Sophia Scriptura

The Instructor 3.11.74

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

Summary: Masters should treat servants with fairness and kindness, as Peter teaches; Zeno's portrait of the modest, manly young man is a good model.

Greek text · Stählin 1:277

μὴ τοίνυν μηδὲ ἐν κινήσεσιν μηδὲ ἐν σχέσεσιν εὑρεθείη ποθʼ ἡ ἀσχημοσύνη τῆς ἀνανδρίας. οὐδὲ μὴν καθάπερ ὑποζυγίοις τοῖς οἰκέταις χρηστέον τῷ ὑγιαίνοντι. ὡς γάρ τοι ἐκείνοις παραγγέλλεται »παντὶ φόβῳ τοῖς δεσπόταις, οὐ μόνον τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ ἐπιεικέσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς σκολιοῖς ὑποτάσσεσθαι«, φησὶν ὁ Πέτρος, οὕτως ἡ ἰσότης καὶ ἡ μακροθυμία καὶ ἡ φιλανθρωπία τοῖς δεσπόταις εὐάρμοστος. »τὸ γὰρ τέλος«, φησί, »πάντες ὁμόφρονες, συμπαθεῖς, φιλάδελφοι, εὔσπλαγχνοι, ταπεινόφρονες« καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις, »ἵνα εὐλογίαν κληρονομήσητε.« καλήν τινα καὶ ἀξιέραστον ὑπογράφειν ὁ Κιτιεὺς ἔοικεν Ζήνων εἰκόνα νεανίᾳ καὶ οὕτως αὐτὸν ἀνδριαντουργεῖ· »ἔστω«, φησί, »καθαρὸν τὸ πρόσωπον, ὀφρὺς μὴ καθειμένη, μηδὲ ὄμμα ἀναπεπταμένον μηδὲ διακεκλασμένον, μὴ ὕπτιος ὁ τράχηλος, μηδὲ ἀνιέμενα τὰ τοῦ σώματος μέλη, ἀλλὰ [τὰ] μετέωρα ἐντόνοις ὅμοια, ὀρθόνους πρὸς τὸν λόγον ὀξύτης, καὶ κατοκωχὴ τῶν ὀρθῶς εἰρημένων, καὶ σχηματισμοὶ καὶ κινήσεις μηδὲν ἐνδιδοῦσαι τοῖς ἀκολάστοις ἐλπίδος. αἰδὼς μὲν ἐπανθείτω καὶ ἀρρενωπία· ἀπέστω δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀπὸ τῶν μυροπωλίων καὶ χρυσοχοείων καὶ ἐριοπωλίων ἄλυς καὶ ὁ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἐργαστηρίων, ἔνθα ἑταιρικῶς κεκοσμημένοι, ὥσπερ αἱ ἐπὶ τέγους καθεζόμεναι, διημερεύουσι.«

English · Claude translation

Let the unseemliness of unmanliness never be found in our movements or postures. Nor should a healthy man use his servants like beasts of burden. As they are commanded “to be subject with all fear to their masters, not only to the good and gentle but also to the crooked,” says Peter, so equity, patience, and kindness befit masters. “Finally,” he says, “be all of one mind, sympathetic, loving the brethren, compassionate, humble-minded,” and so on, “that you may inherit a blessing.” Zeno of Citium seems to sketch a fine and lovable image of a young man, and sculpts him thus: “Let his face be clean, his brow not lowered, his eye neither wide open nor languishing, his neck not thrown back, the limbs of his body not relaxed but held high like taut strings; let there be an alertness of mind toward reason, a holding fast to what is rightly said, and postures and movements that give the licentious no hope. Let modesty and manliness bloom; and away with the lounging around the perfume shops, goldsmiths, wool shops, and other workshops, where men spend the whole day adorned like courtesans, like women sitting on the roofs.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:277 · 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 quotations are 1 Pet 2:18, 1 Pet 3:8–9, and Zeno of Citium (fragment 246, von Arnim).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.74 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/74/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.74 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/74/).

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