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The Epitome of the Sentences of the Syriac 'Menander'
(5) 9 The main source of all good things is the fear of God:
10 it delivers us from all evil things,
11 and in your distresses you will call upon him,
12 and he will listen to your voice.
(9 20 Excellent is joy
21 when quarrel and violence are far from it.
II
9 Fear God,
10 And honor (your) father and mother.
47 And a man who does not correctly deal with his wife,
48 even God hates him.
63 And there is no one who follows his lust and his stomach
64 who will not immediately be dishonored and despised.
65 Blessed is the man who mastered his stomach and his lust,
66 he is one on whom one can rely at all times.
76 Do not be quarrelsome;
77 do not stretch out your hand against one older than you.
116 For as for God, He who was cast down by him will not be so forever.
117 Nor will he who was humiliated by him be so at all times.
126 Do not rejoice over a dead man, over one who dies,
127 Because all men will go to the eternal house, they are mortal.
168 As for every bad man, God gives him over into slavery,
169 but every industrious man is worthy to rise in honor and greatness.
179 And if you speak wickedly, you face shall grow pale.
206 But it is a bad and foolish son who thinks of these things;
207 a bad thought in his heart, (focused) on his father's death.
229 If you see a noble man who loses his rank of honor,
230 Do not seek to dishonor him (further).
231 On the contrary, honor him in a correct way,
232 And give to him that which you can;
233 For great is the charity which you practice
234 when you give to a man who lost his possessions and rank of honor.
235 If you have, give to him,
236 And if you have not and (can)not give to him,
237 Then visit him with good and gentle words,
238 And say to him, "Do not be afraid"
239 And "May God purpose something good for you!"
240 Keep your self away from adultery.
241 Why should you want to buy polluted and putrid water,
242 Whose beginning is dwindling, whose end is light and loose?
272 Have more love for a dog than you have for (such) a priest;
273 if the dog has enough food,
274 he leaves the (the remains) behind in your house,
275 but if the priest has enough food,
276 he takes (the remains) along with him for his children,
277 and makes complains in addition.
278 Be welcome,
279 if (at least) (your) garments are fair,
280 and if (your) purse is filled.
286 With someone who is richer than you, do not dine every day,
287 for if you happen to visit him,
288 he would receive you with (in the bounds of) his daily expenditures;
289 but if he happens to visit you,
290 you would spend because of him what you have collected in thirty days,
291 and thereby ruin yourself.
340 Do not measure your strength with one who is stronger than you,
341 or one who forces you to strive with him;
342 do not say to yourself, Maybe I will cast him down,
343 lest he cast you down;
344 then you will be ashamed in the presence of many bystanders.
359 Do not turn away your eyes from your father and mother,
360 and do not curl up your lips (in scorn) at testicles and breasts,
361 and do not dishonor the God who made you.
387 For many are the years which a man does not (really) live;
388 Their anxieties (slowly) kill him.
394 The main source of all good things is the fear of God,
395 it delivers (one) from all evil things;
396 a treasure it is.
431 Riches that will not reduce to poverty are a strong power.
432 Wretched poverty means illness and disease.
444 These bad and good things are mingled in the life of men,
445 not to mention fever, tremors, diseases, and (other) great calamities
446 which are called the angels of death.
447 And no one can choose and take for himself what is good
448 and avoid what is bad;
449 but men go their way according to what God measures out for them,
450 as long as he allows them to live.
* The Sentences of the Syriac Menander by T. BAARDA. From The Old Testament Pseudepigraph,
ed. James Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1985). Copyright by Doubleday. Reprinted by
Permission of Doubleday.
THE SENTENCES OF THE SYRIAC MENANDER
The Epitome of the Sentences of the Syriac 'Menander
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