The Instructor 2.9.81
Summary: Overeating brings heavy sleep and clouds the soul, as Lot's drunken sleep shows; Christians should rise at night to study, work, or spin, and not sleep by day.
Greek text · Stählin 1:206–207
ἀποκαλυπτώμεθα. ἐρυγαὶ δὲ οἰνοβαρούντων καὶ τῶν ἀποσεσαγμένων ταῖς τροφαῖς οἱ ῥωχμοὶ καὶ τὸ ῥέγχειν τοῖς στρώμασιν ἐνειλημένον γαστέρων τε στενοχωρουμένων βορβορυγμοὶ τὸ διορατικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς κατέχωσαν ὄμμα φαντασιῶν μυρίων τῆς διανοίας ἐμπιμπλαμένης. αἰτία δὲ ἡ περιττὴ τροφὴ τὸ λογιστικὸν εἰς ἀναισθησίαν καθέλκουσα. »ὕπνος γὰρ δὴ πολὺς οὔτε τοῖς σώμασιν οὔτε ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν ὠφέλειαν ἐπιφέρων οὐδʼ αὐταῖς ταῖς περὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν πράξεσι πάντα ἁρμόττων ἐστίν, εἰ καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἐστίν.« Λὼτ δὲ ὁ δίκαιος (παραπέμπομαι γὰρ νῦν τῆς παλιγγενεσίου οἰκονομίας τὴν ἐξήγησιν) οὐκ ἂν ἐπὶ τὴν ἄθεσμον ἐκείνην προήχθη μῖξιν μὴ οὐχὶ καταμεθυσθεὶς πρὸς τῶν θυγατέρων καὶ ὕπνῳ καρωθείς. ἢν οὖν τὰ αἴτια τῆς πολλῆς εἰς ὕπνον περικόπτωμεν καταφορᾶς, νηφαλιώτερον κοιμηθησόμεθα· »οὐ« γὰρ »χρὴ παννύχιον εὕδειν« τοὺς ἔνοικον ἔχοντας τὸν λόγον τὸν ἐγρήγορον· ἐπεγερτέον δὲ νύκτωρ, μάλιστα ὁπότε αἱ ἡμέραι φθίνουσιν· καὶ τῷ μὲν φιλολογητέον, τῷ δὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ τέχνης ἀπαρκτέον, γυναιξὶ δὲ ταλασίας ἐφαπτέον, πᾶσι δὲ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν διαμαχητέον ἡμῖν πρὸς τὸν ὕπνον ἠρέμα ἐκ προσαγωγῆς ἐθίζουσιν, ὡς πλείονα χρόνον τοῦ ζῆν διὰ τὴν ἐγρήγορσιν μεταλαμβάνειν (ὁ γὰρ ὕπνος ὥσπερ τελώνης τὸν ἥμισυν ἡμῖν τοῦ βίου συνδιαιρεῖται χρόνον), πολλοῦ γε δεῖ μεθʼ ἡμέραν ἐπιτρέπειν καθεύδειν τοῖς καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς τὸ πλεῖστον εἰς ἐγρήγορσιν ἀποτεμνομένοις. ἄλυες δὲ καὶ νυσταγμοὶ καὶ διεκτάσεις καὶ χάσμαι δυσαρεστίαι ψυχῆς εἰσιν ἀβεβαίου.
English · Claude translation
(… true dreams.) The belches of those heavy with wine, the snorting of those stuffed with food, snoring wrapped in the bedclothes, and the rumbling of crowded bellies bury the discerning eye of the soul, the mind being filled with countless fancies. The cause is excessive food, dragging the reasoning part into insensibility. “For much sleep brings no benefit to our bodies or our souls, nor does it at all suit activities concerned with truth, even though it is natural.” Lot the righteous (I pass over for now the explanation of the plan of regeneration) would not have been led into that lawless union had he not been made drunk by his daughters and stupefied by sleep. If, then, we cut off the causes of excessive falling into sleep, we will sleep more soberly. For “one should not sleep all night,” those who have the wakeful Word dwelling in them; we should rise at night, especially when the days are short. One should study, another practice his craft, women should take up their spinning; and all of us, in a word, should fight against sleep, accustoming ourselves gently and by degrees, so as to gain more time of life by being awake (for sleep, like a tax collector, divides half our life with us). Much less should those who cut off most of the night for wakefulness be allowed to sleep by day. Restlessness, drowsiness, stretching, and yawning are the discontents of an unstable soul.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Plato, Laws 7.808b, and Homer, Iliad 2.24; the allusion is Gen 19:33–35. “The plan of regeneration” refers to an allegorical reading of Lot's story that Clement does not give here.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.9.81 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/9/81/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.9.81 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/9/81/).
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