Texts in Conversation
The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria draws from the book of Sirach as an authoritative source on wisdom and self-discipline. By repeating its call to thoughtful speech and balanced living, he promotes reasoned conduct as an indicator of virtue.
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Sirach 33:6
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
4 Prepare what to say, and then you will be listened to; draw upon your training, and give your answer. 5 The heart of a fool is like a cart wheel, and his thoughts like a turning axle. 6 A mocking friend is like a stallion that neighs no matter who the rider is. 7 Why is one day more important than another, when all the daylight in the year is from the sun? 8 By the Lord's wisdom they were distinguished, and he appointed the different seasons and festivals.
Date: 195-175 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Clement of Alexandria The Instructor 1.13
Paedagogus
Early Christian
Nay, to crown all, philosophy itself is pronounced to be the cultivation of right reason; so that, necessarily, whatever is done through error of reason is transgression, and is rightly called, (ἁμάρτημα) sin. Since, then, the first man sinned and disobeyed God, it is said, And man became like to the beasts: being rightly regarded as irrational, he is likened to the beasts. Whence Wisdom says: The horse for covering; the libidinous and the adulturer has become like to an irrational beast. Wherefore also it is added: He neighs, whoever may be sitting on him. The man, it is meant, no longer speaks; for he who transgresses against reason is no longer rational, but an irrational animal, given up to lusts by which he is ridden (as a horse by his rider).
Date: 198 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The eighty-fifth of the Apostolical Canons gives a list of the books of the Hebrew Canon, and adds the first three books of the Maccabees and the Wisdom of Sirach; these last four are not, however, included in the Canon, though the Wisdom of Sirach is specially recommended for the instruction of the young. Again, in the Apostolical Constitutions, 6:14, 15, quotations from Sirach are given with the same formula as those from the books of the Hebrew Canon, but in the list given in 2:57 of the same work, there is no mention of any of the books of the Apocrypha ... The evidence of Clement of Alexandria is conflicting; in his Paedagogus he quotes very often from Sirach, and speaks of it as 'scripture', from which it would evidently appear that he regarded it as canonical Scripture; but, according to Eusebius, Clement reckoned Sirach among the 'Antilegomena', for in speaking of Clement's works he mentions the Stromateis, or 'Medleys', and says: 'He quotes in them passages from the disputed Scriptures, the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, for example, and of Jesus the son of Sirach, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and those of Barnabas, Clement, and Jude ..."
Charles, R. H.
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
(p. 299) Oxford University Press, 1913
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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