of the number ten. 9
(44) It is fitting to bless the Maker of all things before
we partake of food; so, too, at a feast, when we enjoy His
created gifts, it is only right that we sing psalms to Him. In
6 Cf. Matt. 22.37-39.
7 Col. 3.16,17.
8 Ps. 32.1-3.
9 The Greek T (iota) of lesous represents the numeral ten.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 133
fact, a psalm sung in unison is a blessing, and it is an act of
self-restraint. The Apostle calls the psalm 'a spiritual song.' 10
Again, it is a holy duty to give thanks to God for the favors
and the love we have received from Him, before we fall
asleep. 'Give praise to Him with canticles of your lips/
Scripture says, 'because at His command, every favor is
shown, and there is no diminishing of His salvation.' 11 Even
among the ancient Greeks, there was a song called the skolion
which they used to sing after the manner of the Hebrew
psalm at drinking parties 12 and over their after-dinner cups.
All sang together with one voice, and sometimes they passed
these toasts of song along in turn; those more musical than
the rest sang to the accompaniment of the lyre.
Yet, let no passionate love songs be permitted there; let
our songs be hymns to God. 'Let them praise His name in
choir,' we read, 'let them sing to Him with the drum and the
harp.' And the Holy Spirit explains what this choir is which
sings: 'Let His praise be in the church of the saints: let them
be joyful to their king.' And He adds: Tor the Lord is well-
pleased with His people.' 13 We may indeed retain chaste
harmonies, but not so those tearful songs which are too florid
in the overdelicate modulation of the voice they require. These
last must be proscribed and repudiated by those who would
retain virility of mind, for their sentimentality and ribaldry
degenerate the soul. There is nothing in common between
restrained, chaste tunes and the licentiousness of intemper-
ance. Therefore, overcolorful melodies are to be left to shame-
less 14 carousals, and to the honeyed and garish music of the
courtesan.
10 Cf. Col. 3.16; Eph. 5.19.
11 Eccli. 39.20-23.
12 Sympdsia, as described by Plato or Xenophon.
13 Ps. 149.3,1,4.
14 Literally, 'colorless'; thus a play on words.
134 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Chapter 5
(45) Men who imitate laughable or ridiculous behavior
are to be excluded from our city. 1 All exterior words have their
source in the temperament and in the character; therefore, no
foolish words can be spoken without betraying a foolish
temperament. The old saying holds good here, that 'there
is no good tree that bears bad fruit, neither again is there
a bad tree that bears good fruit/ 2 The fruit of the tem-
perament is words.
But, if we feel that clowns are to be excluded from our
city, we should be the first to give over playing the clown. It
is inconsistent for us to be found performing the very role to
which we have forbidden ourselves to listen. It is even more
inconsistent for us to make ourselves a laughing-stock de-
liberately, that is, the butt of insults and of jokes. If we cannot
bear cutting a ridiculous figure such as some are seen to do in
the processions, how can we possibly tolerate a man in his
right senses cutting an even more ridiculous figure? And if
we would not deliberately turn to watch some absurd clown-
ing, how can we make a practise of being and appearing
clownish in our conversation, turning the most respectable
possession man has, his speech, into a joke? It is a sorry sight
to see anyone make an habitual practise of such a thing, be-
cause a conversation consisting of nothing but jests is cer-
tainly not worth listening to; by the repetition of unbecoming
words we lose all fear of unbecoming deeds. We should be
pleasantly witty, but not clowns.
(46) As for laughter itself, it, too, should be kept under
restraint. Of course, when it rings out as it should, it proves
1 Cf. Plato, Republic X 606C.
2 Luke 6.4,3.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 135
the presence of discipline, but if it gets out of hand, it is a
sure index of lack of self-control. We need not take away
from man any of the things that are natural to him, but only
set a limit and due proportion to them. It is true that man
is an animal who can laugh; 3 but it is not true that he there-
fore should laugh at everything. The horse is an animal that
neighs, yet it does not neigh at everything. As rational animals,
we must ever maintain proper balance, gently relaxing the
rigor of seriousness and intensity without dissipating it out
of all bounds.
Now, the proper relaxation of the features within due
limits as though the face were a musical instrument
is called a smile (that is the way joy is reflected on the
face ) ; it is the good humor of the self-contained. But the
sudden loss of control over one's composure, in the case of
women, is called a giggle, the laugh of harlots, and in the
case of men, a guffaw, the laughter of idle suitors, 4 offensive to
the ear. 'A fool lifteth up his voice in laughter/ Scripture
says, 'but a cunning man will scarce laugh low to himself.' 5
The one called cunning here is really the prudent man, just
the opposite of a fool. (47) On the other hand, we should
not become gloomy, either; only serious-minded. I certainly
welcome the smiling fellow who showed up 'with a smile on
his grim face,' 6 for 'then his laughter would be less disdainful.' 7
It is well that even the smile be kept under the influence of
the Educator. If it is a question of indecencies, we should
make it plain that we are blushing in shame, rather than
smiling, lest we be thought to give consent and agreement.
If it is some misfortune, we should not manifest a light-.
3 Cf. Aristotle, De partibus animalium III 10.673A.
4 That is, Penelope's suitors. Cf. Odysseus 23.100.
5 Eccli. 21.23.
6 Iliad 7.212.
7 Plato, Republic VII 518B.
136 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
hearted appearance, but look sorrowfully sober. That in-
dicates human tact; the other would be cruelty. But, we
should not be always laughing that would be lack of judg-
ment nor should we laugh in the presence of older persons or
of those who deserve respect, unless, perhaps, they them-
selves make some witticism to put us at our ease. Nor should
we give way to laughter with every chance companion, nor
in every place, nor at everything, nor with everyone.
Laughter can easily give rise to misunderstandings, particularly
among boys and women.
(48) Then, too, it takes nothing more than a serious
expression to keep at arm's length those who would tempt us.
There is some quality in seriousness to strike fear into those
who approach with immoral intent, and at that, simply by
its bearing. But wine causes those who have become, so to
speak, without sense 'to laugh gently and to dance,' 8 trans-
forming an already weak character into a completely un-
manly one. We should never lose sight of the fact, too, that
excessive garrulousness quickly leads indelicacy into down-
right indecency: 'And he spoke a word which it were bet-
ter left unsaid.' 9 At any rate, it is especially under the in-
fluence of drink that the characters of those who are interiorly
festering become exposed to view stripped of all hypocrisy,
for drunkenness gives free rein to loquaciousness. It lulls
reason to sleep, for it lays heavy hands upon the soul itself,
arouses passions, and oppresses the weakness of the mind.
8 Odysseus 7.212; 5.463.
9 Ibid. 5.465.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 137
Chapter 6
(49) We ourselves must steer completely clear of all in-
decent talk, and those who resort to it we must silence by
a sharp look, or by turning our face away, or by what is called
a grunt of disgust, or by some pointed remark. Tor the things
that come out of the mouth,' Scripture says, 'defile a man,' 1
and reveal him as uncouth, barbaric, undisciplined, and un-
restrained, and as completely without self-possession, decorum,
or modesty.
As for listening to or gazing upon indecent things, the
divine Educator, in an effort to keep our hearing from
being offended against, has proposed words on self-restraint
for those of His children engaged in the fight with such
things, as mufflers for the ears. Thus, talk about indecent
things will not be able to penetrate into the soul and injure it.
The eyes, too, He directs to the vision of good things, saying
that it is better to stumble with the feet than with the eyes. 2
(50) Then, the Apostle, lashing out at this indecent talk,
cautions us: 'Let no ill speech proceed from your mouth, but
whatever is good,' 3 and another time: 'As becomes saints, let
obscenity or foolish talk or scurrility not even be named
among you; which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.' 4
If he who merely calls his brother a fool is liable to judgment, 5
what sentence should be passed upon obscene conversation?
'Whoever speaks an idle word shall give an account to the
Lord on the day of judgment,' and again: 'By thy words
1 Matt. 15.18.
2 Cf. Matt. 18.9.
3 Eph. 4.29.
4 Eph. 5.3.
5 Cf. Matt. 5.22.
138 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
thou wilt be justified, and by thy words thou wilt be con-
demned.' 6
Now, what are these protecting mufflers for the ears? And
what the directions He gives for eyes so prone to stumble? The
precaution of cultivating the friendship of good people, and
of turning deaf ear to those who would lead us away from the
truth. 'Evil associations corrupt good manners/ the poet
says. 7 But a quotation from the Apostle is more to the
point: 'Hate what is evil, hold to what is good.' 8 He who as-
sociates with the holy will become holy.
(51 ) It is imperative, then, that we neither listen to nor
look at nor talk about obscene things. And it is even more
imperative that we keep free of every immodest action, ex-
posing or laying bare any parts of our body improperly, or
looking at its private parts. The chaste son could not endure
looking upon the immodest nakedness of a good man;
chastity covered over what drunkenness had exposed in a
transgression committed in ignorance but manifest to all.*
It is no less urgent that we keep ourselves pure in our choice
of words, avoiding those which should be alien to the ears of
one who believes in Christ. That is why, I believe, the Ed*
ucator has forbidden us to utter the least thing that is unbe-
coming, to keep us far from immorality. He is ever skillful
in cutting to the very roots of sin, commanding ; 'Thou shalt
not lust/ 10 to safeguard the other command : 'Thou shalt not
commit adultery.' 11 Adultery is only the fruit of lust, and
lust is its evil root.
6 Matt. 12.36.
7 Menander, Thais Frag. 218 CAF III 62.
8 Rom. 12.9.
9 Cf. Gen. 9.21 -23.
10 Cf. Matt. 5.27,28.
11 Ibid.; Exod. 20.14; Deut. 5.18.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 139
(52) For the same reason, our Educator has proscribed
the too free use of certain terms, meaning to eliminate too
free contact with immorality. Lack of restraint in the words
we use gives rise to habitual disorderliness in actions, while to
take pains to be discreet in our language is to control licen-
tiousness. In a more profound discussion, 12 we have shown
that it is not the terms, or the sexual organs, or the marriage
act, to which names not in common use describing inter-
course are affixed, that we should consider obscene. It is
not the knee, or the thigh, or the names given to them, or
even the use made of them, that is obscene. (In fact, even the
private parts of a man's body deserve to be treated not with
prudery but with privacy.) It is only the unlawful use of
these organs that is improper and that is to be considered
shameful, and therefore deserving of punishment. Evil alone
is truly shameful, and deeds marked with evil.
In the same way, writings that treat of evil deeds must be
considered indecent talk, such as the description of adultery
or pederasty or similar things. Nonsensical chatter, too,
should be silenced. 'In the multitude of words,' it is written,
'there shall not want sin.' 13 Talkativeness will draw down
upon itself some kind of penalty. 'There is one that holds his
peace, that is found wise.' But the chatterer has already made
himself a bore to himself: 'He that useth many words shall
abominate his own soul.' 14
12 It is uncertain whether this is a special work, not extant, or Stromateis
II 23 and III. Cf. J. Patrick, op. cit. 301-308.
13 Prov. 10.19.
14 Eccli. 20.5,8.
140 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Chapter 7
(53) Let us keep far, very far, from raillery, the starting-
point of insults; from it, great quarrels and feuds and enmities
develop. We are of the opinion that insolence is the attendant
of drunkenness. It is not only by his deeds, but also by his
words, that a man is judged. 1 'Rebuke not thy neighbor,'
Scripture says, 'in a banquet of wine; and speak not to him
a word of reproach.' 2 Certainly, if we have been strongly
advised to associate with the holy, 3 then to make fun of
a holy man is a sin. 'In the mouth of a fool,' it is said, 'is
the rod of pride,' 4 meaning by 'rod' that which supports
insolent pride, that on which it leans and rests. So, I admire
the wisdom of the Apostle when he advises us for this reason
not to use words that are coarse or out of place. 5
If we meet at banquets for charity's sake, and if the pur-
pose of such feasts is the goodfellowship created among the
guests, with the food and drink merely accessories of charity,
then should we not maintain a behavior that bespeaks the
control of reason? (Incidentally, we need not impoverish
ourselves to practise charity.) And if we gather with the in-
tention of showing good-will toward one another, then why
do we stir up ill-will by railing at others? It is better to keep
silent than to engage in bickering, adding the fault of deed
to that of boorishness. Surely, 'blessed is the man that hath
not slipped by a word out of his mouth, and is not pricked
with the remorse of sin,' 6 or at least has repented of the sins
committed in speech, or has conversed without inflicting pain
on anyone.
1 Cf. Matt. 12.37.
2 Eccli. 31.41,42.
3 Cf. Eccli. 37.15.
4 Prov. 14.3.
5 Cf. Eph. 5.4.
6 Eccli. 14.1.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 141
(54) Let young men and women be kept from banquets
of this sort, as a general rule, so that they may not fall into
any improper misconduct. There can be no doubt that the
indecent things heard, and the unbecoming things seen, un-
settle their faith, set their imagination afire, and add fuel
to the natural fickleness of their youth to make them ready
victims of their passions. At times, too, they are to blame for
the fall of others, proving how dangerous an occasion such
a banquet can be. It is a good command that Wisdom
gives : 'Sit not at all with another man's wife, nor repose upon
a couch with her,' that is, do not dine or eat with her too
often. Then it adds: 'Do not have a meal with her in wine,
lest perhaps thy heart decline toward her, and by thy blood,
thou fall into destruction.' 7 Drinking unrestrainedly is dan-
gerous because it can so easily degenerate into licentiousness.
Scripture speaks of 'another man's wife,' because there is a
greater danger in such a case of destroying the wedding bond.
But, if there arise any need for women to be present, let
them be amply clothed: exteriorly with a cloak, interiorly
with modesty. The worst accusation that can be brought
against any woman not subject to a husband is that she was
present at a party for men, and, at that, for men in their
cups. And as for young men, let them keep their eyes fixed on
their own couch, lean on their elbow without too much fidget-
ing, and be present only with their ears. If they should be
sitting down, let them not put their feet one on top
of the other, nor cross their legs, nor rest their chin on their
hands. It is lack of good breeding to fail to support oneself,
yet a fault common in the young. (55) To be forever rest-
lessly shifting one's position argues for levity of character.
It is the mark of a temperate man to take only a small
7 Eccli. 9.12.
142 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
amount while eating or drinking, yet a good amount of time
in doing it; not rushing as fast as he can in the way he begins
to eat, and pausing now and then; to be the first to finish
and to cultivate an attitude of indifference. 'Eat/ Scripture
says, 'as a man, what is set before thee, leave off first, for
discipline's sake, and if thou sittest among many, reach not
thy hand out first of all.' 8 Needless to say, we should not
lean forward to get our helping first, under the impulse of
gluttony, nor should we eagerly reach out too far, confessing
lack of self-control by our fault. Neither should we, in the
meantime, stand guard over our food like animals over
their meat, nor indulge in too many dainties. (56) It is a
mark of a temperate man, too, to rise before the rest and
modestly withdraw from the table. 'And at the time of rising,'
it is said, 'be not slack: and run home to thy house.' 9 Again:
The Twelve called together the multitude of the disciples
and said : It is not desirable that we should forsake the word
of God and serve at Tables.' 10 Certainly, if they avoided such
service, they avoided serving their own belly much more.
The same Apostles, writing 'to the brothers in Antioch, and
Syria and Cilicia,' said : The Holy Spirit and we have decided
to lay no further burden upon you but this indispensable
one, that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and
from blood, and from what is strangled, and from im-
morality: keep yourselves from these things and you will get
on well.' 11 We are to shun drinking parties, then, as we would
the poison of the hemlock, for both drag us down to death.
'We must also restrain ourselves from undue laughter and
8 Eccli. 31.19.
9 Eccii. 32.15.
10 Acts 6.2.
11 Acts 15.23-28.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 143
tears, 512 beyond due measure. In fact, those who just now
were guffawing over almost everything under the influence of
wine often become overcome, I know not how, by some
drunken stupor and give way to depression to the point of
tears. Both womanish and insolent conduct are discordant with
reason. (57) Old men who look on young men as children
may, perhaps, although only infrequently, jest with them,
teasing them in a way that will teach them good manners.
With a shy and taciturn youth, for example, they may make
this pleasantry: 'My son,' indicating the youth who is so
quiet 'never stops talking/ Such teasing encourages the
young man in his modesty, for, by accusing him of a fault he
does not have, it jestingly calls attention to his good qualities.
This is, indeed, a sort of instruction, securing what one has by
reference to what one does not have. He who says that a man
who confines himself to water and is self-controlled is always
attending parties and getting drunk accomplishes the same
sort of thing. If there should be present any of those who take
delight in ridiculing others, we must still hold our tongue and
dismiss their flow of words as a cup filled to overflowing. Such
sport is dangerous. The mouth of the fool-hardy comes near
to a fall.' 13 Thou shalt not welcome a foolish report, nor
consent with an unjust man to be an unjust witness,' 14 whether
to accuse someone or to speak ill of him or to show ill-will
toward him.
(58) It is my opinion that a limit should be imposed upon
the speech, if a person would practise self-control; that limit
should be merely to reply to questions, even when we can
speak. Silence is a virtue in a woman, an ornament free of
12 Plato, Laws V 732C.
13 Prov. 10.14.
14 Cf. Exod. 25.1.
144 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
danger in the young; only for old age held in honor is
speech good. 'Speak, thou that art elder, at a banquet, for it
becometh thee. Speak without embarrassment and in careful-
ness of knowledge. Young man,' it is Wisdom giving this
advice 'scarcely speak if there is need of you ; if you be asked
twice, let your answer be short, in few words.' 15 Both should
keep their voices moderately subdued while they speak. Loud
talking is annoying, yet speaking inaudibly to one close by
suggests ineptitude, inability to make oneself heard. The one
is a sign of timidity, the other of brashness.
Do not let quarrelsomeness with its love of empty victory
creep into our midst, for our aim is the elimination of all
discord. Surely, this is the meaning of the expression: 'Peace
be to you. 516 'Before thou hear, answer not a word.' 17 (59)
A muffled voice is the voice of an effeminate man; however,
the speech of a temperate man is moderate in tone, not too
loud nor too long, not too quick nor too verbose. We should
not be long-winded in our conversations, nor wordy, nor
engage in idle chatter, nor rattle on rapidly without drawing
a breath. Surely, even the voice ought to have its share, so
to speak, of moderation, and those who talk out of turn and
those who shout should be silenced. The self-restrained
Odysseus struck Thersites a blow because he alone 'kept
chattering on, of measureless speech, whose mind was full
of a great store of disorderly words, idly and in no orderly
wise.' 18 'A man full of tongue is terrible in his destruction.' 19
The rest of the body of a chatterer is worn away like an old
shoe by evil, with only the tongue left to inflict harm.
15 Ecdi. 32.4.
16 John 20.19,21; 3 John 1.15.
17 Ecdi. 11.8.
18 Iliad, 2.212-214.
19 Eccli. 9.18.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 145
Therefore, Wisdom advises us well : 'Be not full of idle words
in a multitude of ancients.' 20 Again, He seeks to eliminate idle
chatter even in our relations with God by imposing restraint
with this command : 'Repeat not the word in your prayer.'
(60) Then, too, whistling and hissing and snapping the
fingers all sounds made to summon servants should not be
used by men who have the ability to speak, since these are
wordless signals. At banquets, we should not be forever
spitting or violently coughing or blowing our nose. We must
consider the feelings of our companions at table, and avoid
disgusting or nauseating them by our crude conduct, testifying
to our own lack of self-control. Not even cattle or asses
relieve nature at their feeding troughs, yet many people
blow their nose and keep spitting while engaged at table.
Again, if a sneeze take us by surprise, or, even more so, a
belch, we need not deafen our neighbor with the noise and
in so doing exhibit our lack of manners. A belch should be
released silently, as we exhale, with our mouths shut, not
wide open and gaping like the masks of the tragedy. The
irritation that causes a sneeze may be relieved by quietly
holding the breath; therefore, we should suppress the ac-
cumulated force of the breath politely by controlling our
exhaling, so as to try to pass unnoticed if some of the exces-
sive air, under pressure, escapes.
It is a sign of boorishness and of lack of discipline to
want to add to the noises, rather than lessen them. And those
who scrape their teeth so much that they draw blood from
their gums, besides injuring themselves, also annoy their
companions. And beyond a doubt, scratching the ear and
irritations to prompt sneezing are gestures proper to swine,
suggestive of the search for immoral pleasures. Unbecoming
20 Eccli. 7.15.
146 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
glances and indecent conversations about such things must
be renounced. Let the gaze be composed, and the movement
of the head and the gestures be steady, as well as the motion
of the hands in conversation. In general, the Christian is,
by nature, a man of gentleness and quiet, of serenity and
peace.
Chapter 8
(61) The use of wreathes and of perfumes is not a
necessity for us. Rather, it shipwrecks us upon pleasure and
frivolity even as night draws near. 1 I know that a woman
brought perfume in an alabaster box and anointed the feet
of the Lord with it at that holy supper, 2 and that the Lord
was pleased with it. I know too, that the ancient kings of
the Jews used to wear precious gold and jewels. 3 But that
woman had not yet entered into communion with the Word
(for she was still a sinner), and so she paid the Master
honor with what she considered the most precious thing
she had, her perfume, and then, wiping off the remainder of
the perfume with the garland of her head, her hair, she
poured out upon the Lord her tears of repentance. So her
sins were forgiven her.
This may be used as a symbol of the Lord's teachings and
of His sufferings. The anointing of His feet with sweet-smelling
myrrh suggests the divine teaching whose good odor and fame
has spread to the ends of the earth: Their sound has gone
forth to the ends of the earth.' 4 And those anointed feet of
1 Cf. John 9.4; 1 Thess. 5.2.
2 Cf. Luke. 7.37.
3 Cf. 2 Kings 12.30; Eccli. 45.14.
4 Ps. 18.5; Rom. 10.18.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 147
the Lord not to be too subtle are the Apostles, the sweet
odor of the myrrh prefiguring their reception of the Holy
Spirit. (62) I mean that the figure of the Lord's feet is to be
understood of the Apostles who journeyed about the whole
world preaching the Gospel. In another place, in a psalm, the
Spirit speaks of those feet: 'We will adore in the place where
His feet stood,' 5 that is, where His Apostles, His feet, have
already been, through whose preaching He has come to the
ends of the earth. The tears are repentance and the unloosed
hair means conversion from love of finery and suffering borne
patiently for the Lord when they preached, unloosing the
old vanity by the new faith.
Considering this deed in another way, mystically, this figure
also symbolizes the suffering of the Master. The oil is the
Lord Himself, from whom we receive mercy; 6 the myrrh,
which is diluted oil, is the traitor Judas, because, when
the Lord was departing from life in this world, He was
anointed with myrrh, as the dead are anointed with it. The
tears are sinners who have repented, who have come to
believe in Him, whose sins have been forgiven. And the
unloosed hair is desolate Jerusalem in mourning, over whom
the lamentations of the Prophets were sung. The Lord Him-
self said that Judas would prove false: 'He who dips with
Me in the dish, he it is who will betray Me.' 7 Do you not
recognize in him the disloyal table companion? 8 This same
Judas betrayed the Master with a kiss; he became a hypocrite,
imitating with his teacherous kiss the hypocrite of old, 9
5 Ps. 131.7.
6 In Greek, 'oil' (elaion) , akin to deed ('to have mercy') , is a symbol
of mercy.
7 Matt. 26.23.
8 Cf. Eccli. 6.10.
9 Cf. 2 Kings 20.9.
148 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
and becoming an example of the people spoken of: 'This
people honoreth Me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from Me.' 10 (63) It is not far-fetched, then, to suppose that
He intended the oil to mean the Apostle who received
mercy, and the treated, diluted oil the deceitful betrayer.
This it is that the anointing of the feet with perfume pre-
figured.
By washing the feet of His disciples with His own hands as
He sent them forth to noble deeds, the Saviour manifested in
an excellent way their journeying to bestow graces upon the
nations, and He purified that journeying in anticipation by
His own power. The perfume left its odor after it, and sug-
gests the sweet-smelling accomplishments that reach everyone.
The suffering of the Lord, indeed, has filled us with its fra-
grance, but the Hebrews with sin. The Apostle states this
clearly: Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph
in Christ, manifesting through us the odor of His knowledge
in every place. For we are the fragrance of the Lord for God,
alike as regards those who are saved, and those who are lost;
to these an odor that leads from death to death, but to those
an odor that leads from life to life.' 11
And as for the Jewish kings who wore crowns of gold,
set with precious jewels and richly ornamented, they were
the anointed ones, 12 symbolically carrying Christ on their
heads without knowing it, in the sense that their heads were
adorned with an ornament representing Christ. The precious
stone, whether pearl or emerald, beyond a doubt is the Word
Himself; the gold is the incorruptibility of the Word, since
gold is impervious to the rust of corrosion. At His birth, the
10 Isa. 29.1 S.
11 2 Cor. 2.14-16.
12 That is, christoi.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 149
Magi brought Him gold as a sign of His kingship. 13 A crown
such as that, being an image of the Lord, endures without
decaying, and does not fade like one of flowers.
(64) The words of Aristippus the Cyrenian, who loved
ease and comfort, come to mind. He devised this sophistical
argument: 4 A horse, when it is anointed with perfume, does
not lose any of its excellence as a horse, nor does a dog,
when it is anointed, lose any of its excellence as a dog.' Then
he went on to draw the conclusion: 'neither, then, does
man. 514 But the horse and the dog do not have any under-
standing of what perfume is; those whose perception is intel-
lectual are more to be blamed for their indulgence when they
make use of such effeminate sweet odors.
There is an unlimited variety of these perfumes : Brenthian
and Metallian and Royal and Plangonian, and there is an
Egyptian ointment. Simonides, in his iambics, is not ashamed
even to declare : 'I was anointed with myrrhs and ointments
and baccar nard. For there was an importer close at hand.' 15
Habitually, some people use both the oil of lilies and that of
cypress; they prize the oil of roses highly, and so many other
kinds which women still use, some liquid, others dry, some
in the form of salves, others only for scenting. Day after
day they plan ways of procuring them, with an insatiable
desire for this sweet fragrance. There are women who
always exude extreme vulgarity; they keep scenting and
sprinkling their bed covers and their houses, and, in their
daintiness, stop short only of making their chamber-pots
fragrant with myrrh. (65) Some complain so feelingly
13 Cf. Matt. 2.11.
14 Cf. Diogenes Laertes II 76. ,...
15 Simonides of Amorgos, Frag. 16, in T. Bergk, Poetae lynci grace* II 4
(1882) .
150 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
about this extreme and seem to me so dead set against
these ointments that undermine virility that they would
exclude from a well-regulated city both perfumers and those
who manufacture the perfumes, as well as the dyers of gay-
colored wools. 16 For it is not right that garments and cosmetics
that betray artificiality be allowed entry into a city of truth.
Men of our way of life should be redolent, not of per-
fume, but of perfection, and women should be fragrant with
the odor of Christ, the royal chrism, not that of powders and
perfumes. Let her be ever anointed with the heavenly oil of
chastity, taking her delight in holy myrrh, that is, the Spirit.
Christ provides this oil of good odor for His followers, com-
pounding His myrrh from sweet heavenly herbs. With this
myrrh the Lord anoints Himself, as David says: 'Therefore,
O God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows. Myrrh and stacte and cassia from thy gar-
ments.' 17
(66) Yet, let us not develop a fear of perfume, like
vultures and scarabs who are said to die if anointed with the
oil of roses. Let the women make use of a little of these per-
fumes, but not so much as to nauseate their husbands,
for too much fragrance suggests a funeral, not married life.
In fact, oil itself is harmful to bees and insects, but with
men, some it strengthens, others it prepares for battle, for
when timid men are rubbed down with oil they become
ready for any sort of contest in the stadium.
Do you not realise that myrrth, a soft oil, is able to emas-
culate noble characters? Certainly it is. Just as we have al-
ready forbidden pampering the sense of taste, so, too, we
proscribe indulgence of the sense of sight and of smell. Other-
16 Cf. Plato, Republic, II 373A.
17 Ps. 44.8.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 151
wise, we may reopen the doors of the soul without being
aware of it, through the senses as through unfortified doors,
to the very dissipation we had put to flight. (67) If anyone
object that the great High Priest, the Lord, offers up to God
incense of sweet odor, 18 let this not be understood as the
sacrifice and good odor of incense, but as the acceptable
gift of love, a spiritual fragrance on the altar, that the
Lord offers up.
By its nature, oil is useful for softening the skin and for
relaxing the muscles and removing the offensive odors of the
body. For such purposes we may need oil, but the constant
use of sweet odors bespeaks pampering, and pampering
arouses lustful desires. The man without self-control is easily
led about by anything: eating, sleeping, social gatherings, as
well as by his eyes and ears and stomach, and particularly
to the point, by his sense of smell. Just as cattle are led by
rings through their noses and by ropes, so, too, the self-indul-
gent are led by odors and perfumes and sweet scents rising
from their wreathes. (68) Since we make no allowance for
pleasure not connected with a necessity of life, surely let us
also make distinctions here and choose only what is useful.
There are perfumes that are neither soporific nor erotic, sug-
gestive neither of sexual relations nor of immodest harlotry,
but wholesome and chaste and refreshing to the mind that is
tired and invigorating to the appetite. We must not com-
pletely turn away from such things, but take advantage of
myrrh as an aid and remedy to stimulate our failing powers,
for catarrh and chills and indispositions. The comic poet says
somewhere: The nostrils are to be anointed with myrrh; the
greatest secret of good health is to keep pleasant odors in the
head.' 19 There is even a practise of rubbing the feet with a
18 Cf. Eph. 5.2.
19 Alexis, Frag. 190, CAF II 368.
152 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
salve made of either warming or of cooling oil, for its effects;
when the head is congested, such a salve will draw the con-
gestion off and away to a less important part of the body.
But a luxury without any useful purpose gives grounds for
the charge of being sensual in character, and is a drug to
excite the passions. There is all the difference in the world
between rubbing oil on oneself and scenting oneself with it.
The one makes a man effeminate, whereas the anointing
with oil is very beneficial. (69) That is why Aristippus the
philosopher used to say, when he was being anointed with oil,
that the debauched ought to have an evil end in their
wickedness, because they change the benefit that should be
derived from oil into a reproach.
'Honor thy physician for the need thou hast of him,'
Scripture says, 'for the most High has created him; for all
healing is from God.' 20 But it adds: 'And the apothecary
shall make sweet confections,' that is, ointments given us for
our use, not for our pleasure. We should not desire myrrhs
that only stimulate, but choose those which are of real
benefit, for God has permitted men to produce oil as a relief
from their labors. Silly women dye their gray hair, and by
continually anointing it make it even grayer, and gray sooner
than it should be, because the sweet perfume absorbs so much
moisture. Similarly, men who anoint themselves look more
and more dry; dryness makes them gray (whether grayness
conies from the drying up of the hair or from lack of
warmth), since the dryness absorbs the moisture the hair
needs for nourishment and turns it gray. If they would
escape gray hairs, how can they reasonably seek ointments
that actually cause them? Just as hounds track down wild
animals by following their scent, so, too, temperate men
20 Eccli. 38.1.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 153
can detect the sensual by their elaborate sweet-smelling
myrrhs.
(70) The same thing must be said of wreaths which
are proper to revelries and drinking parties. 'Away, do not
place a crown upon my head!' 21 In springtime, it is indeed
pleasant to while away the time in soft grassy meadows,
moist with dew, where flowers of every color are in bloom,
amid natural and pure odors, like a bee gathering nectar.
But to wear indoors 'a garland gathered from the meadow
in full-bloom' 22 is not done by men of good sense. It is not
right to appropriate to oneself the first green shoots of spring,
and to encircle the head at banquets with rosebuds or violets
or lilies or any other similar flower. A wreathe cools the
head, both because of its moisture and because of its coolness.
Physicians, considering the head cool by nature, believe that
the chest and the tip of the nostrils should be anointed with
oil, so that a warm vapor may fill the head and warm what
is cold. But to chill it by the use of flowers is to use the
wrong method if one wants to warm the membranes. 23 Be-
sides, those who wear wreathes lose the pleasure the flower
affords. They put it up on their heads, out of sight, and can-
not enjoy the pleasure of seeing it or even of smelling it, since
they keep the flower out of range of their sense of smell.
The fragrance is emitted over their heads, and rises upward
by a natural law, depriving the nostrils of all delight in the
scent being wafted away. Like everything that is beautiful,
the flower gives pleasure by being seen, and we should give
glory to the Creator by looking at and enjoying its beauty.
The other use, however, is harmful, and causes the flower to
21 Cf. Adesp. 1258, CAF III 617.
23 ThJSSiiS^Jdy suggests that polldu dei should be translated as
'should particularly be done/
154 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
wilt and to take revenge in the sense of remorse it leaves be-
hind. Surely, this is the proof of its ephemeral nature in that
both the flower and its beauty quickly fades away. (71) The
flower has cooled those who used it and its beauty has in-
flamed them. Simply put, it is a sin to enjoy either in any
way other than by looking at them; any other way is not
true enjoyment. As was done in Paradise, we should enjoy
things in moderation, in true obedience to the Scripture. 24
The crown of the woman must be considered the hus-
band, 25 and the crown of the husband is his marriage; for
both, the flower of their union is the child who is indeed
the flower that the divine Cultivator culls from the meadow
of the flesh. 'The crown of old men is their children's chil-
dren and the glory of children is their father/ 26 it is said. Our
glory is the Father of all, and the crown of the whole Church
is Christ.
Like herbs and plants, flowers have their own properties,
some beneficial, some harmful, and others even dangerous.
For example, ivy cools, the walnut tree relieves drowsiness,
as even the etymology of its Greek name shows. 27 There is
the narcissus, a flower with heavy perfume, whose name
itself suggests that it acts as a narcotic on the nerves. 28
The perfume of roses or of violets, being more on the cooling
side, relieves and alleviates headaches, but this does not mean
that we may get intoxicated in any degree, either with other
people or by ourselves. Then, the crocus and the flower of
24 Cf. Gen. 2.15-17.
25 Cf. Prov. 12.4.
26 Prov. 17.6.
27 Clement is deriving karua ('walnut tree') from kardd ('plunge into
a heavy sleep') .
28 ndrkissos, according to Plutarch II 647 B, is derived from ndrhc
('numbness') because of its narcotic properties.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 155
the cypress, which bring freedom from pain by inducing
sleep, must be shunned. Yet, many of these flowers do warm
the head, cold by nature, by clearing it out with their per-
fume. That is how the rose gets its name, because, in a
general way, it sends forth a flow of odors, and that is also
why it quickly fades. 29
(72) The ancient Greeks never made use of wreathes.
Neither the suitors 30 nor the Phaeacians, with all their
luxurious living, adopted them. But, with the games, they
began to give prizes, then to hold triumphal processions, after
that, to deck out [the victor] with leaves, and finally, when
Greece had degenerated into licentiousness after the Medean
war, to use the wreathe of flowers. Therefore, those who are
educated by the Word will reject wreathes, not only be-
cause they lie heavy upon the reason which has its seat in the
head, nor only because the garland might serve as a symbol
of arrogance at a pagan festival, 31 but because it has been
dedicated to the service of idols. Sophocles, at any rate, calls
the narcissus 'the ancient garland-flower of the great gods,' 32
meaning the gods of Hades. And Sappho crowns the Muses
with roses, saying: 'For there were no roses for you in
Pieria in the beginning/ 33 The story goes that Hera delights
in the lily and Artemis in the myrtle. If flowers have been
created for the sake of men, yet foolish men have taken them,
not for their own use and benefit, but have turned them
29 Rhddon ('rose') is derived by Clement from rhed ('flow').
fl TLsSr P VssYblfbe translated as a symbol of the noble acconv
plishm ts [of an Olynthic victor] in the festival honoring him, as
Pindar uses these words in such a sense.
*1 Fr* 68 S ' in*t' EUer 68 De gnomo/ogtorum graecorum historia
origin* commtiatio (Bonner Univeratatsprogramme, Bonn 1893
12.
156 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
into the evil service of idols, then we should reject them 'for
conscience' sake/ 34
(73) The garland is a symbol of calm 30 freedom from
care; that is why wreathes are placed on the brow of the
dead. It is for that reason, too, that they are placed upon
idols, giving witness that they, too, are dead. Those who cele-
brate the festivals of Bacchus never think of performing
their orgies without garlands and, once the flowers encircle
their brow, they work themselves into a frenzy over the
mystic rite. We should have no communication with demons
nor should we, the living image of God, crown ourselves like
dead idols. A beautiful crown of flowers that never fade
awaits those who live well; 36 earth has never been capable of
bearing such a crown, for only heaven holds the secret of
bringing it to blossom.
Besides, it is inconsistent for us who celebrate the holy suf-
fering of the Lord, who know that He was crowned with
thorns, to crown ourselves with flowers. The crown the
Lord wore is a figure of ourselves who were once barren, but
now encircle Him as a garland through His Church, of which
He is the head. That crown is also a type of our faith: it is
a type of life, through the substance of wood ; of joy, because
it is a crown; of trial, because it is a crown of thorns, and
no one can approach the Word without shedding blood. But
the other crown, the one interwined [with flowers], withers
away; a wreathe of wickedness, it falls apart and its flowers
fade, just as the beauty of those who do not believe in the
Lord withers away.
Jesus [the Jews] crowned and raised aloft, giving clear
34 Cf. 1 Cor. 10.25.
35 aochletos, a Stoic term suggestive of apatheia.
36 Cf. 1 Pet. 4.5.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 157
proof of their lack of understanding. In their fallacious rea-
soning they did not see that that very deed was a prophecy;
they meant it as dishonor to the Lord. They were people
gone astray, who did not know their Lord; they were un-
circumcised in mind; 37 not recognizing God, they rejected
their Lord and so lost the promise implied in their name
Israel, 38 for they persecuted God and tried to bring dis-
grace to the Word. Still, Him whom they crucified as an
evil-doer they crowned as a king. (74) For that reason, they
will recognize the loving God, in whom they did not believe
when He was man, as just and as the Lord. They showed that
they were provoking Him to manifest Himself as Lord when
they raised Him on high, for they placed upon the brow of
Him who is exalted above every name 39 a diadem of holiness,
in the never-fading thorns. Certainly, such a diadem is painful
to those who plot against it, and it restrains them, but it is
consoling for those who remain in communion with the
Church, and is their protection. Such a crown is like a
flower for those who believe in Him who has been glorified,
but those who do not believe it wounds and punishes.
It is, in fact, a symbol also of the Master's victory, for at
that time He was carrying upon His head, the principal
part of the body, all our sins by which we are pierced. Saving
us from temptations and sins and all such things by His suf-
ferings, rendering the work of the Devil ineffective, well did
He cry out in triumph: 'Death, where is thy victory?' 40 We
gather grapes even from thorns, and figs from thistles; 41
but those others, to whom He stretched forth His hands as
37 Cf. Ezech. 44.7; Acts 7.51.
38 That is, 'people of God,'; cf. Gen. 35.10.
39 Cf. Phil. 2.9.
40 1 Cor. 15.55.
41 Cf. Matt. 7.16.
158 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
to an unbelieving and barren people, 42 are ever lacerated into
shreds.
(75) I can speak of another mystery in these things.
When the almighty Lord of the universe began to legislate
through the Word and decided to make His power visible to
Moses, He sent Moses a divine vision with the appearance of
light, in the burning bush. Now, a bramble-bush is full of
thorns. 43 So, too, when the Word was concluding His legis-
lation and His stay among men as their Lord, again He per-
mitted Himself to be crowned with thorns as a mystic symbol;
returning to the place from which He had descended, the
Word renewed that by which He had first come, appearing
first in the bush of thorns, and later being surrounded with
thorns that He might show that all was the work of the
same one power. He is one and His Father is one, the
eternal beginning and end.
(76) But I have departed from the manner of the
moralist and encroached upon the field of the teacher. Let
me once more return to my own subject. We have already
proved that even from a medical point of view we should not
entirely renounce the pleasures that flowers afford, and the
benefit there is in ointments and vapors, for the sake of our
health, as well as, at times, by way of moderate relaxation.
If anyone should ask, in the name of those who turn away
from flowers, what good there is in them, let him know that
myrrhs are prepared from flowers, and myrrh has many uses.
Lily oil, made from white lilies and other kinds, imparts
warmth, stimulates the appetite, draws [infections] to a head,
moistens, purges, has the excellent quality of being composed
of fine particles, flushes the bile, and softens the skin. The
42 Cf. Isa. 655.
43 Cf. Exod. 3.2 This passage is taken from Philo, DC vit. Mas. 1.63.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 159
oil of the narcissus is just as beneficial as that of the lily.
That from the leaf of the myrtle, and from its berry, is an
astringent and checks the flow [of blood] from the body. Oil
of roses invigorates. In a word, all these myrrhs have been
created for our good. 'Hear me,' Scripture says, 'and bud
forth as the rose planted by the brooks of water. Give ye
a sweet-odor as frankincense, and bless the Lord in His
works.' 44
This discussion could go on indefinitely, dwelling on the
fact that these flowers and herbs have been created for our
needs, not to be misused as luxuries. We concede room for
some little indulgence, but it is sufficient if we enjoy their
fragrance; we need not be decked out with them. The
Father treats man with great care, putting at our disposal all
His handiwork for this one purpose. Scripture says well:
'Water and fire and iron and milk, bread of flour and honey,
the blood of the cluster of grape and oil and clothing. All these
things shall be for good to the holy.' 45
Chapter 9
(77) Now we must discuss the way we are to sleep,
still mindful of the precepts of temperance. After our dinner,
once we have given thanks to God for having granted us
such pleasures and for the completion of the day, then we
should dispose our minds for sleep. We must forbid ourselves
the use of expensive bedding, gold-sprinkled rugs and plain
carpets embroidered in gold, rich purple bed robes or
precious thick cloaks, purple blankets of elaborate art, with
44 Cf. Ecdi. 39.17-19.
45 Eccli. 39.31 32.
160 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
fleecy cloaks thrown over them, 1 and beds 'too soft to be
slept in.' 2 The habit of sleeping in soft down is injurious,
apart from the danger of pampering the body, because those
who sleep in it sink deep into the softness of the bed; it is
not healthy for the sleeper who cannot move about in it be-
cause of the high elevation on either side of his body. Sleep
is the time for digesting food, but such a bed causes the food
simply to burn up and be destroyed, while those who can
toss about on their beds, level as though a natural place of
exercise during sleep, digest their food more easily and pre-
pare themselves the better to face any contingencies.
Again, a bed with silver legs stands as an accusation of
extreme ostentatiousness, and couches made of 'ivory, the pro-
duct of a body separated from its living spirit, is not free from
defilement,' 3 and is for holy men only a resting place that
encourages sloth. ( 78 ) We should not be too anxious for such
things. Not that they who have them need to leave them
unused, but they are forbidden to desire them excessively.
Happiness does not lie in that sort of thing. On the other
hand, it is Cynic vanity to make a practise of sleeping like
Diomedes, under whom 'was spread the hide of an ox of the
field/ 4 Odysseus supported the weak part of his marriage
couch with a wooden post. 5 That is the degree of frugality
and industry practised, not by a private citizen, but by a
leader of the ancient Greeks. But, what further example do I
need, when Jacob slept on the ground with a stone for his
pillow? 6 It was then that he was accounted worthy of be-
holding a vision beyond the power of man.
1 Cf. Odysseus 7.335.
2 Theocritus 5.51; 15.125.
3 Plato, Laws XII 956A.
4 Iliad 10.155.
5 Cf. Odysseus 23.195.
6 Cf. Gen. 28.11.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 161
Following the dictates of reason, then, we should make
use of a bed that is level and unadorned, yet affording some
minimum of convenience: of protection, if it be summer; of
warmth, if it be winter. Let the couch, too, be unadorned
and its posts plain, for ornamented and molded wood
readily and frequently becomes an easy path for creeping
animals, providing them sure footing in the grooves carved by
the craftsmen. But we must specially keep the softness of the
bed within limits, for sleep is meant to relax the body, not
to debilitate it. For that reason, I say that sleep should be
taken not as self-indulgence, but as rest from activity.
(79) We should sleep half-awake. 'Let your loins be
girt,' Scripture says, 'and your lamps burning; and you like
men awaiting their master when he returns from the wed-
ding; that when he does come and knock, they may open
straighway to him. Blessed are those servants whom the
Master, when He comes, shall find awake.' 7 A man who is
asleep is not good for anything, any more than a man who is
dead. Therefore, even during the night we should arouse
ourselves from sleep often and give praise to God. Blessed are
they who have kept watch for Him, for they make them-
selves like the angels whom we speak of as ever wakeful. 'No
man who is asleep is good for anything, any more than if he
were dead.' 8 He who has the light stays awake, and the
darkness does not overcome him, and if darkness does not,
much less does sleep. Therefore, he who has been enlightened
stays awake, and such a one lives. Tor what was in Him, was
life.' 9 'Blessed is the man,' Wisdom adds, 'who hears me, and
the man who watches at my ways, and lies awake daily at
my gates, observing the posts of my entrance.' 10 (80) 'There-
7 Luke 12.35-37.
8 Plato, Laws VII 808D.
9 Cf. John 1.5,4.
10 Prov. 8.34 (Septuagint) .
162 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
fore, let us not sleep as do the rest,' Scripture tells us, 'but let
us be wakeful and sober. For they who sleep, sleep at night,
and they who are drunk, are drunk at night,' that is, in the
night of ignorance, 'but let us, who are of day, be sober. For
you are all children of the light and of the day. We are not
of night nor of darkness. 511 'He who has the most respect for
life and for reason will stay awake as long as he can, reserving
only as much time for sleep as his health demands; much
sleep is not required, if the habit of moderation be once
rightly formed.' 12
The care of discipline begets a constant alertness in our
labors. Therefore, food ought not to make us heavy but
enliven us so that sleep will harm us as little as possible.
Incidentally, how capable a wineless meal is of lifting one
from the very depths to the peak of wakefulness! Falling
asleep, indeed, is like dying, because it renders our minds
and our senses inactive, and, when we close our eyes, shuts out
the light of day. So, let us who are the sons of the true light
not shut out that light, but, turning within into ourselves,
casting light upon the vision of the inner man, let us con-
template truth itself, welcome its rays and discover with clarity
and insight what is the truth of dreams.
(81) But the belchings of the drunk, the wheezing of
those who are stuffed with food, the snoring smothered by bed
clothes, the rumblings of cramped stomachs, all these things
obscure the clear-sightedness needed by the eye of the soul and
fill the mind with a thousand imaginations. The blame must
be placed on overindulgence in food, for it reduces reason
to silliness. 'Much sleep is not helpful, either for our souls or
11 1 Thess. 5.6,7,8,5.
12 Plato, Laws VII 808BC.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 163
bodies, nor is it adapted to the actions it performs in its
search for the truth, even if it is according to nature.' 13
Lot the just (for the present, I am going to pass over an
explanation of the way of life demanded by the new birth)
would not have been betrayed into unlawful intercourse if his
daughters had not first made him drunk and overcome by
sleep. 14 Therefore, if we remove the cause for an excessive
tendency to drowsiness, we shall sleep more soundly. Those
who cultivate an alert mind ought not 'to sleep all night
long.' 15 We must keep vigil by night, especially when the
days are short: one person, that he might study; another, that
he might practise his trade; women, to devote themselves to
their wool-spining. In general, all of us must struggle against
sleep, accustoming ourselves gently and gradually to utilize
a greater proportion of our lives and not waste them in sleep.
(Sleep, indeed, like a tax-collector, claims half the portion of
our lives.) When we do manage to keep awake the greater
part of the night, we should not allow ourselves, for any con-
sideration, to take a nap during the day. Listlessness and
drowsiness, stretching and yawning, are all distressing in a soul
that is inconstant.
(82) There is another general principle that we should
recognize, too, and it is this: it is not the soul that needs sleep
(for it is ever-active) ; the body becomes relaxed when it
takes its rest, and the soul ceases to operate in any bodily way,
but continues to operate mentally in keeping with its nature.
Then, if we consider the matter carefully, the truth that lies
in dreams is the thinking of the soul, not drugged [by sleep],
nor distracted here and there in sympathy for the body, but
13 Ibid.
14 Cf. Gen 19.32-38.
15 Cf. Iliad 24.1159; Plato, Laws VII 808B.
164 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
making its own judgment for itself. To keep itself inactive
would be for it to cease to exist. The soul, then, ever
keeping its thoughts on God and attributing those thoughts
to the body by its constant association with it, makes man
equal to the angels in their loveliness. So, from its practise
of wakefulness, it obtains eternal life.
Chapter 10
(83) It remains for us now to consider the restriction
of sexual intercourse to those who are joined in wedlock. Be-
getting children is the goal of those who wed, and the ful-
fillment of that goal is a large family, just as hope of a crop
drives the farmer to sow his seed, while the fulfillment of his
hope is the actual harvesting of the crop. But he who sows
in a living soil is far superior, for the one tills the land to
provide food only for a season, the other to secure the pres-
ervation of the whole human race; the one tends his crop
for himself, the other, for God. We have received the com-
mand: 'Be fruitful,' 1 and we must obey. In this role man
becomes like God, because he co-coperates, in his human way,
in the birth of another man.
Now, not every land is suited to the reception of seed, and,
even if it were, not at the hands of the same farmer. Seed
should not be sown on rocky ground nor scattered every-
where, 2 for it is the primary substance of generation and
contains imbedded in itself the principle of nature. It is
undeniably godless, then, to dishonor principles of nature
by wasting them on unnatural resting places. In fact, you re-
call how Moses, in his wisdom, once denounced seed that
1 Cf. Gen. 1.28.
2 Cf. Matt. 13.3-24; Plato, Laws VIII 838E.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 1 65
bears no fruit, saying symbolically : 'Do not eat the hare nor
the hyena.' 3 He does not want man to be contaminated by
their traits nor even to taste of their wantonness, for these
animals have an insatiable appetite for coition. As regards
the hare, legend claims that it needs to void excrement only
once a year, and possesses as many anuses as the years it has
lived. 4 Therefore, the prohibition against eating the hare
is nothing else than a condemnation of pederasty. And with
regard to the hyena, it is said that the male changes every
year successively into a female, so that Moses means that he
who abstains from the hyena is commanded not to lust after
adultery.
(84) While I agree that the all- wise Moses means, by
this prohibition just mentioned, that we should not become
like these beasts, I do not entirely agree with the explantion
given these symbolic prohibitions. A nature can never be made
to change; what has been once formed in it cannot be re-
formed by any sort of change. Change does not involve the
nature itself; it necessarily modifies, but does not transform
the structure. For instance, although many birds are said to
change their color and their voice according to the season
(like the blackbird which changes its black feathers to yellow,
and its melodious voice to a harsh one, or the nightingale
which changes its plumage and song at the same time), even
so, their nature itself is not so affected that a male becomes
female. Rather, a new growth of feathers, like a new gar-
ment, is bright with one color, but a little later, as winter
threatens, it fades away, like a flower when its color goes. In
the same way, the voice, affected unfavorably by the cold,
loses its vibrancy : the surface of the whole body contracts with
the climate, and the bronchial tubes, narrowly constricted
3 Cf. Dcut. M.7; Epistle of Barnabas 10.6.
4 Ibid.
166 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
in the throat, restrict the breath to the point that it is made
quite muffled and capable of producing only harsh sounds.
(85) Later on, in the spring, responding to the weather and
relaxing, the breath is once again freed of all constraint and
is carried through passages that were tightly closed but are
now wide open. No longer does the voice croak in dying
tones, but bursts forth clear, pouring out in full-throated
voice, and now in springtime there arises melodious song
from the throats of the birds. 5
Therefore, we should not believe at all that the hyena
changes its sex. Neither does it possess both the male and the
female sexual organs at the same time, as some claim, con-
juring up some freakish hermaphrodite and creating this
female-male, a third new category halfway in between the
male and the female. Erroneously they misconstrue the
strategy of nature, mother of all and author of all existence.
Because the hyena is of all animals the most sensual, there is
a knob of flesh underneath its tail, in front of the anus,
closely resembling the female sex organ in shape. It is not a
passage, I mean it serves no useful purpose, opening neither
into the womb nor into the intestines. It has only a good-
sized opening to permit an ineffective sexual act when the
vagina is preparing for childbirth and is impenetrable. (86)
This is characteristic of both male and female hyena, because
of hyperactive abnormal sexuality; the male lies with the male
so that it rarely approaches the female. For that reason, births
are infrequent among hyenas, because they so freely sow their
seed contrary to nature.
This is the reason, I believe, that Plato, in excoriating
pederasty in Phaedrus, terms it bestiality and says that these
libertines who have so surrendered to pleasure, 'taking the
5 Cf. Aristotle, Hist. Animal. 11.49 632B.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 167
bit in their own mouths, like brutish beasts rush on to enjoy
and beget.' 6 Such godless people 'God has given over/ the
Apostle says, 'to shameful lusts. For the women change their
natural use to that which is against nature, and in like man-
ner the men, also, having abandoned the natural use of the
women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men
with men doing shameful things, and receiving in themselves
the fitting recompense of their perversity.' 7 (87) Yet, nature
has not allowed even the most sensual of beasts to sexually
misuse the passage made for excrement. Urine she gathers
into the bladder; undigested food in the intestines; tears
in the eyes; blood in the veins; wax in the ear, and mucous in
the nose; so, too, there is a passage connected to the end of
the intestines by means of which excrement is passed off. In
the case of hyenas, nature, in her diversity, has added this
additional organ to accomodate their excessive sexual act-
ivity. Therefore, it is large enough for the service of the
lusting organs, but its opening is obstructed within. In short,
it is not made to serve any purpose in generation. The clear
conclusion that we must draw, then, is that we must condemn
sodomy, all fruitless sowing of seed, any unnatural methods
of holding intercourse and the reversal of the sexual role in
intercourse. We must rather follow the guidance of nature,
which obviously disapproves of such practises from the very
way she has fashioned the male organ, adapted not for re-
ceiving the seed, but for implanting it. When Jeremias, or,
rather, the Spirit through him, said: 'The cave of the hyena
is my home,' 8 He was resorting to an expressive figure to
6 Cf. Plato, Phaed. 254, 250E.
7 Rom. 1.26,27.
8 Cf. Jer. 12.9 (Septuagint) . The word for 'cave* (spelaion) also
means 'privy.'
168 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
excoriate idolatry and to manifest His scorn for the nourish-
ment provided for dead bodies. The house of the living God
surely ought to be free of idols.
(88) Again, Moses issued a prohibition against eating
the hare. The hare is forever mounting the female, leaping
upon her crouching form from behind. In fact, this manner
of having intercourse is a characteristic of the hare. The
female conceives every month, and, even before the first
offspring is born, she become pregnant again. She conceives
and begets, and as soon as she gives birth is fertilized again
by the first hare she meets. Not satisfied with one mate, she
conceives again, although she is still nursing. The explanation
is that the female hare has a double womb, and therefore her
desire for intercourse is stimulated not only by the emptiness
of the womb, in that every empty space seeks to be filled, but
also, when she is with young, her other womb begins to
feel lustful desires. That is why hares have one birth after
the other. So the mysterious prohibition [of Moses] in reality
is but counsel to restrain violent sexual impulses, and inter-
course in too frequent succession, relations with a pregnant
woman, pederasty, adultery, and lewdness.
(89) Moses forbade, too, in clear language and with his
head uncovered, no longer under a figure: 'Thou shalt not
fornicate, nor commit adultery, nor corrupt children.' 9 This
is the command of the Word; it must be obeyed with all our
strength and not transgressed in any way; His commandments
may not be set aside. Evil lust bears the name wantonness;
Plato, for example, calls the horse representing lust 'wanton'
when he writes: 'You have become in my eyes horses mad
for the female.' 10 The angels who visited Sodom reveal the
9 Cf. Exod. 20.14; Ep. of Barn. 19.4.
10 Cf. Plato, Phaed. 238A.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 169
punishment reserved for wantonness. They struck down with
fire those who attempted to dishonor them, and their city
along with them. 11 Such a deed demonstrates clearly that
fire is the reward of wantonness. As we have already said,
the calamities that befell the ancients are described for our
instruction that we may not imitate their example and
merit the same punishment.
(90) We should consider boys as our sons, and the wives
of other men as our daughters. We must keep a firm control
over the pleasures of the stomach, and an absolutely un-
compromising control over the organs beneath the stomach.
If, as the Stoics teach, we should not move even a finger on
mere impulse, 12 how much more necessary is it that they who
seek wisdom control the organ of intercourse? I feel that the
reason this organ is also called the private part 13 is that
we are to treat it with privacy and modesty more than we do
any other member. In lawful wedlock, as with eating, nature
permits whatever is conformable to nature and helpful and
decent; it allows us to desire the act of procreation. How-
ever, whoever is guilty of excess sins against nature and,
by violating the laws regulating intercourse, harms himself.
First of all, it is decidedly wrong ever to touch youths in any
sexual way as though they were girls. The philosopher who
learned from Moses taught: 'Do not sow seeds on rocks
and stones, on which they will never take root.' 14 (91) The
Word, too, commands emphatically, through Moses: 'Thou
shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, for it is an
abomination.' 15 Again, further on, noble Plato advises:
11 Cf. Gen. 19.1-25.
12 Cf. Chrysippus, Frag, moral. 730 (Arnim) .
13 That is, aidoion, derived from aidomai ('reverence').
14 Plato, Laws VIII 828E.
15 Lev. 18.22.
1 70 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
'Abstain from every female field of increase,' 16 because it does
not belong to you. (He had read this in the holy Scripture
and from it had taken the Law: Thou shalt not give the
coition of thy seed to thy neighbor's wife, to be defiled be-
cause of her.' 17 ) Then he goes on to say: 'Do not sow the
unconsecrated and bastard seed with concubines, where you
would not want what is sown to grow.' 18 In fact, he says:
'Do not touch anyone, except your wedded wife,' 19 because
she is the only one with whom it is lawful to enjoy the
pleasures of the flesh for the purpose of begetting lawful heirs.
This is to share in God's own work of creation, and in such a
work the seed ought not be wasted nor scattered thought-
lessly nor sown in a way it cannot grow. 20 (92) As an
illustration of this last restriction, the same Moses forbade the
Jews to approach even their own wives if they happened to
be in the period of menstruation. 21 The reason is that it is
wrong to contaminate fertile seed, destined to become a
human being, with corrupt matter of the body, or to allow
it be diverted from the furrow of the womb and swept away
in a fetid flow of matter and excrement.
He discouraged the ancient Jews, also, from having rela-
tions with a wife already with child. 22 Pleasure sought for its
own sake, even within the marriage bonds, is a sin and
contrary both to law and to reason. Moses cautioned them,
then, to keep away from their pregnant wives until they be
16 Plato, Laws VIII 828E.
17 Lev. 18.20.
18 Plato, Laws VIII 839A
19 Ibid. 841D.
20 Literally, 'do not scatter seeds too hard to be cooked.'
21 Cf. Lev. 15.19.
22 In Stromateis III 11.71. Clement explains: 'You can produce no one
of the ancients in the Scriptures who had relations with a pregnant
woman.'
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 171
delivered. In fact, the womb, situated just below the bladder
and above the part of the intestine known as the rectum,
extends its neck in between the edges of the bladder, and the
outlet of this neck, by which the sperm enters, closes tight
when the womb is full, opening again only when delivered
of the fetus. It is only when it has become empty of its fruit
that it can receive the sperm again. (It is not wrong for us
to name the organs of generation, when God is not ashamed
of their function.) (93) The womb welcomes the seed when
it yearns for procreation, but it refuses the seed when inter-
course is contrary to nature; that is, once impregnated, it
makes immoral relations impossible by drawing its neck
tight together. All its instincts, up to now aroused by loving
intercourse, begin to be directed differently, absorbed in the
development of the child within, co-operating with the
Creator. It is wrong, indeed, to interfere with the workings
of nature by indulging in the extravagances of wantonness.
Wantonness has many names and is of many kinds. When
it centers about sexual pleasure in a disorientated way, it is
called lewdness, something vulgar and common and very
impure, and, as its name suggests, preoccupied with coition.
As this vice increases, a great swarm of diseases flows from
it: gourmandizing, drunkenness, lust, and particularly dis-
sipation and every sort of craze for pleasure in which lust
plays the tyrant. A thousand-and-one like vices join the com-
pany and aid in effecting a thoroughly dissolute character.
'Whips are prepared for the unbridled,' Scripture says, k and
punishment for the shoulders of the intemperate,' 23 meaning
by 'shoulders of the intemperate' both the strength of the
intemperance and the length of its duration. So, Scripture also
advises: 'Keep empty hopes, O Lord, from thy servants, and
23 Prov. 19.29.
172 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
avert unbecoming desires from me, and let not the greediness
of the belly and lusts of the flesh take hold of me.' 24 We
must hold off at a great distance any excessive evil-doing, for
it is not only the wallet of Crates, but also our own city,
that 'no parasite, nor elegant bawd given over to unnatural
vices nor immoral prostitute may enter,' 25 nor, for that matter,
any other hedonist of the same sort. Unmistakably good be-
havior should permeate our whole life.
(94) In my treatise on continence, 26 I have discussed in
a general way the question whether we should marry or not
(and this is the point of our investigation). Now, if we
have to consider whether we may marry at all, then how
can we possibly permit ourselves to indulge in intercourse each
time without restraint, as we would food, as if it were a neces-
sity? Certainly, we can see at a glance that the nerves are
strained by it as on a loom and, in the intense feeling aroused
by intercourse, are stretched to the breaking point. It spreads
a mist over the senses and tires the muscles. This is obvious
in irrational animals and in men in training. Of these last,
those who practise abstinence while engaging in contests
get the best of their opponents; while animals are easily
captured if they are caught at and all but torn from coition,
because then they are entirely emptied of strength and
energy.
The sophist of Abdera called intercouse 'a minor epilepsy,'
and considered it an incurable disease. Indeed, does not
lassitude succeed intercourse because of the quantity of seed
lost? Tor a man is formed and torn out of a man.' 27 See
24 Cf. Eccli. 23.5.
25 Crates, Frag. 4, in H. Diels, Poetarum philosophicorum fragmenta 218.
26 Cf. above, p 139 n. 12,
27 Cf. Democritus, Frag. 86, n. 32, in H. Diels, Die Fragmente der
Vorsokratiker 416.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 173
how much harm is done. A whole man is torn out when the
seed is lost in intercourse. 'This is bone of my bone, and flesh
of my flesh,' 28 Scripture says. Man is emptied of as much seed
as is needed for a body that can be seen. After all, that which
is separated from him is the beginning of a new birth. Besides
that, the very agitation of matter upsets and disturbs the har-
mony of his whole body. (95) Wise indeed was he who re-
plied to someone asking him his attitude toward the pleasures
of sex: 6 O man, quiet! I have been supremely happy in
avoiding them as a fierce and wild tyrant.' 29
Yet, marriage in itself merits esteem and the highest ap-
proval, for the Lord wished men to 'be fruitful and mul-
tiply.' 30 He did not tell them, however, to act like libertines,
nor did He intend them to surrender themselves to pleasure
as though born only to indulge in sexual relations. Let the
Educator put us to shame with the word of Ezechiel: Tut
away your fornications.' 31 Why, even unreasoning beasts
know enough not to mate at certain times. To indulge in
intercourse without intending children is to outrage nature,
whom we should take as our instructor. Her wise directions
concerning the periods of life are meant to be obeyed; I mean
that she allows us to marry at any time but after the advent of
old age and during childhood (for she does not permit the
one to marry yet, the other, any more). The attempt to pro-
create children is marriage, but the promiscuous scattering
of seed contrary to law and to reason definitely is not. (96)
If we should but control our lusts at the start and if we
would not kill off the human race born and developing ac-
28 Cf Gen 2.23.
29 Sophocles. Cf. Plato, Republic I 329BC
30 Gen. 1.28.
31 Ezech. 43.9.
174 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
cording to the divine plan, then our whole lives would be
lived according to nature. But women who resort to some
sort of deadly abortion drug kill not only the embryo but,
along with it, all human kindness.
Those whom nature has joined in wedlock need the Ed-
ucator that they might learn not to celebrate the mystic rites
of nature during the day, nor like the rooster copulate at
dawn, or after they have come from church, or even from the
market, when they should be praying or reading or per-
forming the good works that are best done by day. In the
evening, after dinner, it is proper to retire after giving thanks
for the good things that have been received. (97) Sometimes,
nature denies them the opportunity to accomplish the mar-
riage act so that it may be all the more desirable because it
is delayed. Yet, they must not forget modesty at night time
under the pretext of the cover of darkness; like the light of
reason, modesty must ever dwell in their souls. If we weave
the ideals of chastity by day and then unravel them in the
marriage bed at night, we do not better than Penelope at her
loom. 32 Certainly, if we are required to practise self-control
as we are we ought to manifest it even more with our wives,
in the way we avoid every indecency in intimate embraces.
Let the reliability and trustworthiness of the husband's purity
in his dealings with his neighbor be present also in his home.
He cannot possibly enjoy a reputation for self-control with his
wife if she can see no signs of self-control in such intense acts
of pleasure. Love, which tends toward sexual relations by
its very nature, is in full bloom only for a time, then grows
old with the body; but sometimes, if immoral pleasure mars
the chastity of the marriage bed, desire becomes insipid
and love ages before the body does. The hearts of lovers have
32 Cf. Odysseus 2.104; 19.149.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 175
wings; affection can be quenched by a change of heart, and
love can turn into hate if there creep in too many grounds for
loss of respect.
(98) We should not even mention the names of im-
purity : ribald speech, indecent behavior, sensuous love affairs
and all such immoralities. Rather, let us obey the Apostle, who
tells us explicitly: 'But all fornication and uncleanness and
covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as
becometh saints.' 33 Someone has well said: 'Sexual intercourse
does no one any good, except that it harms the beloved/ 34
Intercourse performed licitly is an occasion of sin, unless done
purely to beget children, while Scripture says of that done
illicitly: *A hired wife shall be accounted as a sow, but one
already married to a husband shall be a tower of death to
those who use her.' 35 Impure passion makes a man resemble
a boar or pig, and, according to Scripture, fornication with a
kept prostitute is seeking death. (99) Even the poetry cir-
culating among you condemns the city and house in which
immorality reigns, saying: 'Wicked city, all unclean, adul-
teries and lawless lying with men and illicit effeminacy dwells
in you." 3fi On the other hand, it admires the chaste 'who have
neither base lust for lying with other's wives, nor passion for
the loathesome and abominable sin committed with men,' 37
because it is contrary to nature. The greater number consider
these sins of theirs simply as pleasure, while others, more
virtuous, recognize that they are sins, even though they are
overcome by the pleasure. For such as these, darkness is a veil
to conceal their passion. Yet, he who seeks only sexual plea-
34 Epicurus', Frag. 62, in H. Usener, Epicurea (Leipzig 1887) 118.
35 Gloss on Eccli. 26.22.
36 Orac. Syb. 5.166-168.
37 Ibid. 4.33.
176 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
sure turns his marriage into fornication. He forgets the words
of the Educator : 'Every man that passeth beyond his own bed,
who says in his soul: Who seeth me? Darkness compasseth me
about, and the walls cover me, and no man seeth my sins:
whom do I fear? The Most High will not remember.' 38 Such
a man is most wretched, for he fears only the eyes of men, and
thinks to hide from God. 'He knows not,' Scripture continues,
'that the eyes of the Most High Lord are far brighter than the
sun, beholding all the ways of men and looking into the
most hidden parts.' 39 Another time, the Educator gives warning
through Isaias: 'Woe to you who made your counsel in
secret and say: Who seeth us?' 40
A light that can be seen by the senses may pass unnoticed,
but that which illumines the mind cannot be ignored. Hera-
clitus remarks: 'How can anyone fail to notice that which
never sets?' 41 Let us not, then, allow ourselves to be swallowed
up in any way by darkness, for light dwells in us: 'And the
darkness,' Scripture says, 'did not overcome it.' 42 Night is
turned into day by chaste reasoning. Scripture calls the rea-
son of a good man a lamp which cannot be extinguished. 43
(100) In fact, the very attempt to cover over what one is do-
ing is a sign that the man is knowingly committing sin.
Anyone who does sin, for example by fornication, wrongs
not so much his neighbor as himself by the very act of for-
nicating; he decidedly becomes more immoral and loses the
right to respect. The sinner becomes more immoral and loses
the right to respect which he had before, to the extent that
38 Eccli. 23.25-26.
39 Eccli. 23.28.
40 Isa. 29.15 (Septuagint) .
41 Heraclitus, Frag. 16, in H. Diels, op. tit.
42 John 1.5.
43 Cf. Wisd. 7.10.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 177
he sins; yet, Lord knows, immorality is already present when
a man gives in to base pleasure. Therefore, he who sins dies to
God entirely, and is abandoned by the Word, as well as by
the Spirit, and is without life. What is holy shrinks from
being defiled, and rightly so; the pure are always the only
ones who may handle what is pure. Let us, therefore, never
divest ourselves of our modesty when we take off our clothes, 44
for a just man should never strip himself of chastity. 'Behold,
this corruption shall put on incorruption,' 45 when the intensity
of desire that degenerates into sensuality is educated to self-
control and, losing its love for corruption, allows man to
practise constant chastity. 'The children of this world marry
and are given in marriage,' 46 but if we renounce the deeds of
the flesh and clothe this pure flesh with incorruption, we are
living a life like that of the angels.
Plato, who was so well versed in pagan philosophy, in his
Philebus called those men atheists, in a mystical sense, who
corrupt reason, the god dwelling with them, and defile it
according to their ability by surrendering to their passions. 47
(101 ) We ought not to live only for this mortal life, for we
are consecrated to God, nor should we, as Paul tells us,
turn the members of Christ into members of a harlot, 48 nor
make the temple of God into a temple of base passion. 49
Remember the four and twenty thousand who were rejected
because of their fornication. 50 The punishment of those who
fornicated is an example, as I have already said, to restrain
our passions. Our Educator clearly warns us: 'Go not after
44 Cf. Herodotus 1.8.
45 1 Cor. 15.53.
46 Cf. Matt. 24.38.
47 Not in Philebus; probably Republic IX 589E.
48 1 Cor. 6.15.
49 Cf. 1 Cor. 3.16,17.
50 Cf. Num. 25.9.
178 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
thy lusts and abstain from thy desires. Wine and women
make wise men fall, and he that joins himself to harlots shall
become more foolhardy; rottenness and the worm shall in-
herit him, and he shall be lifted up for a great example.' 51
And in another place (for He never tires of helping us) :
'He who defies pleasure crowns his life/ 52 (102) It is un-
mistakably sinful to give in to sexual pleasure or to become
inflamed by our lusts or to be excessively aroused by our
unreasonable desires or to desire to dishonor oneself. Sowing
seed is permissible only for the husband, as the farmer of
the occasion, and even for him only when the season is
favorable for sowing. Against every other sort of self-indul-
gence the best remedy is reason. It will be helpful, too, to
avoid satiety, for in satiety desires wax strong and become
unruly in their search for pleasures.
We should not seek for expensive clothes, either, any more
than for elaborate dishes. In fact, the Lord Himself set Him-
self to give special counsel for the soul, for the body and for a
third class, external things, all separately. He advised that
external things were to be provided for the body, the body
to be governed by the soul, and then instructed the soul: 'Be
not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat nor for your
body, what you shall put on. The life is more than the meat,
and the body is more than the raiment.' Then He went on to
illustrate His teaching: 'Consider the ravens, for they sow
not, neither do they reap, neither have they storehouse or
barn, and God feedeth them. Are not you more valuable
than birds?' This is what He says about food, and He has
much the same thing to say about clothing, which belongs
to the third class of external things, too: 'Consider the lilies,'
51 Cf. Eccli. 18.30;
52 Gloss on Eccli. 19.5.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 179
He says, 'how they neither spin nor weave, but I say to you
that not even Solomon was clothed as one of these.' Solomon
took extravagant pride in his wealth; but what is more
beautiful or of richer hue than a flower? (103) And what
gives greater pleasure than a lily or myrrh or rose? 'Now if
God clothe in this manner the grass that is today in the field,
and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more you, O
ye of little faith! And seek not what you shall eat or what
you shall drink.' 53
In that last sentence, the pronoun 'what' excludes elabora-
teness of menu, and the meaning intended by Scripture is
this: 'Be not solicitous for what sort of things you eat, or
what sort of things you drink.' 54 To be solicitous about such
things is gluttony and gourmandizing. In itself, eating should
be understood simply as implying a necessity; but repletion
suggests only desire, as we have said. But the 'what' indicates
superfluity and superfluity comes from the Devil, ac-
cording to the Scriptures. The phrase he adds explains what
he means: 'Seek not what you shall eat or what you shall
drink, and do not exalt yourselves.' It is ostentatiousness, a
false imitation of the truth and extravagance that exalts us
above and away from the truth; concentration on needless
comforts also turns us away from the truth. Therefore, He
shrewdly adds: 'After all these things, the heathens seek.'
The heathen are they who are without discipline and without
understanding. What does He mean by 'these things'? Need-
less comforts, self-pampering, highly spiced and rich foods,
gourmandizing, gluttony. These are the things that cor-
respond to the 'what.' But, when He speaks of plain fare,
food and drink, that is a necessity, He says: 'Your Father
knoweth that you need these.' If we have become sincere
54 That fafaCwhat sort of things') instead of tf ('what thing').
180 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
seekers, let us not waste our efforts in a search for pleasure,
but let us enliven them by the discovery of the truth. "Seek the
kingdom of God,' He insists, 'and these things' food 'shall
be given you besides." 5
(104) Now, if Christ forbids solicitude once and for
all about clothing and food and luxuries, as things that are
unnecessary, do we need to ask Him about finery and dyed
wools and multicolored robes, about exotic ornaments of
jewels and artistic handiwork of gold, about wigs and artificial
locks of hair and of curls, and about eye-shadowings and
hair-plucking and rouges and powders and hair-dyes and
all the other disreputable trades that practise these deceptions?
Are we not reasonable in concluding that what He says about
the grass is to be applied also to this disgraceful ostentation?
The world is a field and we are the harvest watered by the
grace of God; although we shall be cut down, we shall rise
again, as I shall discuss in a treatise on the Resurrection. 56
But, grass is a figure of the ordinary multitude, who by nature
indulge in feasting for a day and flourish for a short while,
who love pretentiousness and grand show and everything
but the truth, but who are fit, finally, only to be fuel for the
fire.
(105) 'Now there was a certain rich man,' the Lord de-
clared, 'who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted
sumptuously every day,' he was grass 'and there was a
certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate full of
sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the
rich man's table.' 57 He was the good harvest. The one, the
rich man, was punished in hell and had his share of its fire,
while the other gained new life in the bosom of his father.
55 Cf. Luke 12.30,31.
56 Not extant.
57 Luke 16.19-20.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 181
I admire the ancient city of the Lacedemonians for allow-
ing only courtesans to wear brightly colored garments and
gold ornaments; in this way, restricting such showy finery to
that type of woman, they bred into their good women a
reluctance to adorn themselves. On the other hand, in Athens,
even the archons utterly forgot their manhood in their lust
for the finer delicacies of life; they used to put on flowing
tunics and load themselves with gold. The fashion was to
wear their hair in a crobulus, a special kind of braid, set
off by a brooch in the form of a golden cicada. Such esoteric
extravagances, indicative of unnatural lust, simply put on
public view their earthiness. The practise of the archons spread
to other lonians, for Homer speaks of them as 'robe-trail-
ing,^' 8 to imply their effeminacy. (106) Such men turn rather
to imitation beauty, artificial ornamentation, than to Beauty
itself, and are, therefore, image-worshipers in the true sense
of the word. They must be considered strangers to the truth,
who do no more than day-dream about the nature of truth,
fashioning it more to their own fancy than according to
knowledge. For them, this life is only a deep sleep of ignorance.
But, as for ourselves, we must awaken from that sort of
sleep and sincerely seek true beauty and the true adornment;
we must long to possess that alone, and, ridding ourselves
of the ornaments of this world, detach ourselves from it
before we slip off into our final sleep.
I maintain that man needs clothing only for bodily covering,
as a protection against excessive cold or intense heat, so that
the inclemency of the weather may not harm him in any way.
If that is the purpose of clothes, then one kind of garment
surely should not be provided for men and another for
women. The need for clothing, like the need for food and
drink, is common to both, (107) and where the need is
5S Iliad 6.442; 7.297.
182 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
common, our minds should turn to the same kind of means
to fulfill it. Both have the same need of being protected;
therefore, what they use as protection should be very similar,
except, perhaps, that women ought to use a type of garment
that will cover their eyes. 59 If the female sex is rightly allowed
more clothing out of deference to its weakness, then the
practise of a degenerate way of life must be censured which
accustoms men to unworthy customs that so often make them
more womanish than the women.
But we do not feel free to relax our strictness in any way.
If we need to make any concessions, we might allow women
to use softer garments, provided they give up fancy weaves,
symptoms of vanity, and fabrics too elaborate in weave, or
with gold thread, Indian silks and all products of the silk-
worm. The silkworm is a worm only at its first stage; it turns
into a hairy caterpillar, and then, in its third stage, into a
larva ( although some call it the nymph of the silk- worm ) ;
it is by this larva that the thread is spun, just as the spider
spins its web. These flimsy and luxurious things are proof
of a shallow character, for, with the scanty protection they
afford, they do nothing more than disgrace the body, inviting
prostitution. An overly soft garment is no longer covering,
since it cannot conceal the bare outline of the figure; the
folds of such a garment clinging to the body and following its
contours very flexibly take its shape and outline the woman's
form so that even one not trying to stare can see plainly the
woman's entire figure.
(108) We disapprove also of dyed garments. They do
not satisfy the demands either of necessity or of truth; besides,
they give cause for defamation of character. They serve
no useful purpose, for they do nothing to protect against
59 The text is defective here.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 183
the cold, nor do they add any advantage to that given by
any other garment, save criticism alone. The enjoyment of
these colors is injurious to the luxury-loving people who use
them, to the point of provoking a strange eye-affliction. It
is much more fitting that they who are pure and upright
interiorly be clothed in pure white and plain garments.
Daniel the Prophet, for instance, makes this observation
clearly and simply: 'Thrones were placed, and there sat
on them, as if an Ancient of days, and his garment was white
as snow.' 60 The Lord, too, was seen in a vision clothed in the
same color of vesture. 61 The Apocalypse also says: 'I saw
under the altar the souls of them who had given testimony.
And a white robe was given to every one of them.' 62
If there is need for some other color, the natural color of
real life is sufficient; garments colored like flowers should
be left for the farces of the Bacchanals and of the pagan
mystery rites. To this must be added what the comic poet
says : Turple and silver plates are good enough for tragedies,
but not for life.' 63 Our lives ought to be different from a play.
But Sardinian dye and those other violet and green dyes,
that compounded from the rose, and scarlet dye, and the
thousand-and-one others have all been invented with so much
eagerness the more to gratify demoralizing love of luxury.
(109) These kinds of garments are not for clothing's sake,
but for appearance. They must all be renounced, together
with the art that produces them: gold embroideries, purple-
dyed robes, those embroidered with figurines (all such
vanity is but a puff of wind), as well as the saffron-hued
60 Cf. Dan. 7.9.
61 Cf. Matt. 17.2.
62 Apoc. 6.9-11.
63 Philemon, Frag. 105, CAP II 512.
184 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Bacchic mantle dipped in myrrh, and the expensive multi-
colored mantle of costly skins with figures dyed in purple.
Tor what sensible or outstanding thing do these women ac-
complish,' the comic poet asks, 'who sit sparkling with
colors, wearing their saffron dresses and so highly orna-
mented?' 64 Our Educator distinctly advises: 'Glory not in ap-
parel, and be not lifted up in glory, since it does not endure.' 65
More explicitly, He speaks ironically of those who wear soft
garments, saying in the Gospel: 'Behold, they who live in
costly apparel and in luxury, are in the houses of kings.' 66
He means the palaces of earth, those which crumble away,
where vanity and vainglory and sycophancy and error dwell.
Those who serve the heavenly court, that of the King of all,
sanctify their bodies, the untainted garment of their souls,
and clothe it with incorrupt ion.
Now, a woman who is not wed is concerned with God
alone, and her mind is not distracted every which way; the
chaste woman who is wed divides her life between God and
her husband; 67 but one of a different mind gives herself
wholly to her married life, that is, to her passion. In the
same way, I believe, the chaste wife practises true, unfeigned
love of God by busying herself for her husband, but, if she
turns to vanities, she proves false both to God and to the
chastity of her married life; she values finery more than
her husband, just like the Argive harlot, Eriphyle, 'who took
precious gold as the price of the life of her own dear hus-
band/ 68
(110) I like the description that the Ceian Sophist gave
64 Aristophanes, Lys. 42-44.
65 Eccli. 11.4.
66 Luke 7.25.
67 Cf. 1 Cor 7.32-34.
68 Odysseus 11.327.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 185
of the similar and corresponding figure of good and of evil. 69
The one he pictured standing simply, clothed in white, pure :
this is virtue, adorned only with her modesty (that is the way
fidelity ought to be, virtuous and modest); the other he
describes as just the contrary: wrapped in many robes, decked
out in outlandish colors, with a movement and posture best
calculated to insure her own enjoyment in company with
other shameless women. Now, one who obeys reason will not
associate in any way with base pleasure; therefore, he ought
to prefer the sort of garment that is useful. Even the Word
says about the Lord, in David's psalm: The daughters of the
king have delighted thee in thy glory; the queen stood on thy
right hand, clothed in a garment interwoven with gold and
in a golden-fringed tunic,' 70 referring not to a garment of
luxury, but to the ornament the Church wears, woven out of
faith, undefiled, composed of those who have obtained
mercy. In that Church, the sinless Jesus 'shines out as gold,'
and the elect as golden fringes. 71
(Ill) But we must moderate our severity for the sake of
the women. We say, then, that their garment may be woven
smooth and soft to the touch, but not adorned with gaudy
colors, like a painting, just to dazzle the eye. For, just like a
picture which fades with time, so the constant rinsing and
steeping of these woolen robes in plant juices serving as dyes
deteriorates the garments, wears them out, weakens the
weave, and is definitely opposed to economy. It is the height of
vanity to let oneself be fascinated by the flowing robes and
gowns and cloaks and mantles and tunics 'that cover naked-
ness,' 72 as Homer says. I am really ashamed to see so much
69 Prodicus the Sophist; cf. Xenophon, Mem. II 21-34.
70 Cf. Ps. 44.9,10,14.
71 Cf. 1 l*et. 2.22.
72 Iliad 2.262.
186 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
money squandered just to cover the private parts. Of old, man
fashioned a covering for his shame out of branches and leaves
from the garden, 73 but, now that we have sheep for our use,
let us not imitate the sheep in their stupidity, but follow the
guidance of reason and refuse to have anything to do with
expensive clothing, insisting: 'Wool, you belong to the sheep.'
Even if Miletus does boast, even if Italy prides itself, and
even if the wool is fortified by hides, and the people go madly
after them, let us at least not covet them.
(112) The blessed John disdained sheep's wool because it
savored of luxury; he preferred camel's hair and clothed him-
self in it, giving us an example of simple, frugal living. 74 In-
cidentally, he also ate only honey and locusts, food that is
sweet and with a spiritual significance. So it was that he
prepared the way of the Lord, and kept it humble and
chaste. He fled from the false pretenses of the city and led a
peaceful life in the desert with God, 75 away from all vanity
and vainglory and servitude. How could he possibly have
worn a purple mantle? Elias used a sheepskin for his garment,
and girded it tight with a belt made of hair. 76 Isaias, another
historic Prophet, went 'naked and without sandals,' 77 and
often put on sack-cloth as a garment of humility. (113) If
you protest and make mention of Jeremias, he wore only a
girdle made of linen. 78 Just as the bare framework of the
body is revealed once the accumulated tissue is stripped away,
so magnificent beauty of character will become manifest if
only it be not shrouded in the nonsense of vanity.
73 Cf. Gen. 3.7.
74 Cf. Matt. 3.4.
75 The text is defective here.
76 Cf. 1 Kings 19.13,19.
77 Isa. 20.2.
78 Cf. Jer. 13.1.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 187
But to trail around garments that reach down even to the
feet is nothing more than ostentatiousness. Besides, it is
actually a hindrance in walking, for such a garment sweeps
up piles of dirt after it on the ground, like a broom. Not even
dancers, with all their elegance, permit themselves such flow-
ing robes as they engage in their silent and unnaturally lewd
performance on the stage, although the meticulous arrange-
ment of their costumes, the folds of their dresses, as well as the
studied rhythm of their every gesture, manifest the unspeak-
able languidness with which they drag themselves around, so
to speak. If someone should remind us of the full-length
robe of the Lord, [we reply that] His multicolored tunic
really represents the brillance of wisdom, the manifold and
unfading value of Scripture, words of the Lord that glow
with rays of truth. For this reason, the Spirit clothed the
Lord with another similar garment when it said in the psalm
of David: 'I will put on praise and beauty, clothed with
light as with a garment.' 79
(114) Therefore, we must avoid any irregularity in the
type of garment we choose. We must also guard against all
waywardness in our use of them. For instance, it is not right
for a woman to wear her dress up over her knees, as the
Laconian maidens are said to do, because a woman should
not expose any part of her body. Of course, when someone
tells her: Tour arm is shapely,' 80 she can always cleverly
make the witty reply: 'But it is not public property'; to
79 Ps. 103.1.
80 The Scholion remarks this was said of a Spartan woman, because of
the sleeveless dress worn there.
188 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
ing that a chaste woman even give occasion for such praise
from men with sinful intent. I should like, too, not only that
it be forbidden them to expose their ankle, but also that it
be made obligatory for them to wear a veil over their face
and a covering on their head. It is not becoming, either, for a
woman to make a show of herself by wearing a purple veil.
If I could but wring the purple out of all the veils, that
passersby might not turn to catch a glimpse of the face be-
hind it ! Yet, such women, who weave almost the whole en-
semble of their wardrobe, make everything purple to in-
flame lusts. Indeed, through their fatuous and elegant purples,
'dark death' in the words of the old poem 'has seized
upon them.' 81 (115) For the sake of this purple, Tyre and
Sidon and the shores of the Laconian Sea are sedulously
cultivated, and the dyers and purple-shell fishers and the shell
fish themselves of these localities are highly prized because
purple dye is procured from the blood of the shell fish.
Affected women and men who are effeminate in their self
indulgence have become insanely covetous of these artificial
dyes to color their fine woven robes. They import linen no
longer from Egypt alone, but also from Palestine and Cilicia;
as for Amorgian and Byssian flax, I have nothing to say, for
their luxuriousness surpasses all that words can convey.
A covering, it seems to me, should make what it covers
more conspicuous than itself, as the temple does the statue,
the body the soul, and the clothing the body. Now, everything
is just the opposite. If these women sold their bodies, they
would get scarcely a thousand Attic pieces, yet they pay ten
thousand talents for one garment, proving that that they are
less valuable and profitable than their clothes. Why do you
seek things that are rare and expensive, rather than ordinary
81 Iliad 5.83.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 189
and cheaper articles? You do not know what is truly beautiful
and good. The foolish eagerly seek what seems to be good,
rather than what is really good, like the insane who believe
that black is white.
Chapter 11
(116) There are women who manifest a very similar
vanity in their footwear, thereby revealing considerable shal-
lowness of character. It is a matter for shame to have sandals
plated with the costliest gold, and even worse to decide, as
some do, to have nails hammered into the soles in a circular
pattern. Many even engrave love messages on them so that
they mark the earth in recurring pattern as they walk, and
stamp the eroticism of their own hearts upon it with their
footprints. We must give up such foolish artistries of golden
and gem-studded sandals, of Attic and Sicyonian boots, and
buskins, and Persian and Tyrrhenian slippers as well. We
must first set before our eyes what our true goal is, according
to the truth, and then choose what conforms to nature.
Sandals are used for two things: one, as a covering for the
feet, and the other, as a precaution against stumbling and
against the roughness of climbing uphill, to protect the
soles of the feet.
(117) We permit women the use of white sandals, un-
less they are traveling, when they should use sandals anointed
with oil. They also need footwear that has soles nailed on,
for their traveling. Otherwise, they should always use sandals,
because it is unbecoming for women to expose their bare foot,
and also because they are more easily hurt. But it is certainly
permissible for a man to go about without sandals, unless he
190 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
is on some military expedition. Being sandaled, in fact, is
much like being bound. It is very frequent among athletes to
go barefooted, both for the sake of their health and for greater
freedom of movement; so, no necessity should prevent us
from doing the same.
But, if we are not traveling and are wearing shoes, we
should wear the slipper or the white shoe. Athenians call
them dust shoes because, I believe, they keep the feet close to
the dust. When we put them on, the prayer that should be
said is drawn from the witness given by John, who confessed
that he was not worthy to loose the latch of the sandals of
the Lord. For, He who suggested the model of true philosophy
to the Hebrews did not wear anything elaborate on His feet.
This means something here, but it will be explained more
fully in another place.
Chapter 12
(118) It is pure childishness to let ourselves become
fascinated by gems, whether they are green or dark red,
and by the stones disgorged by the sea, and by metals dug
up out of the earth. To set one's heart on shining pebbles
and peculiar colors and irridescent glass is simply to play the
part of a man without intelligence, easily spell-bound by
gaudy appearances. Just so, little children are attracted by
the brillance of a fire they see, not realizing, in their im-
maturity, the danger of touching it. That holds true, too, of
the stones that silly women hang about their necks on chains,
and the amethysts and ceraunites that they string together on
necklaces, as well as the jasper and topaz and 'the Milesian
emeralds, the most valuable of all wares.' 1
1 Adesp. 109, TGF.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 191
The precious pearl has become an all too common item
in the apparel of our women. This stone is formed in the
oyster, a bivalve very similar to the pinna, in size about the
shape of the eye of a large fish. These bewitched women are
not ashamed to center all their interests on this small oyster.
Yet they could adorn themselves instead with that holy stone,
the Word of God, called somewhere in Scripture 'a pearl/ 2
that is, Jesus in all His splendor and purity, the mysterious
eye of the divine vision in human form, 3 the glorious Word
through whom human nature is born again and receives a
great new value. The pearl is formed by the oyster after it
has covered its flesh about to protect itself from the water
that is in it. (119) Tradition assures us that the heavenly
Jerusalem that is above is built up of holy gems and we know
that the twelve gates of the heavenly city, which signify the
wonderful beauty of the apostolic teaching, are compared to
precious jewels. 4 These priceless stones are described as
possessing certain colors which are themselves precious, while
the rest is left of an earthy substance. To say that the city
of the saints is built of such jewels, even though it is a spiritual
edifice, is a cogent symbol indeed. By the incomparable bril-
lance of the gems is understood the spotless and holy brillance
of the substance of the spirit.
But these women, not understanding that the Scriptures
speak only metaphorically, totally blinded by their passion
for jewels, offer this remarkable excuse: 'Why may we not
make use of what God has manifested? I already possess them,
so why may I not enjoy them? For whom have they been
made if not for us?' Such words can come only from those who
2 Cf. Matt. 1S.46. ,_,_, t_ * n^-
3 Literally, 'the contemplating eye in the flesh. But the word cpdptcs,
savoring of the pagan mysteries, suggests the higher vision of divine
things granted to the initiate.
4 Cf. Apoc. 21.18-21.
192 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
arc completely ignorant of the will of God. He supplies us, first
of all, with the necessities such as water and the open air, but
other things that are not necessary He has hidden in the
earth and sea. (120) That is why there are lions to dig for
gold, and griffins to guard it, 5 and why the sea conceals the
stone we call the pearl. You trouble yourselves about things
you do not need. Behold, the whole heavens have opened up,
and you do not see God. Only those who have been condemned
to death in our courts are made to mine buried gold and
stones. Make answer to the Scripture when it calls out so
explicitly: 'Seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all these
things shall be given you besides.' 6 Even if all things have been
given you, and if all things have been permitted you, and if all
things are possible for you, yet, as the Apostle says, 'not all
things are expedient.' 7
It is God Himself who has brought our race to possession
in common, by sharing Himself, first of all, and by sending
His Word to all men alike, and by making all things for all.
Therefore, everything is common, and the rich should not
grasp a greater share. The expression, then, 'I own something,
and have more than enough; why should I not enjoy it?' is not
worthy of man nor does it indicate any community feeling.
The other expression does, however: 'I have something, why
should I not share it with those in need?' Such a one is
perfect, and fulfills the command : 'Thou shalt love thy neigh-
bor as thyself.' 8
This is true extravagance, the lavishness that lays up
treasure, but to spend money on foolish desires comes more
under the heading of destruction that of expenditure. God
5 Cf. Herodotus IV 13.27.
6 Matt. 6.33.
7 1 Cor. 10.23.
8 Matt. 19.19.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 193
has given us the power to use our possessions, I admit, but
only to the extent it is necessary: He wishes them to be in
common. It is unbecoming that one man live in luxury
when there are so many who labor in poverty. How much
more honorable it is to serve many than to live in wealth!
How much more reasonable it is to spend money on men
than on stones and gold! How much more useful to have
friends as our ornamentation than lifeless decorations! Who
can derive more benefit from lands than from practising
kindness?
(121) The only problem left to answer, then, is this:
for whom do precious things exist, if everyone is going to
choose what is less costly? For us men, I should reply, but
provided we use them without attachment or distinction. And
if it should be impossible for all to practise the virtue of tem-
perance, then at least in our use of the necessities we should
confine ourselves to what is more easily obtainable and
forget about exotic articles. As a general rule, ornaments
should not be desired, as they are mere childish toys, and
women should eschew the very thought of embellishment. A
woman should be adorned, assuredly, but interiorly; there
she should be beautiful indeed. Beauty or ugliness is found
only in the soul. Only he who is sincere is truly noble and
virtuous, and only the noble can be considered good. 'Virtue
alone is noteworthy even in a beautiful body, 59 and comes to
full maturity afterwards in the flesh. The attractiveness of
temperance is made manifest when the character glows with
a brilliant appearance, as though with light. The beauty of
anything, whether plant or animal, is admittedly in its per-
fection. 10 But man's perfection is justice and temperance and
9 Adesp. 412, CAF III 486
10 That is, arctt, which means 'excellence' or 'virtue/
194 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
courage and piety. 11 Therefore, it is the just and temperate,
or, in a word, the good man who is noble, and not the wealthy
one. But now, even soldiers want to be decorated with gold;
they have never read the line of the poet: 'And he came to
the war, all decked out with gold, like a foolish girl.' 12
(122) Surely we should uproot all love for ornamenta-
tion, for it contributes nothing to the growth of virtue, but,
instead, pampers the body. Nor should we yield to any
ostentatious pursuit of vanity. Women who deck themselves
out with things not made for the body as though they were
fall into a habit of deception and pretense, and display, not
gravity and simplicity and humility, but pompousness and
light-mindedness and self-indulgence. They conceal natural
beauty by overshadowing it with gold; they do not realize
the serious mistake they make in hanging countless chains
about themselves, as 'criminals,' it is said, 'are bound with
gold by the barbarians.' 13 These women, it seems to me, are
actually envious of those richly laden prisoners of war. Is not
their golden necklace still only a collar-band? And are their
neck-pieces anything more? In fact, the so-called collar,
shaped like a chain, is really called 'chain' by the Athenians.
Besides, the ugly little trinket women wear about their ankle,
Philemon calls 'fetters' in his Synephebos, speaking of 'an
article of dress that is very conspicuous, and a golden fetter.' 14
(123) Why these much-desired decorations, O women,
except that you want yourselves to appear bound in fetters?
If the material used lessens the shame, the effect is still no
different. I mean to say that they seem to me, as they cany
about these willing bonds, to be boasting of the state of their
11 Cf. Epictetus III 1.6.
12 Cf. Iliad 2.873.
13 Cf. Herodotus III 23.
14 Philemon, Frag. 81, CAF II 501.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 195
wealth. Similarly, the myth told by the poet describing the
bonds cast about Aphrodite as she was committing adultery 15
implies that these ornaments are nothing but a symbol of
adultery. Even though they were made of gold, Homer still
calls them bonds. Yet, these women do not blush when they
wear such conspicuous symbols of wickedness. Just as the ser-
pent deceived Eve, so, too, the enticing golden ornament in
the shape of a serpent enkindles a mad frenzy in the hearts
of the rest of womankind, leading them to have images made
of lampreys and snakes as decorations.
The comic poet Nikostratos has words about 'chains, col-
lars, rings, bracelets, serpents, anklets and earrings.' 16 (124)
Aristophanes, too, in his Thesmoforiaszousai, lists a whole
catalogue of feminine ornamentation, obviously in a disap-
proving tone. I shall quote these words of the comic poet,
because they describe in such detail the wearying lengths of
your vulgar display:
'A. Turbans, hair-bands, soap, pumice-stone, breast-band,
sling-band, veil, rouge, necklace, undershading for the eyes,
soft tasseled robes, golden hellebore, hairnets, girdle, shawl,
trinkets, bordered tunics, the expensive xystis, cloaks, the
ornament called barathron, the outer- and the underdress.
Yet, the greater part of these I still have not mentioned.
'B. What else?
'A. Ear pendants, jewel-studded trinkets, earrings, mallow-
colored dresses, grape-shaped earrings, bracelets, brooches,
clasps, neck-bands, anklets, signet rings, chains, rings, poultices,
head ornaments, bands, leather phalli, Sardian stones, neck-
pieces, twisted earrings/ 17
For my part, I grow weary and find it burdensome to speak
15 Cf. Odysseus 8.296-333.
16 Frag. 33, CAP II 228.
17 Frag. 320, CAP I 474.
196 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
of all these luxuries; as for the women, I have to marvel
that they can carry such a heavy load and not grow faint.
(125) Oh, the senseless industry! The vain ostentation! To
their shame, they pour out their money like harlots, and
caricature, with their vulgar extravagance, the gifts of God
and rival the skill of the Evil One. In the Gospel, the Lord
called the rich man a fool, in plain language, because he was
laying up treasures in his storehouse and saying to himself:
'You have many good things stored away for many years.
Eat, drink, and be merry.' For, as the Lord said : This night
they are demanding your soul of you. The things, then, that
you have prepared, shall belong to another.' 18
Apelles the painter, seing one of his pupils painting a
picture of Helen with liberal applications of gold, remarked:
'Boy, you cannot make her beautiful, therefore you are
making her rich.' Nowadays, women have become so many
Helens, not beautiful by nature, but covered over with
wealth. (126) Of such the Spirit announced through So-
phonias: 'Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to
deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.' 19 It is not
right that they who are being educated by Christ should be
adorned with gold; they should be adorned only with the
Word, by whom gold has been made. How fortunate the
Hebrews of old would have been if they had taken hold of
the ornaments of their women and thrown them away, or
had simply put them in a melting pot! As it was, they
fashioned them into a golden calf and made an idol of the
calf, 20 and so derived no benefit either from their art or from
their plan, but only provided our women a striking lesson
18 Cf. Luke 12.18-20.
19 Soph. 1.10.
20 Cf. Exod. 32.1-6.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 197
on the advantage of laying ornaments aside. To be sure, the
prostitution of desire before a golden image is punished with
fire, for it is only in fire that pleasure is discovered to be not
the truth but only an image.
As a consequence, the Word reproaches the Hebrews
through the Prophet: They made silver and gold [trinkets]
for Baal,' that is, ornaments. Then He adds, as a forceful
threat : 'And I will visit upon her the days of [the destruction
of the] Baalim in which she burnt incense for herself, and
decked herself out with her ear-rings and her necklaces,'
adding the reason for all these ornaments: 'She went after
her lovers and forgot Me, saith the Lord.' 21
(127) Therefore, let them leave these playthings for the
sophists who trifle with the truth; let them not take part in
such gawdy embellishment nor worship images under a fair
veil. The blessed Peter says eloquently: 'In like manner,
women adorning themselves not with plaited hair or gold,
or pearls or costly attire, but as it becometh women professing
godliness, with good works.' 22 As a matter of fact, there
is sound reasoning in his command that such adornments be
left alone, for either a woman is already beautiful, and then
nature is sufficient (and let art not contend with nature, that
is, let deception not vie with the truth), or else she is natural-
ly ugly, and then she proves what she does not have by attiring
herself with all these things. (128) Those who worship
Christ ought to accept plainness. Indeed, plainness promotes
the growth of holiness because it moderates avarice and
ministers to real need from what is ready at hand. The
plain, as its name suggests, is not excessive or distended in
any way, or inflated, but is uniform, level and equal, never
excessive. For this reason it is effective, for effectiveness is a
21 Osee 2.8,13 (Septuagint) .
22 Not Peter; cf. 1 Tim. 2.9,10.
1 98 CLEM ENT OF ALEXANDRIA
quality that reaches its goal without deviations or extrava-
gances.
The mother of such as these is justice, and their nurse is
self-sufficiency. This last virtue rests content with what is
necessary, and provides from its own resources the things
that conduce to a happy life. (129) Wear, then, as a holy
ornament of good fruits on your arms, the generous giving
of your possessions and the faithful fulfillment of your house-
hold duties. 'He who gives to a beggar gives to God,' 23 and
'The hands of the industrious begetteth riches,' 24 meaning
the industrious who despise money and are quick to give alms.
Let there appear upon your feet the ornament of unhesitating
readiness for good deeds and steadiness in the path of justice.
Modesty and temperance are the true neck-bands and neck-
laces, for they are chains God forges out of gold. 'Blessed is
the man who has found wisdom, and the mortal who has seen
understanding,' 25 the Spirit says in the words of Solomon, 'for
to buy her is better than treasures of gold and silver, and
she is more precious than costly stones.' 25 She it is who is the
true adornment.
The ears of women should not be pierced, either, to enable
them to suspend earrings and ear pendants from them.
It is contrary to nature. It is wrong to do violence to nature in
a way nature does not intend. Surely, there is no better orna-
ment for the ears than learning the truth, nor is there any
that enters the ears in as natural a way. Eyes anointed by
the Word and ears pierced to hear are ready to contemplate
holy things and to hear divine things. It is only the Word who
reveals true beauty 'which eye has never seen before, nor has
ear heard.' 26
23 Prov. 19.17.
24 Prov. 10.4.
25 Prov. 3.13-15.
20 1 Cor. 2.9.
BOOK THREE
Chapter 1
|o KNOW ONESELF has always been, so it seems, the
greatest of all lessons. For, if anyone knows himself,
he will know God; and, in knowing God, he will
become like Him, 1 not by wearing golden ornaments or by
trailing long flowing robes, but by performing good deeds
and cultivating an independence of as many things as pos-
sible. God alone has no needs, and He rejoices in a particular
way when He sees us pure in the adornment of our minds and
our bodies clothed with the adornment of the holy garment of
self-control.
The soul consists of three parts. 2 The intelligence, which
is also called the reason, is the inner man, the ruler of the
external man. But it is led by someone else, that is, by God.
The part in which anger resides is akin to the beasts and
lives close to madness. The third part, desire, takes many
forms and is more changeable than Proteus the sea god,
assuming a different form for every different occasion, seeking
1 Cf. 1 John 3.2.
2 Cf. Plato, Republic IV passim, esp. 435-441.
199
200 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
satisfaction in adultery, promiscuity, and seduction. 'At first,
he [Proteus] turned into a bearded lion, 5 retaining only his
adornment, the hair of his chin which proved his manhood.
'Then into a serpent and a leopard and a huge boar.' Vanity
degenerated into immorality. Finally, his human nature is
evident no longer, not even in the appearance of a lordly
beast, but 'he turned into flowing water, and into a tree
high and leafy.' 3 The passions are poured out, pleasures sprout
forth, and beauty withers and falls to the ground more
quickly than the leaf when the violent storms of lust blow
upon it; before late autumn can come, it has withered in
decay.
In fact, desire becomes everything, turns itself into a
counterfeit of everything, and seeks to play the impostor to
conceal man's true nature. But the man in whom reason
dwells does not keep shifting, makes no false pretenses, retains
the form dictated by reason, is like God and possesses true
beauty with no need of artificial beauty. Beauty is what is
true, for it is in fact God. Such a man becomes God because
God wills it. 4 ( 2 ) Heraclitus said well : 'Men are gods and gods
are men, for reason is the same' 5 manifestly a mystery. God
is in man and a man is God, as the Mediator, fulfilling the
will of His Father. For the reason common to both is the
mediator: that is, the Word, Son of God, Saviour of man, the
servant of God, our Educator,
If the flesh is a slave, 6 as even Paul claims, is it at all reason-
able to adorn such a handmaid, as the bawd does? To prove
that the flesh has the form of a slave, the Apostle says of the
3 Odysseus 4.456-457.
4 Cf. Ps. 81.6; John 10.34.
5 Heraclitus, Frag. 62, in H. Diels, op. cit.
6 Cf. Rom. 6.16; 7.14; Phil. 2.7.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 201
Lord: 'He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave/ 7
calling the exterior man a slave even before the Lord as-
sumed flesh and became a slave. In His compassion, God has
freed the flesh from corruption and, delivering it from its
bitter slavery to death, has clothed it with incorruption,
clothing the flesh with the holy ornament of eternity, im-
mortality. 8
(3) But there is another sort of beauty for men: charity.
'Charity,' according to the Apostle, 'is patient, is kind, does
not envy, is not pretentious, is not puffed up.' 9 But artificial
beauty is pretentiousness, because it presents the appearance
of extravagance and superfluity. That is why he adds: 'It does
not behave unbecomingly.' 10 An appearance that is borrowed
and not natural is surely unbecoming. Every sort of ap-
plication is artificial, which is what he has in mind when he
continues: 'It does not seek the things that are not its own.' 11
Truth calls what is proper to itself its own, while vanity seeks
what is artificial, putting itself in opposition to God, to reason
and to charity. The Spirit gives witness through Isaias that
even the Lord became an unsightly spectacle: 'And we saw
Him, and there was no beauty or comeliness in Him, but
His form was despised, and abject among men. 512 Yet, who
is better than the Lord? He displayed not beauty of the flesh,
which is only outward appearance, but the true beauty of
body and soul: for the soul, the beauty of good deeds; for
the body, that of immortality.
7 Phil. 2.7.
8 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.53.
9 1 Cor. 13.4.
10 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.5. The Greek is aschemonei, which Clement understands
in a more literal sense than most translators do.
11 Ibid., but Clement's text obviously has a second negative.
12 Isa. 53.2 (Septuagint) .
202 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Chapter 2
(4) It is not the appearance of the outer man that should
be made beautiful, but his soul, with the ornament of true
virtue. It should be possible, too, to speak of an ornament for
his body, the ornament of self-control.
But women, busy in making their appearances beautiful,
allowing the interior to lie uncultivated, are in reality de-
corating themselves, without realizing it, like Egyptian tem-
ples. The entrances and vestibules of these temples are elabo-
rately ornamented, the sacred groves and meadows are
cultivated, the halls are adorned with huge columns, and the
walls, each covered with some highly finished painting, glitter
with rare jewels. The temples themselves are studded over
with gold and silver and electrum, and sparkle with gems
from India and Ethiopia which cover them, while the inner
sanctuary is curtained off by an overhanging gold-embroi-
dered veil. But if, anxious to see the lord of such a temple,
you pass beyond into the interior of the sacred precincts,
seeking the god that dwells in the temple, a pastophore or
some other hierophant will look sharply about the sacred
shrine, chant a hymn in the Egyptian tongue, and then draw
back a bit of the veil that you might see his god, but he reveals
an object of veneration that is utterly absurd. There is no
god within, whom we were so anxiously looking for; there
is only a cat, or a crocodile, or a snake native to the land, or
some other similar animal suited for life in a cave or den
or in the mud, but certainly not in a temple. The god of the
Egyptians, then, turns out to be only a beast curled up on a
rich purple pillow.
(5) Women who are loaded down with gold seem to me
much like that temple. They carefully curl their locks, paint
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 203
their cheeks, stencil under their eyes, anxiously dye their hair,
and practise perversely all the other senseless arts; true
imitators of the Egyptians, they adorn the enclosure of the
flesh to lure lovers who stand in superstitious dread of the
goddess. But, if anyone draw back the veil of this temple, I
mean the hairnet and the dye and the garments and gold
and rouge and cosmetics 1 or the cloth woven of all these
things, which is a veil if he draws back this veil to discover
the true beauty that is within, I am sure he will be disgusted.
He will not find dwelling within any worthy image of God,
but, instead, a harlot and adulteress who has usurped the inner
sanctuary of the. soul. The beauty within will turn out to be
nothing more than a beast, 'an ape painted up with powder 9 ; 2
as a decetiful serpent, it will devour man's intellect with love
of ornaments and make the soul its den. Filling the whole
soul with its deadly drug and vomiting out the poison of its
deception, this serpent-seducer has transformed women into
harlots (for gaudy vanity bespeaks not the woman, but the
harlot).
Such women have little care for managing household ex-
penses for their husbands. Rather, they unloose the strings of
their husbands' purses and waste their fortunes on their own
desires, that they might win for themselves a host of admirers
charmed by their cultivated appearances. They spend the
entire day with their slaves who, incidentally, were bought
at a handsome sum engaged in their toilet. (6) They labor
to make their body attractive, as though it were an unap-
petizing morsel. By day, they stay closeted up, devoting them-
selves to their toilet, lest they be caught dyeing their hair
blonde; then at night, this artificial beauty comes creeping out
1 The Scholion says this is a scarlet sea weed.
2 Adesp. 517, CAP III 503; cf. Aristophanes, Ecdes. 1072.
204 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
into candle light, as if from her lair, and both the dimness
of the light and the bleary-eyed vision of drunkenness aid
her in her deception. Yet, the comic poet Menander forbade
his house to a woman who had bleached her hair: 'Creep out
of this house, for a chaste woman should never make her
hair blonde,' 3 or for that matter paint her cheeks or shade
under her eyes.
These deluded souls are actually destroying their natural
beauty, without being aware of it, when they add all this
artificial beauty. As soon as day breaks, they massage their
skin and rub it down, then coat it with lotions but this only
dries the skin; while the many preparations make the flesh
flabby, and excessive use of soaps robs it of its natural healthy
bloom. Women acquire a paleness of face from all these
lotions, and their bodies, made delicate from all their beauti-
fying cosmetics, become very susceptible to diseases. Be-
sides, they insult the Creator of mankind, implying that He
has not given them the beauty they deserve. Of course, they
do none of their household duties, but stay sitting to be looked
at, as if they were in a painting, not required to work. (7)
That is why the comic poet has his prudent woman say in the
comedy: 'What sensible or worthwhile thing would we
women accomplish, if we sat idle with our hair blonde-dyed?' 4
This is the way they undermine their own reputation as
noble women, break up homes, destroy marriages, and bring
into the world illegitimate children.
Even Antiphanes, the comic poet, ridiculed this same thing
in his comedy Malthake, as a sign of looseness of character
in a woman; he used words that may be applied commonly
to all women in their constant toiletry: 'She comes, she goes
3 Menander, Frag. 610, CAP III 184.
4 Aristophanes, Lys. 42,43.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 205
back, she comes again, she goes away, she comes, she stays,
she washes; she comes back, she dries herself, she combs,
she puts in her appearance, she rubs herself, she washes, she
looks in, she dresses, she uses perfumes, she puts on her orna-
ments, she rubs herself with oil; and if she were to have one
thing more, she chokes. 55 Certainly, such a woman deserves
to perish not once, but three times over, using as she does the
droppings of crocodiles, anointing herself with the scrapings
of decayed wood, and rubbing charcoal into her eyebrows
and white lead on her cheeks. (8) When such a person palls
even upon a pagan dramatist, should she not be condemned
unhesitatingly by the truth?
Alexis, another comic dramatist, also condemns this type of
woman. In fact, I am going to quote the lines of this poet,
too, because he satirizes in such minute detail their headstrong
shamelessness. Not that he is overdetailed, but I blush to see
womankind made the subject of such satire. She was created
as a helpmate for her husband, 6 yet brought only ruin
upon him. Alexis says: 'Her first deeds look to her own gain
and the plunder of her neighbor; all her other actions are
but incidental. One woman may by chance be small; she
stitches cork in the soles of her shoes. Another is tall; she
wears slippers with thin soles and walks with her head
hunched down on her shoulders to take off some of her height.
Another has no hips; she wears padding underneath, sewed
on so that those who look at her may remark on her fine shape.
She has a protruding stomach; or her breasts are of the sort
that comic dramatists describe; she dons some kind of tight
garment that holds in her stomach as if by wooden sticks. She
has red eyebrows, so she paints them with charcoal. She hap-
5 Antiphanes, Frag. 148, CAP II 71.
6 Cf. Gen. 2.18.
206 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
pens to be dark-complexioned, so she powders herself with
white lead. She is too pale, so she rubs on rouge. She has a
part of her body that is particularly comely; she must leave it
exposed. She has nice teeth; then she must laugh, to let those
around her see what a pretty mouth she has. And if she does
not feel like laughing, she passes the day with a small sprig of
myrtle between her lips so that she will keep on grinning
whether she wish to or not. 57
(9) I quote all these passages to turn you from vanity
with all its ill-devised schemes sprung from worldly wisdom.
But, since the Word is ever ready and willing to save us, I will
in a few moments also suggest the remedy sacred Scripture
proposes. It may possibly happen that the fact that such
women do not go unnoticed will draw them from sin, in
fear of the shame of being corrected. Just as a hand swathed
in a poultice or an eye bathed in oil gives rise, by its very
appearance, to the suspicion of disease, so, too, cosmetics
and dyes indicate that the soul is sick to its core. The divine
Educator exhorts us to pass by 'another's river,' a figure of
speech meaning another man's wife, dissolute, ready to flow
out to anyone, giving herself over to pleasure with anyone
in impure lust. 'Keep away from another's water,' He says,
'and do not drink from another's stream,' meaning that we
should be wary of the stream of loose living, 'that you may live
long and that years of life may be added to us,' 8 whether be-
cause we do not seek the pleasure that belongs to someone
else or because we avoid attachments.
(10) Although gluttony and intemperance are strong
passions, they are not as strong as vanity. A full table or cups
in quick succession can satisfy gluttony, but those who love
7 Alexis, Frag. 98.1,2,7-22,24-26, CAP II 329.
8 Prov. 9.1 8a (Septuagint) .
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 207
gold and purple and jewels would not be content with all that
is upon the earth or under it, nor the whole of the Tyrrhenian
sea, nor the cargo of ships from India and Ethiopia, nor
even with the Pactolus overflowing with riches. 9 Even if
one of them become a Midas, he is not satisfied, but remains
restive, eager for more wealth, ready to cling to the gold he
has, even to death. If Plutus is blind, as he is indeed, are not
these women, who have such an admiration for him and
are on such intimate terms with him, also blind? Their
passion, in fact, knows no limits, but drives them shipwrecked
upon the shoals of complete loss of shame. They feel a need
of theater, and of processions, and of hosts of people to see
them, and of visits to sacred places and of loitering on the
streets that they may give everyone ample opportunity to
look at them. They deck themselves out to attract the
attention of others, priding themselves more on their ap-
pearance than on the state of their hearts. But, just as the
brand remains to mark a runaway slave, so their bright
colors mark them off as adulteresses, 'Though thou clothest
thyself in scarlet,' the Word says through Jeremias, 'though
thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold and paintest thy
eyes with stibic stone, thou shall dress thyself in vain.' 10
(11) Is it not odd that horses and other animals roaming
about the fields and meadows, and birds soaring above them,
pride themselves on their natural beauty the horse on his
mane, and the others on their particular color or rich plumage
yet women, as if they are less perfect than animals, consider
themselves so lacking beauty that they need artificial beauty
that is bought and painted on? Hairnets of all different
9 That is, the Lydian river in which Midas is supposed to have washed
off his gift of turning everything into gold.
10 Jer. 4.30.
208 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
sorts, elaborate styles of hair-do, numberless arrangements
of their locks, costly mirrors to keep adjusting their looks
all that they may ensnare men dazzled by appearances like
senseless children. Such practises unquestionably stigmatize
a woman as without sense of shame, or as one whom we
rightly call a harlot, turning her face into a mask. The
Word, however, exhorts us: 'Look not at the things that are
seen, but at those that are not seen. For the things that are
seen are temporal, while those that are not seen are eternal. 511
They have gone beyond the limits of impropriety. They
have invented mirrors to reflect all this artificial beautification
of theirs, as if it were nobility of character or self-improve-
ment. They should, rather, conceal such deception with a
veil. It did the handsome Narcissus no good to gaze on his
own image, as the Greek myth tells us. (12) If Moses for-
bade his people to fashion any image to take the place of
God, 12 is it right for these women to study their reflected
images for no other reason that to distort the natural features
of their faces?
In much the same way, when Samuel the Prophet was
sent to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as king, and when
he brought out his chrism as soon as he saw the oldest son,
admiring his handsomeness and height, Scripture tells us:
The Lord said to him : Look not on his countenance, nor on
the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For
man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth
the heart.' 13 He finally anointed not the one who was fair in
body, but the one who was fair of soul. If the Lord places
more importance on beauty of soul than on that of the
11 2 Cor. 4.18.
12 Cf. Exod. 20.4; Deut. 5.8,
13 1 Kings 16.7.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 209
body, what must He think of artificial beautification when
He abhors so thoroughly every sort of lie? 'We walk by faith,
not by sight.' 14
As a matter of fact, it is the Lord who plainly teaches
by the example of Abraham that one who obeys God will
make small account of even father and relations and posses-
sions, and of his entire fortune. He made Abraham an exile,
and then, because of that, gave him the name 'friend,' because
he was so little attached to the things of his own home. 15
Yet, Abraham was of a noble family and had possessed a large
fortune. A proof of this is that he overcame the four kings who
had captured Lot, with 318 servants belonging to him. 16
As for women, the only one we know of who used ornaments
without blame is Esther. Her action in making herself beau-
tiful had a mystical significance, however, for, as the wife of
her king, she obtained deliverance for her people by her
beauty when they were being slaughtered. 17
(13) One of the tragic poets also lends his authority
to prove that artificial beauty turns women into harlots, and
makes men effeminate and adulterous. He says this: 'The
man who judged goddesses, after he came from Phrygia, as
the Argive tale relates, splendid in his finery of clothes and
shining with gold, in ornaments that were barbaric, fell in love
with the Spartan Helen who loved him in return; he went
away carrying her off to the ox-stalls of Ida, with Menelaus
away from home.' 18 O perverse beauty! The vanity of a
barbarian and his effeminate luxury turned Greece upside
down. Although the Spartan had been chaste, clothes and
14 2 Cor. 5.7.
15 Cf. Gen. 12.1.
16 Cf. Gen. 14.14.
17 Cf. Esth. 5.
18 Euripides, Iphig. in Aul. 71-77.
210 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
finery and a handsome appearance corrupted her. The vanity
of the barbarian led the daughter of Zeus to become guilty
of harlotry. They did not have the Educator to uproot their
cupidities, nor anyone to command them: Thou shalt not
commit adultery,' or Thou shalt not lust,' 19 that is, 'thou
shalt not approach adultery by thy desires, nor inflame thy
desires by love of ornaments!' What an end came upon them
because of all these things, and what evils they reaped who
were unwilling to restrain their self-indulgence! Two con-
tinents were aroused because of their uncontrolled passion,
and everything was thrown into disorder because of one
foreign youth. All Greece put out in ships, and the sea bristled
under the burden of continents. A long war broke out, mighty
battles were fought, and the plains were filled with the dead.
A foreigner hurls insult upon ships at anchor, injustice
prevails, and Zeus the creator looks down with favor upon the
Thracians. Foreign soil drinks noble blood and rivers are
halted in their course by the bodies of the slain, breasts are
struck in lamentation, and grief grips the whole earth, while
'the roots of many-fountained Ida were shaken, and all her
peaks, and the cities of the Trojans and the ships of the
Achaeans.' 20 (14) Where shall we flee, O Homer, and find
a resting place? Show us a land that is not convulsed. 21
'Do not touch the reins, boy, for you are inexperienced, and
do not mount the war chariot, for you have not learnt how
to drive.' 22 Yet the heavens were gratified with two chari-
oteers, for those two are the only ones who have ever driven
the sun. The mind, however, is led astray by pleasure, and the
19 Cf. Exod. 20.14,17.
20 Iliad 20.59,60.
21 There is a lacuna in the text here which makes the thought difficult.
22 Possibly from the lost play of Euripides, Phaethon.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 211
virgin center of the mind, if not disciplined by the Word,
degenerates into licentiousness, and reaps disintegration as
reward for its transgressions. An example of this for you is
the angek who forsook the beauty of God for perishable
beauty and fell as far as heaven is from the earth, 23 or, again,
the Sichemites, who were punished for desecrating the holy
virgin and cut down. 24 Their punishment was the grave;
the monument that testifies to their lust is a discipline for us
on the way to salvation.
Chapter 3
(15) Garishness has, in fact, gone so far that not only
women are sick from this disease of attachment to frippery,
but men, too, have become strongly infected by it. Unless they
rid themselves of artificial beautification, they will never be-
come well again, but, ever tending toward the softer things,
they will become ever more effeminate, begin to wear their
hair in a disreputable fashion that savors of the brothrel, and
go about 'clad in brightly-colored mantles, chewing mastich
and smelling of sweet perfume.' 1
What must one think when he sees them? Undoubtedly,
like the man who reads people's character from their fore-
heads, he must conclude that such men are adulterers and
women, that they indulge in both kinds of immoral sexual
pleasure, since they abhor hair and are themselves hairless,
and are not interested in the vigor of true manhood,
preferring to groom their locks like women. Unreliable in
23 Cf. Gen. 6.2.
24 Cf. Gen. 34.
1 Adesp. 338, CAP III 470. The mastich is a kind of gum.
212 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
manliness, they live, as the Sibyl says of them, 'only for
unholy deeds of shame, committing evil and wicked deeds.' 2
Indeed, because of them the towns are full of pitch-plas-
terers, barbers who pluck the hair of these effeminate crea-
tures. Shops are set up and opened for business everywhere,
and the craftsmen of this shameful trade akin to harlotry
obviously amass a substantial income of money. They present
themselves to these craftsmen, who then proceed to cover them
with pitch and pluck out their hair every sort of way; yet they
are not in the least embarrassed either by the onlookers, or by
the passersby, or even by their own manhood. This is the sort
these hunters of base pleasure are, getting their whole bodies
made smooth by the painful plucking of the pitch. (16) I
have not the least intention of passing over all this display of
shamelessness, for, if they leave nothing undone, I shall not
leave anything unsaid. Once, Diogenes tried to embarrass one
of these depraved fellows, for his instruction, by remarking
roughly and ironically when he was making a purchase:
'Come, boy, buy a man for yourself!' By this sarcastic quip
he meant to humiliate the man for his immorality. For, is it
not disgraceful that, although they are men, they have
themselves shaved and their bodies rid of hair?
Further, they ought to avoid dyeing their hair, anointing
and bleaching their gray locks practises of complete re-
probates as well as ladylike combings of their hair. They
think they can slip their old age off over their heads, like the
snake, and change themselves back to being young again.
Even if they succeed in keeping their hair dark by artificial
means, they will not be rid of wrinkles, nor will they escape
death, no matter how they conceal their age. Surely, it is not a
2 Orac. Syb. 4.154.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 213
thing to be frightened at that we should begin to look old;
anyway, we cannot help it. In fact, the closer a man comes to
his end, the more venerable he becomes in the light of truth,
for, then only God is more ancient than himself. God, the
most ancient of all beings, is the eternal old man. 'Ancient
of days, 5 Scripture calls Him, 'and the locks of His head are
as pure wool.' 3 'No one else/ the Lord says, 'is able to
make hair white or black. 54 (17) How can these godless men
undo God's work, or, rather, make every effort to keep the
hair He has made gray from becoming gray, thereby dis-
torting the color of their locks? 'The crown of old men, 5
Scripture says, 'is much experience, 55 and their gray hairs
are the wreaths testifying to that experience. Yet, some are
ashamed of their advanced years and of their gray head.
Nevertheless, it is completely impossible to show that the
soul adheres to the truth when a man maintains an untruthful
appearance of countenance. 'But you have not so learned
Christ,' it is said, 'if at least you have heard Him and been
taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put aside 5
not gray hairs, but 'the old man according to your former
way of living, what was corrupted according to the desires
of deceit. But be renewed,' not with dyes and cosmetics, but
'in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man made ac-
cording to God in justice and holiness of truth.' 6
Is it not womanish for a man to have his hair combed
slick, putting each lock in place before a mirror, and to have
himself shaved with a razor, for appearance' sake, to have
his chin shaved and the hair plucked out and made com-
3 Dan. 7.9.
4 Matt. 5.36.
5 Eccli. 25.6.
6 Eph. 4.20-24.
214 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
pletely smooth? Indeed, unless one were to see such a person
naked, one would think he was a woman. They may be
commanded not to wear gold, yet, in their effeminate desires,
they at least wrap shreds of gold about their straps and hems,
or make it into a little ball and clasp it on their ankle or hang
it about their neck. (18) Such trinkets prove the emasculated
man who has debased himself to a woman's mentality and
leads the life of both man and woman, like the most lustful of
the animals. This is a sort of double life that has much in
common with harlotry and is godless. God planned that
woman be smooth-skinned, taking pride in her natural tresses,
the only hair she has, as the horse in its mane. But man He
adorned like the lion, with a beard, and gave him a hairy
chest as proof of his manhood and a sign of his strength and
primacy. ( So, too, God put combs as helmets on roosters who
fight for their hens.) He places such importance on these
growths of hair that He causes them to come to maturity
in a man at the same time as his intelligence. It is worth
adding, too, that because He delights in majestic appearances
He has surrounded gravity of bearing with honor by gracing
it with venerable gray hair. Prudence and accurate reasoning,
venerable in understanding, come to their full bloom to-
gether with age and impart strength to old age by the force
of much experience; so, gray hairs, .the attractive wreath of
revered prudence, is the badge of attractive trustworthiness.
(19) His beard, then, is the badge of a man and shows
him unmistakably to be a man. It is older than Eve and is the
symbol of the stronger nature. By God's decree, hairiness is
one of man's conspicuous qualities, and, at that, hairness
distributed over his whole body. Whatever smoothness or
softness there was in him God took from him when He
fashioned the delicate Eve from his side to be the receptacle of
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 215
his seed, his helpmate both in procreation and in the manage-
ment of the home. What was left (remember, he had lost all
traces of hairlessness) was manhood and reveals that man-
hood. His characteristic is action; hers, passivity. For, what
is hairy is by nature drier and warmer than what is bare;
therefore, the male is hairier and more warm-blooded than
the female; the uncastrated, than the castrated; the mature,
than the immature. Thus, it is a sacrilege to trifle with the
symbol of manhood.
But to seek beauty in hairlessness and here my words
grow warm is sheer effeminacy, if done by men; adul-
terousness, if by women. Both of these vices are to be
eliminated from our way of life as far as possible. 'But all the
hairs of your head are numbered,' 7 the Lord says. The hairs
of the beard have been numbered, too, and for that matter
those of the whole body. (20) They should not be plucked
out at all, contrary to the decision made by the free will of
God numbering them one by one. 'Otherwise, you do not
know yourselves, 5 the Apostle says, 'that Christ Jesus is in
you. 38 But, if we knew it is He who dwells in us, I do not
understand how we could have dared to dishonor Him.
The practise of using pitch ( I dislike even speaking of the
indecency accompanying this performance), requiring the
client to bend backward and forwards, to strip bare to public
view the unmentionable parts of nature, to hop about, to
bend backward toward the ground, and not to feel any
shame in such shameful postures right in the middle of a
group of youths and of the gymnasium where manly excel-
lence is trained, to act so indecently and practise things so
contrary to nature is not all this an indication of the lowest
7 Matt. 10.30.
8 Cf. 2 Cor. 13.5.
216 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
form of immorality? Those who carry on in such a way out
in the open could scarcely have respect for anyone behind
closed doors. Their utter shamelessness in public is a sure
proof of their wilful depravity in private. He who disowns
his manhood by light of day will, beyond the least shadow
of doubt, prove himself a woman at night. 'There shall be no
whores among the daughters of Israel/ the Word says through
Moses, 'and there shall be no whore-monger among the sons
of Israel.' 9
But, they object, pitch is beneficial. I say it disfigures. No
one in his right mind would want to look like a catamite, un-
less he were actually infected with the disease; nor could
anyone want to deliberately and habitually defame a beautiful
image. Now, if 'those who are called according to His pur-
pose, whom He has foreknown, He has also predestined to be-
come conformed to the image of His Son,' according to the
holy Apostle, 'that He should be the firstborn among many
brethren,' 10 then are not they who dishonor what is con-
formed to the Lord, their body, guilty of godlessness? If a
man desires to become beautiful, he should embellish what is
the most beautiful part of human nature : his mind. Let him
pluck out, not his hair, but his desires. (21) I pity the young
boys belonging to the slave-dealers, dressed up so as best to
excite lust. But these unfortunate boys are put to shame not at
their own doings; they are beautified under duress for the
sake of some miserable gain. If they were men, they would
draw down on themselves the death penalty for doing these
things, even under duress. Then, are not these others utterly
9 Deut. 23.17
10 Rom. 8.28-30.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 217
contemptible for doing the same things willingly and by
their own free choice?
But, now, debauched living and indulgence in illicit
pleasures have gone to such a limit, and every sort of liber-
tinism has become so rife in the cities, that they have become
the norm. Women live in brothels, there offering their own
bodies for sale to satisfy lustiful pleasure, and boys are taught
to renounce their own natures and play the role of women.
Self-indulgence has turned everything upside down. Over-
refinement in comfortable living has put humanity to shame.
It seeks everything, it attempts everything, it forces every-
thing, it violates even nature. Men have become the passive
mate in sexual relations and women act as men; contrary
to nature, women now are both wives and husbands. No
opening is impenetrable to impurity. Sexual pleasure is made
public property common to all the people, and self-indulgence
their boon companion. What a pitiful spectacle! What un-
speakable practises! They are the monuments to your wide-
spread lack of self-control, and whores are the proof of your
deeds. Alas, such disregard for law ! These wretched men do
not realize that furtive indulgence in intercourse often creates
tragedy; a father, not recognizing the child he had exiled by
exposure, may have frequent relations with a son turned
catamite, or with a daughter become a harlot, and the free-
dom with which license is indulged may lead fathers into be-
coming husbands [of their children].
(22) Those who are skilled in the law actually permit
these things. It is possible for them to sin legally; they call
forbidden pleasure obligingness. They who debase their sex
think to be free of the charge of adultery, but justice pursues
them and avenges their brazenness; inevitably they draw
down upon themselves some calamity and purchase death at
218 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
only small cost. Merchants of such cargo, these bedeviled
fools, set sail, carrying their gross immoralities as wares like
grain or wine, while others, far more pitiable, buy these pleas-
ures as they would bread or meat. They do not take to heart
the command of Moses: 'Do not defile thy daughter, to com-
mit fornication with her, and the earth shall not commit for-
nication, and be filled with lawlessness.' 11 Those words were
said long ago under divine inspiration; but their effect can
be seen clearly: the whole earth has become filled with
fornication and lawlessness. (23) I admire the ancient law-
givers of Rome; they abhorred homosexuality, and in the
justice of their laws condemned to the mines anyone guilty of
allowing his body to be used in a feminine role contrary to the
law of nature.
It is never permissible to pluck out the beard, for it is a
natural adornment, and one that is genuine; 12 'with the first
down upon his lip, in whom the charm of youth is the
fairest.' 13 When the lad has become older, he anoints it with
oil, proud of his beard, upon which descended the prophetic
myrrh of the venerable Aaron. 14 One who has been properly
educated, with whom peace has made its abode, ought to
keep peace with his hair, also. Indeed, when the wives are
only too anxious to lower the barriers of modesty, what would
they not get into the habit of doing, since they but mirror the
outrageous practises of their husbands? We should call them,
not men, but pederasts and effeminate creatures; their voices
are unmanly and their clothes are the clothes of women both
in texture and in color. Men of this sort advertise openly the
11 Lev. 19.29.
12 A play on words: 'chin' is gene ion; 'genuine' is gennaion.
13 Iliad 24.348.
14 Cf. Ps. 132.2. . Molland (op. cit. 14 n. 4) sees in the use of 'proph-
etic' here, only the sense that it is mentioned in the prophetic psalm.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 219
sort of character they possess, for they stand self-condemned
by their fine robe, their sandals, their bearing, their way of
walking, the cut of their hair, and their glances. Tor from
his look shall a man be known,' Scripture says, 'and from
meeting a man, a man shall be known. The attire of the man,
and the gait of his feet, and the laugh of his teeth shew what
he is. 515
Nevertheless, these men who so relentlessly get rid of the
hair on the rest of their bodies, take great pains with the hair
of their heads, all but wearing hairnets like the women. (24)
The lion's glory is his shagginess; he is equipped with so much
hair to protect himself. Boars are formidable for their bristles;
they put fear in the hearts of huntsmen by making their
bristles stand on end. 'And the fleecy sheep are laden down
with their wool'; 16 however, the loving Father of men
has given this animal such an abundance of hair only to
benefit you, O man, for He taught you to shear it. On the
other hand, among the various nations, the Celts and the
Scythians wear their hair long, but wear no other orna-
ment. 17 The flowing hair of these barbarians strikes terror
in our hearts and their fair hair suggests war, for it is a color
akin to blood. Both of these peoples have always eschewed
comforts. The German can point to the Rhine as evidence of
this, and the Scythian to his war chariot. Sometimes the
Scythian scorns even his chariot (for to his uncultivated mind,
its size seems too close to luxury) ; rejecting its convenience, he
turns to simple ways of frugality. That is to say, the man of
Scythia may perfer a conveyance that moves itself and is less
15 Eccli. 19.29.
16 Hesiod, Op. 234.
17 A play on words: komdo is 'wearing the hair long'; kommdd is 'to
wear an ornament.'
220 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
unwieldy than the chariot, his horse, mount it and ride where
he will. When he suffers from hunger, he seeks nourishment
from his horse, which offers him the only thing it has, blood
from its open veins. This makes the horse both chariot and
food for the nomad.
( 25 ) Among the Arabs, other nomads, the young warrior
rides on a she-camel that is pregnant. The camel grazes while
it runs and carries its master, bringing its own larder with it.
If drink fails, he can milk his camel, and if food runs short,
the Arab does not spare even their blood, as they say of
wolves on the prowl. The camel, gentler than the barbarian,
does not think it is being wronged, but runs through the
desert carrying its master trustingly, supplying him at the
same time with his food. If only wild beasts were destroyed
who wait to prey upon blood ! Yet, it is not right for man to
touch blood, either, for his own body is nothing less than
flesh quickened by blood. Human blood has its portion of rea-
son, and its share in grace, along with the spirit. If anyone
injures it, he will not escape punishment.
A man can speak to the Lord, even if he is stripped of all
clothing. I favor the plain simplicity of the barbarians. They
respected a less cumbersome way of life and therefore avoided
luxuriousness. The Lord calls us to be like them, stripped of
all excessive love of finery, of all gaudy appearances, freed
from sin, wearing only the wood of life 18 and intent only upon
salvation.
Chapter 4
(26) But I forget myself, and have sailed in spirit right
past the due progression of my thought. I must now retrace
18 That is, the Cross.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 221
my steps and express my disapproval of the possession of too
many slaves. Men resort to servants to escape work and
waiting on themselves. They hire a great host of bakers and
cooks and waiters and men who can carve meat skillfully into
slices. They portion out this service into many different
duties : some are engaged to minister to their gluttony, carvers
and cooks of the rich dish called caruce, others to prepare and
to make the pastries, others to make the honey cakes, and
still others to prepare the porridges; then there are those
whose duty it is to care for their innumerable garments;
others keep watch over their gold like griffins, others guard
their silver and keep their goblets clean and get the dishes
ready for the banquets; then there are those who groom their
beasts of burden; there are a host of wine-pourers in con-
stant attendance upon them; and finally, there are a crowd
of handsome youths from whom, like cattle, they draw
milk: the milk of beauty.
The women employ beauticians and handmaids, some to
take care of their mirrors; others, the hairnets; others, their
combs. 1 Then there are scores of eunuchs, who are little
more than panderers; because of the trust they inspire, since
they are incapable of sexual pleasure, they can minister to
those wanting to carry on some love affair and not incur sus-
picion. The true eunuch, however, is not he who is unable,
but he who is unwilling to gratify his passions.
(27) The Word has given a complete description of
these offenders when He promised through the Prophet
Samuel that the people who were demanding a king would
have, not a kind master, but one who would be an unfeeling
tyrant, given over to immorality, 'who will take,' He said,
'your daughters to make him ointments, and to be his cooks
1 There is a lacuna in the text here.
222 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
and bakers/ 2 who will rule by law of war, and not be
zealous for the administration of peace.
There are many Celts to lift and carry the litters for these
women, but nowhere can one see any spinning or weaving
or loom-working or, for that matter, any feminine occu-
pations or household chores. Story-tellers spend the whole
day with the women, idly spinning erotic legends, wearying
body and soul by their false tales and deeds. 'Thou shalt not
be with many,' Scripture says, 'for evil, nor join with a
multitude,' 3 because wisdom is found only among the few,
disorder in the multitude. These women hire carriers, not out
of modesty, to keep from being gazed at (it would be praise-
worthy if they hung up the draperies [of their litters] for
such a purpose), but have themselves borne by their servants
to attract attention and to play the coquet. At any rate, they
betray their true character by keeping the curtain pulled
back and staring intently at those who gaze; frequently, they
lean far out, too, forgetting the most elementary rules of
reserve in their eager curiosity. 'Look not round about thee,'
Scripture says, 'in the ways of the city, nor wander up and
down in its deserted places.' 4 A deserted place is that in which,
even though there is a throng of boisterous men, no man is
chaste.
These women are carried right up to the temples, there to
offer sacrifices of atonement and to consult the oracles. Day
after day, they mingle in the procession of the ordinary beg-
gar-priests, and those of Cybele, and with the old beggar
women who attend the altars and ruin homes. They prolong
their whispered conversations over their cups like old women,
sedulously learning from the sorcerers charrris and incanta-
2 1 Kings 8.13.
3 Exod. 23.2.
4 Eccli. 9.7.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 223
tions to destroy wedlock. They keep some men, and yearn for
more, and the soothsayers promise them still others. They do
not understand that they are deceiving themselves, and giving
themselves over as vessels of pleasure to those who deliber-
ately foster lewdness; while they are exchanging purity for
the most shameful dishonor, they really believe such foul
corruption is the doing of an oracle. The agents of demor-
alizing lechery are legion, each one joining the company in
a different way. The sensual are as quickly disposed to lechery
as swine rolling toward the lurching side of a ship. (29) That
is why Scripture warns gravely: 'Bring not every man into
thy house, for many are the snares of the deceitful.' 5 And in
another place it says : 'Let just men be thy guests, and let thy
glory be in the fear of God.' 6
Away with all fornication! 'Know this well,' the Apostle
says, 'that no fornicator or unclean person or covetous one
(who is an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and God. 57 But these women who delight in the com-
pany of perverts are surrounded by a whole crowd of loose-
tongued catamites, foul of body, foul of speech, grown into
manhood only to satisfy their lusts, agents of adultery, guf-
fawing and whispering, then indecently snorting out some sug-
gestive sound from their nostrils, trying to entertain with
obscene words and gestures, stimulating everyone to giddiness,
the precursor of fornication. From time to time, either the
fornicators themselves or the mob of panderers who are so
zealous for other people's downfall, aroused by some passing
fit of anger, make a noise in their nostrils as frogs do, for all
the world as if they kept their wrath stored up in their noses.
(30) Women who are somewhat more genteel than these
5 Eccli. 11.29.
6 Eccli. 9.16.
7 Cf. Eph. 5.5.
224 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
others go in for raising Indian birds and Medean peacocks.
They keep them on their couches when they lie down, and
play with such peak-headed animals, amusing themselves
with unsightly creatures that act like satyrs. 8 They laugh
when they hear the story of Thersites, yet themselves buy
many a Thersites at a high price, and take more pride in
these things, burdens on the earth, than they do in their
husbands. They will snub a prudent widow, though she is
far more important than their Melitean puppy; they will
ignore a good old man, better looking, as far as I can see,
than any bought animal; they will not even come near an
orphaned child, though they feed their parrots and bustards
with their own hands. Even worse, they abandon to exposure
the children born to them, yet lavish care on their brood
of birds. They set a higher value on unreasoning animals than
they do on rational men, despite their obligation to reverence
those old men who cherish self-restraint and who are much
handsomer, I think, than their monkeys, and able to speak
much more eloquent pieces than their nightingales. 'What-
ever you do to one of these least,' Scripture tells us, 'you
do to Me. 59
Beyond all this, these women pay greater court to wilful-
ness than to self-control, for they turn their whole substance
into stone : pearls and emeralds of India. Indeed, they throw
their money away, and waste it on dyes that fade, and on
slaves bought with silver, like glutted hens scratching in the
dunghills of life. 'Poverty humbles a man, 510 it is said; it means
the poverty of the miserly which makes the rich poor in
generosity, as if they possessed nothing to give away.
8 Literally, sikinnon, of obscure meaning here, but, since this was a
dance performed by satyrs in the plays, this is probably its meaning.
9 Matt. .40. v J B
10 Prov. 10.4.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 225
Chapter 5
(31) What baths the women have ! Buildings carefully con-
structed and joined together, yet easily moved about, covered
with transparent muslin; the chairs gold-plated and of silver; 1
and a countless array of vessels made of gold or silver, some
used for drinking the health of others, some for eating, and
some for the bath itself. Why, there are even pans of char-
coal! They have reached such a degree of unrestraint that
they even wine and dine in the baths. With utter lack of taste
they put their silver plates on display there, just to make an
impression. Perhaps they are displaying their wealth with
extravagant ostentation, but they are really displaying their
culpable lack of self-discipline. In their lack of discipline,
they prove that unmanly men have been surpassed by
women, and show at the same time that they cannot live with
their husbands, or even sweat without being surrounded with
their dishes. Women who are poor share the same baths
without indulging in such pomp. It must be that the un-
cleanness of the wealthy needs an abundant cloak of evil-
doing. Yet, by means of their uncleanness, as by a snare, they
trap the wretches who cannot resist the glitter of gold. In
fact, because they do dazzle the undiscriminating, they clev-
erly scheme to win the admiration of their lovers, who then
insult them when they see them naked shortly afterwards.
(32) It is odd that they will not undress before their husbands,
insisting on some sort of pretended modesty, yet anyone else
who likes may see her who was chastely veiled at home naked
in the bath. They are not ashamed to undress there before
the onlookers who are akin to traffikers in bodies.
Still, Hesiod advises: 'Do not wash your body in the
1 There is a lacuna in the text here.
226 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
woman's bath.' 2 The baths are open to men and women
alike; there they strip for the sake of lust. Tor, from gazing,
men go on to lusting/ 3 as if their modesty were washed
away in the bath. Those whose sense of modesty keeps them
from such an excess exclude men not of their own household,
but they will bathe with their servants, and strip naked before
their men-slaves. In fact, they even have themselves massaged
by them, giving them full freedom of touch, when the slaves
are already fearful of giving free reins to their lust. They who
are admitted to the baths by mistresses who are naked are
sure to strip to accomplish their desires the better, 'banishing
fear by a perverse practise.' 4
(33) The ancients, too modest to allow their athletes to
be exposed naked, preserved modesty by engaging in the
games in loincloths. 5 Yet, these women, stripping off modesty
with their garments, 6 mean to reveal their beauty, but only
give unwitting evidence of their moral ugliness. Truly, the
lewdness of their desire is made manifest in the body itself,
just as dropsy becomes evident in the moisture on the whole
surface of the skin; in both cases, the disease is known by
its visible effects.
Men, then, should give good example of truth to the
women, and be loathe to undress before them. They ought,
too, to be on their guard against dangerous glances. 'He who
gazes without restraint,' it is said, 'has already committed
sin.' 7 At home, we should respect our parents and servants; in
2 Hesiod, Op. 753.
3 Agathon, Frag. 29 TGF 768.
4 Cf. F. Blass, Hermes 35 (1900) S. 342.
5 Cf. Thucydides, 1.6.5.
6 Cf. Herodotus, 1.8.
7 Cf. Matt. 5.28.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 227
the streets, those we meet; in the baths, women; in solitary
places, ourselves; and, everywhere, the Word who is in all
places and 'without whom nothing came into being/ 8 It is
only in this way that a person will persevere without falling,
if he considers God as everywhere present with him.
Chapter 6
(34) We should possess wealth in a becoming manner,
sharing it generously, but not mechanically nor with af-
fectation. We should be careful, too, not to turn love of the
beautiful into love of self, and into poor taste, lest someone
say of us: 'His horse is worth fifteen talents, or his estate or
servant or gold plate, but he himself would be expensive at
three cents.' To begin with, take ornaments away from a wo-
man, and servants from the master, and you will discover
that the master differs in no way from the slaves he has
bought, neither in bearing, nor in appearance, nor in voice.
In fact, he is very similar to his slave in these respects. He
differs from his slave in one way only, in that he is more
delicate and, because of his upbringing, more susceptible to
sickness.
At any rate, we should repeat on every occasion thajt most
inspiring of all our doctrines, that the good man, in his
prudence and uprightness, 'lays up treasure in heaven.' 1 He
who sells his earthly possessions and gives them to the poor
will find an imperishable treasure where there is neither moth
nor robber. 2 Such a man is truly fortunate, even if he is
8 John 1.3.
1 Cf. Matt. 6.20.
2 Cf. Matt. 19.21.
228 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
small and weak and unimportant, and is rich indeed in the
most important sort of riches. On the other hand, if a man
becomes wealthier than Midas and Cinyra, 3 but is unjust
and arrogant like the man who lived elegantly in purple and
fine linen, yet despised Lazarus 4 he is miserable, lives
wretchedly, and will never find true life. (35) Wealth, in
fact, seems to me like a snake; unless a person knows how to
grasp it properly, dangling it without harm from just above
the tip of the tail, the snake will twist about to the hand and
strike. Weath, too, twisting in the grasp, whether experienced
or not, can cling to the hand and bite unless a man rises
superior to it and uses it with discretion; that is, to say, he may
train the beast by the invocation of the Word and remain
unharmed.
However, in my opinion, he who possesses things of higher
value is the one, and the only one, who is truly wealthy,
without passing for such. A gem is not worth much, nor is
silver, nor clothes, nor beauty of body; but virtue is, because
it is reason translated into deeds under the guidance of the
Educator. This is reason forbidding luxuriousness, stimulating
independence in service of self, and singing the praises of
frugality, offspring of self-control. 'Receive instruction,' Scrip-
ture says, 'and not money, and choose knowledge rather
than gold. For wisdom is better than precious stones, and all
that is priceless cannot be compared to it.' And, again: 'My
fruit is better than gold and precious stone and silver; and
my blossoms than choice silver.' 5 If we must make distinctions,
let the man with a fortune be considered the wealthy one,
loaded down as he is with gold like a dingy purse; but the
3 Cf. Plato, Laws II 660E.
4 Cf. Luke 16.19-24.
5 Prov. 9.10,11,19.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 229
holy man is the discreet one, for discretion is the quality that
maintains a properly balanced moderation between spending
and giving. 'Some distribute their own goods,' it is written,
'and become richer.' 6 Of such men, Scripture says: 'He hath
distributed, he hath given to the poor; his justice remains
forever.' 7 Therefore, it is not he who possesses and retains
his wealth who is wealthy, but he who gives; it is giving, not
receiving that reveals the happy man. Generosity is a product
of the soul; so, true wealth is in the soul.
(36) Again, good things should be considered the pos-
session only of the good. But the good are Christians; a man
without understanding or self-control can neither perceive nor
truly possess the good. Therefore, the Christian alone possesses
good things; but nothing brings greater wealth than good
things, so only they are wealthy. Holiness and that reason
which is more precious than any treasure are the true wealth,
and are not increased by cattle or lands but are given by
God. It cannot be taken away (for the soul alone is the
treasure of such a man), and is a possession that is supreme
for him who owns it, making him blessed in possessing the
truth. If a man is able to keep from desiring the things that
are beyond his power of attaining but does possess the things
he really desires, and then receives from God for the asking
the things he craves in a holy way, is not such a man abun-
dantly wealthy indeed, and possessed of all things, owning an
eternal treasure in God? 'To him who asks, 5 Scripture says,
'shall be given, and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.' 8
If God refuses nothing, then all things belong to those who
serve God.
6 Prov. 11.24.
7 Ps. 111.9.
8 Matt. 7.7.
230 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Chapter 7
(37) When self-indulgence wanders off into sense-pleas-
ures, then it makes serious shipwreck out of a man. Such an
easy and dishonorable way of life, although pursued by
many, is foreign to true love of the beautiful and to the higher
pleasures. By nature, man is a noble and majestic animal
who seeks the beautiful, simply because he is a creature
made by the only true Beauty. But a way of life that thinks
only of the stomach is without nobility, and is blameworthy
and ugly and even ridiculous. Utterly alien to a nature that
is divine is concentration upon pleasures of the senses : feeding
like sparrows and mating like swine and goats.
To consider sense-pleasure a good is very poor judgment as
to what is beautiful; attachment to wealth disorientates a man
from a right way of living, robbing him of all shame in the
presence of base things, 'if only he have the opportunity like
a beast, of eating and drinking all sort of things, and of pro-
viding himself with ample opportunity for the pleasures of
sex.' 1 That is why it is very rare that a rich man inherits the
kingdom of God. What are all these dishes prepared for,
except to gorge one single stomach? Privies are silent witnesses
to the uncleanness of gluttony, for they are the depositories of
the remains of the stomach's feasting. Why should men as-
semble all these many cup-bearers when they can satisfy their
thirst with one single cup? Why a chest of garments? Why all
the gold plate? And why all the ornamentation? These men
are simply catering to thieves and greedy eyes. 'Let not alms
and pledges leave thee,' 2 says Scripture.
(38) See how Elias the Thesbite offers us an excellent
1 Cf. Plato, Laws VIII 831DE.
2 Prov. 3.3.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 231
example of frugality when he sat down beneath the juniper
tree and the angel brought him food. There was a hearth
cake and a vessel of water.' 3 The Lord sent that sort of
meal as the best sort for him. It seems, then, that we should
travel light on our road toward truth. 'Carry neither a purse
nor wallet nor sandals, 54 the Lord said, meaning that we
should not hold any wealth stored away in our purse; that
we should not fill up our storehouses as though we were
laying away in a barn, but share it with the needy; that we
should not trouble ourselves about cattle and domestics
which is what the sandals symbolize, for it is the sandals that
bear the burden when the rich go on a journey.
We must, then, get rid of our multiplicity of vessels, our sil-
ver and gold drinking cups, our band of servants; we have re-
ceived from our Educator those beautiful and holy mates,
self-service and frugality. In fact, we must walk according to
reason even if we have a wife and children in our home. A
household is not a burden if it has but learned to follow in
the lead of the wayfarer who knows self-control. (39) In-
variably the wife who loves her husband will be his faithful
reflection, both of them wayfarers carrying provisions best
suited for a journey toward heaven : frugality, together with a
united and determined practise of self-restraint.
Just as the foot is the measure of the sandal, so the physical
needs of each man are the measure of what he should possess.
Whatever is excessive the things they call adornments
and the trappings of the rich are not adornments, but a
burden for the body. If one is to use violence to ascend to
heaven, 5 it is necessary to carry the good staff of holy deeds
3 Cf. 3 Kings 19.4.6.
4 Luke 10.4.
5 Cf. Matt. 11.12.
232 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
and first to share our goods with the oppressed before laying
hold of the true rest. Scripture declares that really 'his own
riches is the redemption of the soul of man,' 6 that is, if a man
is rich, he will obtain salvation by sharing his wealth. Like
the spring that remains full naturally, returning to its original
measure after water has been drawn off, or like milk that
flows back to breasts that have been suckled or milked, so too,
generosity, which is the wellspring of love for men, increases
and becomes full again when it gives drink to the thirsty.
He who possesses the Word, who is Almighty God, needs
nothing and never lacks any of the things he desires, for the
Word is an infinite possession and the source of all our wealth.
(40) However, someone may object and insist that he
has often seen the just in need of food. This is rare and
happens only where no one else is just. Besides, let him read
the beautiful sentence : 'It is not by bread alone that the just
man lives, but by the Word of the Lord,' 7 who is the true
bread, the bread of heaven. 8 The good man is never really
in want, as long as he keeps intact his adherence to faith in
God. For he can ask for and receive whatever He needs from
the Father of all, and he can enjoy whatever belongs to Him,
if only he obey His Son. Then, too, he has this advantage, that
he can be free from feeling any want. The Word, who acts as
our Educator, gives us riches; there is no need to envy the
wealth of others with those who have gained freedom from
want through Him. He who possesses this sort of wealth will
inherit the kingdom of God.
6 Prov. 13.8.
7 Cf. Matt. 4.4; Deut. 8.3; Cf. above, p. 98 n. 22.
8 Cf. John 6.33,41.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 233
Chapter 8
(41) If any of you will completely avoid self-indulgence
by the careful cultivation of frugality, he will be developing
a habit of enduring involuntary hardships readily. If he
makes a further practise of looking on voluntary sufferings
as a training for persecution, then when he is confronted with
labors and fears and pains he cannot evade, he will not be
unpractised in steadfastness. We have no fatherland on earth,
that we may learn to despise earthly possessions. Therefore,
frugality is exceedingly rich, for it is a quality that i not at
all reluctant to spend money on things it requires and that
need to be paid for, for as long a time as the need exists. The
word payment implies the notion of expenses.
Now how the husband and wife should live together, the
nature of self-service and management of the home, the use of
servants, and in addition, the time for marriage and the things
becoming to wives, all these we will explain in a treatise on
married life. 1 Now we are treating only of the things proper to
our education, stressing the life Christians should live, in
general outline. The greater part, indeed, has been said or
taught already, but we shall discuss now what is still left.
No small influence upon salvation is exerted by examples.
'See,' the tragedian remarks, 'Telemachus did not kill the wife
of Odysseus, because she did not wed another husband in
addition to the one she had, but kept the marriage chamber
in her house intact.' 2 He condemns adultery as immoral by
presenting us with a beautiful image of chastity in love for a
husband. Again, the Spartans used to compel the Helots
(that is the name of their servants) to get drunk while they
1 Cf. above, p. 139 n. 12.
2 Euripides, Orestes 588-590.
234 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
themselves remained sober, then they would point to their
drunken deeds as a cure and correction for themselves. (42)
They disciplined themselves by watching the misconduct of
these servants at close range, that they might not fall into
similar misbehavior, and drew the useful moral of keeping
themselves free of blame. Some men are saved by being
taught; others, by teaching themselves. They must earnestly
strive either to acquire virtue or, at least, to find instruction.
'He is best of all who understands all things by his own
efforts.' 3 Such a man was Abraham, who ever sought after
God. 'And noble, too, is he who listens carefully to one who
speaks well.' Such are the disciples who listened to the Word;
therefore, the first one heard himself called a friend, and the
others, apostles, because the one concerned himself about
the one and same God, and the others preached Him; yet,
both were good. There are disciples, in turn, of both of these:
those who gain profit in seeking and those who gain salvation
in finding. But, 'he who neither understands by his own
efforts, nor lays up to heart what he hears from another, is a
man of no account.' This is the sort the pagans are, of no
account. It is they who do not follow Christ.
(43) The benign Educator bestows aid on us in different
ways, now offering advice, now rebuke ; He holds up to us the
dishonor reaped by those who have sinned, and reveals the
punishment they have merited, both to attract our notice
and to warn us. In this way does He devise a gentle means of
restraining us from evil, by such a picture of those who have
already suffered. He forcibly deters those who are bent on
evil by these images, hinders some who are ready to dare
similar crimes, strengthens others in their endurance, draws
3 This and the following two quotations are from Hesiod, Op. 293,
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 235
still others from evil, and heals many, converting them to a
better life by letting them see such an image. For, who is there
who, following someone down a path and seeing him fall into
a ditch, would not be careful not to stumble over the same
obstacle, and would not avoid the consequences of sin? 4
Again, what athlete intent upon the path of glory, who sees
a contestant before him receive a prize, will not also desire
the crown, and imitate his predecessor? 5
The images of this sort that divine Wisdom proposes are
many. I recall one example, and bring it to your attention in
a few words. The suffering the Sodomites endured was a
judgment passed on those who sinned, but for those who
hear the story, it is education. (44) The Sodomites were
people driven headlong upon the shoals of immorality through
much self-indulgence, for they committed fornication without
restraint, and were continually inflamed by their frenzied
passion for the objects of their lust. 6 The all-seeing Word
looked down on them for they who do unholy things can-
not escape His gaze and as the ever-vigilant Guardian of
mankind did not remain unmoved by their corruption. Rather,
to hinder us from imitating them, and to educate us to the
self-control He wished from us, He inflicted punishment upon
these sinners, lest, going unpunished, their sin turn into a
torrent of unbridled licentiousness. Therefore, He gave com-
mand that Sodom be struck down by fire, and poured out
some part of the fire of prudence upon their immorality, that
their lust might not remain unconnected and thus clear the
way for those being swept along into the ways of pleasure.
The just punishment of the Sodomites has become, then,
4 Cf. Luke 6.39.
5 Cf. 1 Cor. 9.24.
6 Cf. Gen. 18.20; 19.
236 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
an example to lead men to holy salvation. By avoiding the
sin of those who have been chastized, men will never become
subject to the punishment meted out to those others; they will
keep themselves from punishment by keeping themselves from
sin. 'I desire to remind you,' Jude says, 'that God, who
saved the people once from the land of Egypt, the next time
destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels also who
did not preserve their original state, but forsook their abode,
He has kept in everlasting chains under the darkness of the
savage angels for the judgment of the great day/ 7 (45) And a
little later on He presents the picture of those who are judged,
significantly: 'Woe to them, for they have gone in the way
of Cain, and have rushed on thoughtlessly into the error of
Balaam for the sake of gain, and have perished in the re-
bellion of Core.' 8
Those who cannot support the power of the adoption of
sons fear will hinder from excessive sin. That is why there
are punishments and threats, that we may be kept from sin
out of fear of the penalty. I could describe for you the punish-
ments, not only for immorality, but also for vanity, and for
vainglory, and I could mention the strong maledictions upon
the wealthy with which the Word prevents sin by using fear.
But, to avoid verbosity, I simply recall in my treatise the
commandments of the Educator, that you may beware of
His threats.
7 Cf. Jude 57.
8 Jude 11.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 237
Chapter 9
(46) . There are four reasons prompting us to frequent
the baths (it was at this point that I digressed a while back
in my discussion): either for cleanliness, for warmth, for
health, or for the satisfaction of pleasure. We must not think
of bathing for pleasure, because we must ruthlessly expel all
unworthy pleasure. Women may make use of the bath for
the sake of cleanliness and of health; men, only for the sake of
their health. The motive of seeking warmth is scarcely urgent,
since we can find relief from cold in other ways.
The continued use of baths undermines a man's strength,
weakening the muscles of his body and often inducing las-
situde and even fainting spells. Bodies drink up water in a
definite way in the baths, like trees, not only by mouth, but
also, as they say, through the pores of the whole body. A
proof of this is that, often, when a man has been thirsty, his
thirst is quenched on entering the water. Therefore, if the
bath has no real benefit to offer, it should be completely
avoided. The ancients called it a fulling shop for men, since
it wrinkles the body before time, and forces the body to be-
come old early; in much the way that iron is tempered by
heat, the flesh is made soft by heat. We need to be hardened,
as it were, by being doused in cold.
(47) We ought not bathe on every occasion, either, but
if at times we are too hungry, or too full, we should omit it. As
a matter of fact, [it should be adjusted] to the age of the
individual, and to the season of the year. It is not useful at all
times, nor to everyone at all times, as those versed in these
things agree. Due proportion is sufficient guide for us; we
call upon it for help in every part of our life. Again, we
should not linger in the bath so long that we will need some-
238 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
one to lead us out by the hand, nor should we loiter long or
frequently in it, as we might in the public square. Finally, to
have a score of servants pouring water over one is grievously
to offend a neighbor; it is a sign of one far advanced in self-
indulgence and unwilling to understand that the bath should
be common, on an equal footing to all who bathe there.
It is our souls, above all, that we should wash in the
purifying Word ; only now and then, our bodies, to get rid of
the dirt that adheres to them, and, sometimes, to refresh our-
selves after hard labor. 'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees,'
the Lord says, 'hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs;
outwardly the tomb appears beautiful, but within it is
full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness.' 1 (48) And
again He said to them: 'Woe to you, because you clean the
outside of the cup and of the plate, but within are full of un-
cleanness. Cleanse first the inside of the cup that the outside
may also become clean.' 2
The most excellent cleansing is that which removes the filth
of the soul, and is a spiritual bath; the inspired word says
about such a cleansing: The Lord shall wash away the filth
of the sons and daughters of Israel and shall wash away
the blood from their midst,' 3 that is, the blood of immorality,
as well as the slaughtering of the prophets; that is the puri-
fication He meant, because He adds: 'by the spirit of judg-
ment and by the spirit of burning.' But the washing of the
body is something material and is accomplished only by
water; in fact, it can be done even in fields away from the
baths.
1 Matt. 23.27.
2 Matt. 23.25.
3 Isa. 4.4.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 239
Chapter 10
(49) The gymnasium is sufficient for the needs of young
boys, even if there is a bath at hand. This is all the more
true when even men may legitimately make use of it in pre-
ference to the bath. It offers considerable benefit to the
health of the young, and besides, instils in them a desire and
ambition to develop not only a healthy constitution, but also
a wholesome character. If physical exercise is engaged in
without distracting them from more worthwhile deeds, it is
entertaining and not without profit.
For that reason, even women should be allowed some sort
of physical exercise, not on the wrestling-mat or the race-
course, but in spinning and weaving and supervising the
cooking, if need arise. Again, the women should themselves
bring whatever we need from the storeroom, and it is no dis-
grace for them to take their place at the mill. Then, too, for
her to busy herself about the meals that they may be pleasing
to her husband is a deed one who is housewife, spouse and
helpmate will not be reproached for performing. If she should
also make the beds herself, and bring her husband drink when
he is thirsty, and prepare the food, she would be exercising
herself in a very becoming way, and maintaining her health
by self-restraint. The Educator approves of such a woman
who 'stretches forth her hands to useful things, and who
applies her fingers vigorously to the spindle, who opens her
hands to the needy and stretches forth fruit to the poor/ 1 and
who, in imitation of Sara, is not ashamed to serve wayfarers
generously. Abraham said to Sara: 'Quick, three measures of
fine flour! Knead it, and make loaves.' 2 Again, Scripture
1 Cf. Prov. 31.19,20.
2 Gen. 18.6.
240 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
says: 'Rachel, daughter of Jacob, arrived with her father's
sheep,' and, as if this was not enough, it adds, to give a con-
vincing lesson of lowliness: 'for it was her custom to tend
them.' 3 (50) There are innumerable examples given in the
Scriptures both of frugality and of self-service, as well as of
physical exercise.
As for the men, let some of them engage in wrestling
stripped; let others play the game called phaenind with a
small ball, particularly out in the sun. A walk will be suf-
ficient for others, either strolling out into the country or into
town. If, besides all this, they lay hold of the mattock, such
a money-saving way of taking exercise will not be beneath
their dignity. But I am almost forgetting to mention Pittacus,
king of the Mitylenians, who wandered about taking energetic
exercise. 4 It is well if a person draws his own water for his
needs, and himself cuts the wood that he uses. Jacob pastured
the sheep that Laban had given him with a rod of storax
(which is a sign of royalty), and he took care to influence
their nature for the better with such a rod. 5 Sometimes, read-
ing out loud will be a good exercise for many.
(51) But let them especially engage in wrestling, which we
approve of, not for vain competition's sake, which serves no
end, but to get rid of manly sweat. They should not cultivate
the tricks meant only for display, but only the art of wrestling
erect, keeping the neck and hands and sides free. Such move-
ments are much more orderly and manly, are performed
with controlled strength, and are clearly undertaken to bene-
fit one's health a very desirable thing. The other exercises
3 Gen. 29.9.
4 Cf. Diogenes Laert. 1.81. He tells us this exercise was milling the
grain.
5 Cf. Gen. 30.37-43.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 241
of the gymnasium demand the practise of postures beneath
our dignity. We must aim for moderation in all things. For,
just as it is better for labor to precede meals, so, too, to labor
beyond measure is both harmful and tiring, and leads to
sickness. We should not be idle, yet we should not become
completely exhausted by our labor, either. We were just dis-
cussing the proper conduct to be observed in taking food;
similarly, in every thing and every place we should not live
for pleasure nor for immorality; neither should we go to the
other extreme. We should, instead, choose a course of life in
between, well-balanced, temperate, and free from either
evil : extravagance or parsimony.
(52) As we have already said, self-service is an exercise
without any trace of pride : for example, to put on one's own
sandals, wash one's own feet, and also to rub off the oil that
has been put on. To rub down someone who has done the
same for us is both a physical exercise and an act of communal
justice, as is also sleeping by a sick friend, waiting on some-
one who cannot wait on himself, and providing for someone
in need. 'And Abraham set before the three men a lunch
under the tree and he stood by while they ate.' 6 So is fishing,
as it was for Peter, 7 if we have leisure left over from the in-
struction we need in the word. But the best catch is the one the
Lord entrusted to His disciples, when He taught them to
catch men, as though fish from a sea. 8
6 Cf. Gen. 18.8.
7 Cf. Matt 4.18; John 21.3.
8 Cf. Matt. 4.19.
242 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Chapter 11
(53) We may conclude, then, that the wearing of gold
and the use of soft garments need not be absolutely avoided.
But desires that are unreasonable must be kept in check
lest they drive us into an effeminate way of life and, by
excessive indulgence, sweep us up and carry us away. Luxu-
riousness, grounding us on the shoals of repletion, is quite
capable of becoming unruly and, rearing up, of throwing
both the charioteer and the Educator. It is the Educator who,
when the unreasoning part of the soul becomes uncontrolled
in its pleasures and immoderate impulses and [desires] for
jewels and gold and precious garments and other luxuries,
tightens the reins of the steed that man is, and, urging him
on, leads him to salvation.
We keep in mind these holy words particularly : 'Keep your
conduct excellent among the heathens, so that, whereas they
slander you as evil-doers, they may, by observing the nobility
of your actions, glorify God.' 1 That is why the Educator
teaches us to wear plain garments, of a white color, as we
have already remarked, so that, accommodating ourselves not
to art that embellishes, but to nature which gave us birth,
we may reject every sort of deception and distortion of the
truth. Sophocles rebuked the young men who lived daintily
with the remark that they were 'conspicuous for their wo-
manish clothes.' 2
As with the soldier and sailor and ruler, the proper dress for
a self -restrained man is plain yet becoming and clean. (54)
In a similar way, the law set up in the Law of Moses con-
cerning leprosy forbade as unholy all many-hued and striped
1 1 Pet. 2.12.
2 Sophocles, Frag. 702.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 243
clothing resembling the mottled skin of a serpent. 3 It desires
us not to be adorned with a variety of colors, but to be
clothed in white from the top of our heads to the sole of our
feet. We shall stay clean in that way, and put away all fickle
and wicked dispositions of mind, symbolized by our changed
bodily appearance, and love the unadorned and direct simple
color of truth. The man who in his teaching followed Moses,
Plato, excellent in every way, approved of that sort of woven
garment, for there is no deed more indicative of a good
woman than [wearing such a garment], 'White is a color that
would be suitable in dignity and in other ways,' he says, 'but
dyes should be used only for the adornments of war.' 4 White,
then, is the color that bespeaks men of peace and of
light. (55) Just as the presence of a sign intimately connected
with its cause signifies, or rather proves the presence of the
object that causes it, as smoke indicates fire, a good com-
plexion and pulse good health, so also, with us, such a gar-
ment makes evident the bent of our character.
Self-restraint is pure and simple, for purity is a quality that
keeps a man's life innocent and free of shameful deeds, while
simplicity is a quality that will have no truck with super-
fluities. A rough and, even more, a new, as yet unwashed,
garment retains the heat of the body; not that it has any
heat in itself, but it holds in the heat of the body by not
providing any means for it to escape. And if any heat is ap-
plied to it, such a garment absorbs and retains it, and, once
warmed, it in turn warms the body. Therefore, this sort of
clothing should be worn especially during winter. [Self-re-
straint] is also easily satisfied, for it works for a sufficiency that
will avoid need, without pomposity, and for a life lived ac-
3 Cf. Lev. 13.4739.
4 Plato, Laws XII 956.
244 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
cording to reason, healthy and happy. (56) Let the wife,
then, always make use of a plain dress, dignified, softer than
that allowed her husband, but not one that offends grossly
against modesty nor one made with a view only to softness.
Let the clothes be in keeping with the person's age, with the
individual himself, the place, his character, and occupation.
The Apostle well advises us: Tut on Christ Jesus, and as for
the flesh, take no thought of its lusts.' 5
Reason also forbids us to do violence to nature by piercing
the lobes of the ear. Why not pierce the nostrils also? The
Scriptures would then be accomplished indeed: 'As a ring
in the nose of the swine, so is beauty in a foolish woman.' 6 In
fine, if anyone thinks he is decorated when he wears gold,
then he is less than his gold, and he who is less than gold is
not its master. Is it not the height of the absurd to advertise
oneself as less comely and less valuable than Lydian scrapings?
Just as gold is defiled by the filthiness of swine rooting about
among garbage with its snout, so too, the sensual, incited
by their violent passions to deeds of impurity, insult true
beauty with the defilements of their sexual pleasures.
(57) He permits women the use of rings made of gold,
not as ornaments, but as signet rings to seal their valuables at
home worth guarding, in the management of their homes. If
all were under the influence of the Educator, nothing would
need to be sealed, for both master and servant would be
honest. But, since lack of education exposes men to a strong
inclination to dishonesty, we always stand in need of these
seals.
In some circumstances, it is best to relax this stricture. We
must be sympathetic with women who sometimes do not
5 Rom. 13.14.
6 Prov. 11.22.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 245
succeed in finding restraint in their married lives and who
therefore adorn themselves to keep themselves attractive to
their husbands. But, let the attempt to win their husbands'
admiration be their sole motive. For my part, I would not
want them to cultivate bodily comeliness, but, instead, to offer
their husbands a self-controlled love, a remedy that is power-
ful and honest. However, when they are tempted to be un-
happy in mind, let them recall this thought, that, if they wish
to continue self-controlled, they will gently appease the un-
reasonable desires and cravings of their husbands. They
must lead them back to simplicity quietly, by accustoming
them little by little to what is more restrained.
Dignity in dress comes not from adding to what is worn,
but from eliminating all that is superfluous. (58) The unnces-
sary luxuries that women wear, in fact, like tail-feathers, must
be clipped off, because they give rise only to shifting vanity
and senseless pleasure. Because of such vanity and pleasure,
women become flighty and vain as peacocks, and even
desert their husbands. Therefore, we should take care that
the women are attired properly, and clothed abundantly in
the modesty of self-restraint, so that they will not break away
from the truth through vanity.
It is but right that husbands trust their wives and confide
the care of their homes to them. It is for this purpose that
wives have been given as helpmates. But if, while we are
engaged in public affairs, or are attending to other businesses,
as those of our fields, and need be away from our wives
frequently, 7 we find it necessary to seal anything for safety's
sake, then He allows us a signet ring for this purpose. But
we should not wear any other rings, because, according to
7 R. B. Tollinton (op. at. I 270-272) sees in this passage a proof that
Clement was himself married.
246 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
the Scriptures, it is only learning that is 'an ornament of gold
to the prudent/ 8
Women who wear gold seem to me afraid that, if anyone
take their gold from them, unadorned they will be thought
slaves. But the nobility of truth, appearing in a nature that is
noble of soul, always recognizes a slave not from the fact
that he has been bought or sold, but from his ill-bred disposi-
tion. We should prefer to be free rather than to only appear to
be free, for we are under the guidance of our Educator who
is God, and we have become the adopted sons of God. (59)
Therefore, we must conduct ourselves, in the way we stand,
and move about, in our gait, or simply, in the whole course of
our life, in a way that indicates the highest degree of dignity.
Men should not wear a ring upon the knuckle of their
finger (for this is the way women wear it), but at the base of
their little finger. In this way, their hand will be free for
action in whatever they need it for, and the signet ring will
not easily fall off, kept in place as it is by the large knuckle
of the finger. Let the seals be of a dove or fish or ship in
full sail or of a musical lyre, such as Poly crates used, or of a
ship's anchor, like the one Seleucus had engraved in an
intaglio; or, if anyone be a fisherman, let him make an image
of the Apostles and of the children drawn out of the water. No
representation of an idol may be impressed on the ring, for
we are forbidden to possess such an image, nor may a sword
or bow, for we cultivate peace, nor a drinking cup, for we
practise temperance. (60) Many of the more sensual have
their loves or their mistresses engraved on their seal, as if, by
this indelible memorial of their passion, they wish to be made
unable to forget their erotic passion.
As for the hair, my opinion is this. A man's head should be
8 Eccli. 21.24.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 247
bald, unless he has crisp, curly hair, but his chin should be
covered with a beard. His hair should not be braided, nor
should it hang down, flowing luxuriantly like a woman's.
Being 'well-bearded' 9 is sufficient for a man. If anyone cuts
off any of his beard, he should not at least shave all of it off,
for that would be to his shame. Cropping off the beard from
the chin is forbidden, because that is too much like plucking
it out and making the skin smooth. The Psalmist takes de-
light, indeed, in the hair of his chin, saying: 'As oil falling
down on the beard, the beard of Aaron.' 10 By repeating the
word, he means to sing of the nobility of a beard, and he
goes on to brighten the countenance with the myrrh of the
Lord. (61 ) But when the hair must be cut for some particular
reason, but not on the pretext of cleanliness the hair of the
head, lest it grow so long as to obstruct the vision, or the hair
on the upper lip because it gets stained with food then it
should be cut with a pair of scissors, and not with a razor, for
that is indecent. The hair on the chin should not be
disturbed, because it does not interfere with anything, but
imparts dignity to the appearance and inspires reverence. 11
Such an appearance may deter many from sinning, lest they
the more easily be detected. If anyone wishes to sin openly,
he will welcome an appearance that is inconspicuous and
quickly forgotten, for, by making himself look like the many
who can sin, he gains the opportunity to sin freely without
being recognized. (62) In fact, a close-cropped head not
only indicates a man who is austere, but it also keeps the head
fairly immune to suffering; it accustoms it to being exposed to
cold or heat, and so to be impervious to the injury either
9 Odysseus 4.456
10 Ps. 132.2.
11 There is a lacuna in the text here.
248 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
can inflict. Hair absorbs cold or heat like a sponge and so oc-
casions permanent injury to the brain from moisture.
As for women, it is enough for them to soften their tresses
and bind their hair neatly with a plain brooch at the neck.
Such a simple treatment will at the same time set off the na-
tural beauty of their hair. Coquettish braiding of the hair,
however, and a courtesanlike hair-do disfigure their tresses to
the point of making them ugly. They have thinned out their
hair for these garish braidings so that they will not even touch
their heads for fear of disarranging the locks; even when
sleep comes, they are terrified that they will unconsciously
undo the style of their hair-dress. (63) Again, it is absolutely
forbidden them to add artificial hair, for it is unholy for
them to add someone else's hair to their own, putting dead
locks in with their own. In such a case, on whom does the
priest lay his hands? Whom does he bless? Not the woman
who is so dressed up, but the artificial hair that belongs to
someone else, and through it the other head. If 'the head
of the woman is the man, and of the man, Christ,' 12 is it" not
impious, then, for them to fall into a twofold sin? They
deceive their husbands by all this extra hair, and at the same
time offend the Lord, as far as they can, by dressing them-
selves up like harlots to distort the truth, and by tampering
with their heads which are beautiful by nature.
By no means may they dye their hair, or stain gray locks.
We are not permitted to color our clothes with a variety of
hue; much less, then, may we conceal advanced years so
worthy of respect. Venerability should be clearly evident
by God's light, so that it may inspire reverence from the
young. In fact, the appearance of gray hairs at times arrests
the attention of those behaving shamelessly, and brings them
12 1 Cor. 11.3.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 249
back to self-control, because its distinguished appearance
abashes the desires of immaturity.
(64) Moreover, they should not rub their faces with
cheap and showy articles of senseless devising. Let me sketch
a picture of the embellishment inspired by self-restraint.
First of all, spiritual beauty is the most excellent; by it, the
soul is made beautiful with the presence of the Holy Spirit
and the adornments He confers: justice, prudence, fortitude,
temperance, love of the good, and modesty. No color has
ever been seen as beautiful as these. Afterwards they may
cultivate bodily beauty: 'symmetry of limbs and members,
and a good complexion.' 13 The adornment of good health
also deserves mention in this category, for it is by health that
an artificially produced image is transformed into reality
according to the design planned by God. Self-control in
drinking and moderation in eating are natural means of
producing beauty, for they not only preserve the body's
health, but also heighten beauty. A fiery substance generates
a gleam and sparkle; moisture, brightness, and pleasantness;
a dry substance begets courage and steadfastness; and a sub-
stance formed of air gives freshness and poise. It is with all
these that harmonious and beautiful image of the Word is
adorned. Beauty is the noble flower of health. The one is
caused within the body; the other, beauty, blossoming ex-
teriorly, produces the good complexion that may be seen.
(65) Courses of action that exercise the body are the most
effective in maintaining beauty and health, and produce a
beauty that is lasting and true, because heat draws out all
moisture and coldness of breath. In the process of drawing,
the heat slowly turns the substance of food into vapor, be-
cause it warms it, and so carries the food throughout the
13 Cf. Plotinus, De pulchritudine 1.
250 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
body; the more the moisture, the more the heat. Food is used
up in this way; if the body remains inactive, what is eaten is
not absorbed into it, but is only passed off, like bread from a
cold oven that is drawn out either entire, or with scrapings left
in the bottom. No wonder, then, that for those who are
excessive in their voidings, urine and offal are abundant,
and other excrements, also; this applies to perspiration, too,
because here, too, the food has not been digested by the body,
but is passed off as a secretion. (66) Lusts are aroused when
the excrement gathers about the organ of generation, and
therefore the excess must be dissolved and absorbed by
digestion. This is the way beauty will come to blossom.
It is absurd for those who have been made to the image and
likeness of God to adopt some unnatural means of ornament-
ation, disfiguring the pattern by which they have been created,
and preferring the cleverness of men to that of their divine
Creator. The Educator bids women approach 'in decent
dress, adorning themselves with modesty and dignity,' 14
'being subject to their husbands, so that even if any husband
does not believe the word, they may without word be won
through the behavior of their wives, observing reverently
your chaste behavior. Let not theirs be the outward adorn-
ment of braiding the hair or of wearing gold, or of putting on
robes, but let it be the inner life of the heart, in the im-
perishableness of a quiet and gentle spirit, which is of great
price in the sight of God.' 15
(67) It is the work a woman performs with her own
hands that creates true beauty. It exercises her body and at
the same time adorns her, not with some ornament made by
others, inelegant, undignified, and gaudy, but something
14 1 Tim. 2.9.
15 1 Pet. 3.1-4.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 25 1
labored over and woven by the modest woman herself with
her own hands at the time she needed it. In fact, it is never
right for women who live in obedience to God to go about
attired with articles bought at the market, but only with the
products of her own hands in her house. It is a heart-warming
sight to see a woman clothe herself and her husband with the
garments she herself has made; everyone takes pleasure in
such a sight: her children, in their mother; the husband, in
his wife; herself, in her handiwork; and everyone, in God. In
a word, 'a treasury of virtue is the brave woman,' 16 who
'hath not eaten her bread hesitatingly, and the laws of mercy
are on her tongue,' who 'hath opened her mouth wisely and
justly,' whose 'children rising up have called her blessed,' as
the Holy Spirit says through Solomon, 'and her husband has
praised her. For a pious woman is praised, let her praise the
fear of the Lord,' 17 and again, 'a courageous wife is the crown
of her husband.' 18
( 68 ) The posture and look and gait and speech must also
be reformed, as far as possible. Not as some do, however, who
imitate the actions of the comedy, copying the swaying
motions of the dancers, and in company act as if they were
on the stage, looking about languidly, with the same sort of
dainty gestures, supple bearing, and artificial inflections, as-
sumed as an inducement to pleasure. 'The lips of a harlot drip
with honey, who, speaking to please, puts oil on thy throat,
but later, you will find her more bitter than gall and more
sharp than a two-edged sword. The feet of a foolish woman
lead those who use her with death into hell.' 19
16 Alexandras, Frag. 5, CAP III 373.
17 Cf. Prov. 31.27,26,28 (In Septuagint, Prov. 29.45,43,46).
18 Prov. 12.4 (Septuagint) .
19 Prov. 5.3-5 (Septuagint) .
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
A harlot overcame the noble Sampson, and another wo-
man, become his wife, cut off his hair. 20 Joseph, however, was
not deceived by any woman, but overcame the Egyptian;
then chastity put into chains showed itself more admirable
than licentiousness in all its freedom. 21 (69) The verse may
express it very well: 'I do not understand at all how to whis-
per, nor how to walk about effeminately with my head to one
side, as I see many others do, panderers there in the city and
smooth-skinned fellows.' 22 We must entirely avoid all effem-
inate motions and all softness and daintiness. Daintiness of
bearing in a man as he walks and, in the words of Anacreon,
'walking with a sway,' 23 are positively indecent; at least it
seems that way to me. The comedy speaks of the 'time to
abandon all traces of harlotry and lust.' 24 'The steps of harlotry
do not bear directly toward the truth, for it does not walk
by the path of life, and its steps are dangerous and unac-
countable.' 25
We should also be particularly careful of our eyes, for it
is better to slip with the feet than with the eyes. (70) The
Lord offers a remedy for this weakness, indeed, with curt
words: 'If thy eye scandalize thee, cut in out,' 26 thereby
tearing lust up by the roots. Melting glances, and sly looks
out of the corner of the eye, which is what is also called wink-
ing, are nothing more than adultery with the eyes, since
lust operates at a distance through them. The sight sins be-
fore the rest of the body does. 'The eye, seeing beautiful
things, gladdens the heart,' that is, when it knows how to
20 Cf. Judges 16.1; 19.
21 Cf. Gen. 39.12.
22 Adesp. 339, CAP III 470.
23 Anacreon, Frag. 168.
24 Adesp. 622, CAF III 520.
25 Cf. Prov. 55,6 (Septuagint) .
26 Matt. 5.29.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 253
see what is right it gives joy, 'but he that winketh with the
eye deceitfully, shall cause men sorrow/ 27 The effeminate
Sardanapalus, king of the Assyrians, is pictured to us as such
a man, lolling on his couch, smoothing down his purple dress,
and showing the whites of his eyes. 28
Women who practise such things put themselves in danger
of falling into prostitution, just by their appearances. The
eye is the lamp of the body, 529 Scripture says, because what
is inside is illuminated and made visible by the light that
shines in through it. 'But the fornication of a woman [is] in
the haughtiness of her eyes.' 30 (71) 'Put to death your mem-
bers that are on the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, passion,
evil lust, and avarice, which is the worship of idols, through
which comes the anger of God,' 31 cries out the Apostle. Yet
we excite our passions and are not ashamed. Some women
amble along nibbling on mastich, and grin in a silly way
at everyone they pass. Others, scratching their heads with
their brooches as if they had no fingers, play the coquet,
taking care, incidentally, that the brooches be made of
tortoise-shell, or ivory, or part of some other dead animal.
Still others smear their faces over, as if the skin were broken
out, daubing it with various tints of preparations to create a
pleasing effect upon those who see them. Scripture declares
by the lips of Solomon that she is a 'foolish and bold woman
who does not know shame. She sat at the door of her house
upon a seat, loudly calling' that is, saying by her mode of
dress and whole manner of living 'to the passers-by on the
road, who continue straight on their road: Who of you is
27 Prov. 15.30.
28 Cf. Plutarch, Moralia 336C.
29 Matt. 6.22.
30 Eccli. 26.12.
31 Cf. Col. 3.5.6.
254 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
the most foolish? Turn to me. To those lacking understanding,
she calls out saying: Taste the pleasantness of hidden bread,
and sweet stolen waters.' 32 'By 'stolen waters' it means the
pleasures of sex. (72) Even the Boeotian Pindar bears us out
in this interpretation with his remark: The delight of love is
a sweet thing that is stolen.' 33 'But,' the Educator continues,
'the wretched man does not realize that the earth-born are
destroyed with her, and go down with her to the pit of Hades.
But turn away quickly, do not delay in the place. Do not set
your eyes upon her. For thus shall you walk on the water be-
longing to someone else and pass by Acheron.' 34 It is for this
reason that the Lord tells us through Isaias: 'Instead of
which, the daughters of Sion walk with proud carriage of their
head, and with winkings of their eyes, and as they walk, trail
their cloaks and do a kind of dance ; the Lord also will hum-
ble the daughters of Sion, and strip their comeliness from
them,' 35 that unattractive attractiveness of theirs.
( 73 ) As for me, I do not think it right that serving maids
who wait at the left hand of their mistresses 36 or those who
belong to their retinue speak or act immodestly with them;
rather, they should practise real restraint in their presence.
The comic poet Philemon expresses it quite artistically: 'As
I am going out, I see the pretty maid of a noble freewoman
following her alone, glancing sideways at any of the people of
Platea who walk alongside of her.' 37 Lack of restraint in a
maid reflects upon the mistress, for to those who attempt li-
berties of minor consequence it affords the occasion of be-
32 Cf. Prov. 9.13-17 (Septuagint) .
33 Pindar, Frag. 217 (Schroder) .
34 Cf. Prov. 9.18 (Septuagint) .
35 Isa. 3.16,17 (Septuagint) .
36 Or, according to the reading of Schwartz, 'who wait on noble women.'
37 Philemon, Frag. 124 CAP II 517.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 255
coming reckless in things of greater moment; the mistress,
indeed, though conscious of the immodesty of her maid,
evidently does not condemn it. When one shows no indig-
nation at those who are dissolute, she gives proof that her own
mind is sinfully attracted to the same thing. 'As the mistress,
so the whelp/ the proverb-makers say. 38
There is something else we must carefully guard against:
walking like a man in a frenzy; rather, we should cultivate
a gait that is dignified and leisurely, yet not dilly-dallying. We
should not sway from side to side, either, as we walk, or roll
our eyes about, staring at everyone we meet to see if they turn
to look at us, for all the world as if we were on the stage
parading about grandiosely and pointing with our finger.
Neither should we have our servants push us uphill and then
down again, as we see the more delicate do, who, although
seemingly robust, lose their manliness through such physical
softness. No traces of softness should be visible in the face
of a good man, or for that matter, in any other part of his
his body, (74) so that there will be no unbecoming effeminacy
either in his movements or in his posture. A man who enjoys
good health should never make use of his servants as though
they were beasts of burden. Certainly it was to the servants
of such a master that the command is given: 'Be subject to
your masters in all fear, not only to the good and moderate,
but also to the severe,' 39 as St. Peter says. Impartiality and
patience and kindness are very appropriate qualities for a
master to possess. 'Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate,
lovers of the brethren, merciful, humble,' and so on, 'that
you might inherit a blessing.' 40
38 Cf. Plato. Republic VIII 563C.
39 1 Pet. 2.18.
40 1 Pet. 3.8,9.
256 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Zeno of Citium has left a beautiful and admirable des-
cription, I believe, of a young man, chiseling it out in this
fashion : 'Let him be clean of face, without heavy eyebrows,
with eyes neither wide open nor tightly shut, his chin not
thrust forward, the limbs of his body not too relaxed, yet alert
like sinews, quick-witted in his reasonings, ready with a store of
pertinent remarks, his appearance and gestures not a stimu-
lant for the lustful; let modesty and manliness be his glory;
let the languor associated with the perfume shop and the
goldsmithy and wool shop have no place in him, nor that
derived from any other shop, where men pass the day, decked
out garishly like women who sit waiting in a brothel.' 41 (75)
The men should not while away their time in barber shops
or taverns, either, gossiping and indulging in small talk, and
they must positively stop chasing the women who pass by.
Some never leave off slander just to get a laugh. Even more,
they must refrain from dice-playing, and from habitual
gambling with dice, a thing they love to engage in. Such
pastimes indicate an unbridled tendency to self-indulgence
in those who so waste their time. Idleness is responsible; one
is then excessively fond of frivolities beyond the bounds of
truth. Besides, it is not possible to indulge in such light-
heartedness without harm. The way a man chooses to live is a
good indication of the disposition of his mind. Furthermore, it
seems to me that only association with good men is of any
benefit. For that reason, the all-wise Educator, by the lips of
Moses, compared association with corrupt men to living with
swine, when He forbade the ancient people to partake of
swine. 42 He made it plain in those words that they who
invoke God should not seek the company of the unclean who,
41 Zeno, Frag. 174 (Pearson).
42 Cf. Lev. 11.7; Ep. of Bam. 10.3.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 257
like swine, revel in bodily pleasures and filthy habits of life
and impure delights, itching for evil-minded pleasures of sex.
He adds, too, that they are not to eat 'kite nor mastophage
nor eagle, 543 meaning: Thou shalt not go near those who
make their livelihood by plundering others.' He says other
similar things under some sort of allegory.
(76) With whom, then, should we live? With the just,
He replies, again under a metaphor: everything 'of split
hoof and chewing the cud' 44 is clean, because the split hoof
obviously is a sign of evenly balanced justice, which chews
the cud of its own food of justice, the word, which enters
from without through instruction, and, once within, is re-
called as if from the stomach of the mind for the musings of
reason. The just man chews the cud of spiritual nourishment,
because he holds the Word in his mouth; and justice un-
doubtedly divides the hoof, in that it both sanctifies in this
life and prepares us as well for the life to come. 45
As for the theater, the Educator, guide of little ones, cer-
tainly does not lead us there ; one could not unreasonably
call the stadium and theater 'seats of pestilence.' The gathering
in such a place is indeed wicked, and, as it were, set up against
the just; therefore, attendance at it is cursed. Those as-
semblies are filled with much disorder and sin; in fact, the
very excuse for the gathering together occasions disorderly
behavior, in that men and women meet promiscuously just
to look at one another. (77) In that fact the gathering al-
ready proves the falseness of its pretenses. Desires are en-
kindled by the licence of the eyes, and, when the eyes grow
accustomed to gazing on the neighbor without inhibition at
48 Cf. Lev. 11.13,14; Ep. of Barn. 10.4.
44 Cf. Lev. 11.3; Ep. of Barn. 10.11.
45 Cf. Ep. of Barn. 10.11.
258 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
such a time of idleness, the passion of lust is quickly aroused.
Leave the theater alone, then, and recitals, full of coarse jokes
and of gossip. What disgusting deed is not depicted in the
theater? What shameless talk do the comedians not speak
out? Those who enjoy the lewdness represented on the stage
will surely reproduce such images of lewdness in their homes;
on the other hand, those who are impervious to and unaf-
fected by them would never be attracted by such wild pleas-
ures. Even if people say they attend the theater only for
entertainment and amusement, I should still say the cities in
which such pastimes are so much sought after are not chaste.
Vying for a reputation with an intensity even to the point
of death, is no longer a pastime, any more than aimless
bustling or unreasoning love of honor; neither are foolish
lavishness of money or attendance at these games entertain-
ment. Lightheartedness must never be bought by a feverish
searching for frivolities. (78) No one in his right senses would
even prefer what is more entertaining to what is worth while.
But, someone may say, we are not all philosophers.
But do not all of us desire life?
What do you mean?
Where is your faith? How do you love God and neighbor,
if you do not love wisdom? How can you love yourself, if
you do not love life?
I have not learned letters, he may answer.
But, even if you have not learned to read, hearing is
inexcusable, as if it, too, needed to be taught. 46 Faith is not
the possession of the wise according to this world, but of
the wise according to God. That is taught without letters,
and its textbook both for the unlearned and the divine is
called charity, a book that is spiritual. Because it is possible
46 Cf. Rom. 10.17; John 6.45.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 259
to hear divine wisdom, because it is possible to live, it is not
impossible to conduct the affairs of the world in a fitting way
in keeping with the laws of God.
Then, when buying or selling, let no one name two prices
for the things he is purchasing or selling, but speak plainly and
honestly. If he lose on something, he will at least gain in
truth, and be the richer by an upright disposition. (79) There
should not be any intensive advertising of, or any oath about
what is being sold (nor should there be any oaths about
other things). Let the merchants and hucksters reason in this
way : Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain ; for
the Lord will not cleanse him who takes His name in vain. 547
Those who offend in this matter, the lovers of silver, liars,
pretenders, those who haggle with truth, are excluded by the
Lord from His Father's house, for He did not want the holy
house of God to be a home of dishonest barter or words or of
goods on sale. 48
Further, the man and woman each must come to the
church dressed becomingly, with an unaffected walk, re-
specting silence, possessing 'charity unfeigned,' 49 pure of
body and pure in heart, prepared to offer worship to God. Let
the woman observe this further practise: except when she
is home, she should be completely veiled, for her appearance
will be dignified only when she cannot be seen. She will never
fall into sin if she always keeps modesty before her eyes, and
retain her veil, nor will she lure others into an occasion of
sin by baring her face. This is what the Word demands, since
it is proper for her to pray covered. They say that the
wife of Aeneas, in an outburst of propriety, did -not remove
47 Exod. 20.7
48 Cf. Matt. 21.12.
49 Cf. Rom. 12.9.
260 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
her veil even when Troy was captured, although she was
greatly afraid, but remained covered as she fled from the
conflagration. 50 (80) They who have been consecrated to
Christ ought to have such an appearance and behavior
throughout their whole lives that they will conduct themselves
in a dignified way when in church, and really be, not just seem
to be, meek, devout and charitable. As it is, I do not see them
adapting themselves to the place either in their bearing or
in their manners, like the octopus which is said to change its
color according to the rocks in which it dwells. They do this,
I know: they shed the inspiration gathered from their at-
tendance [at church] on their departure from it and adapt
themselves to the people with whom they live. Rather, in
doffing what was only an assumed pretense of gravity, they
prove the sort they have been all along, but secretly. After
paying homage to the word of God, they leave inside what
they have heard; once outside, they roam about with the un-
godly, taking their fill of erotic pieces played on or sung to the
accompaniment of the lyre, dancing and drinking and trifling
in every way. Those who now sing and join in the refrains of
such pieces are the same men who but a while before were
chanting the praises of immortality; now they impiously intone
that monotonous refrain to the end: 'Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die.' 51 (81) But they are, in fact, dead, not
tomorrow, but already, dead to God, themselves burying
their own dead, 52 that is, burying themselves in the earth,
for their own death.
The Apostle rebukes them very sternly: 'Do not err;
neither fornicators nor effeminates nor sodomites nor thieves
50 Reference unknown.
51 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.32.
52 Cf. Matt. 8.22.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 261
nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor the evil-tongued,' and
all the others he includes with them, 'shall inherit the king-
dom of God.' 53 But, if we have been called to the kingdom
of God, let us live worthy of that kingdom by loving God
and our neighbor. Love is judged not by a kiss, but by good
will. There are some who make the assembly resound with
nothing but their kisses while there is no love in their hearts.
We should realize that the unrestrained use of the kiss has
brought it under grave suspicion and slander. It should be
thought of in a mystical sense (the Apostle speaks of it as
holy 54 ) . Let us, instead, taste the kingdom with a mouth that
is chaste and self-controlled, and practise good will in heart,
for this is the way a chaste character is developed.
There is another kiss that is unholy and full of poison,
under the guise of holiness. Do you not realize that just as a
poisonous spider touches a man only with its mouth, yet in-
flicts pain, so the kiss often injects the poison of lust? (82) It
is clear to us that the kiss is not charity, 'for charity is of
God.' 55 This is the love of God,' St. John tells us, 'that we
keep the commandments,' not that we fondle one another
with a kiss. 'And the commandments are not heavy.' 56
Caresses, indeed, expressing the foolish passion of lovers out on
a street, indifferent to the gazing of strangers, manifest not
the least sign of charity. For, if it is right to 'pray to God 5
secretly, 'in the chamber,' 57 it would follow that we should
also show our love for our neighbor, whom we are com-
manded to love after God, 58 secretly, as if to God, interiorly
53 1 Cor. 15.32.
54 Cf. Rom. 16.16; 1 Cor. 16.20.
55 1 John 4.7.
56 1 John 5.3.
57 Cf. Matt. 6.6.
58 Cf. Matt. 22.39.
262 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
redeeming the time. 59 In the light of the saying that we are
'the salt of the earth/ 60 it is said: 'He who blesses his friend
with a loud voice in the morning, shall be like to him that
curseth.' 61
Above everything else, it is necessary to avoid staring at
women. It is possible to sin, not only by touching them,
but even by looking at them, and one under the guidance of
the Educator should flee from sin promptly. (83) 'Let thy
eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids nod at just things.' 62
Is is not impossible for one who keeps staring to continue
steadfast? No, we must guard ourselves against a fall. One
who indulges in looks can fall, but there is no way for one
who does not look to become aroused. It is not enough for
one who is self-controlled to keep free of guilt; we must also
try to keep far from blame, and eliminate every cause for
suspicion in any part of holiness, that we may be not only
faithful, but also show ourselves trustworthy. We must be
careful in this matter, as the Apostle says, 'lest anyone
should slander us. For we take forethought for what is
honorable, not only before God, but also in the sight of
men.' 63 'Turn away thy eye from a beautiful woman, and
gaze not upon another's beauty,' Scripture says. 64 And if
you want to know the reason, look for it in yourself: 'For
many have perished by the beauty of a woman, and hereby
lust is enkindled as a fire.' 65 A friendship that starts in fire
what is called passion is unquenchable in its sinfulness, be-
cause it leads back to fire.
59 Cf. Eph. 5.16; Col. 4.5.
60 Matt. 5.13.
61 Prov. 27.14.
62 Cf. Prov. 4.25 (Septuagint) .
63 2 Cor. 8.20,21.
64 Eccli. 9.8.
65 Eccli. 9.9.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 263
Chapter 12
(84) For my part, I would advise husbands never to
manifest their affection for their wives at home when slaves
are present. Aristotle does not permit them ever to laugh with
slaves, 1 and certainly much less to openly show love for their
wives in their presence. It is better to practise reserve at home
beginning with the first day of marriage. A chaste union
redolent of pure delight is a wonderful thing. Indeed, the
tragedian says, in his striking way: 'How strange, indeed,
O woman, that among men, not gold, not tyranny, not greed
for wealth holds pleasures so excellent as the wholesome mind
of a good man and of a pious woman, when they are filled
with upright thoughts.' 2 These are the suggestions of justice,
and must not be rejected, for they are expressed even by those
skilled in worldly wisdom.
(85) Therefore, realizing 'the work of each, behave
yourselves with fear in the time of your sojourning, knowing
that you were redeemed from the vain manner of life handed
down from your fathers, not with perishable things, with silver
or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot.' 3 Tor sufficient is the time
past,' Peter continues, 'for those to have accomplished the
desire of the pagans, walking as they did, in dissipation, lusts,
drunkenness, revellings, carousings and unlawful worship of
idols.' 4 We have the Cross of the Lord as our boundary line,
and by it we are fenced around and shut off from our former
sins. Let us be born again, then, and be nailed to the Cross
1 Frag 138, in V. Rose, Aristotelis Fragmenta (Leipzig 1886) .
2 Apollonides, Frag. 1 TGF II 825.
3 1 Pet. 1.17-19.
4 1 Pet. 4.3.
264 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
in truth; 5 let us return to our senses and be sanctified, 'for
the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and His ears unto their
prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do
evil. And who is there to harm you, if you are zealous for
what is good?' 6 Good order is the perfect way of life, for it
is entirely well behaved, is a quality that establishes constancy,
fulfills virtuously in deed the things imposed on it, one after
the other, and is unsurpassed in virtue.
(86) Now, the Educator says, if I have proposed these
things harshly when I administered healing correction, con-
sider them said by Me, since 'he who corrects freely makes
peace, 57 and as for you, if you listen to them, you will be
saved, but if you do not attend to what has been said, I have
no further interest. Yet I am interested inasmuch as 'He
prefers the conversion of sinners rather than their death/ 8 'If
you hearken to Me, you shall eat the good things of the
land, 59 the Educator says at another time, meaning by 'the
good things of the land 5 things that are dear to men : beauty,
wealth, health, strength, and food. The good things, however,
are really the things 'which ear has not heard nor has it ever
entered into the heart, 510 the things that are really good and
laid up in store for us, in our relation with Him who is truly
King. It is He who is the Giver and Preserver of good things.
He names the things of this life, however, by that same com-
mon name, because, as the Educator and Guide of little ones,
the Word leads man from things seen to the spiritual, in His
own divine way.
5 Cf. Rom. 6.6.
6 1 Pet. 3.12; Ps. 33.16.
7 Prov. 10.10 (Septuagint) .
8 Cf. Ezech. 18.23.
9 Isa. 1.19.
10 1 Cor. 2.9.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 265
(87) The things we should be on our guard against at
home, and how we are to preserve our lives upright, the
Educator has shown us in abundant detail. The things that are
dear to Him to discourse about along the way until He lead
us to the Teacher, these, too, He has suggested and proposed
by way of a general summary right in the Scriptures; He gives
His commands plainly, adapting them to the time of guid-
ance, but entrusting the interpretation of them to the Teacher.
The purpose of His rule is to eliminate fear and free the
will for its act of faith. Hear, He says, O child so well trained
by the Educator, the articles of salvation: I will reveal to
you the way of life I want from you, and I will impose the
precious commands by which you will gain salvation. Turn
away from the paths of error, 'for the Lord knows the way
of the just, and the way of the impious shall perish.' 11 Follow,
then, the good road which I shall lead you by, O little one !
Lend an attentive ear to Me and hear: 'And I will give you
hidden treasures, concealed, unseen' 12 by the Gentiles, but
visible to you, 'never-failing treasures,' 13 which the Apostle
marveled at when he said : 'O the depth of the riches and of
the wisdom!' 14 The treasures offered by the one God are
manifold, some revealed in the Law, others through the
Prophets, and others directly by God Himself. There is still
another in tune with the sevenfold gift of the Spirit. 15 The
Lord is one, and in all these things is therefore one and the
same Educator.
(88) There is also the counsel that sums up everything,
11 Ps. 1.6.
12 Isa. 45.3 (Septuagint) .
IS Cf. Luke 12.33.
14 Rom. 11.33.
15 Literally te heptddi. The Scholion understands it, however, of the
seven gifts of the Spirit. Cf. A. de Barre, 'Clement d'Alexandrie/ DTC
cols. 159-160.
266 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
advice that leads to life and embraces everything: 'As you
wish that men do to you, do you to them.' 16 All the com-
mandments may be summed up in these two, as the Lord
Himself said: Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with thy
whole heart and with the whole soul and with thy whole
strength; and thy neighbor as thyself.' 17 Then He adds: 'On
these two the whole Law and the Prophets depends.' In
fact, even to the man who asked Him: 'What shall I do to
obtain eternal life?' He replied: 'You know the command-
ments,' and when the man assented, He continued: 'Do
this and you will be saved.' 18 Still, we must offer the Ed-
ucator's loving kindness as inspiring separate and saving
commandments, that through such a generously bestowed
dispensation we might have an easier grasp of the Scriptures
and of salvation.
(89) We have the Decalogue of Moses, proposed in a
simple and unified elementary form, outlining a healing
denunciation of sins: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery; thou
shalt not worship idols; thou shalt not corrupt boys; thou
shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy
father and mother,' 19 and so on. We must be careful in these
matters, and in whatever impiety the other commandments
proscribe in the Bible. He directs, through Isaias: 'Wash
yourselves, be clean, take away the evil from your souls from
before My eyes. Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. And
then come, and accuse Me, says the Lord.' 20
16 Luke 6.31.
17 Matt. 22.40.
18 Cf. Matt. 19.16-19.
19 Cf. Exod. 20.12-15; Ep. of Barn. 19.4,
20 Isa. 1.16-18.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 267
We can discover many counsels about other things, also,
as about prayer, for example: 'Good works are a prayer ac-
ceptable to the Lord,' 21 Scripture says. The way to pray is
prescribed: 'If you see one naked, cover him, and do not
look away from the members of thy seed. Then shall thy
light break forth as the morning, and thy garments shall
speedily rise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and
the glory of God shall encircle thee.' 22 What is the fruit of this
sort of prayer? Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall
hear thee; while you are yet speaking, He will say: Behold,
here I am.' 23
(90) He speaks of fasting: 'Why do you fast to Me?
says the Lord. I have not chosen such a fast, for a man to
humble his soul even for a day. Do not wind your neck
about like a circle, and spread sack-cloth and ashes, nor
call this an acceptable fast.' 24 What does fasting mean, then?
It is said: 'Behold, this is the fast that I have chosen, says
the Lord. Loose the whole band of wickedness, loose the
knots of enduring contracts, release those that are broken
with forgiveness, and break asunder every unjust bond. Deal
thy bread to the hungry, and bring the harborless needy into
thy house; if thou see one naked, cover him.' 25
Then of sacrifice: 'Why [do you offer] Me the multitude
of your victims? saith the Lord. I am full of the holocausts
of rams, and the fat of sheep, and blood of bulls and goats
I do not desire, not even if you come to appear before Me.
For who required these things at your hands? If you bear the
finest flour, it is in vain. Sacrifices are an abomination to
21 Cf. Prov. 15.8.
22 Cf. Isa. 58.7,8 (Septuagint) .
23 Isa. 58.9; cf. Ep. of Barn. 3.3-5.
24 Cf, Isa. 58.4,5 (Septuagint) .
25 Isa. 58.6,7.
268 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Me. Your new moons and sabbaths I will not abide.' 26 How
shall I make sacrifice to the Lord, then? 'A sacrifice to the
Lord/ it answers, 'is a contrite spirit.' 27 How shall I pay
homage with libations, or anoint with myrrh? Or what shall
I sacrifice to the Lord? 'An odor of sweet-fragance to God is a
heart honoring Him who made it.' 28 This is garlands and
sacrifices and aroma and flowers in God's sight.
(91) Again, about patience with the evil: 'If thy broth-
er sin, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if seven
times in the day he sin against thee, and seven times in the
day turn back to thee saying: I repent, forgive him.' 29 He
commands soldiers, through John, to be satisfied with their
pay and nothing besides; publicans, to exact nothing more
than had been imposed by tax; 30 to the judge, He says: 'Do
not accept persons in judgment; for gifts blind the eyes of
those who see, and change just words,' 31 'Relieve the op-
pressed'; 32 and to those who do housekeeping: 'Substance
got in haste illegally shall be diminished.' 33
About love. He says: 'Charity covereth a multitude of
sins.' 34 Of the state: 'Render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar's, and unto God, the things that are God's.' 35 Con-
cerning oaths and revenge : *I did not command your fathers
as they journeyed out of the land of Egypt to offer to Me
holocausts and sacrifices. But this thing I commanded them :
Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his friend,
26 Isa. 1.11-13 (Septuagint) ; cf. Ep. of Barn. 2.4.
27 Ps. 50.19.
28 Cf. Ep. of Barn. 2.10.
29 Luke 17.3,4.
30 Luke 3.12-14.
31 Cf. Deut. 16.19.
32 Isa. 1.17.
33 Cf. Prov. 13.11 (Septuagint).
34 1 Pet. 4.8.
35 Matt. 22.21.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 269
and love not a false oath.' 36 (92) He threatens liars and
the proud, saying somewhere to the one: 'Woe to those
who say sweet is bitter and bitter is sweet,' 37 and to the
other: 'Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes and
prudent before them,' 38 'he who humbles himself shall be
exalted and he who exalts himself shall be humbled.' 39 He
calls the merciful blessed: 'because they shall obtain mercy/ 40
while Wisdom calls anger miserable, 'because indeed it will
destroy even the prudent.' 41 He had already ordered us to
love our enemies and to bless those who curse us, and to
pray for those who calumniate us, 42 'To him who strikes thee
on one cheek,' He says, 'offer the other also, and if anyone
take away thy cloal$, do not forbid him also thy robe.' 43 Of
faith, He says: 'All things whatever you ask for in prayer,
believing, you shall receive'; 44 'to the unbelieving, nothing is
worth believing in,' adds Pindar. 46
We must treat servants as we do ourselves, for they are
men even as we are. 'God is the same to all, free or slave, if
you consider,' 46 (93) We ought not to inflict torture on
servants who do wrong, but only chastise them: 'He who
spares his rod hates his son.' 47 Again, He excoriates vainglory:
'Woe to you, Pharisees, because you love the front seats in
the synagogues and greetings in the market-place.' 48 He
36 Jer. 7.22; Zach. 8.17.
37 Isa. 5.20.
38 Cf. Isa. 5.21.
39 Luke 14.11.
40 Matt. 5.7.
41 Cf. Prov, 15.1 (Septuagint) .
42 Cf. Luke 6.27,28.
43 Cf. Luke 6.29.
44 Matt. 21.22.
45 Pindar, Frag. 233 (Schroder) .
46 Possibly Menander; cf. Bywater, Journal of Philology 10 (1881) 68.
47 Cf. Prov. 13.24.
48 Luke 11.43.
270 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
takes delight in the conversion of sinners, 49 for He desires
the conversion which follows their sins. Surely, He Himself
is the only sinless one. 'To sin is natural and common to all,
but to repent of sin is not the deed of an ordinary man, but
of one who is unusual.' 50 Concerning almsgiving. He says:
'Come to Me, all ye blessed, take possession of the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I
was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and
you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you gave Me
shelter; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited
Me, in prison, and you came to Me.' 51 And when did we
do any of these things for the Lord? The Educator says it
is a good deed, and in His charity considers the good deed
done to a brother as done to Himself : 'As long as you did it
to these little ones, you did it for Me.' 52 Such as they shall
come into eternal life.
(94) These are the laws of reason, words that impart
inspiration, written by the hand of the Lord, not on tablets of
stone, but inscribed in the hearts of men, 53 provided only that
those hearts are not attached to corruption. Therefore, the
tablets of the hard of heart have been broken, that the faith
of little ones might be formed in impressionable minds. Both
laws served the Word as means of educating mankind, the
one through Moses, the other through the Apostles. But, what
a means of education is the one given through the Apostles !
It seems necessary to me that this sort of education
be thoroughly described; rather, the Educator Himself says
so, as far as I recall. It is His counsels that I am explaining in
49 Cf. Ezech. 18.23.
50 Menander, frag. 993 CAF 111 251.
51 Cf. Matt. 25.37-46.
52 Cf. Matt. 25.40.
53 Cf. 2 Cor. 3.3.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 271
their implications: Tutting away all lying, speak truth, each
one with his neighbor, because we are members of one an-
other. ... Do not let the sun go down upon your anger,
do not give place to the devil. He who was wont to steal, let
him steal no longer; but rather let him labor, working with
his hands at what is good, that he may have something to
share with him who suffers need. ... Let all bitterness, and
wrath and indignation and clamor, and reviling, be removed
from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another,
merciful, generously forgiving one another, as God in Christ
has generously forgiven you. Be you therefore prudent and
imitators of God, as very dear children, and walk in love
as Christ also loved us.' 54
'Let wives be subject to their own husbands, as to the
Lord . . . and let husbands love their wives, just as Christ loved
the Church.' 55 (95) Let them, then, love one another, they
who are joined together, 'as they love their own bodies.' 56
'Children, obey your parents. . . . And you, fathers, do not
provoke your children to anger, but rear them in the discipline
and admonition of the Lord. Slaves, obey your masters ac-
cording to the flesh with fear and trembling, in the sincerity
of your heart, as you would Christ . . . giving your service
from your heart with good will. And you, masters, act well
toward your servants, and give up threatening, knowing that
their Lord who is also your Lord is in heaven, and that
[with Him] there is no respect of persons.' 57
'If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk. Let
us not become desirous of vainglory, provoking one another,
54 Eph. 4.25-5.2.
55 Eph. 5.22,25.
56 Eph. 5.28.
57 Eph. 6.1,4,5,7,9.
272 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
envying one another. Bear one another's burdens, and so you
will fulfill the law of Christ. ... Be not deceived, God is not
mocked. . . . And in doing good let us not grow tired; for in
due time we shall reap, if we do not relax.' 58 'Be at peace
among yourselves. And we exhort you, brethren, reprove the
irregular, comfort the fainthearted, support the weak, be
patient toward all men. See that no one renders evil for evil
to any man. . . . Do not extinguish the Spirit, do not despise
prophecies, but test all things, hold fast that which is good.
Keep yourselves from every kind of evil.' 59
'Be assiduous in prayer, being wakeful therein with thanks-
giving. Walk in wisdom as regards outsiders, making the
most of your time. Let your speech, while always attractive,
be seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to
answer each one. 560 (96) 'Be nourished by the words of
faith. . . . Train thyself in godliness. For bodily training is
profitable for little, but godliness is profitable in all respects,
since it has the promise of the present life as well as of that
which is to come.' 61
'When they have masters who are believers, let them not
despise them, because they are brethren, but let them serve
them all the more, because they are believers.' 62 'Let him who
gives, be in simplicity, he who presides, with carefulness, he
who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without
pretense. Hate what is evil, hold to what is good. Love one
another with fraternal charity, anticipating one another with
honor. Be not slothful in zeal, but be fervent in spirit, serving
the Lord, rejoicing in hope. Be patient in tribulation, per-
58 Gal. 5.25,26-6.2,7,9.
59 1 Thess. 5.1 3-15,20-22.
60 Col. 4.2,5,6.
61 1 Tim. 4.6-8.
62 1 Tim. 6.2.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 273
severing in prayer . . . practising hospitality, share the needs
of the saints.' 63
(97) These few precepts the Educator has selected by
way of illustration from the Scriptures out of many, and pro-
posed to His children. By them He uproots evil completely
and imposes a limit upon injustice. Innumerable counsels
relating to particular individuals have been written in these
holy books, some to priests, some to bishops and deacons, others
to widows (about whom there should be occasion to speak in
another place ) . There are many things, too, spoken in enigma,
and many things by way of parables that benefit those who
chance upon them. But, the Educator insists, My function is
no longer to teach these things; now we need the Teacher
to explain these holy words, to whom we should go. There-
fore, it is time for Me to lay aside leading you as Educator, and
for you to hearken to the Teacher. (98) After we have been
trained by a sound education, He will take us and teach us
the word of God. 64 The Church is the school, and the Bride-
groom is the one only Teacher; His noble desire, as of a noble
father, is excellent wisdom, the holiness of knowledge.
'And He Himself,' as John says, 'is a propitiation for our
sins, 5 He who heals both our souls and our bodies, the eternal
Man, Jesus, 'and not for our sins only, but also for those of
the whole world. And by this we can be sure that we know
Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says: I know
Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and
the truth is not in him. But he who keeps His word, in him
the love of God is truly perfected. By this we know that we
are in Him. He who says that he abides in Him, ought him-
self also to walk just as He walked.' 65
63 Rom. 12.8-13.
64 Idgia, which is used of the commands and teachings of God in both
Testaments.
65 1 John 2.2-6.
274 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
(99) Oh, the nourishment supplied by this blessed educa-
tion! Let us fill up the beautiful appearance of the Church,
running to that good mother as little ones. Let us become
hearers indeed of the Word, esteem the blessed dispensation by
which man is educated, by which he is consecrated as the son
of God, dwells in heaven although educated upon earth, and
looks up to his Father there while learning from Him upon
earth. The Word does all these things, and teaches all things,
and uses all things to educate us. A horse is led by a bit, an ox
by a yoke, a wild beast is snared by a trap, but man is re-
formed by the Word by whom He is tamed as though he were
a wild beast, caught as though he were a fish, and restrained
as if he were a bird. It is in fact He who fashions the bit for
the horse, the yoke for the ox, the trap for the wild beast, the
rod for the fish, the net for the bird. He dwells in the city and
tills the soil; He rules and He ministers to, and engineers the
whole thing. Therein He wrought the earth, therein the
heavens, therein the sea, and therein all the constellations
wherewith heaven is crowned/ 66
(100) Oh, the workings of God! Oh, the commands of
God! This is water: let the waves toss upon it; this is fire:
let it continue to rage; this is air: let it expand into the
atmosphere; let the earth, too, become solid and be borne
wherever I will. I desire yet to fashion man; I have the
primary substance : I will dwell in this creature of Mine, and,
if you recognize Me, fire will be your servant. So great is the
Word, this Educator, the Creator of the world and of man,
become the Educator of the world, also, in His own person.
By His command both of us are united together, awaiting
His judgment. 'Wisdom does not offer to mortals a spoken
66 Iliad 18.483,485.
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 275
word that is hidden; it will be the word/ 67 as Bacchylides
says. But, 'shine,' as Paul says, 'as blameless and guileless
children of God without blemish in the midst of a depraved
and perverse generation as stars in the world. 568
( 101 ) Let us, then, make our prayer to the Word, the last
thing remaining in our panegyric of the Word:
O Educator, be gracious to Thy children, O Educator,
Father, Guide of Israel, Son and Father, both one, Lord.
Give to us, who follow Thy command, to fulfill the likeness
of Thy image, and to see, according to our strength, the
God who is both a good God and a Judge who is not harsh.
Do Thou Thyself bestow all things on us who dwell in Thy
peace, who have been placed in Thy city, who sail the sea
of sin unruffled, that we may be made tranquil and supported
by the Holy Spirit, the unutterable Wisdom, by night and
day, unto the perfect day, to sing eternal thanksgiving to the
one only Father and Son, Son and Father, Educator and
Teacher with the Holy Spirit. All things are for the One, in
whom are all things, through whom, being the One, are all
things, 69 through whom eternity is, of whom all men are
members, to whom is glory, and the ages, whose are all things
in their goodness; all things, in their beauty; all things, in
their wisdom; all things, in their justice. To Him be glory
now and forever. Amen.
Since the Master Himself, in establishing us as His
Church, has taken charge of us as Teacher and all-governing
Word, it would be well for us, having reached this point, to
offer to the Lord, in return for His wise education, the
eternal offering of holy thanksgiving.
67 Bacchylides, Frag. 29.
68 Cf. Phil. 2.15.
69 Cf. Col. 1.16.
276 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
HYMN TO THE EDUCATOR
Bridle-bit of colts untamed,
Thou Wing of birds not straying,
Firm rudder of our ships at sea,
Thou shepherd of God's regal sheep.
Thy simple children
Gather round Thee;
They would sing holily,
They would hymn truthfully,
With lips ne'er stained,
To Thee, O Christ, their Guide.
O Thou King of saints,
Word of Father on high,
Thou Governor of all things,
Ruling e'er wisely,
Balm for all labors,
Source of endless joy,
Jesus, holy Saviour
Of men who cry to Thee;
Thou Shepherd, Thou Husbandman,
Thou Rudder, Thou Bridle-bit,
O Wing, heaven leading
The flock of innocence;
Fisher of men
70 This is one of the earliest recorded Greek Christian hymns. Possibly
it was not composed by Clement himself, but it is added to the manu-
scnpt and certainly is Clementine in thought, if not in origin. Only a
free-verse rendition has been attempted here
CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 277
Drawn safely in
From ocean of sin;
Snaring to spotless life
Fish unstained by
Sea of hostile foe;
O all-hallowed Shepherd,
Guide us, Thy children,
Guide Thy sheep safely, O King!
The footsteps of Christ
Are pathway to heaven,
Of ages unbounded,
Everlasting Word,
Light of eternity,
Well-spring of Mercy,
Who virtue instills
In hearts offering God
The gift of their reverence,
O Jesus, our Christ!
Milk of the bride,
Given of heaven,
Pressed from sweet breasts
Gifts of Thy wisdom
These Thy little ones
Draw for their nourishment;
With infancy's lips
Filling their souls
With spiritual savor
From breasts of the Word.
278 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Let us all sing
To Christ, our King,
Songs of sweet innocence,
Hymns of bright purity,
Hallowed gratefulness
For teachings of life;
Let us praise gladsomely
So mighty a Child.
Let us, born of Christ,
Chant out in unison,
Loud chorus of peace,
We, unde filed, pure flock,
To God, Lord of peace.
INDEX
INDEX
Aaron, 218, 247
Abel, 44, 45
Abimelec, king, 22
abortion, 174
Abraham, 209, 234, 239, 241
Achilles, 50
actors, lewdness of, 251, 258
Adam, 186; law born of, 119;
sin of, 90
admonition, defined, 68; like
diet for sick, 69
adoption, of sons, conferred by
God, 22, 26, 87, 236, 246
Adrastus, 50
adultery, 138, 141; condemned
by Plato, 170; condemned un-
der figure of hyena, 165; en-
couraged by paganism, 223;
symbolized by golden orna-
ments, 195
advertising, excessive, condemn-
ed, 259
advice, 4; defined, 79, 80; Edu-
cator's, 83, 84
Aeneas, wife of, 252
affability, weakness of, indi-
cated, 67
Agathon, 226 n.
Agape, 96-99, 108, 123, 261
age, may jest with youth, 143;
needs wine as stimulant, 113,
114; speech proper for, 144;
venerable, 213
alabaster, sign of ostentation,
123, 128
Alcibiades, 50
alertness, weakened by sleep,
163
Alexander, 50
Alexandria, catechetical school
at, ix; Church of, xiv; Clem-
ent and, vii; corruption of,
xv; cultural atmosphere of,
viii, x; medicine at, 30 n.;
spirituality of, xv
Alexandrios, 251 n.
Alexis, 151 n.; 205, 206
allegory, viii, x, 37, 46, 146, 147,
154; see symbolism
almsgiving, 270
281
amethysts, 190
Anacreon, 252
anchor, figure of, permitted on
rings, 246
angels, 161, 164, 211, 231
anger, 199, 269
animals, examples for men: in
lack of vanity, 207; in re-
straint, 173; kinds forbidden
Jews, 108, 109
anointing, of Christ, as allegory,
146, 147
Amiphanes, poet, 204
Antiphanes of Delos, physician,
94
apathes, xvi, xvii, 5 n.
Apelles, 196
aphrodisia, etymology of, 45 n.
Aphrodite, 195
Apollonides, 263 n.
Apostles, 142, 146-148, 234, 246
apothecary, 152
appearances, as opposed to
truth, 189, 190, 201, 202, 208,
209, 213
Arabs, 131, 220
Arcadians, 131
archons, 181
arete, 193 n.
Aristippus, 149, 152
Aristophanes, 184 n., 195, 203
n., 204 n.
Aristotle, 107 n., 110, 135 n.,
166 n., 263
Artemis, 155
Artorius, 114
atheists, Plato says sinners are,
177
Athena, 120
Athenians, 181, 190, 194
athletes, 190; figure for Chris-
tians, 235; modesty of ancient,
226
autarkeia, 87 n.
avarice, 197
bacchanals, 183
Bacchus, 156
Bacchylides, 83 n., 275
bakers, 221
ball game, 240
banquets, blessing before, 132,
133; Christian behavior at,
102-105, 121, 129, 130, 140;
contrasted with Agape, 96-
98; occasions of sin, 101
baptism, effects of, 25-28, 30,
161; by John, of Christ, 25,
26; rites of, 32 n., 42 n., 46
n.; water of, 47
barbers, 212, 256
baths, dangers and luxury of,
225-227, 237, 238; reasons for
using, 238; spiritual, 238
beards, hairs of, numbered, 215;
natural adornment of men,
214, 218; not to be shaved off,
247
beauticians, 221
beauty, artificial, evils of, 150,
181, 194, 204, 208, 209, 216;
Esther's, mystic significance
282
of, 209; is flower of health,
249; natural, and artificial,
contrasted, 127, 181, 187, 197,
202, 203, 207, 208, 211, 212;
natural, desired, 207, 208, 230,
249, 264; spiritual, 186, 193;
true, in God, 198, 200
beds, should be simple, 159-161
bees, harmed by oil, 150
beets, 95
behavior, at banquets, 101-105,
140-145; in drinking, 120-123;
in general, 246, 251
belching, 123, 145, 162
belly-madness, 104
Bergh, T., 149 n.
Bigg, C., v
Biotus, 46 n.
birds, 15, 165, 166, 207, 224
bishops, 273
blackbird, 165
blame, arouses sluggish, 59, 83
Blass, F., 83 n., 226 n.
blessing, before meals, 132; for
education through Christ, 81,
82
blood, allegorical use of, 16, 44;
comes from food, 41; first sub-
stance of man, 38, 46; of
grapes, symbol of, 111 ; should
not be eaten, 220; turns into
flesh, 45; turns into milk, 38,
42, 46
Blood, of Christ, allegorized: by
blood of Abel, 44, 45; by
blood of grape, 111; by milk,
39, 44; by wine, 1 19; allegory
of Passion and teaching, 46;
allegory for promise, 37; an-
oints, 111; begets a new
people, 40; corporeal and
spiritual, 111; food of little
ones, 40; forgives sins, 121,
122; garment of Word, 44; re-
deems mankind, 46, 263; re-
deems from incorruption, 111;
saves souls, 16, 23; symbolizes
Word, 41; is true drink, 35; is
wine blessed by Redeemer,
121
boars, 219
body, attitude toward, 93; com-
panion of soul, 90, 91; equip-
ped with beauty and harmony,
8; garment of soul, 184; gov-
erned by soul, 178
boorishness, 103, 104, 140-142,
145
bow, condemned in rings, 246
boys, beauty of, misused, 221;
exercise for, 239; laughter a-
mong, causes quarrels, 136;
not allowed wine, 112; older,
may tease, 143; should keep
silent among elders, 144; of
slave dealers, 216, 217; to be
excluded from banquets, 141;
to be respected as sons, 169
bread, oversifted, 95
Bread of Heaven, 44
breast, of God, in the Word, 41;
283
of women in pregnancy, 38,
39, 41, 232
brooch, 181
buffoonery, condemned, 134
bush, burning, 158
bustards, 224
butter, symbol of Word, 48
buying and selling, 259
Bywatcr, I., 269 n.
calf, golden, 196, 197
calves, figures for children, 15
camels, 220; hair of, 186
Cana, miracle at, 118, 119
caresses, 261
Carian melodies, 130
carnal, described, 36; those not
fully purified, 35
Casey, R., xvii
cat, Egyptian god, 202
catch, best, is men, 241
catechumens, 30 n.
cattle, 229, 231
caution, 71
Cayre, F., vi, x
Celts, 219, 222
ceraunites, 190
censure, 69
chamber-pots, 128
change, accidental, 165, 166
character, marks of poor, 141,
182
charcoal, as cosmetic, 205; for
heat, 225
charity, acts of, 241; at banquets,
97, 140; covers sins, 268; inner
love of neighbor, 261; text-
book of faith, 258; true beauty
for men, 201
chastisement, beneficial, 55, 56,
73
chastity, 150, 176, 184, 187, 188,
252, 263; of Penelope, 233
cheese, 107
chewing cud, metaphor of, 257
child, duties of, 27 1 ; gives name
to education and culture, 17;
goal and flower of marriage,
154, 164
childishness, bad sense, 32, 33;
in attachment to gems, 190;
to be avoided, 17, 19
childhood, of Christians, 3, 12-
14, 21, 22, 34; explained, 17,
18; objected to, 20, 24
Christ, Alpha and Omega, 35;
anointed, 146, 147; baptism
of, 25, 26; birth of, 40, 148,
149; Bread of Heaven, 43;
breast of Father's love, 41, 43;
at Cana, 118, 119; and
Church, 11, 19, 23, 154, 156,
185, 275; Educator, xiv, 4-7,
9-11, 13, 16, 21, 30-32, 46, 50-
55, 59-61, 66-68, 73-82, 85-89,
105, 107, 111, 122, 127, 132,
135, 155, 158, 169, 174, 178,
184, 196, 197, 234, 235, 242,
246, 252, 264; footwear of,
190; forgives, 9, 61; God and,
9, 23, 25, 50, 57, 64-66, 86,
158; Good Shepherd, 12, 17,
284
36, 50, 74, 75, 86; greatness in
childhood, 23, 24; Healer and
Physician, 4, 7, 8, 74, 85, 273;
High Priest, 151; image of
Father, 5, 86, 87; image for
us, 5, 26; Incarnation of, 23,
53, 191, 200, 201; Judge, 61,
76; and justice, 64-66, 78;
King, 157; love of man, 11,
27, 40, 41, 46, 56, 57, 76, 87,
112, 200; manner of drinking
wine, 121, 122; Mediator, 200;
one, 40; Only-begotten, 10;
Passion of, 23, 40, 43, 45, 46,
56, 59, 76, 84, 111, 146-148,
156-158; perfect, 18, 25, 33;
persecuted by St. Paul, 32;
prayer to, 75; prefigured by
Isaac, 23; resurrection of, 23;
Saviour, 88, 121; sinless, 270;
Spirit, 41; spiritual nourish-
ment, 34, 37, 40, 42-44; sym-
bolized by: Abel, 45; by blood,
41, 46; by colt, 16; by grapes,
111; Tamer, 16; Teacher, xiv,
4, 10, 18, 31, 265, 273, 275;
vine, 16, 60; washed feet of
Apostles, 146, 147; Wisdom, 7,
129; Word, xvi, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11,
20, 27, 35, 40, 41, 44, 54, 57,
64,89, 111, 129, 147, 191, 196,
238, 249
Christian, becomes like God in
practice of virtue, 88; good
man is, 229; man of gentle-
ness, 146; names for, 16; way
of life, xv, 84, 86, 88, 91, 93,
94, 106, 127, 128, 233
christoi, 148 n.
choir, 133
Chrysippus, 169 n.
Church, assembly of Christ's
children, 23; awaits resurrec-
tion, 131; behavior in, 259,
260; choir, 133; crown of, is
Christ, 154; garment of, is
faith, 185; good mother, 274;
head of, is Christ, 156, 185,
275; holy mountain of Good
Shepherd, 75; nourished by
Eucharist, 37; one, 11; prefig-
ured by Rebecca, 22, 23; sal-
vation for men, 27; school,
273; Virgin Mother, 40; we
are, 19
Cilicia, 188
Cinyra, 228
Clement of Alexandria, birth of,
vi; character of, vi, ix-xiii;
conversion of, vi, vii; death of,
viii; erudition of, xv; as edu-
cator, v, vii-ix; humanism of,
v, vi, viii; influences on, vii,
viii, xv, xvii; marriage of,
245 n.; orthodoxy of, xiii; a
priest, 36 n.; and Scriptures,
x-xii; style of, xii, xiii, xvi;
unorthodoxy of, vi, ix, xiii;
writings of, ix, xi-xvii, 31 n.,
139 n., 170 n., 172 n., 180 n.,
233 n.
clothes, color of, 183; of cour-
285
tesans, 181; expensive, forbid-
den, 178, 188; of first man,
186; immodesty in, 187, 188;
should be plain, 125, 182-185,
188, 224, 242-244; should be
same for both sexes, 181; for
women, 185, 186, 251
clowns, to be barred, 134
cold, wine remedy against, 119
color, of garments, 183
colt, figure for Christ, 16
commands, of God, and Educa-
tor, 236, 265; evil effects of
disobedience of, 210; express-
ed in way they can be ful-
filled, 86; for our good, 91;
give life, 84; love of, 10, 11,
261; summed up in two, 266
community, of possessions, 192,
193
companions, should be just, 256,
257
complaint, defined, 69
conception, biology of, 172, 173
conscience, 176
consolation, in Christ, 4
constancy, 264
contemplation, in divine food,
101; of human and divine na-
tures, 89; preparation for, 198;
of light, 162
continence, 172
conversion, of Clement, vi, vii;
of sinner, 62; symbolized by
unloved hair, 147, 269, 270
cooks, 101, 221
coquetry, 222, 253, 254
correction, compared to reflec-
tion in mirror or medical
diagnosis, 78; defined, 70;
etymology of, 83; given by
Word, 79; good effects of, 74,
76; to restore self-control, 73
corruption, 75, 111, 177, 178
cosmetics, condemned, 180, 203,
204, 206, 249, 253
couch, unadorned, 161
counsel, of Educator, 270-273;
truth as goal of, 90; of Word,
4
courtesans, clothing for, 181
Covenant, New, 21, 53, 54
covering, of head, 188
covetousness, 128, 129
conviviality, not condemned,
101
Crates, 172
Cretans, 131
crobulus, 181
crocodile, droppings of, as cos-
metic, 205; Egyptian god, 202
crocus, 154, 155
Cross, the, extended hands sug-
gest, 24 n.; our boundary line,
263; wood of life, 220 n.;
wood of, prefigured by Isaac,
23
crown, allegorical sense of, 154;
image of Lord's incorruptibil-
ity, 149; of thorns, 156-158;
symbol of Christ, 148
ips, ostentatiousness of, 124,
125, 225
ip-bearers, 230
ybele, 222
ynics, 82 n., 160
press, 155
mcing, 187; indecency of, 130
irkness, opposed to enlighten-
ment, 161; as veil for passion,
175
avid, 109, 110, 132, 150, 208
eacons, 142, 273
ecorations, of soldiers, 194
e la Barre, A., 36 n., Ill n.,
265 n.
elicacies, condemned, 101
lemocritus, 7, 172
enunciation, raises up sluggish,
59
epression, after drinking, 143
erision, defined, 72
esire, limited by self-sufficiency,
108; of money is destruction,
192; must be plucked out or
restrained, 123, 216, 242; sym-
bolized by Proteus, 200; third
part of soul, 199, 200
etachment, in clothing, 181; in
food, 100-103; in furnishings,
125, 126; makes men like God,
199; from ornaments, 197; of
possessions, 192, 193, 231, 232
)evil, consummate in evil, 18;
inspires superfluity, 179; ren-
dered ineffective by Cross,
157; as serpent tempting Eve,
195
dicing, 256
diet, for frugality, 107
digestion, 249, 250
Diogenes Apolloniates, 45
Diogenes the Cynic, 212
Diogenes Laertes, 144 n., 149 n.,
240
Diomedes, 160
disciples, of Christ, 234, 241; we
on earth are, 18
discipline, begets alertness, 162
discourse, Stoic division of, xv,
3n.
discretion, 229
discrimination, against persons,
224
dignity, 245, 246
dishonesty, 244, 259
dissipation, 171
Dives, 180, 228
divinity, man must contemplate,
89
dove, 15, 246
dreams, 162-164
drinking, Christ is congenial
companion of our, 132; dan-
gers of, 141; excesses of, 115-
119, 124, 129, 130, 234; proper
behavior while, 120-123; source
of quarreling, 140, 154, 171
dropsy, 226
drowsiness, 163
duty, defined, 90; to conform to
will of Christ, 91
287
dyes, for garments, deplored,
1.25, 182-185, 188, 224, 243;
for hair, condemned, 152,
203, 204, 212, 213, 248
eagle, 257
earrings, forbidden, 198, 244
eating, act of, indifferent, 100;
is animal act to be temperate,
102, 103; only a necessity, 179;
purpose of, 94
Echle, H. A., 25 n., 30 n., 32 n.,
42 n.
education, defined, 12, 17; dif-
ferent senses of, 50, 51; by
Christ: demands duties, 91;
disposition imparted by, 88,
265, 274; does not mix with
ornaments, 196; goal of, 106;
in harmony with men's deeds,
88; is eternal possession, 50;
is imparting of truth and holy
deeds, 51; makes a man sin
rarely, 6; not for war, but
peace, 87, 88; severity of, 68-
78
Educator, see Christ
eels, as food, 95
effeminacy, 211, 212, 214, 218,
219, 252, 255
Egypt, 131, 188, 202, 252
electrum, 202
Elias, 186, 230, 231
Elpenor, 123
emeralds, 190, 224
encouragement, by Educator, 80
engastrimythos, 107
Encratites, 122
Epicharmis, 110
Epictetus, 194 n.
Epicurus, 83 n., 124 n.
encomium, defined, 79
enlightenment, of baptism, 25
n., 26, 27, 30, 161
Epistle of Barnabas, xv, 7 n.,
165 n., 168 n., 256 n., 257 n.,
266-268 nn.
Eratosthenes, 118 n.
Eriphyle, 184
Ethiopia, 202, 207
Etruscans, 131
Eucharist, Holy, 37, 102 n., Ill,
132
eunuchs, 221
Euripides, 115 n., 153 n., 209 n.,
21 On., 233 n.
Eusebius, vi n.
Eve, 195, 214, 215
evil, love of money, root of, 129;
takes root if overlooked, 63
examples, given for our instruc-
tion, 4, 10, 53, 80, 177, 211,
233, 234
excoriation, defined, 71
exercise, benefits of, 239, 240,
249
expense, not goal in useful
things, 126, 127; of wardrobe
condemned, 178, 188
exposure, of infants, 217
external things, material, 178;
reason draws man from, 93
288
extravagance, in amusements,
258; in clothing, 181; generos-
ity is the true, 192; of glut-
tony, 179; of vain women, 203
extremes, dangerous, 108
eyes, custody of, 252, 253, 257,
258, 262
faith, beginning of perfection,
28, 29; in Christ is goodness,
63; Christ's words on, 269;
comes by Holy Spirit and bap-
tism, 30; contrasted to hope,
37; Educator frees will for act
of, 265; garment of Christ,
185; and Gnostics, x; looses
bonds of ignorance, 29, 30; in-
corruptible possession, 126; in-
creased by Spirit, 111; love of
money harms, 129; obedience
to Word, 89; possession of
wise of God, 258; salvation
for all men, 30; substance of
duty, 89; symbolized by crown
of thorns, 156-158; symbolized
by food, 37
fasting, 267
Faye, E. de, 31 n.
fatherland, of Christian, 233
fear, bitter herb conferring
health, 74; childishness, 32,
33; defined, by Stoics, 89;
Educator's instruction in, 50;
good effect of, 61; restrains
old from sin, 85; turned into
love through Christ, 53, 54;
two kinds, reverence and hate,
77; whets appetite for salva-
tion, 70
fidelity, 185, 198
figs, 95
finery, of dress, condemned, 180-
184
fire, of prudence, 235; reward of
wantonness, 169
fish, figure of frugality in eat-
ing, 105; figure for man, 274;
image of, permitted on rings,
246
fishing, permitted, 241
flax, 188
flesh, a slave, 200, 201; of Christ:
figure of Holy Spirit, 41; food
of little ones, 40; symbol of
faith, 37
flowers, beauty of, 179; benefi-
cial, 158, 159; effects of, on
men, 154; may be enjoyed, but
not worn, 153, 154; uses of,
155, 156
flute, banned, 130
food, changes into blood, 41, 42;
excess of, hinders growth, 109;
given by God, 108, 180, 264;
heavenly, 39, 40; idol-offered,
forbidden, 99, 100, 109; is in-
different, 108; kinds of, in re-
lation to salvation, 100, 108,
109; pleasures of, 98; qualities
of, permitted, 94, 95; simple,
more beneficial, 97, 107; solic-
itude about, condemned, 180;
289
solid, 34-37, 41; stimulating,
to be avoided, 180
footwear, permitted, 189, 190
fornication, condemned by Pla-
to, 170, 175; harms self, 176,
177, 217, 223
fortitude, 249
fowl, as food, 95
francolins, as food, 95
freedom, in Christ, 246; love of,
taught by Christ, 88
friendship, good, lessens danger
of obscenity, 138
frivolities, 146, 147, 258
frugality, benefits of, 233; of
Christ, 105, 127; in eating,
101, 105-107; of feast given by
David, 110; Jews commanded
to practice, 108; moderate, to
be practiced, 87, 160, 161; of
pagan Scythians, 219; reason
sings praises of, 228; of St.
John the Baptist, 186; Scrip-
tural examples of, 239, 240;
self-indulgent criticize, 1 27 ;
Stoic virtue of, adopted by
Clement, xvi
fruits, in frugal diet, 107
Galen, 30 n.
garishness, 211
garrulousness, 136, 144, 145
gems, of Egyptian temples, 202;
of heavenly Jerusalem, 191;
kinds of, 193; purpose of, 193;
symbolize Christ, 148
generosity, manner of, 227; nev-
er empties itself, 232; quality
of soul, 229; true ornament,
198
Germans, 219
giggle, condemned, 135
glass-workers, 125
gloominess, caution against, 135
gluttony, Christ forbids, 179;
contrary to reason, 101; de-
scription of, 95, 96, 103, 104;
devil of, 107; effect of wanton-
ness, 171; evils of, 98, 99; in-
satiable, 106; profanes Agape,
96; twofold offense in wealthy,
104, 106; uncleanness of, 230
gnosis, 82 n.
Gnostics, ix, 24, 31, 37, 48
God, above all needs, 199; anger
of, 58, 59; artificial beauty in-
sults, 204; as Beauty, 200; and
Christ, 21, 50, 88, 246; as
Creator, 9, 27, 57, 65, 78; as
eternal Old Man, 213; as
Father, 18, 39; feared, 77;
goodness of, 56, 58, 63-66, 78,
229; hostility of, to evil, 63;
justice of, 57, 58, 62-66, 77,
78; love of, 18, 27, 39, 56-58,
61, 62, 68, 74, 78, 192, 232;
in man, 200; mercy of, 64, 65,
73, 77, 78, 147 n.; oneness of,
40, 63, 64; only Good, 78; pos-
session of, true wealth, 232;
presence of, 227, 235, 274;
providence of, 8, 57, 58, 106,
290
131, 232, 235, 264; and pun-
ishment, 61, 62; rules reason,
199; seen only through bap-
tism, 28; sinless, 6, 50; and
sinners, 27, 62, 74; as Teacher,
18; will of, 27; wisdom of,
83; and Word, 58, 192
godliness, 272
gold, corrupting effects of, 124,
125, 129, 194, 196, 202, 214,
244; of Magi, symbolizes king-
ship of Christ, 149; symbolizes
incorruptibility of Word, 147
gold-plate, 230
good, deeds, 198, 199; and evil,
images of, 185; health, 249;
men, 194, 229; things of the
land, 264; will, 86, 261
goodness, arouses hatred for evil,
63; Christ consummate in, 18,
19; renders benefits, 57
gossip, 256, 258
gourmandizing, 95, 103, 179
grace, common to men and wo-
men, 12; concept of, xvi n.;
given through Christ, 54, 55;
unlooses bonds of ignorance,
30; waters world, 180
grapes, symbol of Word, 111
grass, symbolizes multitude, 180
gratitude, due Educator, 89
greed, 128
Greeks, x, xi, xv, 155, 226
grief, defined by Stoics, 89
griffins, 192, 221
grooms, 221
guffaw, condemned, 135
gymnasium, 239, 241
habits, under influence of per-
suasion, 3
hair, artificial, forbidden, 248;
biological effects of, 247, 248;
foppishness of, 213; gray, 212-
214, 248, 249; not to be dyed,
152, 203, 204, 212, 213, 248;
plucking, condemned, 212;
proper treatment of, 246-249;
proves manhood, 214, 215
hair-do, elaborate, condemned,
208, 248; of effeminate men,
211,219
hairlessness, immoral, 215, 216
hair-nets, 208
handmaids, modesty of, 254, 255
happiness, not found in luxuries,
160; in practice of virtues,
107, 198; true meaning of, 83
hare, symbol of licentiousness,
165, 168
harlotry, 252
headache, relieved by drug, 154
heat, of body, restored by wine,
113, 114
healing, art of human wisdom,
7; of passions, by Christ, 7
health, gift of Christ, 85, 264;
spiritual, 16 n.; wine confers,
16
291
heathen, without discipline, 179
heaven, place of reward, 156,
180
heavenly food, in contempla-
tion, 101
hedonists, fail to enter heaven,
172
Helen of Troy, 196, 209, 210
hell, 180
helots, 233
hems, 214
Hephaestus, 123
Hera, 155
Heraclitus, 22, 119 n., 176, 200
heresy, avoided by accepting
Christ, 19
Herodotus, xv, 177 n., 192 n.,
194 n., 226 n.
Hesiod, 219 n., 225, 226, 234 n.
hierophant, 202
hissing, condemned, 145
holiness, is light, 28; only true
wealth, 229; promoted by
plainness, 197
Homer, x, xv, 38 n., 41 n., 46 n.,
47 n., 99 n., 100 n., 123 n.,
125 n., 135 n., 136 n., 144 n.,
155 n., 160 n., 163 n., 174 n.,
181, 184 n., 185, 188 n., 194 n.,
195 n., 200 n., 210, 218 n.,
247 n., 274 n.
homosexuality, 166, 167, 169,
217; condemned by Roman
law, 218
honesty, in trade, 259
honey, 47, 85, 107, 186
hoof, split, symbol, 257
hope, is soul of Church, 37
horse, 207, 214, 219, 220
hosanna, meaning of, 13
household, chores for wife, 239,
268; must reflect Christian
life, 128, 233; not a burden,
231
hucksters, 259
human nature, insight into, 93;
must be contemplated by
man, 89; serviceable in per-
ception of God, 94
humility, taught by Christ, 88
husband, crowned by marriage,
154; duties of, 271; how to
live with wife, 233; restraint
of, toward wife, 263
hyena, symbol of licentiousness,
165-167
hylikoi, 31 n.
Hymn to Educator, 276-278
hypocrite, 148
idleness, 256
idols, images of, condemned on
rings, 246
Ignatius, St., 102 n.
ignorance, is darkness, 29; sym-
bolized by night, 162
ill-will, shown in speech, 143
immorality, contemporary, 217,
218; forbidden, 138; frequen-
cy of, at banquets, 130; with
eyes, 253, 254, 262; not to be
confused with prudery, 139;
292
present in consent to pleasure,
177; of Sodomites, punished,
235; of tempter, how to avert,
136; of women, 225, 226, 253,
254
immortality, Christ guides to,
46; cloak of, saving the body,
75; nourished by Bread of
Heaven, 44; true beauty of
body, 201
impartiality, 255
impiety, of some church-goers,
260
impurity, names animal of man,
175
incorruptibility, eternal shares,
21; Eucharist is participation
in, 111; garment for body,
184, 201; makes man like an-
gels, 177
indecency, of jests, 135; of look,
145, 146; of talk, 137-139, 175
India, 202, 207
indignation, righteous, defined,
72,73
indifference, in use of drinking
cups, 123; to wealth, 129
industry, 198
inexpensiveness, criterion of,
what we should use, 128
insanity, 189
insects, harmed by oil, 150
insolence, accompanies drunken-
ness, 140; discordant with rea-
son, 143
instruction, contrasted to con-
templation, 36; engenders
faith, 30; symbolized by milk,
35
intaglio, 246
intemperance, 116, 117, 123,
124, 171
intelligence, first part of soul,
199
intercourse, 164-178; evil effects
of, 176-178; lawful, 169-171;
a minor epilepsy, 172; restric-
tions of, 170, 174; to engage
in, without intending chil-
dren, outrage to nature, 173;
unlawful, 167-169, 171, 172
iota, in name of Jesus, 76, 132
Isaac, figure of little one, 22;
type of Christ, 23
Israel, meaning of name, 69, 157
Italy, 186
ivy, 154
Jacob, 52, 160, 240
jasper, 190
Jerusalem, heavenly, 42, 191
Jesus, son of Nairn, as figure of
Christ, 55
jewelry, 180
Jews, commanded to be frugal,
108; and Christ, 156, 157;
idolatry of, 196; king of, im-
moral, 220, 221
John, St., 261, 273
John the Baptist, St., 24, 72, 108,
186, 190, 268
jokes, discouraged, 134
293
Joseph, 252
Judas, 147
judge, advice for, 268
Julicher, G., xiii
justice, adornment of Holy Spir-
it, 249; came down among
men in flesh and Scriptures,
78 n.; Christ is scale of, 64,
78; defined, 58; expression of,
in pagan dramatists, 263; of
God, originates in love, 78;
is mother of simple, 198; parts
of, balanced by correction and
praise, 79; split hoof, symbol
of, 257
katechesis, 30 n.
kids, as food, 95
kindness, not appreciated unless
it recalls justice, 77; recom-
mended to a master, 255
kiss, at Agape, 261
kite, 257
knowledge, and Christ, 5, 88;
end of life, 106; enlighten-
ment, tending to enjoyment,
29; and God, 25, 82, 199; sym-
bolized by milk, 35
Laban, 240
Lacedemonians, 181
Laconia, maidens, of, 187; sea of,
188
lamb, Christ called, 24; Chris-
tians are, 16; figurative name
for children, 15
lamentation, defined, 72
lampreys, as food, 95
lands, not true wealth, 229
last day, meaning of, 28, 29
laughter, must be moderate, 134-
136, 142, 143
law, natural, 270
Law, New, better than Old, 270
Law, Old, accompanied by fear,
30; childishness, 32; on cloth-
ing, 242; disposed Jews to ac-
cept the Educator, 85; a gift
through Moses, 54; incarna-
tion of God's justice, 78 n.;
as means of education, 270;
prohibitions of, 108, 109; re-
vealed treasures of God, 265
Lazarus, beggar, 180
lectures, 113
Leonides, 50
leprosy, 242
lewdness, disoriented, 171
liars, 269
life, already possessed in faith,
29; dependent on command-
ments, 84; is in obeying Edu-
cator, 89; material, commands
for, 91; physical, depends on
health and strength only, 94;
spiritual, makes us divine, 87
light, and baptism, 27, 28; in
mind, cannot be ignored, 176;
name for, same as old name
for man, 28; possession of,
gives wakefulness, 161, 162;
and repentance, 31
294
lily, 155, 158, 159
linen, 186, 188
lion, 192, 214
liquids, effects of excessive
drinking of, 113
litters, 222
little ones, Christ revealed to,
32, 35; Church, mother of,
274; faith of, 270; given milk
to drink, 34-49; meaning of
name, 19, 20; nourished by
Eucharist, 40; qualities of, 20;
ready for salvation, 31; are
sheep, figuratively, 50; we are,
sharing Christ's forgiveness, 8,
54
locusts, 186
login, 273 n.
logos, xvi, 6 n., 89 n., 107 n.,
Ill n.
Lot, 163, 209
love, desires to do good, 57; of
God, 132, 266; of the good,
249; grows, in marriage act,
174; messages, on soles of
shoes, 189; of neighbor, 132,
192, 261, 266; not fear, in New
Testament, 53, 54; not judged
by kiss, 261; self-controlled, to
be given by wives, 245; songs,
at banquets, condemned, 133
lukewarmness, 13
lust, aroused by improper diges-
tion, 250; corrupt deeds, 138;
defined, by Stoics, 89; en-
kindled at a gathering, 257,
258; of eyes, 252, 253; sinful
to be inflamed by, 178
luxuries, 180, 181, 193, 245
Lydian, river, 202 n.; scrapings,
as cosmetic, 244
lyre, 132, 246, 260
Magi, gifts of, 149
male, characteristics of, 215
man, animal made for true
Beauty, 230; animal that can
laugh, 135; becomes like God
by knowing Him, 199; Christ
is only one Scripture calls, 18,
33; created with loveableness,
9; defiled by sin, 216; desir-
able in himself, 9, 10; dis-
torted by artificial beauty,
250; duties of, contemplation
and action, 89; equal before
God, 31; erroneously consid-
ered bad, 83; is in God, 200;
inner, 162, 199; instrument for
peace, 131; made free by Edu-
cator, 246; name means con-
summate, 18; needs a guide in
darkness, 1 1 ; noblest creature,
37; once called by same name
as light, 28 n.; outer, 202; and
reason, 199; reformed by
Word, 274; rejuvenated in
Christ, 16; resembles God, 9,
86, 87, 156, 164, 170, 200;
should be united to Spirit and
Word, 111; should fulfill
295
commandments, 10; should
imitate Educator, 10, 11
mankind, love of, 88
manna, 39
Marcionites, 56 n.
marriage, Clement's treatise on,
xii, 139 n.; to be esteemed,
173; turned into fornication
by excess, 176; what is permis-
sible in, 164, 169; whether
permitted, 172
masters, 255, 271
mastich, 211 n., 253
mastophage, 257
materialists, unlightened, 31 n.
mattock, 240
maturity, in Christ, 33, 35
mean, observed in: beautifica-
tion, 244, 245; dress, 185, 242;
eating, 108; exercise, 241;
Paradise, 154; relaxation, 134-
136; sleeping, 162; use of lux-
uries, 159, 160; use of per-
fumes, 151
meat, carvers, 221; in frugal diet,
107; spiritual, contrasted to
milk, 34-47
medicine, Alexandria's interest
in, 30 n.; use of myrrh in, 150,
151; of flowers in, 152-155, 158
men, effeminacy of dress of, 182;
may go without shows, 189,
190; modesty to be observed
in baths, 226, 227; reasons for
use of baths, 237; should not
idle time, 256; way to wear
rings, 246
Menander, 12, 113 n., 138 n.,
204, 269 n., 270 n.
menstruation, 170
merchants, 259
Midas, 207, 228
milk, allegorical use of, 47, 48;
biological relationship to
blood, 38, 39, 46; in frugal
diet, 107; is knowledge, 35;
nourishes man, 45, 46; pro-
duced less copiously in sum-
mer, 48; qualities of, 39; sym-
bol of childhood of Christ,
34-39
Miletus, 186
mines, 192
mirror, 78, 208
modesty, adornment given by
Holy Spirit, 249; of dress, 244,
250; in gymnasium, 241; in
marriage, 174; true ornament,
198; with oneself, 169, 177; of
women, at feasts, 122, 123,
141; of women, in church, 259,
260
Mondesert, C., vii n., ix, x n.,
xi, 78 n.
Molland, E., xiii, 119 n., 218 n.
monkeys, 224
Moses, 6, 51-55, 85, 158, 165, 168,
170, 208, 242, 270; and Plato,
169, 243
mullets, 95
Musonius, xvii, 127 n.
296
mussels, as food, 95
mustard seed, allegory of, 85
music, chaste, may be used, 133;
inflames passions, at ban-
quets, 130
musical instruments, 130-132,
246, 260
muslin, 225
myrrh, emasculates, 150, 151; of
the Lord, 247; medicinal ef-
fects of, 151, 152, 158, 159;
symbol of Holy Spirit, 147,
150
myrtle, 155
mysteries, of Bacchus, 156; pa-
gan, vi; initiation into Chris-
tian, 10, 119; rites of, 183
name, new, given Christians, 16
Narcissus, 208
narcissus, 154, 155, 159
Nausithoon, 50
necklaces, 190, 194
necessities, always available, 106;
avoidance of, a mean, 108;
division of, 91; God's will, in
giving, 191, 192; of the just,
232; of man, measure of pos-
sessions, 231; proper use of,
193; satisfaction with, 94
nepios, 19n., 20
net, for birds, 274
nightingale, 165, 224
Nikostratos, 195
nobility, true, in poverty of
heart, 129
Noe, 124
nomads, 219, 220
nouthetein, etymology of, 83
oaths, 268, 269
obedience, founded on com-
mands, 90; to Word, 89
obligations, distinguished, 91
obscenity, 137-139
octopus, 260
Odysseus, 144, 160, 233
oil, effects of, on man and in-
sects, 150; of gladness, 87;
kinds of, 149; proper use of,
151; symbolizes Judas and Pe-
ter, 148; symbolizes mercy,
147 n.
olives, in diet, 107
oracles, immorality of, 222, 223;
Sibylline, 175 n., 212
organ, 131
Origen, vii, x
ornaments, disapproved, 193,
195, 230, 250; worn by Jew-
ish kings, 146
orphans, 224
ostentatiousness, 124-126, 160,
161, 179, 180, 183, 184, 187,
188, 194-196, 225
Ovcrbcck, }., v
overindulgence, in eating, 109,
162, 163
oyster, biology of, 191; as food,
95
ox, 274
297
Paean, healer, 30 n.
pagans, vi, x, 156, 234
paidagogia, 12 n., 17 n.
paidagogos, xiv, 12 n.
paideia, 17 n.
Palestine, 188
Pantaeus, St., vii
parables, 273
parents, duties of, 271
Paris, lover of Helen, 209, 210
parrots, 224
passions, affected by wine, 112;
aroused by music, 130, 131;
defile reason, 177; defined, by
Stoics, 89; healed by consola-
tion, 3; healed by teaching,
58; removed by new life, 40,
41, 67; surrender to, is sinful,
178; symbolized by Proteus,
200; unquenchable, 262; wa-
ter allays, 112
pastophore, 202
pastries, 221
patience, 255, 268
Patrick, J., v, xi n., xiii, xvi n.,
9 n., 16 n., 139 n.
Paul, St., 32, 33, 36, 48, 66, 74,
110, 133, 148, 167, 175, 177,
178, 200, 201, 244, 260, 261,
275
peace, of Christian banquets,
121; has no need of abund-
ance, 88; of those upon whom
God looks, 63; we cultivate,
246
peacocks, 95, 224
pearls, 191, 192, 224
pedagogues, 50, 51
pederasty, 165-169, 217, 218
Penelope, 135 n., 174, 233
people, Christians are new, 21,
40; old, hard of heart, 20; old,
needed Law, 85
perfection, in baptism, 26-29; is
childhood in Christ, 34;
man's, in virtues, 193, 194;
odor of, 150; is repentance
and rebirth, 48, 49; under
symbol of milk, 35-46
perfume, symbolizes good deeds,
148; use and misuse of, 146-
152
Persia, 50
persuasion, and Christ, 4, 11, 79,
80; cornerstone of knowledge,
3; we are amenable to, as chil-
dren, 20
perspiration, 250
Peter, St., 105, 108, 196, 197,
241, 255, 263
phaenind, ball game, 240
Phenix, 50
Philemon, 183 n., 194, 254
Philip of Macedon, 50
Philo the Jew, viii, x, xv, 22 n.,
158 n.
philosophers, on blame and
praise, 82, 83; self-control of,
97
philosophy, defined, 90; Greek,
vii n.
photizo, 25 n.
298
physician, diagnosis of, 78; only
sick need, 74; to be honored,
152
Pindar, xv, 83 n., 155 n., 254,
269 n.
pipe, musical instrument, 130
pitch, for removing hair, 212,
215-217
Pittacus, 240
plainness, 197
Plato, vii n., x, xv, 12 n., 60,
62 n., 67 n., 73, 74 n., 93 n.,
109, 114 n., 121 n., 124 n.,
126, 133-135 nn., 143 n., 150
n., 160-170, 173 n., 177, 199
n., 228 n., 230 n., 243, 255 n.
play on words, 20, 43, 83, 89, 90,
98, 99, 107, 129, 133, 147, 148,
169, 218, 219
playing, mystical, 22, 23
pleasure, defined, by Stoics, 89;
deteriorates mind, 210, 211;
for its own sake, a sin, 170;
must have some use, 151, 152;
not our chief ambition, 94;
not truth, 197; search for,
waste of time, 180
Plotinus, 249 n.
Plutarch, 154 n., 253 n.
Plutus, 207
pneuma, 111 n.
poets, pagan, x, 96 n., 97 n., 106
n., 118, 153 n., 190 n., 193 n.,
203 n., 21 1 n., 252 n.
Polycrates, 246
porridge, 221
possessions, detachment from,
18; not to be boasted about,
129; should be in common,
192
Potter, J., xvii
poverty, of heart, is true wealth,
129; of miserly, 224; reproach
to wealthy, 193; taught by
Christ, 88
praise, form of advice used by
Educator, 79; remedy for
man, 83
prayer, during night, 161; to
God, 261; to Lord, 220; man-
ner of, for women, 259, 260;
not in much talk, 145; for put-
ting on sandals, 190; Scrip-
ture on, 267, 272; to Word,
275
preaching, 37, 147
pregnancy, effects on woman,
38, .39, 170
priests, 273
privies, 128, 129, 230
procreation, co-operates with
God in creation, 171
Prodicus, 185 n.
promiscuity, encouraged by ban-
quets, 130
prophets, call us children, 14;
Word educated through, 85,
265
proportion, sense of, as guide,
237
Proteus, 199, 200
proud, the, 269
299
prudence, adornment of Holy
Spirit, 249; given by God, 8;
is knowledge, 81; of the old,
214
prudery, 139
psalms, defined by St. Paul, 133;
at Eucharistic feasts, 132
punishment, aims at salvation
of sinner, 60; corrects, 63;
educative, 236; heals passions,
58, 59; of others, an example,
234, 235; our own doing, 62;
reconciled with God's good-
ness, 58
purification, in baptism, 32; of
body and soul, 93, 94, 238
purity, 174, 177, 243
purple, vanity of, 188
Pythagoras, 31 n., 83, 102
quarreling, discordant, 140, 144
Rachel, 240
raillery, occasion of quarreling,
140
Rand, E. K., x n.
razor, 247
reading aloud, as exercise, 240
reason, avoids base pleasure,
185; is deed of Christian soul,
90, 91; directs diet, 107; draws
man from material, 93; dulled
by wearing of wreaths, 155; is
god dwelling within, 177;
gluttony is sacrifice of, 99,
123; makes man steady, 200;
meaning of, xvi, 89-91; neg-
lected by drunkards, 117, 123;
only true good, 229; passions
and virtue, in relation to, 89,
90; should control drinking,
116; we must walk according
to, 231
Rebecca, 22, 23
rebirth, effect of, 5; given to us
as children, by Educator, 21,
22, 32; makes members of
Christ, 46; spiritual food giv-
en after, 39; through water,
86, 87; through Word, 191,
263; way of life demanded by,
163
rebuke, dissolves hardness of
heart, 58, 59; signifies interest
in person, 67, 68
recitals, 258
redemption, Christ gave life for
our, 76
relaxation, in moderation, 134-
136
remedies, of Christ, 74
remorse, wearing wreaths a-
rouses, 154
repentance, God's call to, 82; is
of lower things in relation to
higher, 31; like recovery from
illness, 73; opportunity of,
proof of God's love, 68; is per-
fection, 48, 49; step to salva-
tion, 6; symbolized by tears
of sinful woman, 147
reprimand, defined, 70
300
reproach, art of rebuke in good
will, 59
reprobation, defined, 72
reproof, like surgery on passions,
58; reconciled to divine love,
66
reserve, with wives, recom-
mended, 263
resurrection, Church awaits, 131;
faith anticipates, 29, 82
rest, eternal, 90
retribution, defined, 71
revenge, 63, 268
ridicule, dangerous, 143
rings, 244, 246
robe, symbolism of Christ's, 187;
flowing, condemned, 185, 187
rod, symbolic of power of Edu-
cator, 55, 56
roosters, 214
roots, as food, 107
roses, 154, 155, 159
Ruben, 53 n.
ruler, proper dress of, 242
sackcloth, 186
sacrifice, to God, 267, 268
sailor, proper dress of, 242
salvation, articles of, 265; cause
of joy, 22; Christ's concern
with our, 87, 88, 242; is
Church, 27; common to men
and women, 12, 28; first prin-
ciple for gaining, 128; follow-
ing of Christ, 27; life to be
made conformable to, 87;
most noble of God's actions,
88; of sinner, God's object in
punishing, 58-67; spiritual
health, 16 n.; under figure of
mustard seed, 85
salves, 152
Samaritan woman, 127
Samson, 252
Samuel, 208, 221
sandals, 189, 231
Sappho, 155
Sara, 239
Sardanapalus, 253
satiety, arouses passions, 178; im-
plies more than necessity, 179;
luxuriousness grounds on
shoals of, 242
scallops, as food, 95
scarab, 150
Scholia, on Paidagogos, 14 n.,
53 n., 83 n., 107 n., 112 n.,
115 n., 116 n., 124 n., 131 n.,
153 n., 187 n., 203 n., 265 n.
scissors, 247
Scripture, Holy, cautions against
vanity, 206; Clement and, vii
n., xi; describes Christian life,
93, 94, 265, 266; exists for obe-
dience, 7; praises temperance,
124; repudiates drunkenness,
124; teaches way to eternal
life, 91; value of, 187
Quotations from or references
to:
Acts, 99, 108, 109, 142, 157
301
Aggeus, 128
Amos, 15, 62, 120
Apocalypse, 35, 42, 183, 191
Baruch, 81, 82, 126
Colossians, 5, 86, 132, 133,
253, 262, 272, 275
1 Corinthians, 17, 31, 32, 34-
36, 56, 88, 96, 97, 100-102, 104,
105, 123, 125, 156, 157, 177,
184, 192, 198, 201, 235, 248,
260, 261, 264
2 Corinthians, 5, 18, 36, 65,
148, 208, 209, 215, 262, 270
Daniel, 81, 183, 213
Deuteronomy, 18, 42, 48, 51,
54, 55, 61, 62, 73, 81, 82, 109,
138, 165, 208, 216, 232, 268
Ecclesiasticus, 56, 60-62, 64,
65, 67, 73, 77, 86, 90, 99, 111,
114-116, 121, 122, 124, 133,
135, 139-142, 144-147, 152,
159, 172, 176, 178, 184, 213,
219, 222, 223, 246, 253, 262
Ephesians, 19, 26, 28, 37, 118,
133, 137, 140, 151, 175, 213,
223, 262, 271
Esther, 209
Exodus, 34, 42, 51, 53, 64, 68,
80, 85, 111, 138, 143, 158, 168,
196, 208, 210, 222, 259, 266
Ezechiel, 7, 53, 60, 68, 75, 81,
84, 157, 173, 264, 270
Galatians, 26, 30, 31, 33, 74,
85, 272
Genesis, 9, 11, 16, 22, 23, 44,
51-53, 69, 87, 108, 111, 121,
124, 125, 138, 154, 157, 160,
163, 164, 169, 173, 186, 205,
209, 211, 235, 238, 240, 241,
252
Habacuc, 98
Hebrews, 26, 44
Isaias, 7, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21,
24, 48, 54, 55, 61, 68-71, 73,
75, 81, 84, 88, 99, 111, 148,
158, 176, 186, 201, 238, 254,
264-269
James, 26
Jeremias, 7, 16, 36, 54, 68-72,
82, 88, 167, 186, 207, 269
Job, 106
John, 8, 10, 13, 14, 24, 27-29,
35-37, 40, 43, 44, 49, 54, 55,
57,60,63,64,76,86, 105, 111,
112, 118, 127, 144, 146, 160,
176, 200, 227, 232, 241, 258
1 John, 199, 261, 273
3 John, 144
Jude, 236
Judges, 252
1 Kings, 186, 208, 222
2 Kings, 15, 110, 146, 147
3 Kings, 231
Lamentations, 70, 72
Leviticus, 15, 109, 169, 170,
218, 243, 256, 257
Luke, 8, 12, 15, 24, 31, 40,
63, 65, 74, 78, 96, 97, 100, 107,
128, 134, 146, 160, 179, 180,
184, 196, 228, 231, 235, 265,
266, 268, 269
Mark, 66, 97, 121
302
Matthew, 8, 11, 13-15, 17, 18,
21, 25, 29, 41, 43, 54, 63-66,
68, 71, 72, 75, 76, 80, 81, 85-
88, 97, 98, 100, 105-108, 121,
122, 125, 127-129, 132, 137,
138, 140, 147, 149, 157, 164,
177, 183, 186, 191, 192, 213,
215, 224, 226, 227, 229, 231,
232, 238, 241, 252, 253, 259-
262, 266, 268-270
Nahum, 72
Numbers, 6, 7,80, 111, 177
Osee, 49, 69, 197
1 Peter, 41, 111, 156, 185, 242,
250, 255, 263, 264, 268
Philippians, 48, 94, 110, 129,
157, 200, 201, 275
Proverbs, 69, 71, 73, 76, 79,
81, 84, 95, 106, 108, 117-119,
139, 140, 143, 154, 160, 171,
198, 206, 224, 228-230, 232,
238, 244, 251-254, 262, 264,
267-269
Psalms, 3, 7, 14, 18, 26, 47,
54-56, 65, 72, 75-77, 80, 82, 90,
131-133, 146, 147, 150, 185,
187, 200, 218, 229, 247, 264,
265, 268
Romans, 20, 24, 26, 27, 35,
62, 63, 66, 74, 98, 101-103,
130, 138, 146, 167, 200, 216,
244, 258, 259, 261, 264, 265
1 Thessalonians, 19, 27, 36,
76, 146, 162, 272
1 Timothy, 110, 129, 197, 250,
272
Titus, 26
Wisdom, 57, 81, 98, 176
Zacharias, 16, 269
Scythians, 219, 220
seals, on signet rings, 246
seed, as figure for intercourse,
164, 165, 170
Seleucus, 246
self-control, blessing before
meals, act of, 133; forestalls
passions, 100; frugality, off-
spring of, 228; garment for
body, 199, 202; of a house-
hold, 231, 245; makes us like
God, 106; produces beauty,
249; qualities of, 243; in sex-
ual pleasure, 169, 170, 174,
177; swept away at banquets,
103
self-indulgence, basis for prohi-
bition, in Old Law, 109; in
baths, 225; in desire for
wealth, 128; in dress, 182; in
drinking wine, 115, 117, 120;
in eating, 94, 179; evils of,
230; in furnishings, 227; idle-
ness, cause of, 256; opposed to
Christian way of life, 105, 106;
in ornamentation, 194, 224,
225; practicers of, criticize fru-
gality, 127; reason, remedy of,
178; in sleeping, 159, 160;
Trojan War, result of, 210; in
use of oils, 151; in use of per-
303
fumes, 149, 150; in utensils,
125
self-service, as virtue, 233, 240,
241
self-sufficiency, and Clement,
xvi; Educator trains in, 87;
nurse of Christians, 198; regu-
lates eating, 98; restricts de-
sires, 108; universe made for,
128
semen, is foam of blood, 45;
must find proper resting
place, 164, 165
Seneca, xvi, xvii, 3 n., 94 n., 106
n., 108 n.
sense pleasure, 150, 151, 230
sensuality, 153, 177, 223, 244,
246
seriousness, keeps sinful away,
136; proper limits of, 135
serpent, 195, 203
servants, 269
service, of God, 90; willing, 77
severity, of Educator, 76
sexual excesses, against nature,
169; condemned even within
marriage, 173; condemned un-
der figures of hare and hyena,
165, 166; destroy love, 174,
175; effects of, 171; reason best
remedy for, 178; under figure
of stolen waters, 254
shaving, censured, 213, 247
sheep, 186, 219
shepherds, rulers of Church are,
36
Sicels, 131
Sichemites, 211
Sicinnos, 50
Sidon, 188
sign, indicates presence of cause,
243
silence, a virtue, 143, 144
silks, 182
silk-worm, 182
silver, 124-126, 202
simplicity, avoids superfluities,
243; of barbarians, praised,
220; of children, to be imi-
tated, 13; in food, praised,
94-97; of husband and wife,
245
Simonides of Amorgos, 149
sin, of Adam, made him like
beasts, 90; aided by inconspi-
cuousness, 247; carried by
Christ, 157; contrary to rea-
son, 6, 89, 90; effects of, 27,
82; encouragement alleviates,
80, 81; forgiven by baptism,
30; is ignorance, 29; kinds and
degrees of, 6
sincerity, 193
singing, at Eucharistic feasts, 132
sinless, need not fear God, 74
sinners, die to God, 177, 260;
Educator desires conversion
of, 264, 270; like beasts, 90;
lose right to respect, 176, 177
skolion, drinking song, 133
slaves, in baths, 226, 238; boy,
216, 217; compared with mas-
304
ters, 227; conduct before, 263;
duties of, 271, 272; lavishness,
in buying, 224; not beasts of
burden, 255; number of, per-
mitted, 221, 231; true, of the
soul, 246
sleeping, bad effects of, 162; for
body not soul, 163; proper
manner of, 159-163; is time for
digestion, 160; we should not
waste time of, 161
slippers, 189, 190
smile, expression of joy, 135
snake, Egyptian god, 202; figure
of wealth, 228
sneeze, at table, 145
snapping fingers, boorishness,
145
sociability, in drinking, 132
Sodom, 168, 169, 235
sodomy, 167
soldiers, 194, 242, 268
Solomon, 179
songs, types forbidden, 133
Sophocles, 115 n., 155 n., 173 n.,
196 n.; rebukes effeminacy,
242
sorcerers, 222, 223
soteria, 16 n.
soul, accomplishes Christian du-
ty, with body, 90, 91; clothed
by body, 184; disfigured by
sin, 203; eye of, to be puri-
fied, 93; image of Word, 249;
must be washed in Word, 238;
needs Educator, 5; only treas-
ure of man, 22; operates in
sleep, 163, 164; should govern
body, 178; three parts of, 199;
virtue, the ornament of, 202
Spartans, 233
speech, indicates disposition of
the man, 137; must be con-
trolled, 143, 144; Scripture on,
272
spider, 261
spinning, 222
Spirit, Holy, adornment of soul,
249; aids us to see God
through baptism, 28; calls us
children, 13; declares drunk-
ards wretched, 120; described
greatness of Lord as Child,
23, 24; exults in His children,
22; and faith, 30, 111; lambs,
17; nourishment of hungerers
for Word, 44; is One, 40; pu-
rifies music of liturgy, 131;
rebukes gluttons, 99; seven-
fold gift of, 265; strength of
Word, 111; symbolized by
anointing of Christ's feet, 147,
150; symbolized by flesh of
Christ, 41; union of, with
man, 111, 112
spiritual, the, believe in Holy
Spirit, 35; are less perfect, ac-
cording to Gnostics, 31
sprats, as food, 95
springs, 232
Stahlin, O., xviii, 40 n.
stage, lewdness of, 187
305
staring, forbidden, 262
stater, allegory of, 105
steadfastness, 198, 233
Stobaeus, 127 n.
Stoicism, xi n., xv-xviii, 26 n.,
87 n., 89 n., 90 n., 93 n., 156
n.
Stoics, x, xv, 82 n.; on control of
impulse, 169; on passions, 89
n.; on virtue as fitting and
dutiful, 90
story-tellers, 222
strength, physical, 94, 264
substances, kinds and qualities
of, 249
suffering, trains in steadfastness,
233
Sulpicius Severus, viii
superfluities, artificial beauty
presents appearance of, 201;
come from Devil, 179; dignity
of dress comes from eliminat-
ing, 245
suspicion, avoiding, 262
sweetmeats, 107
Swete, H. B., v, vi
swine, 244, 256
sword, image of, condemned for
rings, 246
symbolism, 15, 16, 18, 24, 34-41,
4648, 50, 55, 56, 58, 73, 74,
76,85, 105, 111, 119,121, 131,
132, 147-150, 156-158, 162, 164-
167, 170, 180, 184, 187, 191,
195, 200, 201, 220, 228, 242,
243, 254, 257, 274
Syracuse, 109
taverns, 256
teachings, divine, perfection and
salvation, 27; under symbol of
blood and milk, of Christ, 46;
under symbol of anointing of
Christ's feet, 146, 147
teasing, permissible only for old,
143
Telemachus, 233
temperance, admirable, 112, 124,
193, 198, 249; description of
a man of, 141, 142; given by
God, 8; in sleeping, 159, 160;
we practice, 246
temperament, 134
temples, pagan, 222, 223
thanksgiving, after meals, 133,
159, 174; true food, 102
theater, 207; condemned, 257,
258
Themistocles, 50
Theocritus, 160 n.
Thersites, 144, 224
thirst, 113, 120
Thracians, 131
threats, Educator's, reasons for,
76, 77, 236
thrift, 127
thrushes, as food, 95
Thucydides, 226 n.
Titus, E. Lane, 14 n., 25 n. r 57
n., 98 n.
Tollinton, R. B., vii n., x, xvii,
245 n.
306
tongue, is harp of Lord, 131
topaz, 190
trap, 274
treasures, offered by Lord, 265
Trojan War, 210
truth, adornment for ears, 198;
artificial distorts, 242; end of
our eff forts, 180; excessive
comforts, false imitation of,
179; mixture of Old and New
Law, 119; nobility of, in char-
acter, 2|6; possession of, a
blessing, 229; vanity offends,
245
turgots, as food, 95
turnips, as food, 95
Tyre, 188
ugliness, in soul, 193
unicorn, figure of strength of
God, 18 n.
uprightness, of Christ, 76; given
by God, 8
utensils, materials for, 125-127
vainglory, 269
vanity, degenerates into immo-
rality, 200; of dress, 185-187,
194, 245; opposes God and
reason and charity, 201; pun-
ishment for, 236; stronger pas-
sion than others, 206
vegetables, in frugal diet, 107
veil, proper for women, 188, 259,
260
vigils, 163
vine, prophetic of Christ's suf-
ferings, 111
violets, 154
Virgin Mother, 40
virtue, cardinal, 193, 194; de-
fined by Clement, xvi; defined
by Stoics, 90; not developed
by ornamentation, 194; only
true good, 228; is true beauty,
193, 202
voice, proper modulation of, 144
vultures, 150
waiters, 221
walking, as exercise, 240
walnut tree, 154
wantonness, 108, 168, 171
water, drink for thirsty, 110,
112; effects of, on milk, 46;
imported, foolishness of, 120;
symbolism of, 111, 119
wealth, difficult to handle, 228;
gift of Educator, 264; male-
dictions on man of, 236; must
be shared, 128, 231, 232; not
true nobility, 129, 194; true,
only Christians possess, 229
weaving, 222
weeping, to be avoided, 143
Wendland, P,, xvii
whistling, condemned, 145
white, color of peace, 242, 243
widows, 224, 273
wigs, 180
307
will, of God, food of Christ, 43;
fulfillment of, exhorted, 87;
ignorance of, 192
Wilson, W., xviii
wine, abstinence from, praise-
worthy, 112, 121, 162; amount
that may be taken with im-
punity, 114; of Cana, meaning
of, 118, 119; cultivation of
God, 120; effects of, 113-115,
136; expensive kinds, con-
demned, 119, 120; figure of
Blood of Christ, 16, 121; how
Christ drank, 121, 122; mixed
with milk, symbolism of, 47,
48, 111; native, 120; pourers,
221; recommended by St.
Paul, 110; time to be taken,
113-116, 119; used in mystical
sense by Scripture, 119
winking, 252
wisdom, absence of, is sleep, 117;
better than wealth, 228;
bought not by wealth but by
Word, 129; Christ's desire for
us, 273; cultivated by Chris-
tians, 17; definition of, always
present, 116; destroyed by
wine, 113; of Educator, 75;
faith and, 258; fear of Lord,
62; found only among few,
222; human, not crown of
knowledge, 36; never sins de-
liberately, 6; not found among
multitude, 222; qualities of,
21; source of, is God, 83; sym-
bolized by robe of Christ, 187;
true ornament, 198
wittiness, in moderation, ap-
proved, 134
wives, duties of, 271; on living
with husbands, 233, 244, 245;
not completely detached, 184;
of others, to be respected, 169;
plain dress, should be used by,
244; reflect husbands' qual-
ities, 231; should make own
clothes, 251
wolves, 220
womb, biology of, 170
women, in catechetical school at
Alexandria, ix; characteristics
of, 215; created as helpmate
for man, 205; crown of, is hus-
band, 154; educated, as well
as men, by Christ, 12; love of:
for gems, 190; for perfume,
149, 150; for ornamentation,
194, 202-206; manner of drink-
ing wine, 122; modesty proper
to, at banquets, 140; not to be
stared at, 262; painted, are
ridiculous, 125; proper dress
of, 181-188, 193, 243; quickly
drawn to immorality, 123, 188;
reasons permitted baths, 237;
rich, silliness of, 128, 129;
smooth-skinned, so intended
by God, 214; treatment of
hair, 248; unmarried, free for
God, 184; wearing gold, 246
308
wood, decayed, as cosmetic, 205
wool, forbidden, 186
Word, twofold sense of, 89 n.;
see Christ, as Word
work, makes woman beautiful,
250, 251; at night, 163
worldliness, despises little ones,
18; lack of readiness for sal-
vation, 31; of ordinary people,
128; revelation hidden from,
32
wreaths, condemned, 146, 147,
153; symbol of freedom from
care, 156
wrestling, recommended, 239-
241
Xenophon, 133 n., 185 n.
youth, description of good, 256;
grow better when nourish-
ment is less, 109; of mankind
in Christ, 16; should avoid
banquets, 141; should avoid
wine, 112
Zeno, 256
Zeus, 22, 123, 210
Zoporus, 50
309
THE FA THERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
Published by
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC.
475 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, N. Y.
THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
Founded by
fLUDWIG SCHOPP
EDITORIAL BOARD
ROY JOSEPH DEFERRARI
The Catholic University of America
Editorial Director
RUDOLPH ARBESMANN, O.S.A. BERNARD M. PEEBLES
Fordham University The Catholic University of America
STEPHAN KUTTNER ROBERT P. RUSSELL, O.S.A.
The Catholic University of America Villanova University
MARTIN R. P. McGuiRE ANSELM STRITTMATTER, O.S.B.
The Catholic University of America St. Anselm's Priory
WILFRID PARSONS, S.J. JAMES EDWARD TOBIN
The Catholic University of America Queens College
t GERALD G. WALSH, S.J.
Fordham University
f Deceased
VOLUMES
1-25
1. The Apostolic Fathers. St. Clement of Rome, Letter to
the Corinthians; St. Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians;
The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp; Didache or Teaching
of the Twelve Apostles; The Letter of Barnabas, trans.
Francis X. Glimm; St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letters to
the Ephesians, to the Magnesians, to the Trallians, to the
Romans, to the Philadelphia, to the Smyrnaeans, and
to Polycarp; Letter to Diognetus, trans. Gerald G. Walsh,
S.J.; The Shepherd of Hermas; The Fragments of Papias,
trans. Joseph F.-M. Marique, SJ. 1947, xiv, 401 pp.;
2nd ed., rev., 1948, xiv, 412 pp.
2. St. Augustine: Christian Instruction, trans. John J.
Gavigan, O.S.A.; Admonition and Grace, trans. John
Courtney Murray, S.J. ; The Christian Combat, trans. Ro-
bert P. Russell, O.S.A.; Faith, Hope and Charity, trans.
Bernard M. Peebles. 1947, viii, 494 pp.; rev. ed., 1950.
[Writings of St. Augustine, Vol. 4]
3. Salvian the Presbyter: Writings [The Governance of God;
Letters; The Four Books of Timothy to the Church],
trans. Jeremiah F. O'Sullivan. 1947, iv, 396 pp.
4. St. Augustine: The Immortality of the Soul, trans. Lud-
wig Schopp; The Magnitude of the Soul, trans. John J.
McMahon, S.J.; On Music, trans. Robert Catesby Talia-
ferro; The Advantage of Believing, trans. Sister Luanne
Meagher, O.S.B. ; On Faith in Things Unseen, trans. Roy
J. Deferrari and Sister Mary Francis McDonald, O.P.
1947, via", 489 pp. [Writings of St. Augustine, Vol. 2]
5. St. Augustine: The Happy Life, trans. Ludwig Schopp;
Answer to Skeptics, trans. Denis J. Kavanagh, O.S.A.;
Divine Providence and the Problem of Evil, trans. Robert
P. Russell, O.S.A.; Soliloquies, trans. Thomas F. Gilligan,
O.S.A. With an Introduction, "The Quest for Happiness/'
by Ludwig Schopp. 1948, iv, 450 pp. [Writings of St.
Augustine, Vol. 1]
6. St. Justin Martyr: Writings [First and Second Apology;
Dialogue with Trypho; Exhortation to the Greeks; Dis-
course to the Greeks; The Monarchy or the Rule of God],
trans. Thomas B. Falls, D.D. 1948, 486 pp.
7. Niceta of Remesiana: Writings [The Name and Titles
of Our Saviour; An Instruction on Faith; The Power
of the Holy Spirit; An Explanation of the Creed; The
Vigils of the Saints; Liturgical Singing"], trans. Gerald G.
Walsh, S.J.; Sulpicius Severus: Writings [Life of St.
Martin; Letters to Eusebius, to Aurelius, to Bassula; Three
Dialogues], trans. Bernard M. Peebles; Vincent of Lerins:
Commonitories, trans. Rudolph E. Morris; Prosper of
Aquitaine: Grace and Free Will, trans. J. Reginald
O'Donnell, C.S.B. 1949, vi, 443 pp.
8. St. Augustine: City of God, Books 1-7, trans. Gerald G.
Walsh, S.J., and Demetrius B. Zema, S.J. With an Intro-
duction by Etienne Gilson. 1950, xcx, 401 pp. [Writings
of St. Augustine, Vol. 6]
9. St. Basil: Ascetical Works [Introduction to the Ascetical
Life; Four Ascetical Discourses; Preface on the Judgment
of God; Concerning Faith; The Morals; The Long Rules;
Concerning Baptism; Five Homilies; On Mercy and
Justice], trans. Sister M. Monica Wagner, C.S.C. 1950,
xii, 525 pp.
10. Tertullian: Apologetical Works [Apology, trans. Sister
Emily Joseph Daly, C.S.J.; The Testimony of the Soul;
To Scapula, trans. Rudolph Arbesmann, O.S.A.; On
the Soul, trans. Edwin A. Quain, S.J.] and Minucius
Felix: Octavius, trans. Rudolph Arbesmann, O.S.A.
1950, xx, 430pp.
11. St. Augustine: Commentary on the Lord's Sermon on the
Mount, with Seventeen Related Sermons, trans. Denis J.
Kavanagh, O.S.A. 1951, vi, 382 pp. [Writings of St.
Augustine, Volume 3]
12. St. Augustine: Letters, 1-82, trans. Sister Wilfrid Parsons,
S.N.D. 1951, xxii, 420 pp. [Writings of St. Augustine,
Volume 9]
13. St. Basil: Letters, 1-185, trans. Sister Agnes Clare Way,
C.D.P. 1951, xviii, 345 pp.
14. St. Augustine: City of God, Books 8-16, trans. Gerald G.
Walsh, S.J., and Mother Grace Monahan, O.S.U. 1952,
viii, 567 pp. [Writings of St. Augustine, Vol. 7]
15. Early Christian Biographies [Pontius, Life of St. Cyprian;
Possidius, Life of St. Augustine, trans. Sister Mary Mag-
deleine M uller, O.S.F., and Roy J. Deferrari; Paulinus,
Life of St. Ambrose, trans. John A. Lacy; St. Athanasius,
Life of St. Anthony, trans. Sister Mary Emily Keenan,
S.C.N.; St. Jerome, Lives of St. Paul the First Hermit,
St. Hilarion, and Malchus, trans. Sister Marie Liguori
Ewald, I.H.M.; Ennodius, Life of St. Epiphanius, trans.
Sister Genevieve Marie Cook, R.S.M.; St. Hilary, Sermon
on the Life of St. Honor atus, trans. Roy J. Deferrari].
With an Introduction, "The Beginnings of Christian
Biography," by R. J. Deferrari. 1952, xiv, 407 pp.
16. St. Augustine: Treatises on Various Subjects [The
Christian Life; Lying; The Work of Monks; The Useful-
ness of Fasting, trans. Sister Mary Sarah Muldowney,
C.S.M.; Against Lying, trans. Harold B. Jaffee; Conti-
nence, trans. Sister Mary Francis McDonald, O.P.;
Patience, trans. Sister Luanne Meagher, O.S.B.; The
Excellence of Widowhood, trans. Sister M. Clement Ea-
gan, C.C.V.I.; The Eight Questions of Dulcitius, trans.
Mary E. DeFerrari]. 1952, viii, 479 pp. [Writings of St.
Augustine, Vol. 14]
17. St. Peter Chrysologus: Sermons [59] and Letter to Euty-
ches; St. Valerian: Homilies [20] and Letter to the
Monks, trans. George E. Ganss, SJ. 1953, viii, 454 pp.
18. St. Augustine: Letters, 83-130, trans. Sister Wilfrid Par-
sons, S.N.D. 1953, xiv, 401 pp. [Writings of St. Augus-
tine, Volume 10]
19. Eusebius Pamphili: Ecclesiastical History, Books 1-5,
trans. Roy J. Deferrari. 1953, xvi, 347 pp.
20. St. Augustine: Letters, 131-164, trans. Sister Wilfrid
Parsons, S.N.D. 1953, xvi, 396 pp. [Writings of St.
Augustine, Volume 11]
21. St. Augustine: Confessions, trans. Vernon J. Bourke.
1953, xxxii, 481 pp. [Writings of St. Augustine, Volume
5]
22. The Funeral Orations of St. Gregory Nazianzen [On
His Brother, St. Caesarius; On St. Basil; On His Sister,
St. Gorgonia; On His Father], trans. Leo P. McCauley,
S.J.; and St. Ambrose [On His Brother, Satyrus, trans.
John J. Sullivan, C.S.Sp., and Martin R. P. McGuire;
On Emperor Valentinian; On Emperor Theodosius, trans.
Roy J. Deferrari]. With an Introduction, "The Early
Christian Funeral Oration," by Martin R. P. McGuire.
1953, xxiv, 342 pp.
23. Clement of Alexandria: Christ, the Educator of Little
Ones, trans. Simon P. Wood, C.P. 1954, xxiv, 309 pp.
24. St. Augustine: City of God, Books 17-22, trans. Gerald
G. Walsh, S.J., and Daniel J. Honan, S.T.L. 1954,
xvi, 519 pp.; with complete index of Vols. 8, 14, 24.
[Writings of St. Augustine, Vol. 8]
25. St. Hilary of Poitiers: The Trinity, trans. Stephen Me-
Kenna, C.SS.R.
1 34 604
