The Instructor 3.11.60 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 1:270

διώκουσιν ἢ κύπελλα τοῖς σωφρονοῦσιν. πολλοὶ δὲ τῶν ἀκολάστων ἐγγεγλυμμένους ἔχουσι τοὺς ἐρωμένους ἢ τὰς ἑταίρας, ὡς μηδὲ ἐθελήσασιν αὐτοῖς λήθην ποτὲ ἐγγενέσθαι δυνηθῆναι τῶν ἐρωτικῶν παθημάτων διὰ τὴν ἐνδελεχῆ τῆς ἀκολασίας ὑπόμνησιν. Τριχῶν δὲ πέρι ταύτῃ δοκεῖ· ψιλὴ μὲν ἡ τῶν ἀνδρῶν κεφαλή, πλὴν εἰ μὴ οὔλας ἔχοι τὰς τρίχας, λάσιον δὲ τὸ γένειον, αἱ δὲ συνεστραμμέναι τῶν τριχῶν ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς μὴ καθικέσθωσαν ἄγαν εἰς πλοκάμους κατολισθαίνουσαι γυναικείους· ἀπόχρη γὰρ τὸ »ἠυγένειον« τοῖς ἀνδράσιν. εἰ δέ τις καὶ κείραιτό τι τοῦ γενείου, οὐ μέντοι παντελῶς ψιλωτέον αὐτό· αἰσχρὸν γὰρ τὸ θέαμα καὶ κατέγνωσται ἡ τοῦ γενείου ἐν χρῷ κουρὰ παρατίλσει καὶ λειότητι γειτνιῶσα. αὐτίκα γοῦν ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς τοῦ γενείου τερπόμενος τῇ κόμῃ »ὡς τὸ μύρον« φησὶ »τὸ καταβαῖνον ἐπὶ πώγωνα, τὸν πώγωνα τὸν Ἀαρών«· τῇ παλινῳδίᾳ τοῦ πώγωνος τὸ εὐπρεπὲς ὑμνήσας, τὸ πρόσωπον τῷ μύρῳ κατεγάνωσε κυρίου.

English · Claude translation

nor drinking cups for the self-controlled. Many of the licentious have their beloved boys or courtesans engraved on their rings, so that even if they wished they could never forget their erotic passions, through the constant reminder of licentiousness. About hair this is our view: the men's head should be close-cropped, unless their hair is curly, and the chin bearded; and let the hair gathered from the head not hang down too far, slipping into women's locks; “well-bearded” is enough for men. If one cuts part of the beard, it should not be made entirely bare; the sight is shameful, and shaving the beard to the skin is condemned as close to plucking and smoothing. The psalmist, delighting in the beard's hair, says, “like the ointment running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron”; praising the seemliness of the beard in the refrain, he made the face of the Lord shine with ointment.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 1:270 · 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

Ps 133:2 (132:2 LXX) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

“Well-bearded” (ἠυγένειος) is a Homeric epithet (Odyssey 4.456). The quotation is Ps 133:2 (132:2 LXX).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (letter missing in the digital text): οὐ μέντοι πατελῶς ψιλωτέον → οὐ μέντοι παντελῶς ψιλωτέον.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/60/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/11/60/).