To the Newly Baptized · §2 · Clement of Alexandria

Measured speech and modest bearing toward others

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Clement continues his direct address to the newly baptized, giving practical rules for calm and modest speech and behavior toward other people.

Let your words to those you meet be gentle, and your greetings sweet. Show modesty toward women, and keep your gaze turned to the ground. Speak everything with circumspection, and give your voice what is useful, measuring your utterance by the need of your hearers, so that it is audible but does not escape the hearing of those present through being too small, nor exceed what is fitting with too loud a cry. Guard yourself so that you never say anything you have not examined and thought through beforehand. Do not rashly interject your own words in the middle of another person's speech, for you must listen and speak in turn, dividing speech and silence by time. Learn gladly, and teach without envy. Never hide wisdom from others out of jealousy, and do not withdraw from learning through modesty. Yield to elders as to fathers. Honor God's servants. Make a beginning with wisdom and virtue. Do not be quarrelsome toward your friends, nor mock them or play the buffoon at their expense. Strongly refuse falsehood, deceit, and insolence. Bear with the proud and insolent person with graciousness, as a gentle and great-souled man.

Greek

Ἤπιά σοι πρὸς τοὺς ἀπαντῶντας ἔστω τὰ ῥήματα, καὶ προσηγορίαι γλυκεῖαι· αἰδὼς δὲ πρὸς γυναῖκας καὶ βλέμμα τετραμμένον εἰς γῆν. λάλει δὲ περιεσκεμμένως ἅπαντα, καὶ τῇ φωνῇ τὸ χρήσιμον ἀποδίδου, τῇ χρείᾳ τῶν ἀκουόντων τὸ φθέγμα μετρῶν, ἄχρι ἂν καὶ ἐξάκουστον ᾖ, καὶ μήτε διαφεῦγον τὴν ἀκοὴν τῶν παρόντων ὑπὸ σμικρότητος, μήτε ὑπερβάλλον μείζονι τῇ κραυγῇ. φυλάττου δὲ ὅπως μηδέν ποτε λαλήσῃς ὃ μὴ προεσκέψω καὶ προενόησας· μηδὲ προχείρως καὶ μεταξὺ τῶν τοῦ ἑτέρου λόγων ὑπόβαλλε τοὺς σαυτοῦ δεῖ γὰρ ἀνὰ μέρος ἀκούειν καὶ διαλέγεσθαι, χρόνῳ μερίζοντα λόγον καὶ σιωπήν· μάνθανε δὲ ἀσμένως, καὶ ἀφθόνως δίδασκε, μηδὲ ὑπὸ φθόνου ποτὲ σοφίαν ἀποκρύπτου πρὸς τοὺς ἑτέρους, μηδὲ μαθήσεως ἀφίστασο δι’ αἰδῶ. ὕπεικε πρεσβυτέροις ἴσα πατράσιν· τίμα θεράποντας θεοῦ· κάταρχε σοφίας καὶ ἀρετῆς. μηδὲ ἐριστικὸς ἔσο πρὸς τοὺς φίλους, μηδὲ χλευαστὴς κατ’ αὐτῶν καὶ γελωτοποιός· ψεῦδος δὲ καὶ δόλον καὶ ὕβριν ἰσχυρῶς παραίτου· σὺν εὐφημίᾳ δὲ φέρε καὶ τὸν ὑπερήφανον καὶ ὑβριστὴν ὡς πρᾷός τε καὶ μεγαλόψυχος ἀνήρ.

About this text

A short address to a newly baptized Christian on conduct, speech, self-control, and trust in God.

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215) wrote this short address to a newly baptized Christian. Clement was a leading teacher in the early Church at Alexandria, and he composed the work as a piece of moral and spiritual instruction for a recent convert. Its purpose is to guide the new believer in conduct, speech, self-control, and trust in God.

The address is a direct exhortation from Clement to the new believer, using second-person imperatives throughout. The reader will meet only Clement as the speaker, though he constantly refers the believer to God, Christ, and the Son of God. No other voices are quoted or argued against in this fragment.

A reader should know that the work uses several terms with specific meanings. 'Calm' means quietness and self-possession in speech and action, while 'vehemence' is rash intensity that disturbs the mind. The 'mind' should rule the 'passions' such as gluttony and anger from a quiet throne. 'Modesty' means reverence, especially toward women, and 'graciousness' is the manner of bearing with the proud. Believers are called God's 'members' and 'temples', meaning he cares for them as his own body and sacred shrines. The fragment contains no direct biblical quotations.

New English from the Greek base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Clement of Alexandria G.W. Butterworth Clement of Alexandria Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA William Heinemann London 1919 Loeb Classical Library (Greek)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.