The Instructor 2.10.104
Summary: If the Lord removes anxiety even about food and clothing, he condemns cosmetics and finery all the more; the “grass” thrown into the oven is the crowd that loves display.
Greek text · Stählin 1:219
»ζητεῖτε γάρ«, φησί, »τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ τὰ τῆς τροφῆς προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν.« εἰ τοίνυν ἐσθῆτος καὶ τροφῆς καὶ τῶν περιττῶν ἁπαξαπλῶς ὡς οὐκ ἀναγκαίαν ἀφαιρεῖται τὴν μέριμναν, τί χρὴ νοεῖν ἐρεῖν αὐτὸν περὶ φιλοκοσμίας βαφῆς τε ἐρίων καὶ ποικιλίας χρωμάτων καὶ λίθων περιεργίας καὶ χρυσίου ἐξεργασίας πλοκάμων τε ἔτι ἐπιτεχνητῶν καὶ βοστρύχων ἑλικτῶν, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ὀφθαλμῶν ὑπογραφῆς παρατίλσεών τε καὶ παραφυκισμῶν καὶ ψιμυθισμοῦ καὶ βαφῆς τριχῶν καὶ τῶν περὶ τὰς ἀπάτας ταύτας κακοτεχνιῶν; οὐχὶ εὖ μάλα ἐκεῖνο δὴ ὑποτοπητέον, τὸ μικρῷ πρόσθεν εἰρημένον ἐπὶ τοῦ χόρτου, μὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀκόσμων φιλοκόσμων τούτων ᾖ λελεγμένον; ἀγρὸς γὰρ ὁ κόσμος, καὶ πόα ἡμεῖς οἱ τῇ χάριτι δροσιζόμενοι τοῦ θεοῦ, καρέντες δὲ αὖθις ἀνατέλλομεν, ὡς ἐν τῷ Περὶ ἀναστάσεως διὰ πλειόνων δηλωθήσεται, χόρτος δὲ ὁ χυδαῖος ἀλληγορεῖται ὄχλος, ὁ τῆς ἐφημέρου εὐφροσύνης οἰκεῖος, ὁ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἀνθῶν, ὁ φιλόκοσμος καὶ φιλόδοξος καὶ πάντα μᾶλλον ἢ φιλαλήθης, εἰς οὐδὲν ἀλλʼ ἢ εἰς ὑπέκκαυμα εὔθετος πυρός.
English · Claude translation
“For seek the kingdom of God,” he says, “and the things of food will be added to you.” If, then, he removes anxiety about clothing and food and superfluities in general as unnecessary, what must we think he would say about love of finery, dyeing of wool, variety of colors, elaborate stones, working of gold, and besides, artificial locks and curled ringlets, and further, painting the eyes, plucking hairs, rouge, white lead, dyeing the hair, and the mischievous arts that go with these deceptions? Should we not rather suspect that what was said just before about the grass was said of these tasteless lovers of adornment? For the world is a field, and we are the grass, watered by the grace of God, and, cut down, we spring up again, as will be shown more fully in our work On the Resurrection. But “grass” is a figure for the vulgar crowd, at home with the pleasure of a day, blooming for a little, loving finery and glory and everything rather than truth, fit for nothing but kindling for the fire.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Luke 12:31 (Matt 6:33, freely); the image of grass recalls Isa 40:6–8 and 1 Pet 1:24. Clement's On the Resurrection is lost or was never written.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.104 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/104/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.104 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/104/).
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