Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
All the other virtues recorded in Moses are likewise plain to see, and they supplied the Greeks with the starting-point for their whole field of ethics — I mean courage, temperance, prudence, and justice, together with endurance and steadfastness, and gravity, and self-control, and, crowning these, piety. Piety is plain to everyone as that which teaches us to revere and honor the highest and most venerable cause. And the Law itself sets forth justice, and trains prudence through abstinence from the idols perceived by sense and through allotting oneself to the Maker and Father of all, from which opinion, as from a spring, all understanding grows.
'For sacrifices of the lawless are a thing detestable to the Lord, while the prayer of the upright pleases him.' Similarly also the words in Isaiah: 'Of what use to me are your many sacrifices?' says the Lord, and the whole passage: 'Loose every bond of injustice; for this is the sacrifice acceptable to God, a broken heart, and one that seeks him who fashioned it.' 'Deceitful scales are an abomination before God, but a just weight is acceptable to him.' Hence Pythagoras counsels 'not to step over the balance-beam.' Deceitful righteousness is said to be the profession of the heresies, and 'the tongue of the wicked will perish, while the mouth of the just distills wisdom.' Yet indeed they call the wise and prudent 'worthless.' It would take too long to set out testimonies concerning these virtues, since the whole of Scripture sings their praise. Since, then, they define courage as the knowledge of things terrible and not terrible and those in between, and temperance as a disposition which, in choice and avoidance, preserves the judgments of prudence, and since endurance — which they call steadfastness — lies close beside courage, being the knowledge of what must be held to and what must not, as does greatness of soul, the knowledge that rises above events, so too caution lies close beside temperance, being an avoidance accompanied by reason.
The keeping of the commandments, being an unharmed observance of them, is the securing of a safe life. And it is not possible to be steadfast without courage, nor indeed to be self-controlled without temperance. The virtues follow upon one another in sequence, and wherever the sequence of the virtues is found, there too is salvation, which is the preservation of a good condition. Having reasonably gone through these virtues, we may consider that we have examined them all, because he who possesses one virtue knowingly possesses all, by virtue of this mutual sequence. For instance, self-control is a disposition that never oversteps what right reasoning shows to be fitting. Self-control belongs to one who curbs impulses opposed to sound reason, or who restrains himself so as not to be driven against what reason dictates. And this temperance does not exist without courage, since it arises out of the commandments, and prudence follows what has been ordained by God, and righteousness, which imitates the divine disposition, whereby, exercising self-control, we array ourselves pure for piety and for the conduct that follows consistently upon God, being made like the Lord so far as is possible for us, whose nature is perishable.
This is what it means to become righteous and holy along with prudence. For the Divine is without need and without passion, and hence not self-controlled in the strict sense; for it never falls under passion, so as to master it. But our nature, being subject to passion, needs self-control, through which, being trained toward having few needs, it tries to draw near, in disposition, to the divine nature. For the earnest man has few needs, standing on the border between the immortal and the mortal nature — having need on account of the body and on account of birth itself, but taught to need only a few things, by reason of rational self-control. For what sense would it make for the Law to forbid a man to take up a woman's garment? Does it not wish us to be manly, neither becoming effeminate in body and deeds, nor in thought and reason? For it wishes that the one who devotes himself to truth be made manly, both in endurance and in steadfastness, in life and in character, in speech and in discipline, by night and by day, and, if there ever comes need to advance to martyrdom through blood, then too.
Again, 'if anyone,' it says, 'has recently built a house and has not yet managed to live in it, or has worked a vineyard newly planted and has not yet tasted its fruit, or has become engaged to a virgin and has not yet taken her in marriage, the humane Law bids that these be excused from military service' — in a strategic sense, so that we, not being distracted by our desires, may not be reluctant in serving the war effort (for those are free in their impulses who without excuse strip for combat against dangers), and in a humane sense, because the outcomes of wars are uncertain, and it was reckoned unjust that one man should not enjoy the fruits of his own labors, while another, without toil, should take the possessions of those who had labored.
The Law seems also to display the courage of the soul, by legislating that the one who has planted should enjoy the fruit, the one who has built should dwell in the house, and the one who is betrothed should marry; for it will not render the hopes incomplete for those who have trained themselves according to the reasoning of the one who has knowledge, since for a good man, whether he has died or is living, hope does not perish. 'I,' it says, 'love those who love me' — Wisdom speaks — 'and those seeking me will discover peace,' and the like. Well then: was it not the women of Midian who, through their beauty, led the Hebrews who were warring against them, out of intemperance, from temperance into godlessness? For by winning them over through their beauty they enticed them from their solemn discipline into the pleasures of harlotry, and drove them mad after both the sacrifices to idols and after foreign women; and being mastered at once by women and by pleasure, they fell away from God, and they fell away also from the Law, and the whole people came close to being overcome by their enemies through this scheme devised by women, until fear, sounding its warning, held them back as they stood on the brink of ruin.
Straightway those who were left, taking up with love of danger the contest on behalf of piety, became masters of their enemies. 'Fear of God is the origin of wisdom,' and 'the understanding of the holy is forethought,' and 'knowledge of the Law shows sound understanding.' Those who imagine the Law produces nothing but an emotional dread neither comprehend it well nor have truly grasped the Law at all. For 'the fear of the Lord produces life,' while 'the one who goes astray shall suffer pain in troubles which knowledge does not visit.' Indeed Barnabas mystically says: 'And may God, who rules over the whole world, give to you also wisdom and understanding, knowledge, the knowledge of his ordinances, and endurance. Become, then, taught of God, seeking out what the Lord seeks from you, that you may find it in the day of judgment.' Those who attain to these things he called, in a knowing way, 'children of love and of peace.' And concerning giving and sharing, though there is much to say, it suffices to say only this: that the Law forbids lending at interest to a brother (calling 'brother' not only the one born of the same parents, but also whoever is of the same tribe, of the same mind, and shares in the same reason). It does not think it right to collect interest on money, but to give freely, with open hands and open minds, to those in need. For God is the creator of such grace; and already the one who gives freely receives interest worth mentioning — the most valued things among men: gentleness, kindness, magnanimity, good report, good renown.
Does it not seem to you that this precept, too, belongs to love of humanity, like that other one — to pay the poor man's wage on the very same day? It teaches that one must pay without delay the wage due for services rendered; for, I think, the eagerness of the poor man flags if he goes hungry with an eye toward the next day. Further, it says, let the lender not go into the house of the debtor to seize a pledge by force, but let the debtor bring it out himself, and let him who holds it not draw back. And in the harvest it forbids the owners to gather up the ears that have fallen, just as in the reaping it advises leaving something uncut, thereby well training the owners toward sharing and magnanimity by giving up something of their own to those in need, while providing the poor with a means of sustenance.
Do you see how the legislation proclaims at once the justice and the goodness of God, who supplies food ungrudgingly to all? So too, in the vintage, it has forbidden going back over what has been left after the picking, and gathering the grapes that have fallen; and the same rules are prescribed for those who gather olives. And indeed the tithes of both the fruits and the flocks taught men to be pious toward the Divine and not to be wholly given to gain, but to share generously with their neighbors as well. For it was from these firstfruits, I think, that the priests too were maintained. Do we not now perceive that we are being trained by the Law toward piety and fellowship and justice and love of humanity? Is it not so? Does it not command that in the seventh year the land be released and left idle, while bidding the poor to make free use of whatever fruits grow of themselves by God's provision, nature cultivating for those willing? How, then, is the Law not gentle, instructing men in uprightness? Likewise, in the fiftieth year it commands the same practices observed in the seventh, restoring to each man his own property if he has in the meantime been deprived of any land through some circumstance, thereby limiting, by a measured span of enjoyment, the desire of those longing to acquire, and showing mercy to those who have paid the penalty of long poverty and are afflicted throughout their life. 'Acts of mercy and faith are royal safeguards,' and 'blessing is upon the head of him who shares,' and 'he who shows mercy to the poor will be blessed,' because he shows love toward his fellow through the love he bears toward the Maker of the human race.
The foregoing statements admit also of other, more physical interpretations, concerning both rest and the reception of the inheritance, but these are not to be discussed at present. Love is understood in many ways: through gentleness, through kindness, through endurance, through freedom from envy and jealousy, through freedom from hatred, through freedom from resentment; it is undivided in all things, undiscriminating, communal. Again, 'if you see,' it says, 'a stray beast of your kinsmen or friends, or in general belonging to anyone at all, roaming loose in open country, seize it and bring it back.' And even if its master happens to be far away, keep it safe among your own until he receives it, and then restore it. Through this natural sense of fellowship it teaches us to regard a found object as a deposit held in trust, and not to bear a grudge against an enemy.
'The commandment of the Lord is a fountain of life,' in truth, and 'makes one turn aside from the snare of death.' What then? Does it not instruct us to cherish foreigners, treating them not merely as companions and relatives but as we treat ourselves, in both body and soul? Indeed, it has honored the nations too, and does not bear a grudge even against those who have done ill. So it says outright: 'You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in Egypt' — calling by the name 'Egyptian' either the gentile in general or indeed every worldly man. And as for enemies, even if they are already standing at the walls, attempting to take the city, they are not yet to be reckoned as enemies until, having sent heralds to them, they have called them to peace. Indeed, it commands that one not consort with a female captive for the sake of outrage, but, permitting her thirty days to mourn whomever she wishes, it says: afterward, changing her garments, come together with her as with a wedded wife according to the Law. For it holds that intercourse should occur neither for the sake of outrage nor for hire, as with harlots, but only for the begetting of children.
Do you see love of humanity joined with self-control? To a man who has grown enamored of a captive woman, it grants no license for gratifying desire, but checks the desire by a measured interval of time, and moreover has her shear off the hair of the captive, so as to put to shame a love that dishonors. For if reasoning persuades him to marry her, he will keep to her even once she has become plain to look upon. Then again, if anyone, having become sated with desire, no longer thinks fit to live with the captive, it rules that selling her is forbidden, and likewise forbids retaining her as a slave, but wills that she be free and released from bondage, so that she should not, on the entrance of another wife, suffer some irreparable harm through jealousy.
What then? He commands us also to help lift and set upright the pack-animals of enemies, staggering under their loads, the Lord thereby teaching us from afar not to welcome malicious joy nor to gloat over enemies, so that, being trained in these small matters, he might teach us to pray on behalf of our enemies. For it is not fitting either to envy and grieve at the good things of one's neighbor, nor indeed to reap pleasure from the ills of one's neighbor. 'And if,' it says, 'you find the stray beast of some enemy, leaving aside the kindling of the quarrel, take it and restore it.' For upon forgetting an injury follows nobility of character, and upon that follows the breaking-up of hostility. From this we become suited for harmony, which in turn leads us by the hand to happiness. And even if you take someone to be your enemy out of habit, but catch him reasoning falsely, unreasonably, either through desire or through anger, turn him back to nobility of character.
Does it now appear plainly that the Law is humane and kind, being the tutor that leads to Christ, and that the same God is good together with justice, having from beginning to end, in fitting measure, employed each generation toward salvation? 'Be merciful,' says the Lord, 'so that mercy may come to you; grant pardon, so that pardon may reach you; whatever you do to others will return to you; whatever you give will come back as a gift to you; the judgment you pass will be the judgment you receive; the kindness you extend will be extended to you in turn; and the measure you use will be measured out to you again.'
Further, it forbids that those who serve for their sustenance be dishonored, and it grants full release, in the seventh year, to those enslaved through debts. It also forbids handing over suppliants for punishment. Most true of all, then, is that saying: 'As gold and silver are tested in the furnace, so the Lord chooses the hearts of men.' And 'the merciful man is patient, and wisdom is present in everyone who is anxious'; 'for anxiety will befall the man of understanding, and being thoughtful he will seek life'; and 'he who seeks God will find knowledge together with righteousness'; and 'those who sought him with sincerity have discovered peace.'
To me it seems that Pythagoras too derived his gentleness toward irrational animals from the Law. For instance, he forbade that men take for their immediate enjoyment the newborn of the flocks, the goat-herds, and the cattle-herds, not even under pretext of sacrifice, but bade them abstain for the sake of the offspring and of the mothers, thereby cultivating man toward gentleness from the ground up, beginning even with irrational animals. 'Grant,' it says, 'to the mother her offspring even for the first seven days.' For if nothing happens without cause, and milk flows abundantly upon those that have given birth for the nourishment of their young, then he who tears the newborn away from the ordained provision of milk dishonors nature. Let the Greeks, then, be put to shame, and anyone else who runs down the Law, if the Law shows kindness even toward irrational animals, while they expose even the offspring of human beings — though the Law, from far off and in a prophetic manner, checks their savagery through the aforesaid commandment. For if it forbids the offspring of irrational animals to be parted from the mother before the suckling of milk, much more does it, in the case of human beings, forestall a cruel and untamed disposition, so that, even if they show contempt for nature, they may at least not show contempt for instruction.
For it is permitted to gorge oneself on kids and lambs, and perhaps there is some excuse for one who separates the offspring from the mother that bore it; but what reason can there be for the exposure of a child? For one who has no desire to raise children ought not to marry at all, rather than become, through incontinence of pleasure, a murderer of his own child. Again, the good law forbids sacrificing offspring and mother together on the same day. Hence too the Romans, if a pregnant woman is condemned to death, do not allow the penalty to be carried out until she has given birth. Indeed, the law does not even permit any pregnant animal to be slaughtered until it has brought forth, restraining from afar the readiness of those who would do wrong toward man. So far did its equity extend even to irrational animals, in order that, by practicing kindness toward creatures of another kind, we might employ a great abundance of humanity toward those of our own kind.
But those who kick open the wombs of certain pregnant animals before they have given birth, so that they may feast on flesh mixed with milk, have made the womb — created for the bringing forth of life — into a tomb for the creatures still being formed within it, even though the lawgiver expressly commands: 'A young goat is not to be boiled in the milk that came from its own mother'; for, he says, the nourishment meant for the living must not be turned into a sauce for the slain, and let not that which is the cause of life become an accessory to the consumption of the body. The same law also declares: 'You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain'; for the laborer too must be deemed worthy of food. It likewise forbids yoking together an ox and an ass for the plowing of the ground — perhaps aiming at what is unsuitable in the pairing of the animals, but at the same time signifying that one must not wrong any person of a different nation and bring him under a yoke, having nothing to accuse him of except that he is of another race — which is no ground for accusation, since it proceeds neither from vice nor from any evil impulse. It seems to me that the allegory also signifies this: that one ought not to impart equally, to clean and unclean alike, to the faithful and the unfaithful alike, a share in the cultivation of the word, since the one is clean — the ox — while the ass is reckoned among the unclean.
The good word, being lavish in its humanity, teaches that we ought not even to cut down trees that are cultivated, nor to strip the ear of grain to its ruin before the harvest, nor in general to destroy any cultivated fruit, whether of the earth or of the soul; for it does not even allow the cutting down of an enemy's territory. And indeed farmers too have profited from the law in this respect: for it commands that newly planted trees be tended for three successive years, cutting away their superfluous shoots, so that they may not be burdened and weighed down, nor grow weak through the food being divided up out of scarcity, and that the ground around them be hollowed out and dug over, so that nothing growing up alongside may hinder their growth. And it does not allow the fruit to be gathered while unripe from trees still immature, but only once three full years have passed and a fourth is under way, when the tree has by then reached maturity, are the firstfruits to be consecrated to God.
This pattern of husbandry might well be a mode of teaching, instructing us that we must cut away the offshoots of sins and the vain weeds of thought that spring up together with the fruit-bearing growth, until the young shoot of faith is brought to maturity and becomes firm. For in the fourth year — since the catechumen too needs time to become firmly established — the tetrad of virtues is consecrated to God, the third abiding-place already joining on to the fourth, which is the Lord's own substance.
'A sacrifice of praise is above whole burnt offerings. For it is he,' it says, 'who gives you strength to make power.' And if matters are illuminated for you, having received and acquired strength through knowledge, make power. Through these words it points out that every blessing and every gift comes to us as God's provision, and that we, once made servants of that divine favor, are bound to scatter God's good deeds abroad and shape our neighbors toward nobility and virtue, so that, to whatever degree can be managed, the self-controlled person may make others self-controlled, the brave person may make others noble, the wise person may make others prudent, and the righteous person may make others upright.
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