The Instructor 2.9.77
Summary: Before sleep we should bless God and call on the Word; luxurious bedding is harmful as well as self-indulgent, and plain level beds are healthier.
Greek text · Stählin 1:204–205
Ὅπως δὲ ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τὸν ὕπνον ἴωμεν τῶν σωφροσύνης μεμνημένοι παραγγελμάτων, τοῦτο ἤδη λεκτέον. μετὰ γὰρ τὴν εὐωχίαν εὐλογήσαντας τὸν θεὸν ἐπὶ τῇ μεταδόσει τῶν ἀπολαύσεων καὶ τῇ διεκδρομῇ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπὶ τὸν ὕπνον παρακλητέον τὸν λόγον, τὴν πολυτέλειαν τῶν ὑποστορνυμένων, τὰς χρυσοπάστους τάπιδας, καὶ χρυσοποικίλτους ψιλοτάπιδας ξυστίδας τε ἁλουργὰς καὶ τοὺς γαυνάκας τοὺς πολυτιμήτους τά τε ποιητικὰ ῥήγεα τὰ πορφυρᾶ χλαίνας τε ἐφύπερθεν οὔλας καὶ τὰς »ὕπνου μαλακωτέρας« εὐνὰς παραπεμπομένους. πρὸς γὰρ τῷ ἐπιψόγῳ τῆς ἡδυπαθείας ἐπιβλαβὴς ἡ ἐν τοῖς χνοώδεσι τῶν πτίλων ἐγκοίμησις, καθάπερ εἰς ἀχανὲς καταπιπτόντων τῶν σωμάτων διὰ τὴν μαλακίαν τῶν στρωμάτων. οὐδὲ γὰρ † συνέχει ἐπιστρεφομένοις τοῖς εὐναζομένοις ἐν αὐτοῖς διὰ τὴν παρʼ ἑκάτερα τοῦ σώματος ὀχθώδη τῆς εὐνῆς ἐπανάστασιν· ἐπιτρέπει δὲ πέττεσθαι σιτία καὶ συγκαίει μᾶλλον, ὃ δὴ διαφθείρειν τὴν τροφήν. [αἱ δὲ ἐπικυλίσεις ταῖς ὁμαλαῖς εὐναῖς, οἷον ὕπνου γυμνάσιον ὑπάρχουσαι φυσικόν, συνεργοῦσι πρὸς τὴν κατάταξιν τῆς τροφῆς·] οἱ δὲ ἐπικυλίεσθαι δυνάμενοι ὁμαλαῖς εὐναῖς, οἷον ὕπνου γυμνάσιον τοῦτο ἔχοντες φυσικόν, ῥᾷον κατατάττουσι τὰς τροφὰς καὶ σφᾶς ἐπιτηδειοτέρους πρὸς τὰς περιστάσεις παρασκευάζουσιν. ἔτι γε μὴν οἱ ἀργυρόποδες σκίμποδες πολλῆς ἀλαζονείας εἰσὶν κατήγοροι, καὶ ὁ ἐν τοῖς κλινιδίοις »ἐλέφας ἀπολελοιπότος ψυχὴν σώματος οὐκ εὐαγὲς« ἁγίοις ἀνθρώποις ἀναπαύσεως τέχνασμα βλακικόν.
English · Claude translation
We must now say how we should go to sleep from here, remembering the precepts of self-control. After the meal, having blessed God for the sharing of good things and for the passing of the day, we must call on the Word to accompany us to sleep, dismissing costly bedding, gold-embroidered carpets, gold-worked smooth rugs, purple robes, costly fleeces, the poets' purple blankets and woolly cloaks on top, and beds “softer than sleep.” For besides the reproach of voluptuousness, sleeping on downy feathers is harmful, the body sinking as into a chasm through the softness of the bedding. It does not † hold those who turn over in it, because of the bed rising up like banks on each side of the body; it lets the food be digested less and rather burns it up, which is to spoil the food. [Rolling over on level beds, being a natural exercise of sleep, helps the distribution of food.] Those who can roll over on level beds, having this as a natural exercise of sleep, distribute their food more easily and make themselves fitter for emergencies. Moreover, couches with silver feet accuse great pretension; and the ivory on beds, “from a body that has left its soul, is not a pure thing,” an effeminate device of rest for holy people.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Softer than sleep” is from Theocritus (15.125); “from a body that has left its soul is not a pure thing” is Plato, Laws 12.956a (of ivory offerings). The dagger marks a corrupt word; the bracketed sentence is marked by the editor as a doublet of the next.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.9.77 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/9/77/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.9.77 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/9/77/).
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