Daniel Crosby: The 'New Song' of Eunomos: Dragons and Materiality in the Protrepticus of Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria’s version of the myth of Eunomos’ harmonization with the chirping cicada at the beginning of his Protrepticusis such a striking feature of the text that explaining its significance has become a popular problem in scholarship. More successful interpretations have connected Clement’s unique version of the myth of Eunomos with the pagan sinner’s turn toward the Good, Truth, and God, which is the purpose of Clement’s protreptic project (Reinhold Merkelbach 1987 and Charles Cosgrove 2006). Traditionally, though, protreptic is also deeply invested in pointing out what is bad, immoral, and unnatural about current practices. I argue that Clement’s novel introduction of the death of the Delphic dragon Python into his version of myth of Eunomos is especially important since this snake becomes a pervasive metaphor for the danger that the material world poses to souls and the rot that affects the souls clinging to it. The text of the Protrepticusslithers with serpentine imagery as Clement points out how this dragon’s winding coils are wrapped around Graeco-Roman religion, philosophy, and human nature more generally. In light of this reading, we appreciate the real stakes of Clement’s exhortation and find the model of his ideal reader in Eunomos: the sinner who once sang to the dead and rotting snake of evil Greek custom and its inherent materialism now joins in with the pure song of the cicada who has always sung the cosmic 'new song' to its Creator, the victor over the snake.