Sophia Scriptura

The Instructor 3.11.54

Clement of Alexandria · The Instructor · ca. 190–200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The self-controlled have plain, seemly dress; the law of leprosy, where the one wholly white is clean, and Plato's preference for white teach simplicity.

Greek text · Stählin 1:267–268

ὡς γὰρ στρατιώτου καὶ ναύτου καὶ ἄρχοντος, οὕτως δὲ καὶ σώφρονός ἐστιν οἰκεία στολὴ ἡ ἀπερίεργος καὶ εὐσχήμων καὶ καθάριος. παρʼ ὃ καὶ ὁ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ περὶ τῆς λέπρας διὰ Μωυσέως τεθεὶς νόμος τὸ ποικίλον καὶ πολύστικτον ὡς οὐχ ὅσιον ἀπωθεῖται ταῖς ποικίλαις τοῦ ὄφεως φολίσιν ἐοικός. τὸν γοῦν μηκέτι διηνθισμένον ποικιλίᾳ χρωμάτων, ὅλον δὲ λευκωθέντα διʼ ὅλων ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ἄκρας ἄχρι ποδῶν ἐσχάτων καθαρὸν εἶναι ἐθέλει, ἵνα κατὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος μετάβασιν τὸ ποικίλον καὶ πανοῦργον τῆς διανοίας μεθέμενοι πάθος τὸ ἀποίκιλτον καὶ ἀνενδοίαστον τῆς ἀληθείας ἁπλοῦν ἀγαπήσωμεν χρῶμα. ὁ δὲ καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἄρα ζηλωτὴν Μωυσέως, ὁ πάντα ἄριστος Πλάτων, ὑφὴν ἐκείνην ἀποδέχεται, ᾗ μὴ πλέον ἔργον πρόσεστι γυναικὸς σώφρονος· »χρώματα δὲ λευκὰ πρέποντα ἂν εἴη σεμνότητι καὶ ἄλλοθι« λέγει »καὶ ἐν ὑφῇ· βάμματα δὲ μὴ προσφέρειν ἀλλʼ ἢ πρὸς τὰ πολέμου κοσμήματα.«

English · Claude translation

As the soldier, the sailor, and the ruler each have their proper dress, so the self-controlled person has his: unelaborate, seemly, and clean. So the law about leprosy laid down through Moses rejects the many-colored and spotted as unholy, like the variegated scales of the serpent. It wishes the one no longer blooming with a variety of colors, but made white all over from head to foot, to be clean; so that, by transferring the lesson from the body, we may put off the varied and knavish passion of the mind and love the unvaried and unambiguous simple color of truth. And in this too the best Plato, the emulator of Moses, accepts that weaving which does not involve more than the work of a self-controlled woman: “White colors,” he says, “would befit dignity, both elsewhere and in weaving; and dyes should not be used except for the ornaments of war.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:267–268 · 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)
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Plato, Leg. 956a (Plato (works)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusion is Lev 13:12–13; the quotation is Plato, Laws 12.956a.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.54 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/54/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.54 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/54/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage