"... As a second example of reception history, we can consider another oft-cited Sirach passage, the first poem on friendship (Sirach 6:5–17). Within Jewish tradition, the Babylonian Talmud cites a form of the admonition in Sirach 6:6: “Let those who seek your peace be many; reveal your confidence to one in a thousand” (b. Sanhedrin 100b). Several references to Sirach 6:5–17 occur within Christian literature from the late fourth century. Testimony to the friendship existing among the Cappadocian Fathers is evident in the oration, pronounced in 372 by Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 389), shortly after he was made bishop, in the presence of his two friends, Gregory of Nyssa and his brother Basil of Caesarea. Acknowledging the value of their friendship, the oration refers to Sirach 6:14–15 (Or. 11). Around the same time, Ambrose of Milan (d. 397), twice quotes Sirach 6:16, in association with other verses of Sirach on friendship, in its expanded Latin form: “A faithful friend is a medicine of life and immortality” (Off. 2:7 [37]). Another contemporary bishop, John Chrysostom (d. 407), refers to Sirach 6:14–16 to explain the extent of true friendship (Hom. 1 Thess.), while commenting on Paul’s tender treatment of his converts in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 2:7–8) ..."