Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 12.5.3 (48.3)

Summary: The owner checks the half-empty jars, which turn sour.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:134

ὅταν ὁ ἄνθρωπος κεράμια ἱκανώτατα γεμίσῃ οἴνου καλοῦ καὶ ἐν τοῖς κεραμίοις ἐκείνοις ὀλίγα ἀπόκενα ᾖ, ἔρχεται ἐπὶ τὰ κεράμια καὶ οὐ κατανοεῖ τὰ πλήρη· οἶδε γάρ, ὅτι πλήρη εἰσί· κατανοεῖ δὲ τὰ ἀπόκενα, φοβούμενος, μήποτε ὤξισαν· ταχὺ γὰρ τὰ ἀπόκενα κεράμια ὀξίζουσι, καὶ ἀπόλλυται ἡ ἡδονὴ τοῦ οἴνου.

English · Claude translation

When a man fills a great many jars with good wine, and among those jars a few are partly empty, he comes to the jars and does not examine the full ones, for he knows they are full; but he examines the partly empty ones, fearing that they have turned sour; for partly empty jars quickly turn sour, and the taste of the wine is lost.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:134 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 70–137 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published 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 Lake (LCL 25, 1913); made independently of existing English translations.

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 12.5.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/12/5/3/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 12.5.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/12/5/3/).