The Instructor 2.7.58
Summary: Speech should be measured to the listener: the old may speak at feasts, the young briefly when asked; the voice should be neither loud nor inaudible.
Greek text · Stählin 1:192
κακοηθείας. ἐγὼ δʼ ἄν μοι δοκῶ καὶ μέτρον ἐπιθεῖναι φωνῆς τοῖς σώφροσιν, οἷς γε ἐφεῖται λαλεῖν, τὸν ἀντιδιαλεγόμενον. σιγὴ μὲν γὰρ ἀρετὴ γυναικῶν ἐστιν, ἀκίνδυνον δὲ τῶν νέων γέρας, λόγος δὲ ἀγαθὸς ἡλικίας δεδοκιμασμένης. »λάλησον, πρεσβύτερε, ἐν συμποσίῳ· πρέπει γάρ σοι· ἀλλʼ ἀπαραποδίστως λάλησον καὶ ἐν ἀκριβείᾳ ἐπιστήμης. νεανίσκε«, καὶ σοὶ ἐπιτρέπει ἡ σοφία, »λάλησον, εἰ χρεία σου, μόλις δὶς ἐπερωτηθεὶς κεφαλαίωσον λόγον ἐν ὀλίγοις.« ἄμφω δὲ οἱ διαλεγόμενοι τὸ φθέγμα τὸ σφῶν τῇ συμμετρίᾳ παραμετρούντων· τό τε γὰρ γεγωνὸς τῆς προφορᾶς μανιωδέστατον, τό τε ἀνήκουστον πρὸς τοὺς πέλας φθέγγεσθαι ἀναισθήτου· οὐ γὰρ ἀκούσονται. καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀγεννείας, τὸ δὲ αὐθαδείας τεκμήριον.
English · Claude translation
malice. I think I would set as the measure of the voice for the self-controlled, when they are allowed to speak, the person they are talking to. Silence is a virtue of women and a safe privilege of the young; good speech belongs to proven age. “Speak, old man, at a banquet, for it befits you; but speak without hindrance and with accurate knowledge. Young man,” Wisdom permits you too, “speak if you are needed, scarcely when asked twice; sum up your speech in few words.” Let both, when they converse, measure their voice by proportion; for loud speech is most like madness, and speaking inaudibly to those near is a mark of insensibility, for they will not hear. The one is a sign of vulgarity, the other of arrogance.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Sir 32:3–4, 7–8 (35:3–4, 7–8). “Silence is a virtue of women” echoes a Greek commonplace (Sophocles, Ajax 293).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.7.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/7/58/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.7.58 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/7/58/).
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