Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
The use of garlands and myrrh-ointments is not necessary for us. For it runs aground on pleasures and self-indulgence, especially with night close at hand. I know that, bringing an "alabaster jar of myrrh" to the holy supper, the woman anointed the Lord's feet and perfumed him. And I also know that in ancient days the kings of the Hebrews wore crowns fashioned of gold set with precious stone.
But the woman, not yet having a share in the Word (for she still numbered among sinners), honored the Master with what she reckoned the finest thing she possessed, the myrrh; indeed she also wiped away the excess of the myrrh with the adornment of her body, her own hair, pouring out to the Lord tears of repentance. For this reason "her sins have been forgiven." Now this may serve as an emblem of what the Lord taught and of what he suffered: for the feet, anointed with fragrant myrrh, hint darkly at the divine teaching that carries its good report across the whole earth: "their voice has gone out over all the earth." And if I do not seem to be forcing the point, the Lord's feet, the ones perfumed, are the apostles, having received a share of the fragrance of the holy anointing by prophecy of the Spirit. At any rate the apostles who traveled around the inhabited world and proclaimed the gospel are allegorized as the feet of the Lord, concerning whom the Spirit also foretells through the psalmist: "let us bow down at the spot his feet once occupied," meaning the place the feet of him, the apostles, reached, through whom he, being proclaimed, was carried out to earth's farthest bounds. Repentance is figured by the tears, and the unbound hair signaled her release from love of adornment, together with the hardship patiently endured that accompanies proclaiming the gospel for the Lord's sake, the old vainglory having given way for the sake of the new faith. But it also shows, mystically, the Master's suffering to those who grasp it thus: the oil represents the Lord himself, the one from whom the mercy shown to us proceeds; but the myrrh, oil that has been adulterated, stands for Judas the traitor, by whose hand the Lord's feet were anointed as he set out from his time spent among us in this world — since the dead, too, are anointed with myrrh; and we sinners who have turned back are the tears, we who have trusted him and whose sins he has released, and the loosened hair signifies Jerusalem in mourning, the cast-off city, on whose account the prophets uttered their laments. The Lord himself will show us that Judas was the adulterated one, when he says, "he who dips his hand with me" — "into the dish, this one will hand me over." Do you see the treacherous fellow-diner? This same Judas betrayed the Teacher with a kiss; he turned hypocrite, his very kiss rendered false, imitating an earlier hypocrite of old, of whom that people stood convicted: "this people draws near me with their mouths, while their hearts stay distant from me." It is not unreasonable, then, that by the oil he should point on one side to a disciple who obtained mercy, and by the poisoned, deceitful oil, on the other, to a traitor. This, then, is what the myrrh-anointed feet foretold, as the Lord moved toward his suffering through Judas's betrayal. And the Savior himself, washing the feet of his disciples and sending them off to good works, hinted darkly at their journey toward the benefits they would bring the nations, making that path fair and clean beforehand by his own power. And in all this the myrrh released its fragrance, and the effect of its sweetness, reaching every people, became renowned; for indeed the Lord's suffering has filled us with sweet fragrance, but left the Hebrews marked with sin. The apostle showed this most plainly when he declared: "Thanks be to God, who continually leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and reveals through us the fragrance of knowing him in every place; because we are Christ's fragrance offered to God, among those being saved and among those perishing: to the latter a scent from death to death, to the former a scent from life to life."
The kings of the Jews, using a crown of gold and precious stones, composite and varied — the anointed ones — carrying Christ symbolically upon their head, had unwittingly been adorned by being crowned with the head that is the Lord. A precious stone, or a pearl, or an emerald, hints darkly at the Word himself; and gold, again, is the incorruptible Word himself, who does not admit the rust of corruption. The Magi brought gold to him at his birth as a symbol of kingship. And this crown remains immortal, after the image of the Lord; for it does not wither like a flower.
I know also the sayings of Aristippus of Cyrene. Aristippus lived luxuriously; he poses a sophistical argument something like this: a horse anointed with myrrh is not harmed with respect to the excellence proper to a horse, nor is a dog perfumed harmed with respect to the excellence proper to a dog; nor, therefore, is a man, he went on, drawing the conclusion. But for the horse and the dog there is no perception at all of the myrrh, whereas for those whose sense-perception is more rational, the enjoyment is more blameworthy, since they carry about girlish scents. Of these myrrh-ointments there are countless varieties: brenthion and metallion and basileion, and plangonion, and Egyptian psagdas. Simonides in his iambics is not ashamed to say: "and I was anointed with myrrh-ointments and incense and bakkaris; for indeed some merchant was present." They also cultivate the ointment made from lilies, and that from henna, and nard is held in high esteem among them, and the unguent from roses, and the others which women still use — the liquid and dry kinds, and the powdered and fumigated perfumes; for day after day new ones are devised for them, to satisfy the insatiability of their desire with the unappeasable craving for fragrance; hence they also give off an odor of considerable vulgarity. And some of them fumigate and sprinkle even their garments and their bedding and their houses, and luxury nearly compels even their chamber-pots to smell of myrrh. Those seem to me right who, protesting against such zeal in this matter, have grown so averse to perfumes that some banish the men's quarters from effeminacy induced by them, so much so that they drive out even the craftsmen who make them, the perfumers, from well-governed cities, and drive out likewise the dyers of bright-colored wools; for it is not right that deceitful garments and unguents should slip into the city of truth. Our men ought by all means to smell not of myrrh but of honorable goodness, and a woman ought to breathe forth the fragrance of Christ, the royal ointment, not of powders and perfumes, but should always be anointed together with the ambrosial unction of self-control, delighting in the holy myrrh that is the Spirit. This is what Christ prepares for those who know him, an ointment of sweet fragrance, compounding the myrrh from heavenly spices. With this myrrh the Lord himself also is anointed, as is shown through David: "therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions; myrrh and aloes and cassia are on your garments."
But let us not fail to notice that we are like vultures loathing perfumes, or like beetles (for they say these die when anointed with rose-perfume), and among these too a few perfumes are to be approved for women, those which do not stupefy the husband; for excessive anointings with perfume give off the smell of a funeral, not of shared life together. And yet oil itself is hostile to bees and to insects, but among men it has benefited some, while it has summoned others to combat, and it turns those who were previously cowardly, once anointed, out onto the racetracks into the all-out contest of the games. But do you not think that myrrh, being a softening oil, can render noble characters effeminate? Most certainly. Just as we have shut out luxury from taste as well, so likewise we banish the voluptuous indulgence of sight and of smell, lest we fail to notice that we are giving back entry, through the senses as through unguarded doors, to the very licentiousness we banished. If, then, they should say that the incense of sweet fragrance is offered up to God by the great high priest, the Lord, let them not think of this as sacrifice and fragrance of incense, but rather let them accept that the Lord offers up the acceptable offering of love, the spiritual fragrance, onto the altar. The oil itself, then, suffices to give a gloss to the surface, and to relax the sinews, and to check a certain heavier odor of the body, if indeed we should need oil even for this; but the cultivation of sweet scent is bait for indolence, drawing greedy desire from far off. For the licentious person is led about from every side — by food, by bedding, by company, and from the eyes, and from the ears, and from the jaws, but also from the nostrils. Just as oxen are led by rings and ropes, so too the licentious person is dragged about by incenses and perfumes and the fragrances arising from garlands. Since, however, no room is granted among us to pleasure that offers life no useful service, come, let us here too draw a distinction, choosing what is useful. For there are certain fragrances that are neither stupefying nor erotic, that do not give off the odor of illicit intercourse and licentious companionship, but are wholesome, together with self-control, and nourish the brain when it is in poor condition, and also strengthen the stomach. For it is not to be utterly rejected in every respect, but myrrh is to be used like a medicine and a remedy, both for rousing failing strength and against catarrhs and against the discomfort of chills, just as the comic poet says somewhere: "he anoints his nostrils with perfumes; it is a very great part of health to make the scents wholesome for the brain." And the rubbing of the feet with the fat of warming or cooling ointments is practiced for benefit, so that a certain drawing and withdrawal may occur, away from the head, for those who are congested, toward the less vital parts of the body. But pleasure to which usefulness does not attach is a slander of a courtesan's character and a drug for provocations. There is an entire difference between anointing oneself with perfume and being anointed with myrrh: the one is effeminate, but being anointed with myrrh is sometimes even beneficial. Aristippus the philosopher, at any rate, having anointed himself with myrrh, said that the wretches who slandered the benefit of myrrh into an object of reproach — meaning the perverts — ought to perish wretchedly. "Honor the physician for his usefulness," says Scripture; "for indeed the Most High created him, and healing comes from the Lord." Then it adds: "and the perfumer will make a compound" — clearly meaning that myrrh-ointments were given for benefit, not for self-indulgence. For one ought not at all to be zealous about the provocative quality of perfumes, but rather choose what is beneficial, seeing that God granted the origin of oil to men as a help for their labors. And foolish women, dyeing their gray hairs but perfuming their locks, become gray more quickly on account of the spices, which are drying. Hence those who are perfumed appear rather more parched; and dryness makes people grayer (whether grayness is a withering of the hair, or a lack of heat), the dryness draining off the hair's own moist nourishment and rendering it gray. How then could they reasonably still love the very perfumes that cause the gray hairs, they who flee gray hairs? Just as dogs tracking by scent hunt down wild animals by their odor, so from the elaborate fragrance of perfumes the self-controlled hunt out the licentious.
Such too is the use of garlands, festive and drunken: 'begone; put no garland round my head.' For in the season of spring it is a fine thing to dwell in dewy meadows soft with grass, green with varied flowers, being nourished, like bees, by some natural and unadulterated fragrance; but for those who fashion a woven garland from an unspoiled meadow to carry it around at home is not the mark of temperate people. For it is not fitting to crown a festive head of hair with rosebuds, or violets, or lilies, or any other such flowers, plucking apart the green growth. For a garland placed around the hair actually chills it, both through moisture and through coldness. For this reason physicians too, holding that the brain is by nature cold, recommend anointing the chest and the tip of the nostrils with myrrh, so that the fiery vapor, passing through quietly, may be able vigorously to warm the coldness. Far from it, then, that one should cool the head further with flowers, when the sinewy part wants to be warmed. Yes, and indeed those who are crowned with garlands lose the very delight of the blossoms. For those who bind the garland above their eyes do not enjoy the sight of it, nor indeed do those who drive the flowers beyond the range of their breathing enjoy the fragrance; for since the fragrance rises upward and evaporates naturally above the head, the breath is left deprived of enjoyment, the fragrance being snatched away. Just as beauty, then, so too the flower delights when it is seen, and one ought, enjoying beautiful things through sight, to glorify the Creator. But the use of garlands is harmful, and it soon passes away, punished by regret. Immediately, indeed, their transience stands convicted; for both wither together, the flower and the beauty. But also, of those who touch them, the one has chilled, the other has inflamed. In a word, the enjoyment of them through sight is arrogance, not luxury; but it is fitting for us to live in luxury, as it were in paradise, in true self-control, truly following after Scripture. One must understand the husband to be the wife's garland, and marriage to be the husband's, and the children of both to be the flowers of marriage, which the divine farmer gathers as harvest from the meadows of the flesh. "Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and children take pride in their fathers," as Scripture puts it; but for us the Father of all is our pride, and Christ is the crown of the whole church.
Just as roots and herbs, so too flowers have their own particular qualities, some beneficial, others harmful, and some even dangerous. Ivy, at any rate, chills, while the walnut gives off a stupefying vapor, as even its name, when traced to its origin, indicates. The narcissus is a heavy-scented flower, and its very name convicts it, producing numbness (narke) in the sinews. The exhalations of roses and violets, being gently cool, draw together and check headaches; but for us it is not permitted to indulge in drunkenness at all in any degree, nor even to take wine. Yes, indeed, the crocus and the flower of the henna induce untroubled sleep. Many of these, though the brain is by nature cold, warm it by their exhalations, refining away the residues of the head. Hence too the rose is said to be named as it is, they say, because it gives off a very great flow of scent; hence too it withers the more quickly.
But not even among the ancient Greeks was the use of garlands yet known. For neither the suitors nor the luxury-loving Phaeacians make use of them. And in the games, first there was the giving of prizes, second the going about to receive congratulations, third the throwing of leaves, and last of all the garland, once Greece had made progress toward luxury after the Persian Wars. Those who are being instructed by the Word, then, are kept from garlands, not because they seem to bind down the Word, seated as it is in the brain, nor because the garland would be a symbol of festive insolence, but rather because it has been named after idols. Sophocles, at any rate, called the narcissus "the ancient garland of the great gods," meaning the gods of the underworld; and Sappho crowns the Muses with roses — for not [textually uncertain] from the beginning were the roses from Pieria; and they say Hera takes pleasure in the lily, Artemis in the myrtle. For even if flowers came into being chiefly for man's sake, and foolish men, taking them, put them to use not for their own grateful enjoyment but for the thankless service of demons, we must abstain from them "for conscience's sake." The garland is a symbol of untroubled freedom from care; for this reason too people crown the dead with garlands, by the same reasoning by which they also crown idols, thereby testifying in deed that they are among the dead. For those who celebrate Bacchic rites do not perform their orgies even without garlands; and when they have put the flowers around themselves, they are inflamed all the more toward the rite. One must, then, have no fellowship whatsoever with demons, nor must one crown the living image of God as though it were among the dead idols. For the beautiful crown of the unfading flower is reserved for the one who has lived well as a citizen; the earth has not room to bear this flower — heaven alone knows how to bring it to fruit. Moreover, it is unreasonable for us, having heard that the Lord was crowned with thorns, to bind ourselves with flowers, luxuriating over the solemn suffering our Lord underwent. This crown worn by the Lord hinted darkly, in prophecy, at us, once fruitless, now joined to him within the church, whose head he stands as; yet it is likewise a figure of faith: of life, given the substance of the wood; of gladness, given the very name "crown"; of danger, given the thorn — since none may draw near the Word without bloodshed. But this woven crown withers, its crooked plaiting comes apart, and the flower dries up; for the honor of those refusing belief in the Lord likewise wastes away. They crowned Jesus when he was exalted, thereby testifying against their own ignorance; for this very thing the hard-hearted do not understand as being a wise prophecy, which they themselves call an outrage against the Lord. The people who went astray did not know the Lord, they were not circumcised in reasoning, they were not illumined out of their darkening, they did not see God, they denied the Lord, they lost the right to be Israel, they persecuted God, they hoped to insult the Word, and him whom they crucified as a criminal, they crowned as a king. For this very reason, then, the man in whom they did not believe — they shall recognize as Lord the God who loves mankind, and as just; because in embittering him they meant to expose the Lord to scorn, they have instead testified to this very thing regarding him when exalted, having fastened around him, through the ever-green thorn, the diadem of righteousness. This diadem proved hostile to those who plotted against him, but built up as a defense those who assemble with him in the church; this crown is the bloom worn by those who put faith in him now glorified, yet it draws blood and inflicts punishment on those refusing belief. Yes, and it is also a symbol of the Master's achievement, since he bore on his head, on the ruling part of his body, all our wicked deeds, by which we were being pierced; for he himself, by his own suffering, having rescued us from stumbling-blocks and sins and thorns of this kind, and having brought the devil to nothing, fittingly said, exulting: "O death, where is your sting?" And we gather grapes from thorns, and figs from brambles; but they are torn into wounds, they over whom he stretched out his hands, against a disobedient and fruitless people.
I could also tell you another mystical point here. For when the almighty Lord of all things was beginning to legislate through the Word, and wished his own power to become manifest to Moses, a divine-formed vision of light shaped itself and was shown to him upon a burning bush; and the thorny plant is the bush. But when the Word ceased from the giving of the law and from his sojourn among men, the Lord is again mystically crowned with thorn, departing from here to that place from which he had come down, recapitulating the beginning of his ancient descent, so that he who was first seen through a bush, the Word, being afterward taken up through the thorn, might show that all things are the work of one power, being one of one, the Father being one, the beginning and end of the age.
But I have digressed from the pattern of the Instructor, introducing the manner of a teacher; so I return again to the matter before us. We have already shown that neither the delight flowers give nor the usefulness that comes from unguents and incense should be shunned, since such things function as a remedy for healing, and in certain instances also for moderate enjoyment. But if some should say, what charm, then, do flowers still hold for those who do not make use of them, let them know that unguents too are prepared from them and are of much benefit: lily-perfume, made from lilies and irises, is warming, opens the pores, draws out, moistens, cleanses, is fine in texture, stirs the bile, and softens; narcissus-perfume, made from the narcissus, benefits equally with lily-perfume; myrtle-perfume, made from myrtle-berries and myrtle, is astringent, checking the exhalations from the body; and rose-perfume is cooling. For in general these things too have been fashioned for our good use. "Hearken to me," it says, "and bud forth as a rose planted by streams of water, breathe out a scent as sweet as frankincense, and give praise to the Lord for what he has made." And much could be said on these matters, as we speak of flowers and spices as existing for necessary benefits, not for the excesses of luxury. But if indeed some concession must be made, it is enough for them to enjoy the scent of the flowers; let them not, however, crown themselves with them. For the Father cares greatly for man, and grants his own art to him alone. The Scripture says, at any rate: "Water, fire, iron, milk, choice flour and honey, wine's blood, oil, and garments, all such things exist for the good of those who fear God."
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