The Instructor 2.3.37
Summary: Riches end in Hades; household goods should be judged by usefulness, not costliness, since a plain knife, basin, lamp, or bed serves just as well.
Greek text · Stählin 1:179
οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξεύρεσις τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν· ἠφανίσθησαν καὶ εἰς Ἅιδου κατέβησαν.« οὗτος τῆς ἀπειροκαλίας ὁ μισθός. εἰ γάρ τοι γεωργοῦσιν ἡμῖν δικέλλης ἐστὶν χρεία καὶ ἀρότρου, μάκελλαν δʼ οὐκ ἄν τις ἀργυρᾶν οὐδὲ ἄμην χρυσῆν χαλκεύοι, τῷ δὲ εὐεργῷ τῆς ὕλης, οὐ τῷ πλουσίῳ, εἰς γεηπονίαν συγχρώμεθα, τί κωλύει καὶ περὶ τὰ σκεύη τὰ ἐνοικίδια τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχειν διάνοιαν τοὺς τοῦ ὁμοίου θεωρητικούς; ὧν μέτρον ἡ χρεία, μὴ ἡ πολυτέλεια γινέσθω. τί γάρ; εἰπέ μοι· τὸ μαχαίριον τὸ ἐπιτραπέζιον, ἢν μὴ ἀργυρόηλον ᾖ ἢ ἐξ ἐλέφαντος πεποιημένον τὴν λαβήν, οὐ τέμνει; ἢ ἐπὶ τὴν μοῖραν τοῦ κρέως Ἰνδικὸν σίδηρον χαλκευτέον, καθάπερ συμμαχικόν τι παρακαλοῦντας; τί δέ; εἰ κεραμεοῦν εἴη τὸ χερνίβιον, οὐ δέξεται τὸ ἀπόνιμμα τῆς χειρός; οὐδὲ ὁ ποδονιπτὴρ τὸ ἀπόνιμμα τοῦ ποδός; ἀναξιοπαθήσει δὲ ἄρα καὶ ἡ τράπεζα ἡ ἐξ ἐλέφαντος τοὺς πόδας ἐσκευασμένη ὀβολιαῖον ἄρτον βαστάσασα, οὐδὲ μὴν ὁ λύχνος διακονήσει τὸ φῶς, ὅτι κεραμέως, οὐ χρυσοχόου ἔργον ἐστίν. ἐγὼ δέ φημι καὶ τοῦ σκίμποδος οὐδὲν κακίω παρεχομένου κατάκλισιν τῆς ἐλεφαντίνης κλίνης, τῆς δὲ σισύρας ἱκανωτάτης οὔσης ὑπεστρῶσθαι, ὥστε μὴ δεῖσθαι πορφυρίδων ἢ φοινικίδων, κατεγνῶσθαι ὅμως τῆς εὐτελείας διʼ ἀβελτερίαν ἀρχεκάκου τρυφῆς.
English · Claude translation
There is no finding out of their works; they have vanished and gone down to Hades.” This is the reward of tastelessness. For if in farming we need a mattock and a plow, no one would forge a silver pickaxe or a golden sickle, but we use for tillage the workable material, not the costly; what prevents those who can see the likeness from having the same mind about household vessels? Let need, not costliness, be their measure. What? Tell me: does the table knife not cut unless it has silver studs or an ivory handle? Or must we forge Indian steel for a portion of meat, as if calling in an ally? What then? If the washbasin is earthenware, will it not receive the water from washing the hands? Or the foot-basin the water from the feet? Will the table with feet made of ivory be indignant at carrying a penny loaf? Nor will the lamp give its light because it is the work of a potter, not of a goldsmith? I say that the pallet gives no worse rest than the ivory couch, and that the goatskin rug is quite sufficient as a covering, so that there is no need of purple or scarlet coverlets; yet frugality is condemned through the folly of luxury, the author of evils.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is the end of Bar 3:18–19.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.3.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/3/37/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.3.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/3/37/).
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