Sophia Scriptura

Exhortation to the Greeks 4.60

Clement of Alexandria · Exhortation to the Greeks · ca. 190–200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Many decorate their bedrooms and signet rings with pictures of the gods' sexual escapades.

Greek text · Stählin 1:46–47

Ἀλλʼ οὐ ταῦτα φρονοῦσιν οἱ πολλοί· ἀπορρίψαντες δὲ τὴν αἰδῶ καὶ τὸν φόβον οἴκοι τοὺς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐγγράφονται πασχητιασμούς. πινακίοις γοῦν τισὶ καταγράφοις μετεωρότερον ἀνακειμένοις προσεσχηκότες ἀσελγείᾳ τοὺς θαλάμους κεκοσμήκασι, τὴν ἀκολασίαν εὐσέβειαν νομίζοντες· κἀπὶ τοῦ σκίμποδος κατακείμενοι παρʼ αὐτὰς ἔτι τὰς περιπλοκὰς ἀφορῶσιν εἰς τὴν Ἀφροδίτην ἐκείνην τὴν γυμνήν, τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ συμπλοκῇ δεδεμένην, καὶ τῇ Λήδᾳ περιποτώμενον τὸν ὄρνιν τὸν ἐρωτικόν, τῆς θηλύτητος ἀποδεχόμενοι τὴν γραφήν, ἀποτυποῦσι ταῖς σφενδόναις, σφραγῖδι χρώμενοι καταλλήλῳ

English · Claude translation

But most people do not think so. Casting off shame and fear, they paint the perversions of the daemons in their homes. Devoted to certain painted panels hung up high, they have decorated their bedrooms with licentiousness, thinking lewdness piety; and lying on the couch, even in the midst of their embraces, they gaze at that naked Aphrodite, bound in the act of intercourse, and at the amorous bird fluttering around Leda. Delighting in the depiction of effeminacy, they engrave it on their signet rings, using a seal that matches …

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:46–47 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); made independently of existing English translations.
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

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Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 4.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/4/60/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 4.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/4/60/).

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