The Instructor 2.11.116 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Ornate sandals with gold, jewels, and erotic inscriptions show vanity; footwear should be chosen according to nature.

Greek text · Stählin 1:226

Παραπλήσιαι δὲ καὶ περὶ τὰς ὑποδέσεις εἰσὶν αἱ ἀλαζόνες τὴν πολλὴν βλακείαν κἀνταῦθα ἐπιδεικνύμεναι. αἰσχρὰ γοῦν ἀληθῶς τὰ σανδάλια ἐκεῖνα, ἐφʼ οἷς ἐστι τὰ χρυσᾶ ἄνθεμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἥλους ἑλικοειδῶς τοῖς καττύμασιν ἐγκατακρούειν ἀξιοῦσιν, πολλαὶ δὲ καὶ ἐρωτικοὺς ἀσπασμοὺς ἐγχαράττουσιν αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἂν ἐκ τῆς ἐπιβάσεως ῥυθμίζουσαι τὴν γῆν, τὸ ἑταιρικὸν τοῦ φρονήματος ἐκ τοῦ βαδίσματος ἐναποσφραγίσωνται. χαίρειν οὖν ἐατέον τὰς ἐπιχρύσους καὶ διαλίθους τῶν σανδαλίων ματαιοτεχνίας καὶ κρηπῖδας Ἀττικὰς καὶ τὰς Σικυωνίας καὶ τοὺς κοθόρνους, Περσικάς τε καὶ Τυρρηνικάς, προθεμένους δὲ καθὼς ἔθος τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἡμῶν τὸν σκοπὸν τὸν ὀρθὸν τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἐκλέγειν χρή.

English · Claude translation

Similar are the pretentious women with their footwear, showing much effeminacy here too. Truly shameful are those sandals with golden flowers on them; they even think it right to hammer nails into the soles in spirals; and many engrave erotic greetings on them, so that, keeping time on the ground as they step, they may stamp the courtesan-like character of their mind by their walk. We must say farewell, then, to the vain art of gilded and jeweled sandals, to Attic and Sicyonian shoes, to buskins, Persian and Etruscan; and, setting before us, as is the custom of our truth, the right aim, we must choose what accords with nature.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 1:226 · 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)

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.11.116 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/11/116/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.11.116 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/11/116/).