The Instructor 3.11.71
Summary: Paul commands us to put sexual immorality to death, but some women flaunt themselves with mastic, pins, and painted faces, like the foolish woman in Proverbs who calls to passers-by.
Greek text · Stählin 1:275
»πορνεία δὲ γυναικὸς ἐν μετεωρισμῷ ὀφθαλμῶν.« »νεκρώσατε οὖν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πορνείαν, ἀκαθαρσίαν, πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν κακὴν καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρεία, διʼ ἃ ἔρχεται ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ«, ὁ μὲν ἀπόστολος βοᾷ, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀναζωπυροῦμεν τὰ πάθη καὶ οὐκ αἰσχυνόμεθα. αἳ μὲν αὐτῶν »μαστίχην ἐντραγοῦσαι«, περιιοῦσαι, σεσήρασι τοῖς παριοῦσιν, αἳ δὲ τὰς κεφαλάς, ὡς μὴ δακτύλους ἔχουσαι, ταῖς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν φερομέναις περόναις σκαλεύουσαι θρύπτονται, καὶ ταύτας ἢ χελώνης ἢ ἐλέφαντος ἢ τινος ἄλλου ζῴου νεκροῦ πεποιημένας πολυπραγμονοῦσιν· ἄλλαι δὲ καθάπερ ἐξανθήματά τινα ἔχουσαι πρὸς εὐπρέπειαν τῶν ὁρώντων εὐανθέσι περιχρίστοις κοσμούμεναι σπιλοῦσι τὰ πρόσωπα τὰ αὐτῶν. »ἄφρονα« τὴν τοιαύτην καὶ »θρασεῖαν γυναῖκα« διὰ Σολομῶντος λέγει, »ἣ οὐκ ἐπίσταται αἰσχύνην· ἐκάθισεν ἐπὶ θύραις τοῦ ἑαυτῆς οἴκου ἐπὶ δίφρου, ἐμφανῶς προσκαλουμένη τοὺς παριόντας ὁδόν, τοὺς εὐθύνοντας τὰς ἑαυτῶν τροχιάς«, διὰ τοῦ σχήματος αὐτῆς καὶ τοῦ βίου παντὸς δηλονότι λέγουσα, »τίς ἐστιν ὑμῶν ἀφρονέστατος; ἐκκλινάτω πρός με.
English · Claude translation
“A woman's sexual immorality is in the raising of her eyes.” “Put to death, then, the members that are on the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, because of which the wrath of God comes,” cries the apostle; but we rekindle the passions and are not ashamed. Some of them, “chewing mastic,” go about grinning at passers-by; others, as if they had no fingers, affectedly scratch their heads with the pins they carry, and take trouble over them, made of tortoise shell or ivory or some other dead animal; others, as though they had some eruptions, adorn themselves with brightly colored salves to please those who see them, and spot their own faces. Through Solomon he calls such a woman “foolish” and “bold,” “who does not know shame; she sits at the doors of her house on a seat, openly calling to those who pass by on the road, those who go straight on their ways,” saying plainly by her appearance and her whole life: “Who among you is most foolish? Let him turn aside to me.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Sir 26:9, Col 3:5–6, a comic phrase (“chewing mastic”), and Prov 9:13–16 (LXX), which continues in the next section.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.71 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/71/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.71 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/71/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text