The Instructor 2.3.35
Summary: Gold and silver cups, costly vessels, and luxurious furniture are useless and harmful; the time is short.
Greek text · Stählin 1:177–178
Ἐκπωμάτων τοίνυν ἀργυρίου καὶ χρυσίου πεποιημένων λιθοκολλήτων τε ἄλλων ἄθετος ἡ χρῆσις, ὄψεως ἀπάτη μόνον· εἴτε γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐγχέαι τις θερμοῦ κράματος, διαπυρουμένων τῶν σκευῶν ἐπώδυνος ἡ λῆψις, εἴτε αὖ ψυχρὸν πάλιν ἐγχέαι, μεταδίδωσι τῆς ποιότητος ἡ ὕλη λυμαινομένη τὸ κρᾶμα καὶ ἔστιν ἐπιβλαβὴς ἡ πόσις ἡ πλουσία. ἐρρέτων τοίνυν Θηρίκλειοί τινες κύλικες καὶ Ἀντιγονίδες κάνθαροί τε καὶ λαβρώνιοι καὶ λεπασταὶ καὶ τῶν ἐκπωμάτων εἴδη τὰ μυρία ψυκτῆρές τε ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ οἰνοχόαι· »χρυσός τε γὰρ ἁπαξαπλῶς καὶ ἄργυρος ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ δημοσίᾳ ἐστὶν ἐπίφθονον κτῆμα« τὴν χρείαν ὑπερβεβηκὸς κτήσασθαί τε σπάνιον καὶ τηρῆσαι δύσκολον καὶ οὐκ ἐπιτήδειον χρήσασθαι. ναὶ μὴν καὶ τορευτῶν περίεργος ἐφʼ ὑέλῳ κενοδοξία εἰς θραῦσιν διὰ τέχνης ἑτοιμοτέρᾳ δεδιέναι τε ἅμα καὶ πίνειν διδάσκουσα περιοριστέα τῆς εὐνομίας ἡμῶν· κλιντῆρες δὲ ἀργυροῖ καὶ λεκάναι καὶ ὀξύβαφα καὶ πινακίσκοι καὶ τρύβλια, πρὸς ἐπὶ τούτοις σκεύη ἀργυρᾶ τε καὶ χρυσᾶ, τὰ μὲν εἰς διακονίαν τροφῆς, τὰ δὲ καὶ εἰς ἄλλας τινάς, ἃς αἰσχύνομαι καὶ λέγειν, χρείας, κέδρου τε εὐκεάτοιο καὶ θύου καὶ ἐβένου καὶ ἐλέφαντος τρίποδες ἠσκημένοι κλῖναί τε ἀργυρόποδες καὶ ἐλεφαντοκόλλητοι χρυσόστικτοί τε καὶ χελώνης πεποικιλμέναι κύτει κλισιάδες στρωμναί τε ἁλουργεῖς καὶ ἄλλων χρωμάτων δυσπορίστων, ἀπειροκάλου τρυφῆς τεκμήρια, φθόνου καὶ βλακείας ἐπίβουλα πλεονεκτήματα, παραπεμπτέα ἅπαντα, οὐδʼ ἡντινοῦν ἀξιόλογον ἔχοντα σπουδήν. »ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς συνεσταλμένος ἐστίν«, ὥς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος.
English · Claude translation
The use of cups made of silver and gold, and of others set with stones, is to be rejected, a mere deception of the eye. For if one pours a warm mixture into them, the vessels get hot and are painful to hold; and if one pours in a cold one, the material imparts its quality, spoiling the mixture, and the rich drink is harmful. Away, then, with Thericlean cups and Antigonids, canthari and labronii and lepastae, and countless kinds of drinking vessels, and wine coolers and wine jugs besides. “For gold and silver, in a word, both privately and publicly, are an envied possession,” exceeding need, rare to acquire, hard to keep, and unsuitable for use. And the elaborate vanity of engravers on glass, more ready to break because of the art, teaching us to fear and to drink at the same time, must be banished from our good order. Silver couches and basins, saucers, plates, and dishes, and besides silver and gold vessels, some for serving food, others for other uses which I am ashamed even to name; tripods worked of “well-split cedar,” citron wood, ebony, and ivory; couches with silver feet and inlaid with ivory, folding doors studded with gold and adorned with tortoise shell; purple coverlets and others of hard-to-get colors, proofs of tasteless luxury, treacherous advantages of envy and effeminacy: all these must be dismissed, having no worth worthy of pursuit. “For the time has been shortened,” as the apostle says.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The names of cups are types known from Greek literature (e.g. the Thericlean cup, named for a Corinthian potter). The quotations are Plato (Laws, freely), a Homeric phrase (“well-split cedar,” Iliad 24.192), and 1 Cor 7:29.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misplaced space at the opening quotation mark): οἰνοχόαι· » χρυσός → οἰνοχόαι· »χρυσός.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.3.35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/3/35/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.3.35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/3/35/).
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