The Instructor 2.5.48
Summary: Laughter is a danger to the young; wine makes the foolish laugh and dance, loosens the tongue into foul speech, and exposes hidden character.
Greek text · Stählin 1:186–187
μάλιστα γὰρ μειρακίοις καὶ γυναιξὶν ὄλισθος εἰς διαβολὰς ὁ γέλως ἐστίν. τὸ δὲ καὶ φαίνεσθαι καταπληκτικὸν πόρρωθεν τῶν πειρώντων ἐστὶ φυγαδευτικόν· δυνατὴ γὰρ ἀποκρούσασθαι τῆς ἀσελγείας τὰς προσβολὰς καὶ ἐκ μόνης τῆς προσόψεως ἡ σεμνότης· πάντας δέ, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, τοὺς ἀνοήτους ὁ οἶνος καί θʼ ἁπαλὸν γελάσαι καὶ ὀρχήσασθαι ἀνώγει, εἰς μαλακίαν ἐκτρέπων τὸ ἀνδρόγυνον ἦθος. καὶ σκοπεῖν δεῖ πῶς ἐντεῦθεν ἡ παρρησία τὴν ἀκοσμίαν εἰς αἰσχρολογίαν αὔξει· καί τι ἔπος προέηκεν, ὅπερ τʼ ἄρρητον ἄμεινον. μάλιστα γοῦν ἐν οἴνῳ καθορᾶσθαι τὰ ἤθη τῶν ὑπούλων συμβέβηκεν τῆς ὑποκρίσεως ἀπογυμνούμενα διὰ τὴν ἀνελεύθερον παρρησίαν τῆς παροινίας, διʼ ἣν κατακοιμίζεται μὲν ὁ λόγος ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ψυχῇ καρηβαρήσας τῇ μέθῃ, τὰ δὲ ἐκτράπελα ἐπεγείρεται πάθη καταδυναστεύοντα τῆς ἀσθενείας τοῦ λογισμοῦ.
English · Claude translation
For laughter is especially, for youths and women, a slip into slander. A formidable appearance puts tempters to flight from afar; for dignity, even by the look alone, can repel the attacks of licentiousness. But wine, so to speak, bids all the foolish “laugh softly and dance,” turning a womanish character to effeminacy. And we must observe how, from this, freedom of speech increases disorder into foul talk: “and he let fall some word that were better left unsaid.” It is especially in wine that the characters of the deceitful are seen, stripped of their hypocrisy by the unrestrained freedom of drunkenness, through which reason falls asleep in the very soul, heavy-headed with drink, and outlandish passions are awakened, overpowering the weakness of reasoning.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are from Homer, Odyssey 14.464–466.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.5.48 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/5/48/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.5.48 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/5/48/).
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