The Instructor 3.7.39
Summary: Husband and wife should travel together with frugality; the body is the measure of possessions; generosity is the staff for the road to heaven, and like a well it refills as it gives.
Greek text · Stählin 1:259
σταλτέον δὲ καὶ τὴν φίλανδρον γυναῖκα τἀνδρὶ παραπλησίως, ὁδοιπορικῶς καλὸν ἐφόδιον τῆς εἰς οὐρανοὺς πορείας εὐτέλειαν ἐπιφερομένους μιᾷ σεμνότητι σώφρονι· μέτρον δὲ καθάπερ ὁ ποὺς τοῦ ὑποδήματος, οὕτως καὶ τῆς κτήσεως ἑκάστου τὸ σῶμα· τὸ δὲ περιττόν, ἃ δή φασι κόσμια, καὶ τὰ ἔπιπλα τῶν πλουσίων ἄχθος ἐστίν, οὐ κόσμος τοῦ σώματος. χρὴ δὲ τὸν ἀναβαίνειν βιαζόμενον εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καλὴν βακτηρίαν τὴν εὐεργεσίαν περιφέρειν καὶ τοῖς θλιβομένοις μεταδεδωκότα τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἀναπαύσεως μεταλαμβάνειν· ὁμολογεῖ γὰρ ἡ γραφή, ὡς ἄρα »λύτρον ἐστὶν ἀνδρὸς ψυχῆς ὁ ἴδιος πλοῦτος«, τουτέστιν, ἐὰν πλουτῇ, μεταδόσει σωθήσεται. καθάπερ γὰρ τῶν φρεάτων ὅσα πέφυκεν βρύειν ἀπαντλούμενα εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀναπιδύει μέτρον, οὕτως ἡ μετάδοσις ἀγαθὴ φιλανθρωπίας ὑπάρχουσα πηγή, κοινωνοῦσα τοῖς διψῶσι τοῦ ποτοῦ αὔξεται πάλιν καὶ πίμπλαται, ὃν τρόπον ἐπὶ τοὺς θηλαζομένους ἢ καὶ βδαλλομένους μαστοὺς ἐπιρρεῖν εἴωθε τὸ γάλα.
English · Claude translation
The wife who loves her husband should be equipped like her husband, both carrying frugality, a fine provision for the journey to heaven, with one self-controlled dignity. As the foot is the measure of the shoe, so the body is the measure of each person's possessions; what is superfluous, the so-called ornaments and the furnishings of the rich, is a burden, not an adornment of the body. The one who is striving to force his way up to heaven must carry beneficence as a good staff, and, sharing with the afflicted, partake of true rest. For Scripture confesses that “a man's own wealth is the ransom of his soul,” that is, if he is rich, he will be saved by sharing. As wells that naturally gush up, when drawn from, rise again to their former level, so sharing, being a good spring of love for humankind, when it shares its drink with the thirsty, grows again and is filled, just as milk usually flows into breasts that are suckled or milked.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is Matt 11:12 (“striving to force his way,” βιαζόμενον); the quotation is Prov 13:8 (LXX).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.7.39 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/7/39/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.7.39 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/7/39/).
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