5. Subject. — The subject of the work belongs to what is called in Arabic Adab, sometimes rendered
506
SIKACH
SIKACII
' Miscellanies ' ; it is didactic, devotional, and to a slight extent historical. The last portion is clearly marked oil from tlie rest and occupies the final chapters 44-50, l)oini; a record of tlie ''reat men mentioned in the OT, to whom the high priest Simon is added ; it is preceded by a description of the wonders of Nature occupying ch. 42 from v." and ch. 43. The matter which precedes seems to fall into two books, each of which starts with a hymn to Wisdom (chs. 1-2.3 and 24-42").
Since the aphorisms are very largely counsels of prudence, rules of conduct and behaviour, or ob- servations on ' things in general,' even where they are not reproductions of OT verses, they contain little that is original or distinctive ; man in all known societies has developed largely the same characteristics, which therefore have been noticed by observers in very different countries and periods. The interest of the work consists largely in the differences which it exhibits from the Of on the one hand and tlie later Jewish literature on the other. The former are largely due to the influence of Greek culture, which in the OT itself appears only in the Book of Ecclesiastes. It has been ob- served that in our time contact of Orientals with the West leads either to contempt on the part of the former for their own civilization or to ex- aggerated appreciation of it ; Ben-Sira's case seems to resemble the latter. He places the home of Wisdom in Jerusalem (24"), and ignores all celeb- rities save biblical heroes in his list of statesmen, authors, and musical composers (44'"°). Neverthe- less his debt to Greek authors is, as has been seen, considerable ; and though in one place he ridicules sacrilices to idols (30"), which he compares with the practice of offering meats to the dead, his book is on the wliole singularly free from that invective against foreign cults which reaches its climax in Isaiah and tlie Wisdom of Solomon, and made the Jews, in the words of Pliny, notorious for their contempt of the gods. Of the sacrilices enjoined by his own religion he can only say that they should be offered because the law enjoins them (32'). His theory of life (14""i*) reproduces that of Heracles in the Alcestis of Euripiaes (770- 802) : since man lias only.one life, and death may come at any time, he had best enjoy himself while he has the chance. If this is slightly modified or explained away in what follows, in the demonstra- tion that the pursuit of wisdom is the happiest form of existence, the Greek hedonistic schools were prepared to accept this gloss, or rather pro- vided it themselves. Quite in Hellenic style he dilates on the delights of a symposium, wliere there is good wine and choice music (34^-35^), and, parodying the words of Mininermus, who declared that life would not be worth having without love (T. Bergk, Lyrici Grceci, Leipzig, 1882, ii. 25), asserts that it would not be worth having without wine (34-'). He is, however, by no means inclined to disparage female beauty, as appears from 26'^''^ Comparison of this passage with Pr 31'"'^', on which it is partly modelled, indicates very clearly the infl^ience of the beauty-cult of the Hellenes on the Israelitish mind. Tlie precepts on the use of wine display very close correspondence xvith those of Theognis (Lynci Grceci, ii. 162-164), from whom they are likely to have been taken.
The influence of Greek thought appears very strongly in the account which he gives of the train- ing necessary for the scribe (38^*-39"). For this purpose leisure is required ; and, although in another context he had recommended industry (10"- ^^) and especially agriculture (7'''-^), he now asserts that these occupations and those of craftsmen and artists, e.g. potters and gem-engravers, are incon- sistent with the two which Aristotle in the Pulitii-s declares alone suitable for gentlemen, viz. the
.service of the State and philosophy. The service of the State is expressed in terms of the Athenian llepublic, where the governing bodies were the jiovKr; and the ^KKXijaia, while the otKaariiptov was the judicial authority ; it is, however, clear that the oiKoffTijs of whom he is thinking is not the Athenian juror but the judge, or qadi. Although there is not a little in this passage which reminds the reader of Greek treatises on preparation for a political career, e.g. Plato's Alcibiades /., probably it is nearer in many respects to the Islamic disci- pline called Adnb al-Katih, or studies necessary for a Secretary of State. This is doubtless due to the changes introduced into Hellenic life by the fall of the free Republics. Part of the scribe's training is to be got by travelling abroad and entering the service of some ruler (3'J^) ; but it very largely consists in accumulating books and learning them by lieart (vv.'"*), as was the case in Islamic times.
Another profession to which some attention is devoted for the first time in the literature of the Israelites is the medical (38'""'), the existence of which has, however, to be defended from passages in Genesis and Exodus. The author expresses himself with great caution, and implies that what the pliysician can do is to pray for the patient.