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| Chapter XI.—A Compendious View of the Christian Life.
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Chapter XI.—A Compendious View of the Christian Life.
Wherefore the wearing of gold and the use of softer
clothing is not to be entirely prohibited. But irrational impulses must
be curbed, lest, carrying us away through excessive relaxation, they impel
us to voluptuousness. For luxury, that has dashed on to surfeit, is prone
to kick up its heels and toss its mane, and shake off the charioteer,
the Instructor; who, pulling back the reins from far, leads and drives
to salvation the human horse—that is, the irrational part of the
soul—which is wildly bent on pleasures, and vicious appetites, and
precious stones, and gold, and variety of dress, and other luxuries.
Above all, we are to keep in mind what was spoken
sacredly: “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles;
that, whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may, by the good
works which they behold, glorify God.”1668
The Instructor permits us, then, to use simple
clothing, and of a white colour, as we said before. So that, accommodating
ourselves not to variegated art, but to nature as it is produced, and
pushing away whatever is deceptive and belies the truth, we may embrace
the uniformity and simplicity of the truth.1669
| 1669 [Surely the costly and gorgeous ecclesiastical
raiment of the Middle Ages is condemned by Clement’s primitive
maxims.] |
Sophocles, reproaching a youth, says:—
“Decked in women’s clothes.”
For, as in the case of the soldier, the sailor,
and the ruler, so also the proper dress of the temperate man is what is
plain, becoming, and clean. Whence also in the law, the law enacted by
Moses about leprousy rejects what has many colours and spots, like the
various scales of the snake. He therefore wishes man, no longer decking
himself gaudily in a variety of colours, but white all over from the
crown of the head to the sole of the foot, to be clean; so that, by
a transition from the body, we may lay aside the varied and versatile
passions of the man, and love the unvaried, and unambiguous, and simple
colour of truth. And he who also in this emulates Moses—Plato best
of all—approves of that texture on which not more than a chaste
woman’s work has been employed. And white colours well become
gravity. And elsewhere he says, “Nor apply dyes or weaving,
except for warlike decorations.”1670
| 1670 Plato’s words are: “The web is not to be
more than a woman’s work for a month. White colour is peculiarly
becoming for the gods in other things, but especially in cloth. Dyes are
not to be applied, except for warlike decorations.”—Plato: De Legibus,
xii. 992. |
To men of peace and of light, therefore,
white is appropriate.1671
| 1671
[Another law against colours in clerical attire.] |
As, then, signs, which are very closely allied to causes, by their
presence indicate, or rather demonstrate, the existence of the result;
as smoke is the sign of fire, and a good complexion and a regular pulse
of health; so also clothing of this description shows the character of
our habits. Temperance is pure and simple; since purity is a habit which
ensures pure conduct unmixed with what is base. Simplicity is a habit
which does away with superfluities.
Substantial clothing also, and chiefly what is
unfulled, protects the heat which is in the body; not that the clothing
has heat in itself, but that it turns back the heat issuing from the body,
and refuses it a passage. And whatever heat falls upon it, it absorbs
and retains, and being warmed by it, warms in turn the body. And for
this reason it is chiefly to be worn in winter.
It also (temperance) is contented. And contentment
is a habit which dispenses with superfluities, and, that there may be no
failure, is receptive of what suffices for the healthful and blessed life
according to the Word.1672
| 1672 Καρὰ
Λόγον. The reading
in the text is κατάλογον. |
Let the women wear a plain and becoming dress,
but softer than what is suitable for a man, yet not quite immodest
or entirely gone in luxury. And let the garments be suited to age,
person, figure, nature, pursuits. For the divine apostle most beautifully
counsels us “to put on Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
lusts of the flesh.”1673
Ear-rings.
The Word prohibits us from doing violence to
nature1674
by boring the lobes of
the ears. For why not the nose too?—so that, what was spoken,
may be fulfilled: “As an ear-ring in a swine’s nose, so is
beauty to a woman without discretion.”1675
For, in a word, if one thinks
himself made beautiful by gold, he is inferior to gold; and he that is
inferior to gold is not lord of it. But to confess one’s self less
ornamental than the Lydian ore, how monstrous! As, then, the gold is
polluted by the dirtiness of the sow, which stirs up the mire with her
snout, so those women that are luxurious to excess in their wantonness,
elated by wealth, dishonour by the stains of amatory indulgences what
is the true beauty.
The Word, then, permits them a
finger-ring of gold.1676
| 1676
[Possibly used thus early as a distinction of matrons.] | Nor
is this for ornament, but for sealing things which are worth keeping
safe in the house in the exercise of their charge of housekeeping.
For if all were well trained, there would be no need
of seals, if servants and masters were equally honest. But since want
of training produces an inclination to dishonesty, we require seals.
But there are circumstances in which
this strictness may relaxed. For allowance must sometimes be
made in favour of those women who have not been fortunate1677
| 1677 Εὑτυχούσαις,
for which the text has ἐντοχούσαις. |
in falling in with chaste husbands, and adorn themselves in order to
please their husbands. But let desire for the admiration of their
husbands alone be proposed as their aim. I would not have them to
devote themselves to personal display, but to attract their husbands by
chaste love for them—a powerful and legitimate charm. But since
they wish their wives to be unhappy in mind, let the latter, if they
would be chaste, make it their aim to allay by degrees the irrational
impulses and passions of their husbands. And they are to be gently
drawn to simplicity, by gradually accustoming them to sobriety. For
decency is not produced by the imposition of what is burdensome, but by
the abstraction of excess. For women’s articles of luxury are to
be prohibited, as things of swift wing producing unstable follies and
empty delights; by which, elated and furnished with wings, they often
fly away from the marriage bonds. Wherefore also women ought to dress
neatly, and bind themselves around with the band of chaste modesty,
lest through giddiness they slip away from the truth. It is right, then,
for men to repose confidence in their wives, and commit the charge of
the household to them, as they are given to be their helpers in this.
And if it is necessary for us, while engaged in
public business, or discharging other avocations in the country, and
often away from our wives, to seal anything for the sake of safety, He
(the Word) allows us a signet for this purpose only. Other finger-rings
are to be cast off, since, according to the Scripture, “instruction
is a golden ornament for a wise man.”1678
But women who wear gold seem to me to be afraid,
lest, if one strip them of their jewellery, they should be taken for
servants, without their ornaments. But the nobility of truth, discovered
in the native beauty which has its seat in the soul, judges the slave not
by buying and selling, but by a servile disposition. And it is incumbent
on us not to seem, but to be free, trained by God, adopted by God.
Wherefore we must adopt a mode of standing and
motion, and a step, and dress, and in a word, a mode of life, in all
respects as worthy as possible of freemen. But men are not to wear
the ring on the joint; for this is feminine; but to place it on the
little finger at its root. For so the hand will be freest for work,
in whatever we need it; and the signet will not very easily fall off,
being guarded by the large knot of the joint.
And let our seals be either a dove, or a fish, or a
ship scudding before the wind, or a musical lyre, which Polycrates used,
or a ship’s anchor, which Seleucus got engraved as a device; and
if there be one fishing, he will remember the
apostle, and the children drawn
out of the water. For we are not to delineate the faces of idols,1679
| 1679 [How this was followed, is
proved by the early Christian devices of the catacombs, contrasted
with the engraved gems from Pompeii, in the Museo Borbonico
at Naples.] | we who are prohibited to cleave to them; nor a
sword, nor a bow, following as we do, peace; nor drinking-cups, being
temperate.
Many of the licentious
have their lovers1680
engraved,1681
| 1681 γεγλυμμἐνους,
written on the margin of Codex clxv. for γεγυμνωμένους
(naked) of the text. [Royal Library, Naples.] | or their
mistresses, as if they wished to make it impossible ever to forget
their amatory indulgences, by being perpetually put in mind of their
licentiousness.
About the hair, the following seems right. Let the
head of men be shaven, unless it has curly hair. But let the chin have the
hair. But let not twisted locks hang far down from the head, gliding into
womanish ringlets. For an ample beard suffices for men. And if one, too,
shave a part of his beard, it must not be made entirely bare, for this is
a disgraceful sight. The shaving of the chin to the skin is reprehensible,
approaching to plucking out the hair and smoothing. For instance, thus
the Psalmist, delighted with the hair of the beard, says, “As the
ointment that descends on the beard, the beard of Aaron.”1682
Having celebrated the beauty of the beard by a
repetition, he made the face to shine with the ointment of the Lord.
Since cropping is to be adopted not for the sake of
elegance, but on account of the necessity of the case; the hair of the
head, that it may not grow so long as to come down and interfere with the
eyes, and that of the moustache similarly, which is dirtied in eating,
is to be cut round, not by the razor, for that were not well-bred,
but by a pair of cropping scissors. But the hair on the chin is not to
be disturbed, as it gives no trouble, and lends to the face dignity
and paternal terror.1683
| 1683
[Here Clement’s rules are arbitrary, and based on their existing
ideas of propriety. If it be not improper to shave the head, much less
to shave the face, which he allows in part.] |
Moreover, the shape instructs many not to sin, because
it renders detection easy. To those who do [not]1684
| 1684 “Not” does not
occur in the mss. | wish to sin
openly, a habit that will escape observation and is not conspicuous is
most agreeable, which, when assumed, will allow them to transgress
without detection; so that, being undistinguishable from others, they
may fearlessly go their length in sinning.1685
| 1685 For δεδοικότες,
the conjectural emendation δεδυκότες,
has been adopted. | A cropped head not only
shows a man to be gave, but renders the cranium less liable to injury,
by accustoming it to the presence of both cold and heat; and it averts
the mischiefs arising from these, which the hair absorbs into itself
like a sponge, and so inflicts on the brain constant mischief from the
moisture.
It is enough for women to protect1686
| 1686 φυλάσσειν,
Sylburg and Bod. Reg., agree better than μαλάσσειν
with the context. | their locks, and bind up their hair simply
along the neck with a plain hair-pin, nourishing chaste locks with simple
care to true beauty. For meretricious plaiting of the hair, and putting
it up in tresses, contribute to make them look ugly, cutting the hair
and plucking off it those treacherous braidings; on account of which they
do not touch their head, being afraid of disordering their hair. Sleep,
too, comes on, not without fear lest they pull down without knowing the
shape of the braid.
But additions of other people’s hair
are entirely to be rejected, and it is a most sacrilegious thing for
spurious hair to shade the head, covering the skull with dead locks. For
on whom does the presbyter lay his hand?1687
Whom does he bless? Not the woman decked out, but another’s hair,
and through them another head. And if “the man is head of the woman,
and God of the man,”1688
how is it not impious that they should
fall into double sins? For they deceive the men by the excessive quantity
of their hair; and shame the Lord as far as in them lies, by adorning
themselves meretriciously, in order to dissemble the truth. And they
defame the head, which is truly beautiful.
Consequently neither is the hair to be dyed, nor
grey hair to have its colour changed. For neither are we allowed to
diversify our dress. And above all, old age, which conciliates trust,
is not to be concealed. But God’s mark of honour is to be shown
in the light of day, to win the reverence of the young. For sometimes,
when they have been behaving shamefully, the appearance of hoary hairs,
arriving like an instructor, has changed them to sobriety, and paralyzed
juvenile lust with the splendour of the sight.
Painting the Face.
Nor are the women to smear their faces with the
ensnaring devices of wily cunning. But let us show to them the decoration
of sobriety. For, in the first place, the best beauty is that which is
spiritual, as we have often pointed out. For when the soul is adorned
by the Holy Spirit, and inspired with the radiant charms which proceed
from Him,—righteousness, wisdom, fortitude, temperance, love of
the good, modesty,
than which no more blooming colour was
ever seen,—then let coporeal beauty be cultivated too, symmetry
of limbs and members, with a fair complexion. The adornment of health
is here in place, through which the transition of the artificial image
to the truth, in accordance with the form which has been given by God,
is effected. But temperance in drinks, and moderation in articles
of food, are effectual in producing beauty according to nature;
for not only does the body maintain its health from these, but they
also make beauty to appear. For from what is fiery arises a gleam and
sparkle; and from moisture, brightness and grace; and from dryness,
strength and firmness; and from what is aërial, free-breathing
and equipoise; from which this well-proportioned and beautiful image
of the Word is adorned. Beauty is the free flower of health; for the
latter is produced within the body; while the former, blossoming out
from the body, exhibits manifest beauty of complexion. Accordingly,
these most decorous and healthful practices, by exercising the body,
produce true and lasting beauty, the heat attracting to itself all the
moisture and cold spirit. Heat, when agitated by moving causes, is a
thing which attracts to itself; and when it does attract, it gently
exhales through the flesh itself, when warmed, the abundance of food,
with some moisture, but with excess of heat. Wherefore also the first food
is carried off. But when the body is not moved, the food consumed does
not adhere, but falls away, as the loaf from a cold oven, either entire,
or leaving only the lower part. Accordingly, the fœces are
in excess in the case of those who do not throw off the excrementitious
matters by the rubbings necessitated by exercise. And other superfluous
matters abound in their case too, and also perspiration, as the food
is not assimilated by the body, but is flowing out to waste. Thence
also lusts are excited, the redundance flowing to the pudenda
by commensurate motions. Wherefore this redundance ought to be liquefied
and dispersed for digestion, by which beauty acquires its ruddy hue. But
it is monstrous for those who are made in “the image and likeness
of God,” to dishonour the archetype by assuming a foreign ornament,
preferring the mischievous contrivance of man to the divine creation.
The Instructor orders them to go forth “in
becoming apparel, and adorn themselves with shamefacedness and
sobriety,”1689
“subject to their own husbands; that, if any
obey not the word, they may without the word be won by the conversation
of the wives; while they behold,” he says, “your chaste
conversation. Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning
of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of
apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is
not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is
in the sight of God of great price.”1690
For the labour of their own hands, above all, adds
genuine beauty to women, exercising their bodies and adorning themselves
by their own exertions; not bringing unornamental ornament wrought by
others, which is vulgar and meretricious, but that of every good woman,
supplied and woven by her own hands whenever she most requires. For
it is never suitable for women whose lives are framed according to
God, to appear arrayed in things bought from the market, but in their
own home-made work. For a most beautiful thing is a thrifty wife,
who clothes both herself and her husband with fair array of her own
working;1691
in which all are glad—the children
on account of their mother, the husband on account of his wife, she on
their account, and all in God.
In brief, “A store of excellence is a woman
of worth, who eateth not the bread of idleness; and the laws of mercy
are on her tongue; who openeth her mouth wisely and rightly; whose
children rise up and call her blessed,” as the sacred Word says
by Solomon: “Her husband also, and he praiseth her. For a pious
woman is blessed; and let her praise the fear of the Lord.”1692
And again, “A virtuous woman is a crown
to her husband.”1693
They must, as far as possible, correct their
gestures, looks, steps, and speech. For they must not do as some, who,
imitating the acting of comedy, and practising the mincing motions of
dancers, conduct themselves in society as if on the stage, with voluptuous
movements, and gliding steps, and affected voices, casting languishing
glances round, tricked out with the bait of pleasure. “For honey
drops from the lips of a woman who is an harlot; who, speaking to please,
lubricates thy throat. But at last thou wilt find it bitterer than bile,
and sharper than a two-edged sword. For the feet of folly lead those
who practice it to hell after death.”1694
The noble Samson was overcome by the
harlot, and by another woman was shorn of his manhood. But
Joseph was not thus beguiled by another woman. The Egyptian
harlot was conquered. And chastity,1695
| 1695 We have read from the New College ms. σωφροσύνη
for σωφροσύνης. |
assuming to itself bonds, appears superior to dissolute licence. Most
excellent is what has been said:—
“In fine, I know not how
To whisper, nor effeminately,
To walk about with my neck awry,
As I see others—lechers there
In numbers in the city, with hair plucked out.”1696
| 1696 From some comic poet. |
But feminine motions, dissoluteness,
and luxury, are to be entirely prohibited. For voluptuousness of motion
in walking, “and a mincing gait,” as Anacreon says, are
altogether meretricious.
“As seems to me,” says
the comedy, “it is time1697
| 1697 Some read ᾤραν
ἀπολείπει
. [New College ms.]
In the translation the conjecture ᾤρα
ἀπολείπειν
is adopted. | to abandon meretricious steps and
luxury.” And the steps of harlotry lean not to the truth;
for they approach not the paths of life. Her tracks are dangerous,
and not easily known.1698
The eyes especially are
to be sparingly used, since it is better to slip with the feet than
with the eyes.1699
| 1699 An
imitation of Zeno’s saying, “It is better to slip with
the feet than the tongue.” | Accordingly, the Lord
very summarily cures this malady: “If thine eye offend thee,
cut it out,”1700
| 1700
Quoting from memory, he has substituted ἔκκοψον
for ἔξελε (Matt.
v. 29). | He says, dragging lust up from the foundation. But
languishing looks, and ogling, which is to wink with the eyes, is nothing
else than to commit adultery with the eyes, lust skirmishing through
them. For of the whole body, the eyes are first destroyed. “The
eye contemplating beautiful objects (καλά), gladdens the
heart;” that is, the eye which has learned rightly (καλῶς)
to see, gladdens. “Winking with the eye, with guile, heaps
woes on men.”1701
Such they introduce the effeminate
Sardanapalus, king of the Assyrians, sitting on a couch with his legs
up, fumbling at his purple robe, and casting up the whites of his eyes.
Women that follow such practices, by their looks offer themselves for
prostitution. “For the light of the body is the eye,” says
the Scripture, by which the interior illuminated by the shining light
appears. Fornication in a woman is in the raising of the eyes.1702
“Mortify therefore your members which
are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
and concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which
things’ sake cometh the wrath of God upon the children of
disobedience,”1703
cries the apostle.
But we enkindle the passions, and are not
ashamed.
Some of these women eating mastich,1704
| 1704 [A similar practice, very
gross and unbecoming, prevails among the lower class of girls brought
together in our common schools.] | going about, show their
teeth to those that come near. And others, as if they had not fingers,
give themselves airs, scratching their heads with pins; and these made
either of tortoise or ivory, or some other dead creature they procure
at much pains. And others, as if they had certain efflorescences, in
order to appear comely in the eyes of spectators, stain their faces by
adorning them with gay-coloured unguents. Such a one is called by Solomon
“a foolish and bold woman,” who “knows not shame. She
sits at the door of her house, conspicuously in a seat, calling to all
that pass by the way, who go right on their ways;” by her style and
whole life manifestly saying, “Who among you is very silly? let
him turn to me.” And those devoid of wisdom she exhorts, saying,
“Touch sweetly secret bread, and sweet stolen water;” meaning
by this, clandestine love (from this point the Bœotian Pindar,
coming to our help, says, “The clandestine pursuit of love is
something sweet”). But the miserable man “knoweth not that
the sons of earth perish beside her, and that she tends to the level
of hell.” But says the Instructor: “Hie away, and tarry not
in the place; nor fix thine eye on her: for thus shalt thou pass over a
strange water, and cross to Acheron.”1705
Wherefore
thus saith the Lord by Isaiah, “Because the daughters of
Sion walk with lofty neck, and with winkings of the eyes, and
sweeping their garments as they walk, and playing with their feet;
the Lord shall humble the daughters of Sion, and will uncover their
form”1706
—their deformed form. I, deem it wrong that
servant girls, who follow women of high rank, should either speak or act
unbecomingly to them. But I think it right that they should be corrected
by their mistresses. With very sharp censure, accordingly, the comic poet
Philemon says: “You may follow at the back of a pretty servant girl,
seen behind a gentlewoman; and any one from the Platæicum may follow
close, and ogle her.” For the wantonness of the servant recoils
on the mistress; allowing those who attempt to take lesser liberties
not to be afraid to advance to greater; since the mistress, by allowing
improprieties, shows that she does not disapprove of them. And not to
be angry at those who act wantonly, is a clear proof of a disposition
inclining to the like. “For like mistress like wench,”1707
| 1707 ἀ κύων,
catella. The literal English rendering is coarser and more opprobrious
than the original, which Helen applies to herself (Iliad,
vi. 344, 356). | as they say in the proverb.
Walking.
Also we must abandon a furious mode of walking,
and choose a grave and leisurely, but not a lingering step.
Nor is one to swagger in the ways, nor throw back
his head to look at those he meets, if they look at him, as if he were
strutting on the stage, and pointed at with the finger. Nor, when pushing
up hill, are they to be shoved up by
their domestics, as we see those that
are more luxurious, who appear strong, but are enfeebled by effeminacy
of soul.
A true gentleman must have no mark of effeminacy
visible on his face, or any other part of his body. Let no blot on his
manliness, then, be ever found either in his movements or habits. Nor is
a man in health to use his servants as horses to bear him. For as it is
enjoined on them, “to be subject to their masters with all fear,
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward,”1708
as Peter says; so fairness, and forbearance, and kindness, are what
well becomes the masters. For he says: “Finally, be ye all
of one mind, having compassion one of another; love as brethren, be
pitiful, be humble,” and so forth, “that ye may inherit
a blessing,”1709
excellent and desirable.
Zeno the Cittiæan thought fit to represent
the image of a young maid, and executed the statue thus: “Let her
face be clean, her eyebrows not let down, nor her eyelids open nor
turned back. Let her neck not be stretched back, nor the members
of her body be loose. But let the parts that hang from the body
look as if they were well strung; let there be the keenness of a
well-regulated mind1710
| 1710
This passage has been variously amended and translated. The reading
of the text has been adhered to, but ὸρθόνου
has been coupled with what follows. | for discourse, and
retention of what has been rightly spoken; and let her attitudes and
movements give no ground of hope to the licentious; but let there be
the bloom of modesty, and an expression of firmness. But far from her
be the wearisome trouble that comes from the shops of perfumers, and
goldsmiths, and dealers in wool, and that which comes from the other
shops where women, meretriciously dressed, pass whole days as if sitting
in the stews.”
Amusements and Associates.
And let not men, therefore, spend their time in
barbers’ shops and taverns, babbling nonsense; and let them give
up hunting for the women who sit near,1711
| 1711 Sylburg suggests παριούας
(passing by) instead of παριζούσας. |
and ceaselessly talking slander against many to raise a laugh.
The game of dice1712
| 1712 κὔβος,
a die marked on all the six sides. [This prohibition
would include cards in modern ethics.] | is to be
prohibited, and the pursuit of gain, especially by dicing,1713
| 1713 διὰ ͠ῶν
ἀστραγάλων. The
ἀστραγάλοι
were dice marked on four sides only. Clemens seems to use the terms
here indifferently. | which many keenly follow. Such things the
prodigality of luxury invents for the idle. For the cause is idleness,
and a love1714
| 1714 Lowth’s
conjecture of
ἔρως instead of ἐρᾷ has been adopted. | for
frivolities apart from the truth. For it is not possible otherwise to
obtain enjoyment without injury; and each man’s preference of a
mode of life is a counterpart of his disposition.
But, as appears, only intercourse with good men
benefits; on the other hand, the all-wise Instructor, by the mouth of
Moses, recognising companionship with bad men as swinish, forbade the
ancient people to partake of swine; to point out that those who call on
God ought not to mingle with unclean men, who, like swine, delight in
corporeal pleasures, in impure food, and in itching with filthy pruriency
after the mischievous delights of lewdness.
Further, He says: “Thou art not to eat
a kite or swift-winged ravenous bird, or an eagle,”1715
meaning: Thou shalt not come near men who
gain their living by rapine. And other things also are exhibited
figuratively.
With whom, then, are we to associate? With
the righteous, He says again, speaking figuratively; for everything
“which parts the hoof and chews the cud is clean.” For
the parting of the hoof indicates the equilibrium of righteousness,
and ruminating points to the proper food of righteousness, the word,
which enters from without, like food, by instruction, but is recalled
from the mind, as from the stomach, to rational recollection. And the
spiritual man, having the word in his mouth, ruminates the spiritual
food; and righteousness parts the hoof rightly, because it sanctifies
us in this life, and sends us on our way to the world to come.
The Instructor will not then bring
us to public spectacles; nor inappropriately might one
call the racecourse and the theatre “the seat of
plagues;”1716
for there is evil counsel as
against the Just One,1717
and therefore the assembly against Him
is execrated. These assemblies, indeed, are full of confusion1718
| 1718 ἀναμιξιας
adopted instead of the reading ἀμιξίας,
which is plainly wrong. | and iniquity; and these
pretexts for assembling are the cause of disorder—men
and women assembling promiscuously if for the sight of
one another. In this respect the assembly has already
shown itself bad: for when the eye is lascivious,1719
| 1719 λιχνευούσης
on the authority of the Pal. ms. Nov. Reg. Bod. | the desires
grow warm; and the eyes that are accustomed to look impudently at
one’s neighbours during the leisure granted to them, inflame
the amatory desires. Let spectacles, therefore, and plays that
are full of scurrility and of abundant gossip, be forbidden.1720
| 1720[Jeremy Collier’s Short
View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (London,
1698) and the discussions that followed belong to literature, and ought
to be republished with historic notes.] | For what base action
is it that is
not exhibited in the theatres? And what
shameless saying is it that is not brought forward by the buffoons? And
those who enjoy the evil that is in them, stamp the clear images of it at
home. And, on the other hand, those that are proof against these things,
and unimpressible, will never make a stumble in regard to luxurious
pleasures.
For if people shall say that they betake themselves
to the spectacles as a pastime for recreation, I should say that the
cities which make a serious business of pastime are not wise; for cruel
contests for glory which have been so fatal are not sport. No more is
senseless expenditure of money, nor are the riots that are occasioned by
them sport. And ease of mind is not to be purchased by zealous pursuit
of frivolities, for no one who has his senses will ever prefer what is
pleasant to what is good.
But it is said we do not all philosophize. Do
we not all, then, follow after life? What sayest thou? How hast thou
believed? How, pray, dost thou love God and thy neighbour, if thou
dost not philosophize? And how dost thou love thyself, if thou dost
not love life? It is said, I have not learned letters; but if thou
hast not learned to read, thou canst not excuse thyself in the case
of hearing, for it is not taught. And faith is the possession not of
the wise according to the world, but of those according to God; and it
is taught without letters; and its handbook, at once rude and divine,
is called love—a spiritual book. It is in your power to listen to
divine wisdom, ay, and to frame your life in accordance with it. Nay,
you are not prohibited from conducting affairs in the world decorously
according to God. Let not him who sells or buys aught name two prices
for what he buys or sells; but stating the net price, and studying to
speak the truth, if he get not his price, he gets the truth, and is rich
in the possession of rectitude. But, above all, let an oath on account
of what is sold be far from you; and let swearing, too, on account of
other things be banished.
And in this way those who frequent the market-place
and the shop philosophize. “For thou shalt not take the name of
the Lord thy God in vain:
for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh His name in vain.”1721
But those who act contrary to these things—the
avaricious, the liars, the hypocrites, those who make merchandise of
the truth—the Lord cast out of His Father’s court,1722
not willing that the holy house of God should be the
house of unrighteous traffic either in words or in material things.
Woman and man are to go to church1723
| 1723 [This early use of the word
“church” for the place or house of worship, is to be noted.
See Elucidation ii.] | decently attired, with natural step,
embracing silence, possessing unfeigned love, pure in body, pure in
heart, fit to pray to God. Let the woman observe this, further. Let her
be entirely covered, unless she happen to be at home. For that style
of dress is grave, and protects from being gazed at. And she will never
fall, who puts before her eyes modesty, and her shawl; nor will she
invite another to fall into sin by uncovering her face. For this is the
wish of the Word, since it is becoming for her to pray veiled.1724
They say that the wife of Æneas, through excess of
propriety, did not, even in her terror at the capture of Troy, uncover
herself; but, though fleeing from the conflagration, remained veiled.
Such ought those who are consecrated to Christ
appear, and frame themselves in their whole life, as they fashion
themselves in the church1725
| 1725 [1
Cor. xi. 22. But I cannot say that the word ἐκκλησία
is used for the place of Christian worship, even in this text, where it
seems to be in antithesis with the dwelling-house.] | for the
sake of gravity; and to be, not to seem such—so meek, so pious,
so loving. But now I know not how people change their fashions and
manners with the place. As they say that polypi, assimilated to the
rocks to which they adhere, are in colour such as they; so, laying
aside the inspiration of the assembly, after their departure from it,
they become like others with whom they associate. Nay, in laying aside
the artificial mask of solemnity, they are proved to be what they
secretly were. After having paid reverence to the discourse about God,
they leave within [the church] what they have heard. And outside they
foolishly amuse themselves with impious playing, and amatory quavering,
occupied with flute-playing, and dancing, and intoxication, and all kinds
of trash. They who sing thus, and sing in response, are those who before
hymned immortality,—found at last wicked and wickedly singing this
most pernicious palinode, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we
die.” But not to-morrow in truth, but already, are these dead to
God; burying their dead,1726
that is, sinking themselves down to
death. The apostle very firmly assails them. “Be not deceived;
neither adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers,”
and whatever else he adds to these, “shall inherit the kingdom of
God.”1727
And if we are called to the kingdom of God,
let us walk worthy of the kingdom, loving God and our neighbour. But
love is not proved by a kiss, but by kindly feeling. But there are
those, that do nothing but make the churches resound with a kiss,1728
| 1728 [The sexes sat apart in the
primitive churches, and the kiss of peace was given by women only to
women (Bunsen, Hippol., iii. p. 15). Does the author, here,
imply that unholy kissing had crept in? Among the Germans, even
in our days, nothing is more common than to see men, not at all related,
salute one another in this way. It was therefore all one with shaking
hands, in the apostolic ordinance. For some very fine reflections on
the baiser de paix, see
De Masitre, Soirèes, ii. p. 199, ed. Paris, 1850.] |
not having love itself within. For this very thing, the shameless use
of a kiss, which ought to be mystic, occasions foul suspicions and evil
reports. The apostle calls the kiss holy.1729
When the kingdom is worthily tested, we dispense
the affection of the soul by a chaste and closed mouth, by which chiefly
gentle manners are expressed.
But there is another unholy kiss, full of poison,
counterfeiting sanctity. Do you not know that spiders, merely by
touching the mouth, afflict men with pain? And often kisses inject
the poison of licentiousness. It is then very manifest to us, that a
kiss is not love. For the love meant is the love of God. “And
this is the love of God,” says John, “that we keep His
commandments;”1730
not that we stroke each other on the mouth.
“And His commandments are not grievous.” But salutations
of beloved ones in the ways, full as they are of foolish boldness, are
characteristic of those who wish to be conspicuous to those without,
and have not the least particle of grace. For if it is proper mystically
“in the closet” to pray to God, it will follow that we
are also to greet mystically our neighbour, whom we are commanded
to love second similarly to God, within doors, “redeeming the
time.” “For we are the salt of the earth.”1731
“Whosoever shall bless his friend early in the morning with a
loud voice, shall be regarded not to differ from cursing.”1732
But, above all, it seems right that we turn away
from the sight of women. For it is sin not only to touch, but to look;
and he who is rightly trained must especially avoid them. “Let
thine eyes look straight, and thine eyelids wink right.”1733
For while it is possible for one who looks to remain stedfast; yet care
must be taken against falling. For it is possible for one who looks to
slip; but it is impossible for one, who looks not, to lust. For it is
not enough for the chaste to be pure; but they must give all diligence,
to be beyond the range of censure, shutting out all ground of suspicion,
in order to the consummation of chastity; so that we may not only be
faithful, but appear worthy of trust. For this is also consequently to be
guarded against, as the apostle says, “that no man should blame us;
providing things honourable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also
in the sight of men.”1734
“But turn away thine eyes from
a graceful woman, and contemplate not another’s beauty,”
says the Scripture.1735
And if you require the reason, it will further
tell you, “For by the beauty of woman many have gone astray, and
at it affection blazes up like fire;”1736
the affection which arises
from the fire which we call love, leading to the fire which will never
cease in consequence of sin.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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