The Instructor 2.5.45
Summary: Jesters and buffoonery have no place among Christians: speech is the fruit of character, and ridiculous speech comes from a ridiculous character.
Greek text · Stählin 1:184–185
Μιμηλοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους γελοίων, μᾶλλον δὲ καταγελάστων παθῶν τῆς ἡμετέρας ἐξελαστέον πολιτείας. πάντων γὰρ τῶν λόγων ἀπὸ διανοίας καὶ ἤθους ῥεόντων οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστι γελοίους τινὰς προέσθαι λόγους, μὴ οὐχὶ ἀπὸ γελοίου ἤθους φερομένους. τὸ γὰρ »οὐκ ἔστι δένδρον καλὸν ποιοῦν καρπὸν σαπρὸν οὐδὲ μὴν δένδρον σαπρὸν ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν« κἀνταῦθʼ ἂν ἁρμόσαι· καρπὸς διανοίας ὁ λόγος ἐστίν. εἰ τοίνυν τοὺς γελωτοποιοὺς ἐξοικιστέον τῆς ἡμεδαπῆς πολιτείας, πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ἐπιτρέπειν γελωτοποιεῖν. ἄτοπον γάρ, ὧν ἀκροατὰς γενέσθαι κεκώλυται, τούτων εὑρίσκεσθαι μιμητάς· πολλῷ δὲ ἔτι ἀτοπώτερον γελοῖον αὐτὸν σπουδάζειν γενέσθαι, τοῦτʼ ἔστιν ἐφύβριστον καὶ καταγέλαστον. εἰ γὰρ γελοίως σχηματισθῆναι, καθάπερ ἐν ταῖς πομπαῖς ὁρῶνταί τινες, οὐκ ἂν ὑπομείναιμεν, πῶς ἂν εἰκότως τὸν ἐντὸς ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τὸ γελοιότερον σχηματιζόμενον ἀνασχοίμεθα; καὶ εἰ τὸ πρόσωπον οὐκ ἂν ἑκόντες ἐπὶ τὸ γελοιότερον μεταστρέψαιμέν [ἄν] ποτε, [καὶ] πῶς ἂν κατὰ τοὺς λόγους ἐπιτηδεύσαιμεν εἶναί τε καὶ φαίνεσθαι γελοῖοι, τὸ τιμιώτατον πάντων τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις κτημάτων καταμωκώμενοι, τὸν λόγον; χλεύη μὲν οὖν ἐπιτηδεύειν ταῦτα, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ ὁ τῶν γελοίων λόγος [τοῖος] ἀκροάσεως ἄξιος, διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὰ αἰσχρὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐθίζων, χαριεντιστέον τε, οὐ γελωτοποιητέον.
English · Claude translation
Imitators of ridiculous, or rather contemptible, passions must be banished from our commonwealth. For since all words flow from the mind and character, it is not possible to utter ridiculous words that do not come from a ridiculous character. For the saying “There is no good tree that bears rotten fruit, nor a rotten tree that bears good fruit” would fit here too; speech is the fruit of the mind. If, then, jesters must be expelled from our commonwealth, much less must we allow ourselves to play the jester. It is absurd to be found imitators of what we are forbidden to hear; and much more absurd to strive to become ridiculous oneself, that is, an object of insult and mockery. For if we would not endure to be made up ridiculously, as some are seen in processions, how could we rightly bear to have the inner man made up to look still more ridiculous? And if we would never willingly twist our face into something more ridiculous, how could we practice being and appearing ridiculous in our speech, mocking the most precious of all human possessions, speech? To practice this, then, is buffoonery, since the talk of jesters is not worth hearing, accustoming us by its words to shameful deeds. We should be graceful, not jesters.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Matt 7:18 (Luke 6:43). The banishing of mimics from “our commonwealth” echoes Plato, Republic 3.398a. The bracketed words are marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on ἂν): οὐκ ἄν ἑκόντες → οὐκ ἂν ἑκόντες.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.5.45 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/5/45/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.5.45 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/5/45/).
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