Book III.
Chapter I.—On the True Beauty.

It is then, as appears, the greatest of all lessons to know one’s self. For if one knows himself, he will know God; and knowing God, he will be made like God, not by wearing gold or long robes, but by well-doing, and by requiring as few things as possible.541    Bishop Kaye (Some Account of the Writings and Opinions of Clement of Alexandria, p. 48) translates, “receiving from man that which made man (that on account of which man was made).” But it seems more likely that Clement refers to the ideal man in the divine mind, whom he indentifies elsewhere with the Logos, the ἄνθρωπος ἀπαθής, of whom man was the image. The reader will notice that Clement speaks of man as existing in the divine mind before his creation, and creation is represented by God’s seeing what He had previously within Him merely as a hidden power.    1 Tim. v. 23.    [On this book, Kaye’s comments extend from p. 91 to p. 111 of his analysis.]

Now, God alone is in need of nothing, and rejoices most when He sees us bright with the ornament of intelligence; and then, too, rejoices in him who is arrayed in chastity, the sacred stole of the body. Since then the soul consists of three divisions;542    John xvi. 27.    [This remarkable chapter seems to begin with the author’s recollections of Pindar (ἄριστον μὲν ϋδωρ), but to lay down very justly the Scriptural ideas of temperance and abstinence.]    [Note this psychological dissection. Compare Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, book vi. cap. 2, ἄισθησις, νοῦς, ὂρεξις, sense, intellect, appetition. Also, book i. cap. 11, or 13 in some editions.] the intellect, which is called the reasoning faculty, is the inner man, which is the ruler of this man that is seen. And that one, in another respect, God guides. But the irascible part, being brutal, dwells near to insanity. And appetite, which is the third department, is many-shaped above Proteus, the varying sea-god, who changed himself now into one shape, now into another; and it allures to adulteries, to licentiousness, to seductions.

While he yet retained the ornament, the hair of the chin showed him to be a man.

Love of ornament has degenerated to wantonness. A man no longer appears like a strong wild beast,

Passions break out, pleasures overflow; beauty fades, and falls quicker than the leaf on the ground, when the amorous storms of lust blow on it before the coming of autumn, and is withered by destruction. For lust becomes and fabricates all things, and wishes to cheat, so as to conceal the man. But that man with whom the Word dwells does not alter himself, does not get himself up: he has the form which is of the Word; he is made like to God; he is beautiful; he does not ornament himself: his is beauty, the true beauty, for it is God; and that man becomes God, since God so wills. Heraclitus, then, rightly said, “Men are gods, and gods are men.” For the Word Himself is the manifest mystery: God in man, and man God. And the Mediator executes the Father’s will; for the Mediator is the Word, who is common to both—the Son of God, the Saviour of men; His Servant, our Teacher. And the flesh being a slave, as Paul testifies, how can one with any reason adorn the handmaid like a pimp? For that which is of flesh has the form of a servant. Paul says, speaking of the Lord, “Because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant,”544    Matt. xv. 14.    [Clement reckons only two classes as living faithfully with respect to drink, the abstinent and the totally abstinent.]    Phil. ii. 7. calling the outward man servant, previous to the Lord becoming a servant and wearing flesh. But the compassionate God Himself set the flesh free, and releasing it from destruction, and from bitter and deadly bondage, endowed it with incorruptibility, arraying the flesh in this, the holy embellishment of eternity—immortality.

There is, too, another beauty of men—love. “And love,” according to the apostle, “suffers long, and is kind; envieth not; vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.”545    John i. 14.    [This seems Clement’s exposition of St. John (vi. 63), and a clear statement as to the Eucharist, which he pronounces spiritual food.]    1 Cor. xiii. 4. For the decking of one’s self out—carrying, as it does, the look of superfluity and uselessness—is vaunting one’s self. Wherefore he adds, “doth not behave itself unseemly:” for a figure which is not one’s own, and is against nature, is unseemly; but what is artificial is not one’s own, as is clearly explained: “seeketh not,” it is said, “what is not her own.” For truth calls that its own which belongs to it; but the love of finery seeks what is not its own, being apart from God, and the Word, from love.

And that the Lord Himself was uncomely in aspect, the Spirit testifies by Esaias: “And we saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness but His form was mean, inferior to men.”546    [A plain reference to the use of the mixed cup in the Lord’s supper.]    Isa. liii. 2, 3. [But see also Ps. xlv. 2, which was often cited by the ancients to prove the reverse. Both may be reconciled; he was a fair and comely child like his father David; but, as “the man of sorrows,” he became old in looks, and his countence was marred. For David’s beauty, see 1 Sam. xvi. 12. For our Lord’s at twelve years of age, when the virgin was seeking her child, Canticles, v. 7–16. For his appearance at three and thirty, when the Jews only ventured to credit him with less than fifty years, John viii. 57. See also Irenæus, Against Heresies, cap. xxii. note 12, p. 391, this series.] Yet who was more admirable than the Lord? But it was not the beauty of the flesh visible to the eye, but the true beauty of both soul and body, which He exhibited, which in the former is beneficence; in the latter—that is, the flesh—immortality.

Περὶ τοῦ κάλλους τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ. Ἦν ἄρα, ὡς ἔοικεν, πάντων μέγιστον μαθημάτων τὸ γνῶναι αὑτόν· ἑαυτὸν γάρ τις ἐὰν γνῷ, θεὸν εἴσεται, θεὸν δὲ εἰδὼς ἐξομοιωθήσεται θεῷ, οὐ χρυσοφορῶν οὐδὲ ποδηροφορῶν, ἀλλὰ ἀγαθοεργῶν καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα ὀλιγίστων δεόμενος· ἀνενδεὴς δὲ μόνος ὁ θεὸς καὶ χαίρει μάλιστα μὲν καθαρεύοντας ἡμᾶς ὁρῶν τῷ τῆς διανοίας κόσμῳ, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τῷ τοῦ σώματος, ἁγνὴν στολήν, σωφροσύνην, περιβεβλημένους. Τριγενοῦς οὖν ὑπαρχούσης τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ νοερόν, ὃ δὴ λογιστικὸν καλεῖται, ὁ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ὁ ἔνδον, ὁ τοῦ φαινομένου τοῦδε ἄρχων ἀνθρώπου, αὐτὸν δὲ ἐκεῖνον ἄλλος ἄγει, θεός· τὸ δὲ θυμικόν, θηριῶδες ὄν, πλησίον μανίας οἰκεῖ· πολύμορφον δὲ τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν καὶ τρίτον, ὑπὲρ τὸν Πρωτέα τὸν θαλάττιον δαίμονα ποικίλον, ἄλλοτε ἄλλως μετασχηματιζόμενον, εἰς μοιχείας καὶ λαγνείας καὶ εἰς φθορὰς ἐξαρεσκευόμενον· ἤτοι μὲν πρώτιστα λέων γένετ' ἠυγένειος, ἔτι φέρω τὸν καλλωπισμόν· ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν ἡ τοῦ γενείου κόμη· αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα δράκων ἢ πάρδαλις ἠδὲ μέγας σῦς· κατώλισθεν εἰς τὴν ἀσέλγειαν ἡ φιλοκοσμία. Οὐκέτι καρτερῶ· θηρίον ἄνθρωπος φαίνεται· γίνετο δ' ὑγρὸν ὕδωρ καὶ δένδρεον ὑψιπέτηλον. Ἐκχεῖται τὰ πάθη, ἐκβλύζονται αἱ ἡδοναί, μαραίνεται τὸ κάλλος, καὶ θᾶττον ἀποπίπτει τοῦ πετάλου χαμαί, ὅταν αὐτοῦ καταπνεύσωσιν αἱ ἐρωτικαὶ τῆς ὕβρεως λαίλαπες, καὶ πρὶν ἢ τὸ μετόπωρον ἐλθεῖν μαραίνεται τῇ φθορᾷ· πάντα γὰρ ἡ ἐπιθυμία γίνεταί τε καὶ πλάττεται καὶ φενακίζειν βούλεται, ἵνα κατακρύψῃ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος, ᾧ σύνοικος ὁ λόγος, οὐ ποικίλλεται, οὐ πλάττεται, μορφὴν ἔχει τὴν τοῦ λόγου, ἐξομοιοῦται τῷ θεῷ, καλός ἐστιν, οὐ καλλωπίζεται· κάλλος ἐστὶ τὸ ἀληθινόν, καὶ γὰρ ὁ θεός ἐστιν· θεὸς δὲ ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἄνθρωπος γίνεται, ὅτι βούλεται ὁ θεός. Ὀρθῶς ἄρα εἶπεν Ἡράκλειτος· Ἄνθρωποι θεοί, θεοὶ ἄνθρωποι. Λόγος γὰρ ωὐτός· μυστήριον ἐμφανές· θεὸς ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος θεός, καὶ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ μεσίτης ἐκτελεῖ· μεσίτης γὰρ ὁ λόγος ὁ κοινὸς ἀμφοῖν, θεοῦ μὲν υἱός, σωτὴρ δὲ ἀνθρώπων, καὶ τοῦ μὲν διάκονος, ἡμῶν δὲ παιδαγωγός. ∆ούλης δὲ οὔσης τῆς σαρκός, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Παῦλος μαρτυρεῖ, πῶς ἄν τις εἰκότως τὴν θεράπαιναν κοσμοίη προαγωγοῦ δίκην; ὅτι γὰρ δούλου μορφὴ τὸ σαρκικόν, ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος· Ὅτι ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτὸν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών, τὸν ἐκτὸς ἄνθρωπον δοῦλον προσειπὼν πρὶν ἢ δουλεῦσαι καὶ σαρκοφορῆσαι τὸν κύριον. Ὁ δὲ συμπαθὴς θεὸς αὐτὸς ἠλευθέρωσεν τὴν σάρκα τῆς φθορᾶς καὶ δουλείας τῆς θανατηφόρου καὶ πικρᾶς ἀπαλλάξας τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν περιέθηκεν αὐτῇ, ἅγιον τοῦτο τῇ σαρκὶ καὶ ἀιδιότητος καλλώπισμα περιθείς, τὴν ἀθανασίαν. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο κάλλος ἀνθρώπων ἀγάπη. Ἀγάπη δέ, κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον, μακροθυμεῖ, χρηστεύεται, οὐ ζηλοῖ, οὐ περπερεύεται, οὐ φυσιοῦται. Περπερεία γὰρ ὁ καλλωπισμὸς περιττότητος καὶ ἀχρειότητος ἔχων ἔμφασιν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐπιφέρει· Οὐκ ἀσχημονεῖ. Ἄσχημον γὰρ τὸ ἀλλότριον καὶ μὴ κατὰ φύσιν σχῆμα· τὸ δ' ἐπίπλαστον ἀλλότριον, ὅπερ ἐξηγεῖται σαφῶς, οὐ ζητεῖ φήσας τὸ μὴ ἑαυτῆς· τὸ γὰρ ἴδιον ἡ ἀλήθεια τὸ οἰκεῖον καλεῖ, τὸ δ' ἀλλότριον ἡ φιλοκοσμία ζητεῖ, ἐκτὸς οὖσα καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς ἀγάπης. Τὸν δὲ κύριον αὐτὸν τὴν ὄψιν αἰσχρὸν γεγονέναι διὰ Ἡσαΐου τὸ πνεῦμα μαρτυρεῖ· Καὶ εἴδομεν αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος οὐδὲ κάλλος, ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον, ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. Καὶ τίς ἀμείνων κυρίου; ἀλλ' οὐ τὸ κάλλος τῆς σαρκὸς τὸ φαντασιαστικόν, τὸ δὲ ἀληθινὸν καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος ἐνεδείξατο κάλλος, τῆς μὲν τὸ εὐεργετικόν, τὸ δὲ ἀθάνατον τῆς σαρκός.