Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 10

A gymnasium is sufficient for young men even if a bath is available, and indeed such exercises are more suitable for men before bathing; they are not worthless, since they offer something useful for the young toward health, and they instill diligence and ambition to care not only for elegance but also for soundness of soul. This is pleasant and not unprofitable when practiced without being drawn away from better works. Here too women must not be exempt from bodily exercise, yet they should not be urged to wrestling and running; rather, they should be trained in wool-working and weaving and in assisting at the spindle if needed. It is also necessary for women to fetch what we need from the storehouse themselves, and it is no shame for them to go to the mill. Nor should they fuss over their hair so that it becomes a shame to the husband and a reproach to the housekeeping wife who is his helper. If a woman also spreads a bed herself, gives a drink to her thirsty husband, and sets a meal before him, she will be exercising in a most decent and sober way for health. The Pedagogue accepts such a woman, who 'stretches out her hands to useful tasks, and her hands hold the spindle; she opens her hands to the poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy' (Prov 31:19–20). She is not ashamed to imitate Sarah in the noblest service, serving travelers. For Abraham said to her, 'Hurry and knead three measures of fine flour and make cakes' (Gen 18:6). 'And Rachel the daughter of Laban was coming with her father's sheep' (Gen 29:9), and it was not enough that she did these things; Scripture also teaches humility by adding, 'For she was shepherding her father's sheep' (Gen 29:9). The Scriptures commend many examples of frugality and personal labor together with patterns of exercise. Some men exercise naked and wrestle; others play with a small ball, enjoying the game of ball-playing in the sun; for still others, walking is enough, whether they walk toward the country or go down into the city. If they also take up a mattock, that is no ignoble accompaniment to the economic exercise of farming. I almost forgot to say that even Pittacus, the king of the Mytilenaeans, was invigorated by energetic exercise. It is also good to draw water for oneself and to cut wood for one's own use. 'And Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban's sheep,' bearing a royal sign, 'a staff of storax,' practicing to change the nature of the wood for the better (Gen 30:37–43). For many, even reading aloud serves as exercise. And the wrestling we have approved must not be pursued for the sake of useless rivalry, but for the sake of manly, sweaty exertion—not the artificial, showy kind, but the kind that comes from upright wrestling, from the grappling of neck, hands, and sides. This sort of exertion is more decent and manly with modest strength, taken for the sake of useful and beneficial health; other gymnastic exercises betray the practice of servile postures. Everywhere one must aim at the mean. For just as it is best to regard the pains of eating as a good, so to labor beyond measure is the worst thing—troublesome and disease-producing. Therefore one must be neither completely idle nor completely exhausted. Just as we have determined concerning food, so in all things and everywhere one must not turn toward pleasure and intemperance, nor toward the opposite extreme, but toward the middle way that is harmonious, sober, and pure, free from both vices, luxury and stinginess. Already, as we said before, personal labor is a humble exercise: to put on one's own sandals, to wash one's own feet, to rub oneself with poured-out oil; and to return the same service to the one who anointed you in turn—this is the exercise of communal justice—and to attend a sick friend, to serve one who cannot help himself, and to provide for one in need. 'And Abraham set it before them,' it says, 'a meal under the tree, and he stood by them while they ate' (Gen 18:8). And fishing, as with Peter, if we take a break from the necessary lessons in the Word (Luke 5:1–11). But this is a better catch, which the Lord gave to the disciple, teaching him to catch men just as a fisherman catches fish through water.