The Instructor 2.12.125
Summary: Women waste their wealth on burdensome ornaments; the Lord called the hoarding rich man a fool; Apelles mocked a pupil who painted Helen rich instead of beautiful.
Greek text · Stählin 1:232
ἐγὼ μὲν ἔκαμον καὶ ἄχθομαι λέγων τὸ πλῆθος τῶν κοσμίων, τὰς δὲ καὶ θαυμάζειν ἔπεισί μοι, ὡς ἄρα οὐκ ἀποκναίονται τοσοῦτον ἄχθος βαστάζουσαι. ὢ τῆς κενῆς πολυπραγμοσύνης, ὢ τῆς ματαίας δοξομανίας· ἐκχέουσιν ἑταιρικῶς τὸν πλοῦτον εἰς ὄνειδος, καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ δωρήματα ἀπειροκαλίᾳ παραχαράττουσι ζηλοῦσαι τοῦ πονηροῦ τὴν τέχνην. σαφῶς δὲ ὁ κύριος ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τὸν πλούσιον τὸν θησαυρίζοντα εἰς τὰς ἀποθήκας καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν λέγοντα· »ἔχεις ἀγαθὰ πολλὰ ἀποκείμενα εἰς ἔτη πολλά· φάγε, πίε, εὐφραίνου«, ἄφρονα κέκληκεν, »ταύτῃ γὰρ τῇ νυκτὶ τὴν ψυχήν σου παραλαμβάνουσιν· ἃ οὖν ἡτοίμασας, τίνος γένηται;« Ἀπελλῆς ὁ ζωγράφος θεασάμενός τινα τῶν μαθητῶν Ἑλένην [ὀνόματι] πολύχρυσον γράψαντα· ὦ μειράκιον, εἶπεν, μὴ δυνάμενος γράψαι καλὴν πλουσίαν πεποίηκας.
English · Claude translation
I am tired and vexed from naming the multitude of ornaments, and I am amazed at the women for not being worn out carrying such a burden. O vain busyness! O foolish craze for glory! Like courtesans they pour out their wealth for their disgrace, and debase God's gifts by tastelessness, emulating the art of the evil one. The Lord in the Gospel clearly called a fool the rich man who stored up in his barns and said to himself, “You have many good things laid up for many years; eat, drink, be merry”: “For this night they will require your soul of you; and what you have prepared, whose will it be?” Apelles the painter, seeing one of his pupils paint Helen loaded with gold, said: “Young man, unable to paint her beautiful, you have made her rich.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Luke 12:19–20. The bracketed word is marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.12.125 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/12/125/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.12.125 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/12/125/).
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