The Instructor 1.13.102
Summary: Sin makes man like the beasts; right action (duty) is obedience to the Word's commands, leading to eternal rest in God, and the Christian life is a system of such rational actions.
Greek text · Stählin 1:151
αὐτίκα γοῦν ὅτε ἥμαρτεν ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος καὶ παρήκουσεν τοῦ θεοῦ, »καὶ παρωμοιώθη«, φησί, »τοῖς κτήνεσιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος«, παρὰ τὸν λόγον ἐξαμαρτών· εἰκότως ἄλογος νομισθεὶς εἰκάζεται κτήνεσιν. ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἡ σοφία λέγει· »ἵππος εἰς ὀχείαν ὁ φιλήδονος καὶ ὁ μοιχός«, ἀλογίστῳ κτήνει παρομοιωθείς, διὸ καὶ ἐπιφέρει· »παντὸς ὑποκάτω ἐπικαθημένου χρεμετίζει.« οὐκέτι λαλεῖ, φησίν, ὁ ἄνθρωπος· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν λογικὸς ἔτι ὁ παρὰ λόγον ἁμαρτάνων, θηρίον δὲ δὴ ἄλογον, ἔκδοτον ἐπιθυμίαις, ᾧ πᾶσαι ἐπικάθηνται ἡδοναί. τὸ δὲ κατορθούμενον κατὰ τὴν τοῦ λόγου ὑπακοὴν προσῆκον καὶ καθῆκον Στωϊκῶν ὀνομάζουσιν παῖδες· τὸ μὲν οὖν καθῆκον προσῆκόν ἐστιν, ὑπακοὴ δὲ θεμελιοῦται ἐντολαῖς· αὗται δὲ ταῖς ὑποθήκαις αἱ αὐταὶ οὖσαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔχουσαι σκοπόν, ἐπὶ τὸ ἔσχατον ὀρεκτόν, ὃ τέλος νοεῖται, παιδαγωγοῦσιν· τέλος δέ ἐστιν θεοσεβείας ἡ ἀίδιος ἀνάπαυσις ἐν τῷ θεῷ, τοῦ δὲ αἰῶνός ἐστιν ἀρχὴ τὸ ἡμέτερον τέλος. τὸ μέντοι τῆς θεοσεβείας κατόρθωμα διʼ ἔργων τὸ καθῆκον ἐκτελεῖ· ὅθεν εἰκότως τὰ καθήκοντα περὶ τὰς πράξεις, οὐ τὰς λέξεις, συνίσταται· καὶ ἔστιν ἡ μὲν πρᾶξις ἡ τοῦ Χριστιανοῦ ψυχῆς ἐνέργεια λογικῆς κατὰ κρίσιν ἀστείαν καὶ ὄρεξιν ἀληθείας διὰ τοῦ συμφυοῦς καὶ συναγωνιστοῦ σώματος ἐκτελουμένη· καθῆκον δὲ ἀκόλουθον ἐν βίῳ θεῷ καὶ Χριστῷ βούλημα ἕν, κατορθούμενον ἀιδίῳ ζωῇ· καὶ γὰρ ὁ βίος ὁ Χριστιανῶν, ὃν παιδαγωγούμεθα νῦν, σύστημά τί ἐστι λογικῶν πράξεων, τουτέστιν τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου διδασκομένων ἀδιάπτωτος ἐνέργεια, ἣν
English · Claude translation
When the first man sinned and disobeyed God, it says, “man became like the beasts”; having sinned against reason, he is rightly thought irrational and likened to beasts. Hence Wisdom too says: “A lustful man and an adulterer is a horse for breeding,” likened to an irrational beast; and so it adds: “He neighs under everyone who sits on him.” The man no longer speaks, it says; for one who sins against reason is no longer rational, but an irrational beast given up to desires, on whom all pleasures sit. What is rightly done in obedience to the Word the followers of the Stoics call the fitting and the duty (kathēkon). The duty is what is fitting; obedience is founded on commandments; and these, being the same as precepts and having truth as their aim, lead us to the last object of desire, which is understood as the end. The end of godliness is eternal rest in God, and our end is the beginning of eternity. The right action of godliness accomplishes duty by works; so duties rightly consist in actions, not in words. And the action of the Christian is the activity of the rational soul according to sound judgment and desire for truth, carried out through the body, its natural partner and fellow combatant. Duty is a consistent will in life, one with God and Christ, rightly carried out for eternal life. For the life of Christians, in which we are now being instructed, is a system of rational actions, that is, the unfailing practice of what the Word teaches, which
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 49:12, 20 (48:13, 21 LXX) and Sir 33:6. “Duty” (καθῆκον) and “right action” (κατόρθωμα) are Stoic technical terms. The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.13.102 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/13/102/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.13.102 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/13/102/).
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