The Instructor 3.10.50
Summary: Scripture gives examples of humble work: Rachel pastured sheep and Jacob tended Laban's flocks; men may wrestle, play ball, walk, hoe, draw water, and chop wood.
Greek text · Stählin 1:265
καὶ οὐκ ἤρκει ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀτυφίαν ἐκδιδάσκων προσεπήγαγεν· »αὕτη γὰρ ἔβοσκεν τὰ πρόβατα τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῆς.« καὶ μυρία ὅσα αἱ γραφαὶ ὀρέγουσιν εὐτελείας ἅμα καὶ αὐτουργίας, πρὸς δὲ καὶ γυμνασίων ὑποδείγματα. ἀνδρῶν δὲ οἳ μὲν γυμνοὶ καὶ πάλης μετεχόντων, οἳ δὲ καὶ σφαίρῃ τῇ μικρᾷ παιζόντων τὴν φαινίνδα παιδιὰν ἐν ἡλίῳ μάλιστα· ἄλλοις ὁ περίπατος αὐτάρκης ἀγρόνδε βαδίζουσιν ἢ εἰς ἄστυ κατιοῦσιν. εἰ δὲ καὶ σκαπάνης ἅψαιντο, οὐκ ἀγεννὲς τοῦτο παρεμπόρευμα οἰκονομικὸν γυμνασίου γεωργικοῦ. ἀλλὰ γὰρ μικροῦ δεῖν ἔλαθέν με [εἰπεῖν] ὁ Πιττακὸς ἐκεῖνος, ὅτι ἤληθεν ὁ Μιτυληναίων βασιλεὺς ἐνεργῷ γυμνασίῳ χρώμενος. καλὸν δὲ καὶ ὕδωρ ἀνιμῆσαι διʼ αὑτοῦ καὶ ξύλα διατεμεῖν, οἷς αὐτὸς χρήσεται. »Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐποίμαινεν τὰ πρόβατα Λάβαν τὰ ὑπολειφθέντα«, σημεῖον ἔχων βασιλικὸν »ῥάβδον στυρακίνην«, ἐναλλάττειν μελετῶν διὰ τοῦ ξύλου ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον τὴν φύσιν.
English · Claude translation
And that was not enough, but teaching freedom from pride he added: “For she was the one who pastured her father's sheep.” The Scriptures offer countless examples of frugality and working with one's own hands, and of exercise too. As for men, let some strip and take part in wrestling, some play with the small ball the game called phaininda, especially in the sun; for others walking is enough, going out to the country or down to town. If they take up the hoe too, this is no ignoble economic side-benefit of farm exercise. I nearly forgot to mention that famous Pittacus, king of the Mitylenaeans, who ground grain, using an active exercise. It is good also to draw water oneself and to cut the wood one will use. “Jacob pastured the sheep of Laban that were left,” having as a royal sign “a rod of storax,” practicing to change nature for the better by means of the wood.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Gen 29:9 and Gen 30:36–37 (LXX, “a rod of storax”). The rod, by which Jacob changed the flocks, is read as a figure of the cross (“the wood”). Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the Seven Sages, was said to have ground grain for exercise. The bracketed word is marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.10.50 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/10/50/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.10.50 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/10/50/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text