The Instructor 1.9.75
Summary: The Word uses every means of correction, as good parents do; Clement now defines each kind, beginning with admonition, and illustrates it from the prophets.
Greek text · Stählin 1:133–134
Παντὶ τοίνυν σθένει ὁ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος παιδαγωγός, ὁ θεῖος ἡμῶν λόγος, πάσῃ καταχρώμενος σοφίας μηχανῇ, σῴζειν ἐπιβέβληται τοὺς νηπίους, νουθετῶν, ἐπιτιμῶν, ἐπιπλήττων, ἐλέγχων, ἀπειλούμενος, ἰώμενος, ἐπαγγελλόμενος, χαριζόμενος, »πολλοῖς τισιν οἱονεὶ χαλινοῖς« τὰς ἀλόγους τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος »δεσμεύων« ὁρμάς. συνελόντι γοῦν εἰπεῖν, οὕτως ὁ κύριος πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς πρὸς τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν. »τέκνα σοί ἐστιν; παίδευσον αὐτά«, ἡ σοφία παραινεῖ, »καὶ κάμψον αὐτὰ ἐκ νεότητος αὐτῶν. θυγατέρες σοί εἰσι; πρόσεχε τῷ σώματι αὐτῶν, καὶ μὴ ἱλαρώσῃς πρὸς αὐτὰς τὸ πρόσωπόν σου.« καίτοι τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν, υἱούς τε καὶ θυγατέρας, σφόδρα καὶ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἀγαπῶμεν. ἐπεὶ δʼ οἱ μὲν πρὸς χάριν ὁμιλοῦντες ὀλίγον ἀγαπῶσιν ὃ μὴ λυποῦσιν, οἱ δὲ πρὸς ὠφέλειαν ἐπιστύφοντες, εἰ καὶ παραυτίκα λυπηροί, ἀλλὰ εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα εὐεργετοῦσιν αἰῶνα, οὐ τὴν παραυτίκα ἡδονὴν ὁ κύριος, ἀλλὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐσκόπησε τρυφήν. ἐπίωμεν δὲ ἤδη καὶ τὸν τρόπον αὐτοῦ τῆς φιλανθρώπου παιδαγωγίας μετὰ μαρτυρίας προφητικῆς. Νουθέτησις μὲν οὖν ἐστιν ψόγος κηδεμονικός, νοῦ ἐμποιητικός.
English · Claude translation
With all his strength, then, the Instructor of humanity, our divine Word, using every device of wisdom, has set himself to save the infants: admonishing, censuring, reprimanding, reproving, threatening, healing, promising, giving freely, “binding,” as it were, “with many bridles” the irrational impulses of humanity. In short, the Lord is toward us as we are toward our children. “Have you children? Discipline them,” Wisdom advises, “and bend them from their youth. Have you daughters? Watch over their bodies, and do not show them a cheerful face.” Yet we love our children, sons and daughters, very much, above everything. But since those who converse to please love little, since they do not cause pain, while those who are severe for another's benefit, though painful for the moment, do good for the time to come, the Lord has looked not to present pleasure but to future delight. Let us now go through the manner of his loving instruction, with the testimony of the prophets. Admonition (nouthetēsis), then, is caring blame, putting sense into the mind (nous).
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Binding with many bridles” is from Plato, Laws 7.808d–e. The quotation is Sir 7:23–24. The following sections define a series of terms for correction; the translations of these terms are kept consistent: admonition (νουθέτησις), censure (ἐπιτίμησις), complaint (μέμψις), reprimand (ἐπίπληξις), reproof (ἔλεγχος), bringing to one's senses (φρένωσις), visitation (ἐπισκοπή), and others.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.9.75 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/9/75/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.9.75 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/9/75/).
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