The Instructor 3.5.32
Summary: Women who will not undress before their husbands bathe naked in mixed public baths or before their slaves, feeding lust.
Greek text · Stählin 1:254–255
γυμναῖς. καὶ δὴ τοῖς μὲν ἀνδράσι τοῖς σφῶν οὐκ ἂν ἀποδύσαιντο προσποίητον αἰσχύνης ἀξιοπιστίαν μνώμεναι, ἔξεστι δὲ τοῖς βουλομένοις τῶν ἄλλων τὰς οἴκοι κατακλείστους γυμνὰς ἐν τοῖς βαλανείοις θεάσασθαι· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ ἀποδύσασθαι τοῖς θεαταῖς ὥσπερ καπήλοις σωμάτων οὐκ αἰσχύνονται. ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν Ἡσίοδος μηδὲ γυναικείῳ λουτρῷ χρόα φαιδρύνεσθαι παραινεῖ. κοινὰ δὲ ἀνέῳκται ἀνδράσιν ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναιξὶ τὰ βαλανεῖα, κἀντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρασίαν ἀποδύονται· »ἐκ τοῦ γὰρ εἰσορᾶν γίνεται ἀνθρώποις ἐρᾶν«, ὥσπερ ἀποκλυζομένης τῆς αἰδοῦς αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὰ λουτρά. αἳ δὲ μὴ εἰς τοσοῦτον ἀπερυθριῶσαι τοὺς μὲν ὀθνείους ἀποκλείουσιν, ἰδίοις δὲ οἰκέταις συλλούονται καὶ δούλοις ἀποδύονται γυμναὶ καὶ ἀνατρίβονται ὑπʼ αὐτῶν, ἐξουσίαν δοῦσαι τῷ κατεπτηχότι τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τὸ ἀδεὲς τῆς ψηλαφήσεως· οἱ γὰρ παρεισαγόμενοι παρὰ τὰ λουτρὰ ταῖς δεσποίναις γυμναῖς μελέτην ἴσχουσιν ἀποδύσασθαι πρὸς τόλμαν ἐπιθυμίας ἔθει πονηρῷ περιγράφοντες τὸν φόβον.
English · Claude translation
naked. Before their own husbands they would not undress, affecting a pretended credibility of modesty; but any others who wish may see them naked in the baths, shut up as they are at home; for there they are not ashamed to undress before spectators, as before dealers in bodies. Hesiod advises not even to wash one's skin in a women's bath. But the baths are open to men and women together, and there they strip for incontinence; for “from looking comes loving,” as if their modesty were washed away in the baths. Those who are not so shameless shut out strangers but bathe with their own servants, strip naked before slaves, and are rubbed down by them, giving the cowering desire the fearless liberty of touching. For those brought in to their naked mistresses at the baths learn to strip for daring in desire, setting aside their fear through evil habit.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is Hesiod, Works and Days 753–754. “From looking comes loving” is a proverb.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.5.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/5/32/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.5.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/5/32/).
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