Chapter VI.—On Filthy Speaking.

From filthy speaking we ourselves must entirely abstain, and stop the mouths of those who practice it by stern looks and averting the face, and by what we call making a mock of one: often also by a harsher mode of speech. “For what proceedeth out of the mouth,” He says, “defileth a man,”388    Matt. xv. 18.—shows him to be unclean, and heathenish, and untrained, and licentious, and not select, and proper, and honourable, and temperate.389    [May the young Christian who reads this passage learn to abhor all freedom of speech of this kind. This is a very precious chapter.]

And as a similar rule holds with regard to hearing and seeing in the case of what is obscene, the divine Instructor, following the same course with both, arrays those children who are engaged in the struggle in words of modesty, as ear-guards, so that the pulsation of fornication may not penetrate to the bruising of the soul; and He directs the eyes to the sight of what is honourable, saying that it is better to make a slip with the feet than with the eyes. This filthy speaking the apostle beats off, saying, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good.”390    Eph. iv. 29. And again, “As becometh saints, let not filthiness be named among you, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which things are not seemly, but rather giving of thanks.”391    Eph. v. 3, 4. And if “he that calls his brother a fool be in danger of the judgment,” what shall we pronounce regarding him who speaks what is foolish? Is it not written respecting such: “Whosoever shall speak an idle word, shall give an account to the Lord in the day of judgment?”392    Matt. v. 22, xii. 36. And again, “By thy speech thou shalt be justified,” He says, “and by thy speech thou shalt be condemned.”393    Matt. xii. 37. What, then, are the salutary ear-guards, and what the regulations for slippery eyes? Conversations with the righteous, preoccupying and forearming the ears against those that would lead away from the truth.

says Poetry. More nobly the apostle says, “Be haters of the evil; cleave to the good.”394    Rom. xii. 9. For he who associates with the saints shall be sanctified. From shameful things addressed to the ears, and words and sights, we must entirely abstain.395    [How then can Christians frequent theatrical shows, and listen to lewd and profane plays?] And much more must we keep pure from shameful deeds: on the one hand, from exhibiting and exposing parts of the body which we ought not; and on the other, from beholding what is forbidden. For the modest son could not bear to look on the shameful exposure of the righteous man; and modesty covered what intoxication exposed—the spectacle of the transgression of ignorance.396    Gen. ix. 23. No less ought we to keep pure from calumnious reports, to which the ears of those who have believed in Christ ought to be inaccessible.

It is on this account, as appears to me, that the Instructor does not permit us to give utterance to aught unseemly, fortifying us at an early stage against licentiousness. For He is admirable always at cutting out the roots of sins, such as, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” by “Thou shalt not lust.”397    Ex. xx. 14, 17. For adultery is the fruit of lust, which is the evil root. And so likewise also in this instance the Instructor censures licence in names, and thus cuts off the licentious intercourse of excess. For licence in names produces the desire of being indecorous in conduct; and the observance of modesty in names is a training in resistance to lasciviousness. We have shown in a more exhaustive treatise, that neither in the names nor in the members to which appellations not in common use are applied, is there the designation of what is really obscene.

For neither are knee and leg, and such other members, nor are the names applied to them, and the activity put forth by them, obscene. And even the pudenda are to be regarded as objects suggestive of modesty, not shame. It is their unlawful activity that is shameful, and deserving ignominy, and reproach, and punishment. For the only thing that is in reality shameful is wickedness, and what is done through it. In accordance with these remarks, conversation about deeds of wickedness is appropriately termed filthy [shameful] speaking, as talk about adultery and pæderasty and the like. Frivolous prating, too, is to be put to silence.398    [An example may not be out of place, as teaching how we may put such things to silence. “Since the ladies have withdrawn,” said one, “I will tell a little anecdote.” “But,” interposed a dignified person, “let me ask you to count me as representing the ladies; for I am the husband of one of them, and should be sorry to hear what would degrade me in her estimation.”] “For,” it is said, “in much speaking thou shalt not escape sin.”399    Prov. x. 19. “Sins of the tongue, therefore, shall be punished.” “There is he who is silent, and is found wise; and there is he that is hated for much speech.”400    Ecclus. xx. 5. But still more, the prater makes himself the object of disgust. “For he that multiplieth speech abominates his own soul.”401    Ecclus. xx. 8.

Περὶ αἰσχρολογίας. Αἰσχρολογίας δὲ παντελῶς αὐτοῖς τε ἡμῖν ἀφεκτέον καὶ τοὺς χρωμένους αὐτῇ ἐπιστομιστέον καὶ ὄψει δριμυτέρᾳ καὶ προσώπου ἀποστροφῇ καὶ τῷ ἀπομυκτηρισμῷ καλουμένῳ, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ λόγῳ τραχυτέρῳ. Τὰ γὰρ ἐξιόντα, φησίν, ἐκ τοῦ στόματος κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κοινὸν καὶ ἐθνικὸν καὶ ἀπαίδευτον καὶ ἀσελγῆ δείκνυσιν αὐτόν, οὐχὶ δὲ ἴδιον καὶ κόσμιον καὶ σώφρονα. Πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀκοὴν τῶν αἰσχρῶν καὶ τὴν θέαν τῶν ὁμοίως ἐχόντων ὁ θεῖος παιδαγωγὸς κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς παλαίουσι τῶν παιδίων, ὡς μὴ τὰ ὦτα θραύοιτο αὐτῶν, τοὺς σώφρονας περιτίθησι λόγους καθάπερ ἀντωτίδας, ὡς μὴ δύνασθαι ἐξικνεῖσθαι εἰς θραῦσιν τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ κροῦμα τῆς πορνείας· τοὺς δὲ ὀφθαλμοὺς κατευθύνει ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν τῶν καλῶν, ἄμεινον εἶναι λέγων τοῖς ποσὶν ἢ τοῖς ὀφθαλ μοῖς ὀλισθαίνειν. Ταύτην ἀποκρουόμενος τὴν αἰσχρολογίαν ὁ ἀπόστολος πᾶς λόγος σαπρὸς ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν φησὶν μὴ ἐκπορευέσθω, ἀλλ' εἴ τις ἀγαθός. Πάλιν τε αὖ· Καθὼς πρέπει ἁγίοις, μὴ ὀνομαζέσθω ἐν ὑμῖν αἰσχρότης καὶ μωρολογία ἢ εὐτραπελία, ἃ οὐκ ἀνῆκεν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εὐχαριστία. Εἰ δὲ ὁ μωρὸν εἰπὼν τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἔνοχος εἰς κρίσιν, τί περὶ τοῦ μωρολογοῦντος ἀποφανούμεθα; Ἧι καὶ περὶ τούτου γέγραπται· Ὃς ἂν λαλήσῃ λόγον ἀργόν, ἀποδώσει λόγον κυρίῳ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως. Αὖθίς τε ἐκ τοῦ λόγου σου δικαιωθήσῃ φησίν, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου σου κατα δικασθήσῃ. Τίνες οὖν αἱ ἀντωτίδες αἱ σωτήριοι; Καὶ τίνες αἱ τῶν ὀλισθηρῶν ὀφθαλμῶν παιδαγωγήσεις; Αἱ μετὰ τῶν δικαίων συναναστροφαὶ προλαμβάνουσαι καὶ προεμφράττουσαι τὰ ὦτα τοῖς ἀπάγειν τῆς ἀληθείας βουλομένοις. Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί, ἡ ποιητικὴ λέγει. Γενναιότερον δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολος γίνεσθε φησὶν ἀποστυγοῦντες τὸ πονηρὸν κολλώμενοι τῷ ἀγαθῷ· ὁ γὰρ μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀναστρεφόμενος ἁγιασθήσεται. Πάντῃ οὖν ἀφεκτέον τῶν αἰσχρῶν ἀκουσμάτων καὶ ῥημάτων καὶ θεαμάτων, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ἔργων αἰσχρῶν καθαρευτέον, τοῦτο μὲν ἐν ἐπιδείξεσι καὶ παραγυμνώσεσι μερῶν τινων τοῦ σώματος, ὧν οὐ χρή, τοῦτο δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθεωρήσεσι τῶν ἀπορρητοτέρων μερῶν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἠνέσχετο τοῦ δικαίου τὴν γύμνωσιν αἰσχρὰν οὖσαν ἐπιδεῖν σώφρων υἱός, ἐσκέπασε δὲ ἡ σωφροσύνη, ὃ ἐγύμνωσεν ἡ μέθη, τὸ περίοπτον τῆς ἀγνοίας παράπτωμα. Καθαρευτέον δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον κἀν ταῖς προφοραῖς τῶν φωνῶν, αἷς ἄβατα εἶναι χρὴ τὰ ὦτα τῶν ἐν Χριστῷ πεπιστευκότων. Ταύτῃ μοι δοκεῖ ὁ παιδαγωγὸς μηδὲ φθέγξασθαί τι τῶν τῆς ἀσχημοσύνης ἐφιέναι ἡμῖν, πόρρωθεν διαβάλλων πρὸς τὴν ἀκολασίαν. ∆εινὸς γὰρ ἀεὶ τὰς ῥίζας τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκκόπτειν, τὸ οὐ μοιχεύσεις διὰ τοῦ οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις· καρπὸς γὰρ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἡ μοιχεία τῆς ῥίζης τῆς κακῆς. Ὁμοίως οὖν κἀνταῦθα ὁ παιδαγωγὸς τὴν ἀδεᾶ τῶν ὀνομάτων χρῆσιν διαβέβληκεν, τὴν ἀδεᾶ τῆς ἀκολασίας ἐπιμιξίαν ἐκκόπτων. Τὸ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ὀνόμασιν ἀτακτεῖν μελέτην ἐμποιεῖ τοῦ καὶ εἰς τὰ ἔργα ἀκοσμεῖν, τὸ δὲ περὶ τὴν φωνὴν σωφρονεῖν ἀσκεῖν ἐστι λαγνείας καρτερεῖν. ∆ιειλήφαμεν δὲ βαθυτέρω λόγῳ ὡς ἄρα οὔτε ἐν τοῖς ὀνόμασιν οὐδὲ μὴν ἐν τοῖς συνουσιαστικοῖς μορίοις καὶ τῇ κατὰ γάμον συμπλοκῇ, καθ' ὧν κεῖται τὰ ὀνόματα τὰ περὶ τὴν συνήθειαν οὐ τετριμμένα, ἡ τοῦ ὄντως αἰσχροῦ προσηγορία τάττεται· οὐδὲ γὰρ γόνυ καὶ κνήμη τὰ μέλη ταῦτα οὐδὲ μὴν τὰ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ὀνόματα καὶ ἡ δι' αὐτῶν ἐνέργεια αἰσχρά ἐστιν μέλη δὲ καὶ τὰ αἰδοῖα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, αἰδοῦς, οὐκ αἰσχύνης κατηξιωμένα· αἰσχρὸν δὲ ἡ παράνομος αὐτῶν ἐνέργεια, αἴσχους καὶ ὀνείδους διὰ τοῦτο καὶ κολάσεως ἀξία· μόνον γὰρ τῷ ὄντι αἰσχρὸν ἡ κακία καὶ τὰ κατὰ ταύτην ἐνεργούμενα. Τούτοις δὲ ἀναλόγως αἰσχρολογία εἰκότως ἂν καλοῖτο ἡ περὶ τῶν τῆς κακίας ἔργων λογοποιία· οἷον τὸ περὶ μοιχείας διαλέγεσθαι ἢ παιδεραστίας καὶ τὰ παραπλήσια. Ναὶ μὴν καὶ τὴν φλύαρον ἀδολε σχίαν κατασιγαστέον. Ἐκ γάρ τοι πολυλογίας οὐκ ἐκφεύξῃ, φησίν, ἁμαρτίαν· δίκην ἄρα ὑφέξει ἡ γλωσσαργία· ἔστι γὰρ σιωπῶν εὑρισκόμενος σοφός, καὶ ἔστι μισητὸς ἀπὸ πολλῆς λαλιᾶς. Ἤδη καὶ αὐτὸς αὑτῷ ὁ ἀδολέσχης προσκορής· πλεονάζων γὰρ λόγον βδελύττεται τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ.