Vice and Virtue in the Moral Vision of the Latin of Sirach The book of Ben Sira was written in Hebrew around 180 BCe and was translated into Greek by the author’s grandson in the late second century BCe. Around the turn of the third century Ce a Greek copy, which was evidently different from all other surviving Greek manuscripts, was translated into Latin in roman north Africa 1. The surviving Hebrew, Greek, and Latin manuscripts reveal that through late antiquity the transmission and translation of the book resulted in numerous accretions, alterations, and additions in the content 2. Although this supplemental material reflects some consistent themes, the changes and additions most likely arose in an incremental and piecemeal fashion rather than as part of large-scale recensional activity 3. The expansions found in various Greek texts are termed “Greek ii” (Grii) and the Latin 1 For a demonstration that the Latin was based on a Greek text see H. Herkenne, De veteris latinae Ecclesiastici capitibus I-XLIII: Una cum notis ex eiusdem libri translationibus aethiopica, armeniaca, copticis, latina altera, syro-hexaplari depromptis (Leipzig 1899) 9. While all surviving Greek manuscripts have 30,25- 33.16a and 33,16b-36.13a transposed, the Latin has the correct arrangement of chap- ters, indicating a Vorlage antecedent to the exemplar for all surviving Greek wit- nesses. A north African provenance (at least for chapters 1–43) was demonstrated by P. THieLmAnn, “Die lateinische Übersetzung des Buches Sirach”, Archiv für la- teinische Lexikographie und Grammatik 9 (1893) 501-561; iD., “Die europäischen Bestandteile des lateinischen Sirach”, Archiv für lateinische Lexikographie und Grammatik 9 (1894) 247-284. Thielmann argues that Sirach 1–43; 51 was translated in the first half of the third century while chapters 44–50 were translated sometime later in europe. An earlier date, in the late second century, was advocated by D. De Bruyne, “Étude sur le texte latin de l’ecclésiastique”, RBén 40 (1928) 5-48, here 6. For a critique of Thielmann’s thesis that chapters 44–50 were not part of the original translation see W. THieLe, Vetus Latina: Die Reste der altlateinischen Bibel. Vol. Xi/2: Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 1-24 (Freiburg 1987-2005) 120-124. 2 Due to the textual variety of Ben Sira, there are different numbering systems for the chapters and verses. in this study the numbering will follow that of Ziegler’s critical edition of the Greek with the corresponding Latin numbering placed in parentheses. J. ZieGLer, Sapientia Iesu Filii Sirach (Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum Xii,2; Göttingen 1965). 3 See m. GiLBerT, “introduction to kearns’ Dissertation”, in C. keArnS, The Expanded Text of Ecclesiasticus: its Teaching on the Future Life as a Clue to its Origin (ed. P.C. BeenTJeS) (DCLS 11; Berlin 2011) 9-21, here 21; J. GiLe, “The Additions to Ben Sira and the Book’s multiform Textual Witness”, The Texts and Versions of the Book of Ben Sira: Transmission and interpretation (eds. J.-S. rey – J. JOOSTen) (JSJSup 150; Leiden 2011) 237-256, here 255-256. BiBlica 97.1 (2016) 41-61