The Instructor 1.10.89
Summary: Having shown the Word's severity, Clement turns to his gentleness: the Instructor both dissuades and exhorts, blames and praises.
Greek text · Stählin 1:142
Εἰ τοίνυν τὴν περὶ τὸ ἐπιστύφειν τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα οἰκονομίαν, ἀγαθὴν οὖσαν καὶ σωτήριον, ἀναγκαίως ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου παραλαμβανομένην ἐπεδείξαμεν πρός τε μετάνοιαν καὶ πρὸς τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τὴν κώλυσιν εὔθετον γενομένην, ἑξῆς ἂν εἴη σκοπεῖν τὸ ἤπιον τοῦ λόγου· δίκαιος γὰρ οὗτος ἀποδέδεικται καὶ τὰς ἰδίας παρατίθεται γνώμας τὰς πρὸς σωτηρίαν παρακλητικάς, διʼ ὧν καὶ τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ συμφέρον πατρικῷ θελήματι γνωρίζειν ἡμῖν βούλεται. σκόπει δὲ ταῦτα· τὸ μὲν καλὸν τοῦ ἐγκωμιαστικοῦ, τὸ δὲ συμφέρον τοῦ συμβουλευτικοῦ· καὶ γὰρ οὖν τοῦ μὲν συμβουλευτικοῦ σχέσις τὸ προτρεπτικὸν καὶ ἀποτρεπτικόν, τοῦ δὲ ἐγκωμιαστικοῦ τὸ ἐπαινετικόν τε καὶ ψεκτικὸν γίνεται. πῶς γὰρ ἔχουσα ἡ διάνοια ἡ συμβουλευτικὴ προτρεπτικὴ γίνεται καὶ πῶς ἔχουσα ἀποτρεπτική. ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐγκωμιαστικὸν πῶς μὲν ἔχον ψεκτικὸν γίνεται, πῶς δὲ ἔχον ἐπαινετικόν· περὶ ἃ καταγίνεται μάλιστα ὁ παιδαγωγὸς ὁ δίκαιος ὁ τοῦ ἡμετέρου συμφέροντος ἐστοχασμένος. ἀλλὰ γὰρ τὸ μὲν ψεκτικὸν καὶ ἀποτρεπτικὸν εἶδος ὑποδέδεικται ἡμῖν ἤδη πρότερον, νῦν δὲ αὖ τὸ προτρεπτικὸν καὶ ἐπαινετικὸν μεταχειριστέον καὶ καθάπερ ἐπὶ ζυγοῦ τὰς ἰσοστασίους ἀντισηκώσωμεν τοῦ δικαίου πλάστιγγας.
English · Claude translation
If, then, we have shown that the plan of treating humanity severely, which is good and saving, is necessarily adopted by the Word, and is well suited both to repentance and to the prevention of sins, it would be next to consider the gentleness of the Word. For he has been shown to be just, and he sets before us his own sayings, which encourage us to salvation, and by which he wishes to make known to us, by the Father's will, both the noble and the advantageous. Consider this: the noble belongs to the speech of praise, the advantageous to deliberative speech; for exhorting and dissuading are aspects of deliberative speech, and praising and blaming of the speech of praise. In one disposition the deliberative mind exhorts, in another it dissuades; likewise the speech of praise in one disposition blames, in another praises. With these the just Instructor, who aims at our advantage, is most concerned. The kind that blames and dissuades has already been shown to us; now we must deal with the kind that exhorts and praises, and, as on a balance, set the equal scales of justice against each other.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Clement uses the categories of classical rhetoric: deliberative speech (exhorting or dissuading, aiming at the advantageous) and epideictic speech (praising or blaming, aiming at the noble).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.10.89 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/10/89/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.10.89 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/10/89/).
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