The Instructor 2.10.89 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 1:211

Ταύτῃ τοι ἀναφανδόν, οὐ διʼ αἰνιγμάτων ἔτι, ὁ αὐτὸς ἀπηγόρευσεν Μωυσῆς γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇ, »οὐ πορνεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ παιδοφθορήσεις« λέγων. τὸ δὴ διάταγμα τοῦ λόγου παντὶ διατηρητέον σθένει, καὶ οὐδὲν οὐδαμῶς παρανομητέον, οὐδὲ ἀκυρωτέον τὰς ἐντολάς· ἐπιθυμίᾳ γὰρ κακῇ ὄνομα ὕβρις, καὶ τὸν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἵππον »ὑβριστὴν« ὁ Πλάτων προσεῖπεν, »ἵπποι θηλυμανεῖς ἐγενήθητέ μοι« ἀναγνούς. τὴν δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ ὕβρει δίκην γνωριοῦσιν ὑμῖν οἱ εἰς τὰ Σόδομα παραγεγονότες ἄγγελοι. οὗτοι τοὺς περᾶν ἐθελήσαντας σφᾶς [ἐπαισχῦναι] αὐτῇ πόλει κατέφλεξαν, δεῖγμα ἐναργὲς τοῦτο, λαγνείας ἐπικάρπιον τὸ πῦρ, ὑπογράφοντες· τὰ γὰρ τῶν παλαιῶν συμπτώματα, ὡς καὶ πρόσθεν εἴπομεν, εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀναγεγράφαται νουθεσίαν, ὡς μὴ

English · Claude translation

So the same Moses forbade it openly, no longer through riddles, with bare head, saying, “You shall not commit sexual immorality, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not corrupt boys.” The ordinance of the Word must be kept with all our strength; nothing must in any way be transgressed, nor the commandments made void. For insolence is the name of evil desire, and Plato called the horse of desire “insolent,” having read, “You have become horses mad for females.” The angels who came to Sodom will show you the punishment for insolence. Those who wished to shame them they burned up with the city itself, marking out a clear example: fire, the fruit of lust. For what happened to the ancients has been written, as we said before, for our admonition, so that we may not

About this passage

Source

Stählin 1:211 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 12. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Exod 20:14 · quotation, high confidence
Jer 5:8 · quotation, high confidence
Gen 19:5 · allusion, high confidence
Gen 19:24 · allusion, high confidence
1 Cor 10:11 · allusion, high confidence
Jude 1:7 · echo, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Did. 2.2 (Didache) · quotation, medium confidence
Plato, Phaedr. 254e (Plato (works)) · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

“You shall not corrupt boys” is not in the Mosaic law; the combination is found in Did. 2.2 and Barn. 19.4 (see Exhortation 10.108). The quotations and allusions are Exod 20:13–14, Plato, Phaedrus 254e (the “insolent” horse), Jer 5:8, Gen 19:1–25, and 1 Cor 10:11. The bracketed word is marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted). The sentence continues in the next section.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.89 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/89/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.89 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/89/).