The Instructor 3.8.43
Summary: The one who neither seeks nor listens is useless; the Instructor uses examples of others' sins and their punishment, and of others' rewards, to turn us from vice and toward the crown.
Greek text · Stählin 1:261–262
ὃς δέ κε μήτʼ αὐτὸς νοέῃ μήτʼ ἄλλου ἀκούων ἐν θυμῷ βάλληται, ὃ δʼ αὖτʼ ἀχρήιος ἀνήρ. [λαὸς ἄλλος ἐστὶν ἐθνικός, ἀχρεῖος·] οὗτος ὁ λαὸς ὁ μὴ Χριστῷ ἑπόμενος· πολυτρόπως δὲ ὅμως ὠφελῶν ὁ παιδαγωγὸς ὁ φιλάνθρωπος τὰ μὲν παρῄνεσεν, τὰ δὲ καὶ ὠνείδισεν, τὸ δὲ καὶ ἄλλων ἁμαρτανόντων τὸ αἶσχος αὐτῶν ὑπέδειξεν ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τούτῳ τιμωρίαν ψυχαγωγῶν τε ἅμα καὶ νουθετῶν ἐφανέρωσε, φιλάνθρωπον ἀποτροπὴν τῆς κακίας μηχανώμενος διὰ τῆς τῶν προπεπονθότων ἐνδείξεως· διʼ ὧν εἰκόνων σαφέστατα τοὺς μὲν ἔπαυσεν κακῶς διατεθέντας, τοὺς δὲ τὰ ἴσα τολμῶντας ἐκώλυσεν, ἄλλους εἰς ὑπομονὴν ἐθεμελίωσεν, ἑτέρους ἔπαυσε κακίας, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἰάσατο τῇ τοῦ ὁμοίου θεωρίᾳ μεταθεμένους ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον. τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἄν [τι] παραφυλάξαιτο, ἑπόμενός τῳ καθʼ ὁδόν, εἶτα μέντοι τοῦ προτέρου εἰς βόθρον ἐμπεσόντος, μὴ οὐχὶ ἀποκλῖναι τὸν ἴσον κίνδυνον, τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας φυλαξάμενος; τίς δὲ αὖθις ἀσκητὴς ὤν, καταμαθὼν τῆς φιλοδοξίας τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ τὸ ἔπαθλον ἰδὼν τὸν πρὸ αὑτοῦ ἀγωνιστὴν εἰληφότα, οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸν στέφανον ἵεται καὶ αὐτός, μιμούμενος τὸν πρεσβύτερον;
English · Claude translation
“But the one who neither understands himself nor, hearing another, takes it to heart, he is a useless man.” [Another people is the pagan, useless.] This is the people that does not follow Christ. But the loving Instructor, helping in many ways, has admonished some things and reproached others, and has also shown us the shame of others who sinned and has revealed their punishment, at once leading and admonishing us, contriving a loving turning away from vice by showing those who suffered before. By these examples he most clearly stopped some who were ill-disposed, prevented others who dared the same things, established others in endurance, stopped others from vice, and healed others who, seeing the like, changed for the better. For who, following someone on a road, when the one ahead has fallen into a pit, would not take care to turn aside from the same danger, guarding against following the sin? And again, what athlete, having learned the way to glory and seen the one before him receive the prize, does not also strive for the crown, imitating his predecessor?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The verses are Hesiod, Works and Days 296–297. The bracketed words are marked by the editor as a gloss. The image of the athlete recalls Heb 12:1 and 1 Cor 9:24–25.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.8.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/8/43/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.8.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/8/43/).
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