The Instructor 3.2.9
Summary: The testimony of pagan writers is followed by Scripture: cosmetics betray a sick soul, and Proverbs warns against drinking from a strange river, the adulterous woman or heresy.
Greek text · Stählin 1:241
Ταῦτα ὑμῖν εἰς τὴν ἀποτροπὴν τῆς φιλοκόσμου κακομηχανίας ἐκ σοφίας κοσμικῆς παρατίθεμαι, παμμάχως σῴζειν ἐθελήσαντος ἡμᾶς τοῦ λόγου, μετὰ μικρὸν δὲ καὶ ταῖς θείαις ἐπιστύψω γραφαῖς. φιλεῖ δέ πως τὸ μὴ λανθάνον διʼ αἰσχύνην τῶν ἐλέγχων ἀφίστασθαι τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων. ὡς δὲ ἡ καταπεπλασμένη χεὶρ καὶ ὁ περιαληλιμμένος ὀφθαλμὸς ὑπόνοιαν τοῦ νοσοῦντος ἐκ τῆς ὄψεως ἐνδείκνυται, οὕτως τὰ ἐντρίμματα καὶ αἱ βαφαὶ νοσοῦσαν ἐν βάθει τὴν ψυχὴν αἰνίττονται. ἡμῖν δὲ παριέναι »ποταμὸν ἀλλότριον« ὁ θεῖος παραινεῖ παιδαγωγός, τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν γυναῖκα, τὴν μάχλον, ποταμὸν ἀλλότριον ἀλληγορῶν, πᾶσιν ἐπιρρέουσαν, πᾶσι διʼ ἀσέλγειαν πορνικὴν εἰς τρυφὴν ἐκχεομένην· »ἀπὸ ὕδατος ἀλλοτρίου ἀπόσχου«, φησίν, »καὶ ἀπὸ πηγῆς ἀλλοτρίας μὴ πίῃς«, τὸ ῥεῦμα τῆς ἡδυπαθείας φυλάξασθαι παραινῶν, »ἵνα πολὺν ζήσωμεν χρόνον, προστεθῇ δὲ ἡμῖν ἔτη ζωῆς«, εἴτε ἀλλοτρίαν ἡδονὴν μὴ θηρωμένοις εἴτε καὶ τὰς αἱρέσεις ἐκτρεπομένοις.
English · Claude translation
I set these things before you from worldly wisdom to turn you from the mischievous contrivance of love of finery, since the Word wishes to save us by every means; a little later I will also apply the astringent of the divine Scriptures. What is not hidden tends somehow to keep away from sins out of shame at being exposed. As a bandaged hand and an eye smeared with ointment suggest to the sight that the person is ill, so cosmetics and dyes hint at a soul sick in its depths. The divine Instructor advises us to pass by “a strange river,” speaking figuratively of the strange woman, the lewd one, as a strange river, flowing to all, pouring out to all in harlot's licentiousness for luxury: “Keep away from strange water,” he says, “and do not drink from a strange spring,” advising us to guard against the stream of voluptuousness, “that we may live a long time, and years of life be added to us,” whether by not hunting after strange pleasure or by turning away from heresies.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are from the Septuagint additions to Prov 9:18 (9:18a–d).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.2.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/2/9/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.2.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/2/9/).
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