Sophia Scriptura

The Instructor 2.2.26

Clement of Alexandria · The Instructor · ca. 190–200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The drunkard is a ridiculous and pitiable sight; we should shape ourselves so as not to become such a spectacle.

Greek text · Stählin 1:171–172

ὁρᾶν γοῦν ἔστιν αὐτῶν τινας ἡμιμεθεῖς, σφαλλομένους, περὶ τοῖς τραχήλοις ἔχοντας στεφάνους ὥσπερ τοὺς ἀμφορεῖς, διαπυτίζοντας ἀλλήλοις τὸν ἄκρατον φιλοτησίας ὀνόματι, ἄλλους δὲ πλήρεις κραιπάλης, αὐχμῶντας, ὠχριῶντας, τὰ πρόσωπα πελιδνοὺς καὶ ἔτι ἐπὶ τῇ χθιζῇ μέθῃ ἄλλην ἕωθεν αὖθις ἀναντλοῦντας μέθην. καλόν, ὦ φίλοι, καλὸν καταμαθόντας ὅτι μάλιστα πόρρωθεν τὴν εἰκόνα ταύτην τὴν γελοίαν ἅμα καὶ ἐλεεινὴν σφᾶς αὐτοὺς πρὸς τὸ ἄμεινον σχηματίζειν, ὀρρωδοῦντας μὴ ἄρα πῃ καὶ ἡμεῖς παραπλήσιον θέαμα ἄλλοις καὶ γέλως γενώμεθα. ἀστείως ἄρα εἴρηται· »ὡς ἄρα κάμινος μὲν δοκιμάζει στόμωμα ἐν βαφῇ, οἶνος δὲ καρδίαν ὑπερηφάνων ἐν μέθῃ.«

English · Claude translation

One can see some of them half-drunk, staggering, with garlands around their necks like wine jars, spitting neat wine at one another in the name of loving toasts; and others full of last night's excess, unwashed, pale, their faces livid, and still, on top of yesterday's drunkenness, drawing up another drunkenness in the morning. It is good, friends, it is good, having observed this ridiculous and pitiable picture from as far away as possible, to shape ourselves for the better, fearing lest we too somehow become a similar spectacle and laughingstock to others. So it has been well said: “As the furnace tests the temper of steel by dipping, so wine tests the heart of the proud in drunkenness.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:171–172 · 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; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
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)
Extrabiblical texts
  • Sir 31:26 (Sirach) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Sir 31:26 (34:26).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.2.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/2/26/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.2.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/2/26/).

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