The Instructor 2.10.89
Summary: Moses forbade sexual immorality, adultery, and the corruption of boys openly; the punishment of Sodom was written as a warning to us.
Greek text · Stählin 1:211
Ταύτῃ τοι ἀναφανδόν, οὐ διʼ αἰνιγμάτων ἔτι, ὁ αὐτὸς ἀπηγόρευσεν Μωυσῆς γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇ, »οὐ πορνεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ παιδοφθορήσεις« λέγων. τὸ δὴ διάταγμα τοῦ λόγου παντὶ διατηρητέον σθένει, καὶ οὐδὲν οὐδαμῶς παρανομητέον, οὐδὲ ἀκυρωτέον τὰς ἐντολάς· ἐπιθυμίᾳ γὰρ κακῇ ὄνομα ὕβρις, καὶ τὸν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἵππον »ὑβριστὴν« ὁ Πλάτων προσεῖπεν, »ἵπποι θηλυμανεῖς ἐγενήθητέ μοι« ἀναγνούς. τὴν δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ ὕβρει δίκην γνωριοῦσιν ὑμῖν οἱ εἰς τὰ Σόδομα παραγεγονότες ἄγγελοι. οὗτοι τοὺς περᾶν ἐθελήσαντας σφᾶς [ἐπαισχῦναι] αὐτῇ πόλει κατέφλεξαν, δεῖγμα ἐναργὲς τοῦτο, λαγνείας ἐπικάρπιον τὸ πῦρ, ὑπογράφοντες· τὰ γὰρ τῶν παλαιῶν συμπτώματα, ὡς καὶ πρόσθεν εἴπομεν, εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀναγεγράφαται νουθεσίαν, ὡς μὴ
English · Claude translation
So the same Moses forbade it openly, no longer through riddles, with bare head, saying, “You shall not commit sexual immorality, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not corrupt boys.” The ordinance of the Word must be kept with all our strength; nothing must in any way be transgressed, nor the commandments made void. For insolence is the name of evil desire, and Plato called the horse of desire “insolent,” having read, “You have become horses mad for females.” The angels who came to Sodom will show you the punishment for insolence. Those who wished to shame them they burned up with the city itself, marking out a clear example: fire, the fruit of lust. For what happened to the ancients has been written, as we said before, for our admonition, so that we may not
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “You shall not corrupt boys” is not in the Mosaic law; the combination is found in Did. 2.2 and Barn. 19.4 (see Exhortation 10.108). The quotations and allusions are Exod 20:13–14, Plato, Phaedrus 254e (the “insolent” horse), Jer 5:8, Gen 19:1–25, and 1 Cor 10:11. The bracketed word is marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted). The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.89 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/89/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.89 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/89/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text