The Instructor 2.2.30
Summary: Seeking rare imported wines is a sign of incontinence; for the self-controlled one local wine, the gift of one God, is enough.
Greek text · Stählin 1:174–175
Οὐ πολυπραγμονητέον τοίνυν τὸν οἶνον τὸν Χῖον, ἂν ἀπῇ, οὐδὲ τὸν Ἀριούσιον, ὅταν μὴ παρῇ. δίψα γὰρ ἐνδείας τινός ἐστι πάθος καὶ τὸ κατάλληλον ἐπιζητεῖ βοήθημα πρὸς ἀναπλήρωσιν, οὐ τετυφωμένον ποτόν. πλαδώσης δὲ ὀρέξεως διʼ ἀκρασίαν αἱ διαπόντιοι οἰνηγίαι, παραφρονούσης καὶ πρὸ τῆς μέθης περὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ψυχῆς. Θάσιός τε γὰρ ὁ εὐώδης καὶ ὁ εὔπνους Λέσβιος καὶ Κρής τις γλυκὺς καὶ Συρακούσσιος ἡδὺς καὶ Μενδήσιός τις Αἰγύπτιος καὶ ὁ νησιώτης Νάξιος καὶ ἀνθοσμίας τις ἄλλος τῆς Ἰταλῶν γῆς, πολλὰ ταῦτα ὀνόματα· σώφρονι συμπότῃ οἶνος εἷς, ἑνὸς γεώργιον θεοῦ. τί γὰρ οὐκ ἀπόχρη ὁ ἐπιχώριος ἀποπληρῶσαι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν; εἰ μή τι καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐποίσονται, ὡς οἱ βασιλεῖς οἱ ἀνόητοι [Χόασπις ποταμὸς οὕτω λεγόμενος τῆς Ἰνδικῆς, οὗ κάλλιστον ὕδωρ εἰς πόσιν] τὸ Χοάσπειον, καθάπερ καὶ τοὺς φίλους, οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπαγόμενοι. ταλανίζει τοὺς πλουσίους εἰς τρυφὴν κἀνταῦθα τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα διὰ τοῦ Ἀμὼς ἐκφωνῆσαν· »οἱ πίνοντες τὸν διυλισμένον οἶνον καὶ ἐπὶ κλίνης ἐλεφαντίνης«, φησί, »κατακείμενοι«, καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ἀκόλουθα ἐν ὀνείδους ἐπήγαγεν μέρει.
English · Claude translation
We must not, then, busy ourselves looking for Chian wine if it is absent, or Ariusian when it is not at hand. For thirst is the feeling of a lack, and seeks a suitable remedy to fill it, not a pretentious drink. Wines imported from overseas are for an appetite made flabby by incontinence, the soul being out of its mind about its desires even before drunkenness. Fragrant Thasian, sweet-breathing Lesbian, a sweet Cretan, a pleasant Syracusan, an Egyptian Mendesian, the island Naxian, and another, a flower-scented one, from the land of the Italians: these are many names; but for a self-controlled drinker there is one wine, the tillage of one God. Why is not the local wine enough to satisfy desire? Unless they will also import water, as foolish kings do, the Choaspes water [the Choaspes being a river so called in India, whose water is finest for drinking], bringing water along with them, as they do their friends. Here too the Holy Spirit pronounces the rich in their luxury wretched, crying out through Amos: “Those who drink strained wine,” it says, “and lie on ivory couches,” and the other things that follow, which he added as a reproach.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The bracketed words are marked by the editor as a gloss (the Choaspes was in fact in Persia, near Susa). The quotation is Amos 6:6 and 6:4.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misreading in the digital text (Chian wine; Δ for Χ)): τὸν οἶνον τὸν Δῖον → τὸν οἶνον τὸν Χῖον.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.2.30 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/2/30/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.2.30 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/2/30/).
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