The Instructor 3.11.59 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 1:270

θεῷ δὲ εἰσπεποιημένοις. διὸ καὶ στάσιν καὶ κίνησιν καὶ βάδισμα καὶ ἐσθῆτα καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς τὸν πάντα βίον ὅτι μάλιστα ἐλευθεριώτατον ἐπαναιρετέον. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν δακτύλιον οὐκ ἐπʼ ἄρθρῳ φορητέον τοῖς ἀνδράσι (γυναικεῖον γὰρ τοῦτο), εἰς δὲ τὸν μικρὸν δάκτυλον, καὶ τούτου εἰς τοὔσχατον καθιέναι· ἔσται γὰρ οὕτως εὐεργὴς ἡ χείρ, ἐν οἷς αὐτῆς δεόμεθα· καὶ οὐ ῥᾷστα ὁ σημαντὴρ ἀποπεσεῖται τῇ μείζονι τοῦ ἄρθρου συνδέσει φυλαττόμενος. αἱ δὲ σφραγῖδες ἡμῖν ἔστων πελειὰς ἢ ἰχθὺς ἢ ναῦς οὐριοδρομοῦσα ἢ λύρα μουσική, ᾗ κέχρηται Πολυκράτης, ἢ ἄγκυρα ναυτική, ἣν Σέλευκος ἐνεχαράττετο τῇ γλυφῇ, κἂν ἁλιεύων τις ᾖ, ἀποστόλου μεμνήσεται καὶ τῶν ἐξ ὕδατος ἀνασπωμένων παιδίων· οὐ γὰρ εἰδώλων πρόσωπα ἐναποτυπωτέον, οἷς καὶ τὸ προσέχειν ἀπείρηται, οὐδὲ μὴν ξίφος ἢ τόξον τοῖς εἰρήνην

English · Claude translation

and adopted by God. So our standing, movement, walk, clothing, and in a word our whole life must be as free as possible. Men should not wear a ring on the joint of the finger (that is womanish), but on the little finger, and pushed to its base; for so the hand will be free for the work we need it for, and the signet will not easily fall off, being held by the larger joint. Let our seals be a dove, a fish, a ship running before the wind, a musical lyre, which Polycrates used, or a ship's anchor, which Seleucus had engraved; and if one is a fisherman, he will remember the apostle and the children drawn up out of the water. For the faces of idols must not be engraved, to which we are forbidden even to pay attention; nor a sword or a bow for us who pursue peace,

About this passage

Source

Stählin 1:270 · 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

Rom 8:15 · echo, medium confidence
Gal 4:5 · echo, medium confidence
Matt 4:19 · allusion, high confidence
Exod 20:4 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Baptism, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

This is the earliest literary evidence for Christian symbols on seals (dove, fish, ship, anchor). “The apostle” is Peter the fisherman; “the children drawn up out of the water” are the baptized (Matt 4:19). The allusions are Rom 8:15 (adoption) and Exod 20:4. The sentence continues in the next section.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.59 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/59/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.59 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/59/).