HOLY BIBLE: Sirach 31 (original) (raw)

12 ἐπὶ τραπέζης μεγάλης ἐκάθισας μὴ ἀνοίξῃς ἐ{P'} αὐτῆς φάρυγγά σου 13 καὶ μὴ εἴπῃς πολλά γε τὰ ἐ{P'} αὐτῆς 14 μνήσθητι ὅτι κακὸν ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός 15 πονηρότερον ὀφθαλμοῦ τί ἔκτισται διὰ τοῦτο ἀπὸ παντὸς προσώπου δακρύει 16 οὗ ἐὰν ἐπιβλέψῃ μὴ ἐκτείνῃς χεῖρα 17 καὶ μὴ συνθλίβου αὐτῷ ἐν τρυβλίῳ 18 νόει τὰ τοῦ πλησίον ἐκ σεαυτοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ παντὶ πράγματι διανοοῦ 19 φάγε ὡς ἄνθρωπος τὰ παρακείμενά σοι καὶ μὴ διαμασῶ μὴ μισηθῇς 20 παῦσαι πρῶτος χάριν παιδείας καὶ μὴ ἀπληστεύου μήποτε προσκόψῃς 21 καὶ εἰ ἀνὰ μέσον πλειόνων ἐκάθισας πρότερος αὐτῶν μὴ ἐκτείνῃς τὴν χεῖρά σου 22 ὡς ἱκανὸν ἀνθρώπῳ πεπαιδευμένῳ τὸ ὀλίγον καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κοίτης αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀσθμαίνει 23 πόνος ἀγρυπνίας καὶ χολέρας καὶ στρόφος μετὰ ἀνδρὸς ἀπλήστου 24 ὕπνος ὑγιείας ἐπὶ ἐντέρῳ μετρίῳ ἀνέστη πρωί καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ με{T'} αὐτοῦ 25 καὶ εἰ ἐβιάσθης ἐν ἐδέσμασιν ἀνάστα ἔμεσον πόρρω καὶ ἀναπαύσῃ

12 Sit thou at a rich man’s table, be not quick to remark upon it; 13 it is ill done to cry out, Here is a table well spread! 14 Be sure a covetous eye shall do thee no good; 15 eye is a great coveter, and for that, like no other part of thy face, condemned to weep. 16 Be not quick to reach out thy hand, and be noted, to thy shame, for greed; 17 jostling goes ill with a feast. 18 Learn from thy own conjecture thy neighbour’s need; 19 take sparingly the good things set before thee, nor court ill-will by thy gluttony. 20 For manners’ sake, leave off eating betimes, or thy greed shall give offence. 21 When there are many about thee, do not be quick to stretch out thy hand, quick to call for wine. 22 For a man well disciplined a little wine is enough; spare thyself the uneasy sleep, the pains that shall rack thee; 23 wakeful nights come of excess, and bile and griping pains. 24 For the temperate man, there is sound sleep; sleep that lasts till morning, and contents his whole being; 25 though thou have been constrained to eat beyond thy wont, thou hast but to leave the table and vomit, and thou shalt find relief, nor come to any bodily harm.

12

Supra mensam magnam sedisti?
non aperias super illam faucem tuam prior.

13
Non dicas sic: Multa sunt, quæ super illam sunt. 14
Memento quoniam malus est oculus nequam. 15
Nequius oculo quid creatum est?
ideo ab omni facie sua lacrimabitur, cum viderit. 16
Ne extendas manum tuam prior,
et invidia contaminatus erubescas. 17
Ne comprimaris in convivio. 18
Intellige quæ sunt proximi tui ex teipso. 19
Utere quasi homo frugi his quæ tibi apponuntur:
ne, cum manducas multum, odio habearis. 20
Cessa prior causa disciplinæ:
et noli nimius esse, ne forte offendas. 21
Et si in medio multorum sedisti,
prior illis ne extendas manum tuam,
nec prior poscas bibere. 22
Quam sufficiens est homini eruditio vinum exiguum!
et in dormiendo non laborabis ab illo,
et non senties dolorem. 23
Vigilia, cholera et tortura viro infrunito, 24
somnus sanitatis in homine parco:
dormiet usque mane,
et anima illius cum ipso delectabitur. 25
Et si coactus fueris in edendo multum,
surge e medio, evome, et refrigerabit te,
et non adduces corpori tuo infirmitatem.

[1] The bearing of this maxim is very doubtful; we may translate ‘sickness’ instead of ‘infirmity of purpose’.

[2] v. 33: ‘To the drunkard’; literally, ‘to him who is lessened by (or, in respect of) wine’. Elsewhere in this book this verb expresses some deficit in personal qualities. The sense ‘to him who must go without wine’ is admissible, and if it is adopted, the next verse will refer not to immoderate drinking, but to an empty cellar.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd