Sophia Scriptura

The Instructor 3.11.70

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

Summary: The eyes must be guarded, for ogling is adultery with the eyes; the Lord says to cut out the offending eye; the eye is the lamp of the body, revealing what is within.

Greek text · Stählin 1:274–275

μάλιστα δὲ ὀφθαλμῶν φειστέον, ἐπεὶ τοῖς ποσὶν ἢ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἄμεινον ὀλισθεῖν. ὁ γοῦν κύριος συντομώτατα ἰᾶται τὸ πάθος τοῦτο, »εἰ σκανδαλίζει σε ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου, ἔκκοψον αὐτόν« λέγων, ἐκ βάθρων ἀνασπῶν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν· κλαδαραὶ δὲ ὄψεις καὶ τὸ ἐνιλλώπτειν, ὃ διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν βλεφαρίζειν ἐστίν, οὐδὲν ἀλλʼ ἢ διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μοιχεύειν ἐστὶν ἀκροβολιζομένης τῆς ἐπιθυμίας διʼ αὐτῶν. πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ παντὸς σώματος διαφθείρονται οἱ ὀφθαλμοί. »θεωρῶν δὲ καλὰ ὀφθαλμὸς εὐφραίνει καρδίαν«, τουτέστι καλῶς μαθὼν θεωρεῖν εὐφραίνει, »ἐννεύων δὲ ὀφθαλμὸν μετὰ δόλου συνάγει ἀνδράσι λύπας.« τοιοῦτόν που τὸν θηλυδρίαν Σαρδανάπαλλον, τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τὸν βασιλέα, ἐπὶ κλίνῃ ἀναβάδην ἑζόμενον εἰσάγουσι πορφύραν ξαίνοντα καὶ τὰ λευκὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐπαναβάλλοντα. αἱ ταῦτα ἐπιτηδεύουσαι γυναῖκες ἰδίαις ὄψεσι προαγωγεύουσιν αὑτάς· »λύχνος γὰρ τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ ὀφθαλμός«, φησὶν ἡ γραφή, διʼ οὗ καταφαίνεται τὰ ἔνδον φωτὶ τῷ φαινομένῳ καταυγαζόμενα.

English · Claude translation

Above all the eyes must be guarded, since it is better to slip with the feet than with the eyes. The Lord heals this passion most briefly, saying, “If your eye makes you stumble, cut it out,” tearing up desire from its foundations. Wanton looks and ogling, which is winking with the eyes, is nothing but committing adultery with the eyes, desire skirmishing through them. For the eyes are corrupted before the whole body. “The eye that beholds good things gladdens the heart,” that is, the one that has learned to look rightly gladdens; “but one who winks with the eye deceitfully gathers griefs for men.” Such, they portray the effeminate Sardanapalus, king of the Assyrians, sitting astride on a couch, carding purple and rolling up the whites of his eyes. Women who practice these things play the procuress for themselves with their own looks; “for the eye is the lamp of the body,” says Scripture, through which what is within is seen lit up by the light that shines.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:274–275 · 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
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The saying about slipping with the feet is attributed to Zeno the Stoic (Diogenes Laertius 7.26). The quotations are Matt 5:29 (18:9), Prov 15:30 (LXX), Prov 10:10, and Matt 6:22.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.70 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/70/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.70 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/70/).

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