Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 11

For this reason we must not utterly forbid wearing gold or using finer clothing, but we must bridle the irrational impulses of our nature lest they drag us into luxury, snatching us away in a flood of self-indulgence. Luxury is a terrible thing: once it slips into excess it makes us leap and kick, throwing off both the charioteer and the tutor who, watching from afar, pulls the reins and guides the human horse toward salvation. That horse is the irrational part of the soul, the part that lusts after shameful pleasures and desires—ornaments, gold, varied clothing, and every other frivolity. With this in mind we recall the holy command: "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God" (1 Peter 2:12). Accordingly the Tutor permits us to wear simple clothing of a white color, as we said before, so that we may cling not to artificial variety but to what is natural, rejecting everything deceptive and false and embracing the straightforward, single-faced truth.

Sophocles rebukes a luxurious young man: "You are conspicuous in womanish garments." Just as a soldier, a sailor, and a ruler each has his own proper, modest, and clean attire, so also does the self-controlled person. The law given through Moses concerning leprosy rejects the variegated and heavily spun as unholy, because it resembles the mottled scales of a serpent. That law requires the sufferer to be no longer dyed with varied colors but completely whitened from head to foot, so that—passing from the body as a figure—we may put off the varied, cunning passion of the mind and love the simple, unchanging color of truth. Plato, the best of all men and an emulator of Moses, accepts that plain weave which demands no more work than a modest woman would give. "White colors," he says, "are fitting for dignity, both elsewhere and in cloth; dyes should be used only for the trappings of war." White is therefore suited to people who are peaceful and bright.

Just as the nearest signs indicate the presence of their causes—or better, reveal the existence of the one who produced them, as smoke shows fire and healthy color and breathing show health—so our clothing displays the state of our character. Self-control is pure and simple: purity is a habit that prepares a clean, unmixed way of life, and simplicity is a habit that strips away the superfluous. A thick garment, especially an unwashed one, retains the body's warmth—not because the cloth possesses heat of its own, but because it turns back the warmth escaping from the body and gives it no exit. If cold air penetrates, the fabric traps it, warms it, and returns the heat to the body. For this reason such clothing is especially useful in winter, and it is easy to use. Ease of use is a habit free of excess, receptive of what suffices for a life lived according to reason—a healthy and blessed life.