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| Chapter XIII—Against Excessive Fondness for Jewels and Gold Ornaments.
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Chapter XIII—Against Excessive Fondness for Jewels and Gold Ornaments.
It is childish to admire excessively dark or green
stones, and things cast out by the sea on foreign shores, particles of the
earth.1554
| 1554 [Amber is referred to,
and the extravagant values attributed to it. The mysterious enclosure of
bees and other insects in amber, gave it superstitious importance. Clement
may have fancied these to be remnants of a pre-adamite earth.] |
For to rush after stones that are pellucid and of peculiar colours, and
stained glass, is only characteristic of silly people, who are attracted
by things that have a striking show. Thus children, on seeing the fire,
rush to it, attracted by its brightness; not understanding through
senselessness the danger of touching it. Such is the case with the
stones which silly women wear fastened to chains and set in necklaces,
amethysts, ceraunites, jaspers, topaz, and the Milesian
“Emerald, most precious ware.”
And the highly prized pearl has
invaded the woman’s apartments to an extravagant extent. This is
produced in a kind of oyster like mussels, and is about the bigness of
a fish’s eye of large size. And the wretched creatures are not
ashamed at having bestowed the greatest pains about this little oyster,
when they might adorn themselves with the sacred jewel, the Word of God,
whom the Scripture has somewhere called a pearl, the pure and pellucid
Jesus, the eye that watches in the flesh,—the transparent Word,
by whom the flesh, regenerated by water, becomes precious. For that
oyster that is in
the water covers the flesh all round,
and out of it is produced the pearl.
We have heard, too, that the Jerusalem above
is walled with sacred stones; and we allow that the twelve gates of
the celestial city, by being made like precious stones, indicate the
transcendent grace of the apostolic voice. For the colours are laid
on in precious stones, and these colours are precious; while the other
parts remain of earthy material. With these symbolically, as is meet,
the city of the saints, which is spiritually built, is walled. By that
brilliancy of stones, therefore, is meant the inimitable brilliancy of
the spirit, the immortality and sanctity of being. But these women,
who comprehend not the symbolism of Scripture, gape all they can for
jewels, adducing the astounding apology, “Why may I not use what
God hath exhibited?” and, “I have it by me, why may I not
enjoy it?” and, “For whom were these things made, then,
if not for us?” Such are the utterances of those who are totally
ignorant of the will of God. For first necessaries, such as water and
air, He supplies free to all; and what is not necessary He has hid in
the earth and water. Wherefore ants dig, and griffins guard gold, and
the sea hides the pearl-stone. But ye busy yourselves about what you
need not. Behold, the whole heaven is lighted up, and ye seek not God;
but gold which is hidden, and jewels, are dug up by those among us who
are condemned to death.
But you also oppose Scripture, seeing it expressly
cries “Seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall
be added unto you.”1555
But if all things have been conferred on
you, and all things allowed you, and “if all things are lawful,
yet all things are not expedient,”1556
says the apostle. God
brought our race into communion by first imparting what was His own,
when He gave His own Word, common to all, and made all things for all.
All things therefore are common, and not for the rich to appropriate an
undue share. That expression, therefore, “I possess, and possess in
abundance: why then should I not enjoy?” is suitable neither to the
man, nor to society. But more worthy of love is that: “I have: why
should I not give to those who need?” For such an one—one
who fulfils the command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself”—is perfect. For this is the true luxury—the
treasured wealth. But that which is squandered on foolish lusts is to be
reckoned waste, not expenditure. For God has given to us, I know well,
the liberty of use, but only so far as necessary; and He has determined
that the use should be common. And it is monstrous for one to live in
luxury, while many are in want. How much more glorious is it to do good to
many, than to live sumptuously! How much wiser to spend money on human
being,1557
| 1557 [Chrysostom enlarges
on this Christian thought most eloquently, in several of his homilies:
e.g., on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Hom. xxi. tom. x. p. 178.
Opp., ed. Migne.] | than on jewels and gold! How much
more useful to acquire decorous friends, than lifeless ornaments! Whom
have lands ever benefited so much as conferring favours has? It remains
for us, therefore, to do away with this allegation: Who, then, will have
the more sumptuous things, if all select the simpler? Men, I would say,
if they make use of them impartially and indifferently. But if it be
impossible for all to exercise self-restraint, yet, with a view to the
use of what is necessary, we must seek after what can be most readily
procured, bidding a long farewell to these superfluities.
In fine, they must accordingly utterly cast
off ornaments as girls’ gewgaws, rejecting adornment itself
entirely. For they ought to be adorned within, and show the inner
woman beautiful. For in the soul alone are beauty and deformity shown.
Wherefore also only the virtuous man is really beautiful and good. And it
is laid down as a dogma, that only the beautiful is good. And excellence
alone appears through the beautiful body, and blossoms out in the flesh,
exhibiting the amiable comeliness of self-control, whenever the character
like a beam of light gleams in the form. For the beauty of each plant
and animal consists in its individual excellence. And the excellence of
man is righteousness, and temperance, and manliness, and godliness. The
beautiful man is, then, he who is just, temperate, and in a word, good,
not he who is rich. But now even the soldiers wish to be decked with gold,
not having read that poetical saying:—
“With childish folly to the
war he came,
Laden with store of gold.”1558
But the love of ornament, which is far
from caring for virtue, but claims the body for itself, when the love of
the beautiful has changed to empty show, is to be utterly expelled. For
applying things unsuitable to the body, as if they were suitable, begets
a practice of lying and a habit of falsehood; and shows not what is
decorous, simple, and truly childlike, but what is pompous, luxurious,
and effeminate. But these women obscure true beauty, shading it with
gold. And they know not how great is their transgression, in fastening
around themselves ten thousand rich chains; as they say that among
the barbarians malefactors are bound with gold. The women seem to me to
emulate these rich prisoners. For is not the golden necklace a collar, and
do not the necklets which they call catheters1559
occupy the place of chains? and indeed
among the Attics they are called by
this very name. The ungraceful things round the feet of women, Philemon
in the Synephebus called ankle-fetters:—
“Conspicuous garments, and a kind of a golden fetter.”
What else, then, is this
coveted adorning of yourselves, O ladies, but the exhibiting of
yourselves fettered? For if the material does away with the reproach,
the endurance [of your fetters] is a thing indifferent. To me, then,
those who voluntarily put themselves into bonds seem to glory in rich
calamities.
Perchance also it is such chains that the poetic fable
says were thrown around Aphrodite when committing adultery, referring
to ornaments as nothing but the badge of adultery. For Homer called
those, too, golden chains. But new women are not ashamed to wear the most
manifest badges of the evil one. For as the serpent deceived Eve, so also
has ornament of gold maddened other women to vicious practices, using as a
bait the form of the serpent, and by fashioning lampreys and serpents for
decoration. Accordingly the comic poet Nicostratus says, “Chains,
collars, rings, bracelets, serpents, anklets, earrings.”1560
| 1560 Ἐλλόβιον
by conjecture, as more suitable to the
connection than Ἐλλέβορον
or Ἐλέβορον.
Hellebore of the ms., though
Hellebore may be intended as a comic ending. |
In terms of strongest censure, therefore, Aristophanes
in the Thesmophoriazousæ exhibits the whole array of female
ornament in a catalogue:—
“Snoods, fillets, natron, and steel;
Pumice-stone, band, back-band,
Back-veil, paint, necklaces,
Paints for the eyes, soft garment, hair-net,
Girdle, shawl, fine purple border,
Long robe, tunic, Barathrum, round tunic.”
But I have not yet mentioned the
principal of them. Then what?
“Ear-pendants, jewelry, ear-rings;
Mallow-coloured cluster-shaped anklets;
Buckles, clasps, necklets,
Fetters, seals, chains, rings, powders,
Bosses, bands, olisbi, Sardian stones,
Fans, helicters.”
I am weary and vexed at enumerating the
multitude of ornaments;1561
| 1561
[The Greek satirist seems to have borrowed Isaiah’s
catalogue. cap. iii. 18–23.] | and I am compelled to wonder
how those who bear such a burden are not worried to death. O foolish
trouble! O silly craze for display! They squander meretriciously wealth
on what is disgraceful; and in their love for ostentation disfigure
God’s gifts, emulating the art of the evil one. The rich man
hoarding up in his barns, and saying to himself, “Thou hast much
goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, be merry,” the Lord in
the Gospel plainly called “fool.” “For this night they
shall take of thee thy soul; whose then shall those things which thou
hast prepared be?”1562
Apelles, the painter, seeing one of his pupils
painting a figure loaded with gold colour to represent Helen, said to
him, “Boy, being incapable of painting her beautiful, you have
made her rich.”
Such Helens are the ladies of the present
day, not truly beautiful, but richly got up. To these the Spirit
prophesies by Zephaniah: “And their silver and their
gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s anger.”1563
But for those women who have been trained
under Christ, it is suitable to adorn themselves not with gold,
but with the Word, through whom alone the gold comes to light.1564
| 1564 Logos is identified with reason;
and it is by reason, or the ingenuity of man, that gold is discovered
and brought to light. [But here he seems to have in view the comparisons
between gold and wisdom, in Job xxviii.] |
Happy, then, would have been the ancient Hebrews,
had they cast away their women’s ornaments, or only melted
them; but having cast their gold into the form of an ox, and paid
it idolatrous worship, they consequently reap no advantage either
from their art or their attempt. But they taught our women most
expressively to keep clear of ornaments. The lust which commits
fornication with gold becomes an idol, and is tested by fire; for
which alone luxury is reserved, as being an idol, not a reality.1565
Hence the Word, upbraiding the
Hebrews by the prophet, says, “They made to Baal things of silver
and gold,” that is, ornaments. And most distinctly threatening,
He says, “I will punish her for the days of Baalim, in which
they offered sacrifice for her, and she put on her earrings and
her necklaces.”1566
And He subjoined the cause of the adornment,
when He said, “And she went after her lovers, but forgot Me,
saith the Lord.1567
Resigning, therefore, these baubles to the wicked
master of cunning himself, let us not take part in this meretricious
adornment, nor commit idolatry through a specious pretext. Most admirably,
therefore, the blessed Peter1568
says, “In like manner also, that
women adorn themselves not with braids, or gold, or costly array, but
(which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”
For it is with reason that he bids decking of themselves to be kept far
from them. For, granting that they are beautiful, nature suffices. Let
not art contend against nature; that is, let not falsehood strive with
truth. And if they are by nature ugly, they are convicted, by the things
they apply to themselves, of what they do not possess [i.e., of the want
of beauty]. It is
suitable, therefore, for women who
serve Christ to adopt simplicity. For in reality simplicity provides
for sanctity, by reducing redundancies to equality, and by furnishing
from whatever is at hand the enjoyment sought from superfluities. For
simplicity, as the name shows, is not conspicuous, is not inflated or
puffed up in aught, but is altogether even, and gentle, and equal, and
free of excess, and so is sufficient. And sufficiency is a condition
which reaches its proper end without excess or defect. The mother of
these is Justice, and their nurse “Independence;” and this
is a condition which is satisfied with what is necessary, and by itself
furnishes what contributes to the blessed life.
Let there, then, be in the fruits of thy hands, sacred
order, liberal communication, and acts of economy. “For he that
giveth to the poor, lendeth to God.”1569
“And the hands
of the manly shall be enriched.”1570
Manly He calls those who
despise wealth, and are free in bestowing it. And on your feet1571
let active readiness to well-doing appear, and a journeying to
righteousness. Modesty and chastity are collars and necklaces; such
are the chains which God forges. “Happy is the man who hath found
wisdom, and the mortal who knows understanding,” says the Spirit
by Solomon: “for it is better to buy her than treasures of gold
and silver; and she is more valuable than precious stones.”1572
For she is the true decoration.
And let not their ears be pierced, contrary to nature,
in order to attach to them ear-rings and ear-drops. For it is not right
to force nature against her wishes. Nor could there be any better ornament
for the ears than true instruction, which finds its way naturally into the
passages of hearing. And eyes anointed by the Word, and ears pierced for
perception, make a man a hearer and contemplator of divine and sacred
things, the Word truly exhibiting the true beauty “which eye
hath not seen nor ear heard before.”1573
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