Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Wherefore the rich must be listened to mathematically — those who will enter the kingdom with difficulty — neither crudely nor boorishly nor carnally; for it has not been said in that way. Nor does salvation depend on external things: not whether these be many or few, small or great, glorious or inglorious, well-reputed or ill-reputed, but on the virtue of the soul — on faith and hope and love and brotherly love and knowledge and gentleness and freedom from pride and truth, of which salvation is the prize. For no one will live because of beauty of body, nor perish for the opposite reason; but he who uses the body given to him purely and according to God will live, while he who corrupts the temple of God will be corrupted. It is possible for even an ugly man to be licentious, and for a beautiful one to be temperate; neither does strength and size of body give life, nor does any defect of limb destroy it, but the soul that makes use of these supplies the cause on either side. "Endure," it says, "being struck on the face" — which even a strong man in good condition can obey, and again a weak man may transgress through incontinence of judgment. So too a man who is poor and without means might be found drunk with his desires, while another, rich in money, is sober, and though a beggar in pleasures is convinced, prudent, pure, disciplined. If, then, it is above all and first the soul that is to live, and virtue growing up around it saves it while vice puts it to death, it is now plainly clear that the soul, even when destitute of those things by which one is corrupted through wealth, is saved, and, even when rich in those things which wealth grinds down, is put to death; and let us no longer seek the cause of the end elsewhere than in the condition and disposition of the soul toward obedience to God and purity, and toward transgression of the commandments and the gathering together of vice.
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