The Instructor 2.4.41
Summary: Flutes and pipes suit beasts and idolaters, and sensual music corrupts; the instruments of Psalm 150 are to be understood spiritually as the tongue, mouth, body, and church.
Greek text · Stählin 1:182–183
Σῦριγξ μὲν οὖν ποιμέσιν ἀπονενεμήσθω, αὐλὸς δὲ ἀνθρώποις δεισιδαίμοσιν εἰς εἰδωλολατρείας σπεύδουσιν. καὶ γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀποπεμπτέα τὰ ὄργανα ταῦτα νηφαλίου συμποσίου, θηρίοις μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώποις κατάλληλα καὶ ἀνθρώπων τοῖς ἀλογωτέροις. τὰς μὲν γὰρ ἐλάφους ταῖς σύριγξι κηλεῖσθαι παρειλήφαμεν καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς ποδάγρας πρὸς τῶν κυνηγῶν θηρευομένας ἄγεσθαι τῷ μέλει, ταῖς δὲ ἵπποις μιγνυμέναις οἷον ὑμέναιος ἐπαυλεῖται νόμος αὐλῳδίας· ἱππόθορον τοῦτον κεκλήκασιν οἱ μουσικοί. πᾶσαν δὲ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἀνελεύθερον ὄψιν τε καὶ ἀκοὴν καὶ συνελόντι φάναι αἴσθησιν ἀκρασίας αἰσχράν, τὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀναισθησίαν, ἐκκοπτέον εὖ μάλα, τὴν ἐν ὄμμασιν καὶ ἐν ὠσὶν γαργαλίζουσαν καὶ ἀποθηλύνουσαν ἡδονὴν εὐλαβουμένους· μελῶν γάρ τοι κατεαγότων καὶ ῥυθμῶν γοερῶν τῆς μούσης τῆς Καρικῆς αἱ ποικίλαι φαρμακεῖαι διαφθείρουσιν τοὺς τρόπους ἀκολάστῳ καὶ κακοτέχνῳ μουσικῇ εἰς πάθος ὑποσύρουσαι. τοῦ κώμου τούτου τὴν λειτουργίαν τὴν θεϊκὴν διαχωρίζον ψάλλει τὸ πνεῦμα »αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν ἐν ἤχῳ σάλπιγγος«, καὶ γὰρ ἐν ἤχῳ σάλπιγγος ἀναστήσει τοὺς νεκρούς· »αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ«, ὅτι ἡ γλῶττα τὸ ψαλτήριον κυρίου· »καὶ ἐν κιθάρᾳ αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν«, κιθάρα νοείσθω τὸ στόμα, οἱονεὶ πλήκτρῳ κρουόμενον τῷ πνεύματι· »ἐν τυμπάνῳ καὶ χορῷ αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν«, τὴν ἐκκλησίαν λέγει τὴν μελετήσασαν τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἐν ἠχοῦντι τῷ δέρματι· »ἐν χορδαῖς καὶ ὀργάνῳ αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν«, ὄργανον τὸ σῶμα λέγει τὸ ἡμέτερον καὶ χορδὰς τὰ νεῦρα αὐτοῦ, διʼ ὧν ἐναρμόνιον εἴληφε τὴν τάσιν, καὶ κρουόμενον τῷ πνεύματι τοὺς φθόγγους ἀποδίδωσι τοὺς ἀνθρωπίνους· »αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν ἐν κυμβάλοις ἀλαλαγμοῦ«, κύμβαλον τοῦ στόματος
English · Claude translation
Let the panpipe be left to shepherds, and the flute to superstitious people hurrying to idolatry. For truly these instruments are to be banished from a sober banquet, being more suited to beasts than to human beings, and to the more irrational of human beings. We have learned that deer are charmed by panpipes and, hunted, are led by the tune into the hunters' snares; and when mares are mated, a sort of wedding song is played on the flute; musicians call it the “horse-mounting” tune. In a word, we must cut out every illiberal sight and sound, and, to put it briefly, every shameful sensation of incontinence, which is truly insensibility, guarding against the pleasure that tickles the eyes and ears and makes them effeminate. For the various enchantments of broken melodies and mournful rhythms of the Carian muse corrupt character, drawing it down into passion by licentious and mischievous music. Separating the divine service from this revelry, the Spirit sings: “Praise him with the sound of the trumpet,” for with the sound of the trumpet he will raise the dead; “praise him with the psaltery,” for the tongue is the Lord's psaltery; “and with the harp praise him”: let the harp be understood as the mouth, struck by the Spirit as by a plectrum; “praise him with timbrel and dance”: he means the church, meditating on the resurrection of the flesh in the resounding skin; “praise him with strings and organ”: he calls our body an organ, and its sinews strings, from which it has received its harmonious tension, and when struck by the Spirit it gives forth human sounds; “praise him with loud cymbals”: he calls the tongue the cymbal of the mouth,
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Ps 150:3–5, with Clement's allegorical interpretation; “with the sound of the trumpet he will raise the dead” recalls 1 Cor 15:52 (1 Thess 4:16). Clement's allegory reflects the early church's avoidance of instruments in worship.
- The digital text repeats a clause (dittography), removed in the corrections. The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (clause repeated in the digital text (dittography)): καὶ χορδὰς τὰ νεῦρα αὐτοῦ, διʼ ὧν ἐναρμόνιον εἴληφε τὴν τάσιν, καὶ χορδὰς τὰ νεῦρα αὐτοῦ, διʼ ὧν ἐναρμόνιον εἴληφε τὴν τάσιν, → καὶ χορδὰς τὰ νεῦρα αὐτοῦ, διʼ ὧν ἐναρμόνιον εἴληφε τὴν τάσιν,.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.4.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/4/41/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.4.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/4/41/).
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