Against flatterers of the rich
Clement opens his homily by condemning those who flatter the rich, before turning to the question of how the rich can be saved.
Those who bring speeches of praise as gifts to rich people seem to me to deserve to be judged not only flatterers and illiberal, since they pretend to bestow as a favor what is actually thankless. They are also impious and treacherous. They are impious because they pass over praising and glorifying the only perfect and good God, from whom are all things and through whom are all things and to whom are all things, and they attach the prize to human beings who wallow in a life that is subject in its entirety to the judgment of God. They are treacherous because wealth by itself is enough to puff up the souls of those who possess it, to corrupt them, and to turn them away from the road by which salvation can be attained. Yet these people further indulge the appetites of the rich with the pleasures of immoderate praise, exalting them and making them despise everything in the whole world except wealth, the very thing for which they are admired. As the saying goes, they pour fire upon fire, drawing off conceit and pouring it upon conceit, and they add to wealth a burden heavier than its naturally heavy load. What they ought to do is take away from it and cut it off all around, as one would with a dangerous and deadly disease. For to the one who is lifted up and magnified, the opposite change is fixed in place: humiliation and fall, as the divine word teaches.
To me it seems far more humane to heal the rich for their salvation in every possible way, asking this from God, who surely and gladly grants such things to his own children, and healing their souls by the word through the grace of the Savior, enlightening them and leading them to the acquisition of the truth. The one who obtains this truth and is made bright by good works alone will carry off the prize of eternal life. Prayer requires a soul that is vigorous and persistent, measured out to the last day of life, and a way of life requires a disposition that is good and steadfast and stretched out toward all the commandments of the Savior.
Greek
Οἱ μὲν τοὺς ἐγκωμιαστικοὺς λόγους τοῖς πλουσίοις δωροφοροῦντες οὐ μόνον κόλακες καὶ ἀνελεύθεροι δικαίως ἂν ἔμοιγε κρίνεσθαι δοκοῖεν, ὡς ἐπὶ πολλῷ προσποιούμενοι χαρίσασθαι τὰ ἀχάριστα. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀσεβεῖς καὶ ἐπίβουλοι· ἀσεβεῖς μὲν, ὅτι παρέντες αἰνεῖν καὶ δοξάζειν τὸν μόνον τέλειον καὶ ἀγαθὸν θεόν, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ δι᾿ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ εἰς ὃν τὰ πάντα, περιάπτουσι το . . . . . . . . . . . τὸ γέρας ἀνθρώποις ἐνασ . . . . . . . . . . . βίῳ κυλινδουμένοις. . . . . . . τὸ κεφάλαιον ὑποκείμενον τῇ κρίσει τοῦ θεοῦ· ἐπίβουλοι δέ, ὅτι καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς περιουσίας καθ᾿ αὑτὴν ἱκανῆς οὔσης χαυνῶσαι τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν κεκτημένων καὶ διαφθεῖραι καὶ ἀποστῆσαι τῆς ὁδοῦ, δι᾿ ἧς ἐπιτυχεῖν ἔστι σωτηρίας, οἳ δὲ προσεκπλήσσουσι τὰς γνώμας τῶν πλουσίων ταῖς ἡδοναῖς τῶν ἀμέτρων ἐπαίνων ἐπαίροντες καὶ καθάπαξ τῶν ὅλων πραγμάτων πλὴν τοῦ πλούτου, δι᾿ ὃν θαυμάζονται. παρασκευάζοντες ὑπερφρονεῖν, τὸ δὴ τοῦ λόγου πῦρ ἐπὶ πῦρ μετοχετεύοντες, τύφῳ τῦφον ἐπαντλοῦντες καὶ ὄγκον πλούτῳ προσανατιθέντες βαρεῖ φύσει φορτίον βαρύτερον, οὗ μᾶλλον ἐχρῆν ἀφαιρεῖν καὶ περικόπτειν, ὡς σφαλεροῦ νοσήματος καὶ θανατηφόρου· τῷ γὰρ ὑψουμένῳ καὶ μεγαλυνομένῳ παραπέπηγεν ἀντίστροφος ἡ πρὸς τὸ ταπεινὸν μεταβολὴ καὶ πτῶσις, ὡς ὁ θεῖος διδάσκει λόγος. ἐμοὶ δὲ φαίνεται μακρῷ φιλανθρωπότερον εἶναι τοῦ θεραπεύειν. . . . . . . . . . . . τοὺς πλουτοῦντας . . . . . . . . . . ἐπὶ κακῷ τὸ συναίρεσθαι . . . . . . . . . . τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτοῖς . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ἅπαντα τὸν δυνατὸν τρόπον, τοῦτο μὲν ἐξαιτουμένους παρὰ θεοῦ τοῦ βεβαίως καὶ ἡδέως τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ τέκνοις τὰ τοιαῦτα προϊεμένου, τοῦτο δὲ λόγῳ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ σωτῆρος ἰωμένους τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν, φωτίζοντας καὶ προσάγοντας ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας κτῆσιν, ἧς ὁ τυχὼν καὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς ἐλλαμπρυνόμενος μόνος τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἀναιρήσεται. δεῖται δὲ καὶ ἡ εὐχὴ ψυχῆς εὐρώστου καὶ λιπαροῦς ἄχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἡμέρας τοῦ βίου συμμεμετρημένης καὶ ἡ πολιτεία διαθέσεως χρηστῆς καὶ μονίμου καὶ πάσαις ταῖς ἐντολαῖς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐπεκτεινομένης.