The Instructor 2.1.3
Summary: Gluttons search the world for delicacies, spending their lives around the kitchen.
Greek text · Stählin 1:155
πολυπραγμονούντων ἐδωδάς. κἀμοὶ μὲν ἔλεος ὕπεισι τῆς νόσου, οἳ δὲ ἐξυμνεῖν οὐκ αἰσχύνονται τὰς σφετέρας ἡδυπαθείας, τὰς ἐν τῷ πορθμῷ τῷ Σικελικῷ σμυραίνας πολυπραγμονοῦντες καὶ τὰς ἐγχέλεις τὰς Μαιανδρίους καὶ τὰς ἐν Μήλῳ ἐρίφους καὶ τοὺς ἐν Σκιάθῳ κεστρεῖς καὶ τὰς Πελωρίδας κόγχας καὶ τὰ ὄστρεια τὰ Ἀβυδηνά, οὐ παραλείποντες δὲ τὰς ἐν Λιπάρᾳ μαινίδας οὐδὲ τὴν γογγύλην τὴν Μαντινικήν, ἀλλὰ οὐδὲ τὰ παρὰ τοῖς Ἀσκραίοις τεῦτλα, κτένας τε ἐκζητοῦσιν Μηθυμναίους καὶ ψήττας Ἀττικὰς καὶ τὰς δαφνίους κίχλας χελιδονίους τε ἰσχάδας, διʼ ἃς εἰς Ἑλλάδα πεντακοσίαις ἅμα μυριάσιν ὁ κακοδαίμων ἐστείλατο Πέρσης. ὄρνεις ἐπὶ τούτοις συνωνοῦνται τοὺς ἀπὸ Φάσιδος, ἀτταγᾶς Αἰγυπτίας, Μῆδον ταῶνα. ταῦτα τοῖς ἡδύσμασιν ἐξαλλάσσοντες οἱ γαστρίμαργοι τοῖς ὄψοις ἐπικεχήνασιν, ὅσα τε χθὼν πόντου τε βένθη καὶ ἀέρος ἀμέτρητον εὖρος ἐκτρέφει, τῇ αὑτῶν ἐκποριζόμενοι λαιμαργίᾳ. σαγηνεύειν ἀτεχνῶς οἱ πλεονέκται καὶ πολυπράγμονες οὗτοι ἐοίκασιν εἰς ἡδυπάθειαν τὸν κόσμον, »ταγήνοις σίζουσιν« περιηχούμενοι, ἀμφὶ τὴν ἴγδιν καὶ τὸν ἀλετρίβανον τὸν πάντα αὐτῶν κατατρίβοντες βίον οἱ παμφάγοι καθάπερ τὸ πῦρ τῆς ὕλης ἐξεχόμενοι.
English · Claude translation
(… foods from across the sea.) For my part I feel pity for their disease; but they are not ashamed to sing the praises of their own luxuries, searching out the lampreys of the Strait of Sicily, the eels of the Maeander, the kids of Melos, the mullets of Sciathus, the mussels of Pelorus, the oysters of Abydos; not leaving out the sprats of Lipara, or the Mantinean turnip, or even the beets of the Ascraeans. They seek out the scallops of Methymna, the Attic turbot, the thrushes of Daphnis, and the swallow figs for which the ill-starred Persian marched into Greece with five million men. Besides these they buy birds from the Phasis, Egyptian francolins, the Median peacock. The gluttons, altering these with sauces, gape for the dishes, procuring for their gluttony “whatever the earth and the depths of the sea and the immeasurable expanse of air produce.” These greedy busybodies seem simply to sweep the world with a net for their luxury, surrounded by “hissing frying-pans,” spending their whole life around the mortar and pestle, devouring everything, clinging to matter like fire.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The list of delicacies comes from Greek gastronomic literature (compare Athenaeus). The figs are those that, according to a story, tempted Xerxes to invade Greece. The verse quotation and “hissing frying-pans” are from unidentified poets.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/1/3/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/1/3/).
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