Prologue of Ben Sira in Latin

[Boni]

Hi,

I can't find  the Latin Prologue of Jesus Sirach which is published in the Stuttgart Vulgate. It should be somewhere in Accordance, as it is part of the original text. The Greek parallel is available. What happened?

Thanks for any help,

Boni

[Helen Brown]

I agree that it is not present, and presumably it was not supplied to us in the text we received from the German Bible Society. The untagged Clementine Vulgate does include it (VULGATE) but is only offered as part opf the Catholic add-on. Since it's PD anyway, I am pasting the Prologue below:

 

Sir. 0:1 PROLOGUS. Multorum nobis et magnorum per legem, et prophetas, aliosque qui secuti sunt illos, sapientia demonstrata est, in quibus oportet laudare Israël doctrinæ et sapientiæ causa, quia non solum ipsos loquentes necesse est esse peritos, sed etiam extraneos posse et dicentes et scribentes doctissimos fieri.  5 Avus meus Jesus, postquam se amplius dedit ad diligentiam lectionis legis, et prophetarum, et aliorum librorum qui nobis a parentibus nostris traditi sunt,  10 voluit et ipse scribere aliquid horum quæ ad doctrinam et sapientiam pertinent, ut desiderantes discere, et illorum periti facti, magis magisque attendant animo, et confirmentur ad legitimam vitam.  15 Hortor itaque venire vos cum benevolentia, et attentiori studio lectionem facere, et veniam habere in illis, in quibus videmur, sequentes imaginem sapientiæ, deficere in verborum compositione.  20 Nam deficiunt verba hebraica, quando fuerint translata ad alteram linguam: non autem solum hæc, sed et ipsa lex, et prophetæ, ceteraque aliorum librorum non parvam habent differentiam quando inter se dicuntur.  25 Nam in octavo et trigesimo anno temporibus Ptolemæi Evergetis regis, postquam perveni in Ægyptum, et cum multum temporis ibi fuissem, inveni ibi libros relictos, non parvæ neque contemnendæ doctrinæ.  30 Itaque bonum et necessarium putavi et ipse aliquam addere diligentiam et laborem interpretandi librum istum: et multa vigilia attuli doctrinam in spatio temporis, ad illa quæ ad finem ducunt, librum istum dare, et illis qui volunt animum intendere, et discere quemadmodum oporteat instituere mores, qui secundum legem Domini 35 proposuerint vitam agere.

[Boni]

Thanks, Helen, for your effort!

It's a bit strange, though. And it's a petty, that one has to to use a printed copy for this (the Clementine's text differs considerably from the critical version) and can't search the text. But if one knows about it, it's ok.

All the best,

Boni