The Instructor 3.11.73
Summary: Mistresses should keep their maidservants chaste, for a servant's license reflects on her mistress; walking should be dignified, not showy, and no sign of softness should appear in a man.
Greek text · Stählin 1:276–277
Ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδὲ τὰς θεραπαίνας ἀξιῶ τὰς ἐπʼ ἀριστερᾶς ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἢ τὰς ἑπομένας αὐταῖς αἰσχρολογεῖν ἢ αἰσχροεργεῖν, σωφρονίζεσθαι δὲ αὐτὰς πρὸς τῶν δεσποινῶν· σφόδρα γοῦν ἐπιτιμητικώτατα ὁ κωμικὸς Φιλήμων φησίν· ἐξιὼν γυναικὸς ἐξόπισθʼ ἐλευθέρας βλέπω μόνην θεράπαιναν κατόπιν ἀκολουθεῖν καλὴν ἐκ τοῦ Πλαταιικοῦ τε παρακολουθοῦντά τινα ταύτῃ κατιλλώπτειν. ἀναστρέφει γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν δέσποιναν ἡ τῆς θεραπαίνης ἀκολασία, ἐπιβάθραν ἐνδιδοῦσα τοῖς πειρῶσι τὰ ἥττονα τοῦ μὴ εὐλαβεῖσθαι τὰ μείζονα, διὰ τοῦ συγγιγνώσκειν τοῖς αἰσχροῖς τὸ μὴ καταγιγνώσκειν ἐμφαινούσης τῆς δεσποίνης. τὸ δὲ μὴ ἐπαγανακτεῖν τοῖς ἀκολασταίνουσιν σαφὲς γίνεται τεκμήριον γνώμης εἰς τὸ ὅμοιον ἐκτρεπομένης. »οἵα γὰρ δέσποινα«, φασὶν οἱ παροιμιαζόμενοι, »τοιάδε χἀ κύων.« Ἀποσκορακιστέον δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ τοῦ περιπάτου τὸ μανιῶδες, τὸ δὲ σεμνὸν καὶ τὸ σχολαῖον ἐκλεκτέον, οὐ τὸ βάδισμα τὸ μελλητικόν, οὐδὲ τὸ ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς σαλεύειν καὶ ἐξυπτιάζοντα παραβλέπειν εἰς τοὺς ἀπαντῶντας, εἰ ἀποβλέπουσιν εἰς αὐτόν, καθάπερ ἐπὶ σκηνῆς ἐμπομπεύοντα καὶ δακτυλοδεικτούμενον. οὐδὲ ὑπὸ οἰκετῶν ἀναστρέφεσθαι χρὴ πρὸς τὸ σιμὸν ὠθουμένους, ὥσπερ τοὺς τρυφητικωτέρους ὁρῶμεν, ἐρρωμένους εἶναι δοκοῦντας, ὑπὸ μαλακίας δὲ ψυχικῆς διατεθρυμμένους. ἀνδρὸς δὲ γενναίου σημεῖον οὐδὲν εἶναι δεῖ περιφανὲς ἐν τῷ προσώπῳ μαλακίας, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἐν ἑτέρῳ μέρει τοῦ σώματος.
English · Claude translation
I do not think it right even for the maidservants who stand at women's left, or who follow them, to use foul speech or do shameful things; they should be taught self-control by their mistresses. The comic poet Philemon says very reprovingly: “Going out, I see behind a free woman a pretty maidservant following alone, and someone from the Plataean quarter following her and ogling her.” For the maidservant's licentiousness reflects on her mistress, giving those who try lesser things a stepping stone to not fearing greater ones, since the mistress, by forgiving shameful things, shows that she does not condemn them. Not being indignant at the licentious is a clear proof of a mind turning toward the same. “As is the mistress,” say the proverb-makers, “so is the dog.” We must also banish frenzied walking, and choose the dignified and leisurely, not the dawdling walk, nor swaying in the streets and throwing the head back to look sidelong at those one meets, to see whether they are looking at one, as though parading on a stage and being pointed at. Nor should one be propelled uphill by servants, as we see the more luxurious, who seem strong but are softened by weakness of soul. There should be no mark of softness in the face of a noble man, nor in any other part of the body.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Philemon, fragment 124 (Kock); the proverb is “like mistress, like dog.”
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.73 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/73/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.73 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/73/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text