The Instructor, Book II

Book II

• The Instructor II.1 — Chap. I.—On Eating. Keeping, then, to our aim, and selecting the Scriptures which bear on the usefulness of training for life, we must now compendiously describe what the man who is called a Christian ought to be…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.2 — On Drinking. “Use a little wine,” says the apostle to Timothy, who drank water, “for thy stomach’s sake;” most properly applying its aid as a strengthening tonic suitable to a sickly body enfeebled with watery…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.3 — On Costly Vessels. And so the use of cups made of silver and gold, and of others inlaid with precious stones, is out of place, being only a deception of the vision. For if you pour any warm liquid into them, the…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.4 — How to Conduct Ourselves at Feasts. Let revelry keep away from our rational entertainments, and foolish vigils, too, that revel in intemperance. For revelry is an inebriating pipe, the chain of an amatory bridge,…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.5 — On Laughter. People who are imitators of ludicrous sensations, or rather of such as deserve derision, are to be driven from our polity. For since all forms of speech flow from mind and manners, ludicrous expressions…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.6 — 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…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.7 — Directions for Those Who Live Together. Let us keep away from us jibing, the originator of insult, from which strifes and contentions and enmities burst forth. Insult, we have said, is the servant of drunkenness. A…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.8 — On the Use of Ointments and Crowns. The use of crowns and ointments is not necessary for us; for it impels to pleasures and indulgences, especially on the approach of night. I know that the woman brought to the…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.9 — Chap. IX.—On Sleep. How, in due course, we are to go to sleep, in remembrance of the precepts of temperance, we must now say. For after the repast, having given thanks to God for our participation in our enjoyments,…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.10 — Tempus autem opportunum conjunctionis solis iis relinquitur considerandum, qui juncti sunt matrimonio; qui autem matrimonio juncti sunt, iis scopus est et institutum, liberorum susceptio: finis autem, ut boni sint…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.11 — On Clothes. Wherefore neither are we to provide for ourselves costly clothing any more than variety of food. The Lord Himself, therefore, dividing His precepts into what relates to the body, the soul, and thirdly,…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.12 — Chap. XII.—On Shoes. Women fond of display act in the same manner with regard to shoes, showing also in this matter great luxuriousness. Base, in truth, are those sandals on which golden ornaments are fastened; but…vatican.va
• The Instructor II.13 — Against Excessive Fondness for Jewels and Gold Ornaments. It is childish to admire excessively dark or green stones, and things cast out by the sea on foreign shores, particles of the earth. For to rush after stones…vatican.va