Sophia Scriptura

The Instructor 2.8.67

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

Summary: As luxury is shut out of taste, so it must be shut out of smell; the incense the High Priest offers is spiritual, the fragrance of love; plain oil is enough for the body.

Greek text · Stählin 1:197–198

ὥσπερ δὲ τὴν τρυφὴν καὶ τῆς γεύσεως ἀποκεκλείκαμεν, οὕτως ἀμέλει καὶ τῶν ὄψεων καὶ τῶν ὀσφρήσεων τὴν ἡδυπάθειαν ἐξορίζομεν, μὴ λάθωμεν ἣν ἐφυγαδεύσαμεν ἀκολασίαν, κάθοδον αὐτῇ διδόντες εἰς ψυχὴν διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων, οἱονεὶ διὰ θυρῶν ἀφρουρήτων. εἰ γοῦν τῆς εὐωδίας τὸ θυμίαμα τὸν μέγαν ἀρχιερέα, τὸν κύριον, ἀναφέρειν λέγοιεν τῷ θεῷ, μὴ θυσίαν ταύτην καὶ εὐωδίαν θυμιάματος νοούντων, ἀλλὰ γὰρ τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης δεκτὸν ἀναφέρειν τὸν κύριον, τὴν πνευματικὴν εὐωδίαν, εἰς τὸ θυσιαστήριον παραδεχέσθων. αὔταρκες μὲν οὖν τὸ ἔλαιον αὐτὸ λιπᾶναί τε τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν καὶ ἀνεῖναι τὸ νευρῶδες καί τινα τοῦ σώματος ὀσμὴν ἀναστεῖλαι βαρυτέραν, [εἰ] καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο τοῦ ἐλαίου δεοίμεθα ἄν· ἡ δὲ ἐπιτήδευσις τῆς εὐωδίας δέλεάρ ἐστι ῥᾳθυμίας, πόρρωθεν εἰς λίχνον ἐπιθυμίαν ἐπισπωμένης. πάντοθεν γὰρ ἀγώγιμος ὁ ἀκόλαστος καὶ ἀπὸ ἐδωδῆς καὶ ἀπὸ στρωμνῆς καὶ ἀπὸ συναναστροφῆς καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὤτων καὶ ἐκ τῶν γνάθων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν μυκτήρων.

English · Claude translation

As we have shut luxury out of taste, so we banish the voluptuousness of sights and smells, lest we unwittingly give the licentiousness we have exiled a way back into the soul through the senses, as through unguarded doors. If they say that the great High Priest, the Lord, offers to God the incense of fragrance, let them not understand this as a sacrifice and fragrance of incense, but let them accept that the Lord offers on the altar the acceptable offering of love, the spiritual fragrance. Oil itself is sufficient to anoint the skin, relax the sinews, and suppress any heavier smell of the body, if we need oil for this too. But the pursuit of fragrance is a bait of idleness, drawing us from afar toward dainty desire. For the licentious man can be led from every side: by food, by bed, by company, by the eyes, the ears, the jaws, and also by the nostrils.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:197–198 · 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)
Scripture
  • Heb 4:14 · allusion, medium confidence
  • Eph 5:2 · allusion, high confidence
  • Rev 8:3 · allusion, medium confidence
Topics
Ethics, Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Heb 4:14 (the great High Priest), Eph 5:2 (Christ's offering as “a fragrant aroma”), and Rev 8:3–4.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.8.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/8/67/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.8.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/8/67/).

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