The Instructor 3.4.28
Summary: Rich women parade in litters, visit temples and diviners, and learn love charms that destroy marriages, trading purity for shame.
Greek text · Stählin 1:252–253
αἳ δὲ οὐ διὰ σεμνότητα τοῦ κατασκοπεῖσθαι μὴ βούλεσθαι συνωνοῦνται τοὺς φορεῖς (ἀγαπητὸν γὰρ ἦν ἄν, εἰ τῇ διαθέσει ταύτῃ προσεβάλλοντο τὴν σκέπην), ἀλλὰ θρυπτόμεναι ἐποχοῦνται τοῖς οἰκέταις ἐμπομπεύειν γλιχόμεναι. ἀναπεπταμένης γοῦν τῆς αὐλαίας περιβλέπουσαι δριμύτερον τοὺς εἰς αὐτὰς ἀφορῶντας διελέγχονται τὸν τρόπον, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ προκύπτουσιν ἔνδοθεν τὴν ἐπιπόλαιον σεμνότητα καταισχύνουσαι τῇ ὀλισθαινούσῃ περιεργίᾳ. »μὴ περιβλέπου δέ«, φησί, »ἐν ῥύμαις πόλεως, μηδὲ πλανῶ ἐν ταῖς ἐρημίαις αὐτῆς«, ἐρημία γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς, κἂν ὄχλος ἀκολάστων ᾖ, ἔνθα μὴ πάρεστιν ἄνθρωπος σωφρονῶν. περιφέρονται δὲ αὗται ἀνὰ τὰ ἱερὰ ἐκθυόμεναι καὶ μαντευόμεναι, ἀγύρταις καὶ μητραγύρταις καὶ γραίαις βωμολόχοις οἰκοφθορούσαις ὁσημέραι συμπομπεύουσαι καὶ τοὺς παρὰ ταῖς κύλιξι ψιθυρισμοὺς γραϊκοὺς ἀνεχόμεναι, φίλτρα ἄττα καὶ ἐπῳδὰς παρὰ τῶν γοήτων ἐπʼ ὀλέθρῳ γάμων ἐκμανθάνουσαι. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἔχουσι τῶν ἀνδρῶν, τοὺς δὲ εὔχονται, ἄλλους δὲ αὐταῖς οἱ μάντεις ὑπισχνοῦνται. οὐκ ἴσασι δὲ ἀπατώμεναι καὶ αὑτὰς μὲν ὡς σκεῦος ἐκδιδοῦσαι ἡδονῆς τοῖς λαγνεύειν ἐθέλουσι, τὴν δὲ ἁγνείαν τὴν σφῶν τῆς αἰσχίστης ἀντικαταλλαττόμεναι ὕβρεως ἔργον ἡγοῦνται χρηματισμοῦ τὴν ἐπονείδιστον φθοράν.
English · Claude translation
They buy litter-bearers not out of modesty, because they do not wish to be seen (that would be welcome, if they took cover with that disposition), but, giving themselves airs, they ride on their servants, eager to make a show. With the curtain opened, looking around keenly at those who look at them, they expose their character; and often they lean out from within, shaming their superficial modesty with slippery curiosity. “Do not look around in the streets of the city,” it says, “nor wander in its deserted places”; for it is truly a desert, even if there is a crowd of the licentious, where no self-controlled person is present. These women are carried around the temples, sacrificing and consulting diviners, going about every day with mendicant priests, begging priests of the Mother, and ribald old women who ruin households, enduring the old women's whispers over the cups, learning love charms and incantations from sorcerers for the ruin of marriages. Some men they have, others they pray for, and others the diviners promise them. They do not know that they are being deceived, and that, giving themselves over as a vessel of pleasure to those who wish to indulge their lust, and exchanging their purity for the most shameful outrage, they think shameful corruption a matter of business.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Sir 9:7.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.4.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/4/28/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.4.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/4/28/).
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