Main Menu | List of entries | finished

JHESU SYRAK. Jesus of Sirach, fl. 2nd century B.C., was a professional scribe who taught in a school for young men. His book, written in Hebrew c. 180 B.C., was translated by his grandson into Greek sometime after 132 B.C. Its Latin title is Ecclesiasticus, known in English as The Book of Jesus of Sirach (NCE XIII: 257).

Alys of Bath refers to Ecclesiasticus 25:25, WBP 651. Pluto mentions Jesus, and the gloss filius Syrach has been added, MerchT 2250, a reference to Ecclesiasticus, 9:1-13, 26:5-15. The quotations in The Tale of Melibee appear in Chaucer's sources, Liber consolationis et consilii by Albertanus Brixiensis (1246) and Le livre de Melibée et de Dame Prudence by Renaud de Louens (after 1336). The reference at Mel 995 is not from Jesus of Sirach but from Proverbs 17:22. The old wise man quotes from Ecclesiasticus 22:6, Mel 1045. Several characters quote Jesus of Syrach even when they credit Solomon. Melibee quotes Ecclesiasticus but cites Solomon in the following passages: Ecclesiasticus 32:6, Mel 1047; Ecclesiasticus 25:30, Mel 1059; Ecclesiasticus 32: 20-22, Mel 1060; Ecclesiasticus 19: 8, 9, Mel 1141; Ecclesiasticus 6:15, Mel 1159; Ecclesiasticus 6:14, Mel 1161. Dame Prudence cites Solomon, but Ecclesiasticus is her source: Ecclesiasticus 6:6, Mel 1167; Ecclesiasticus 8:17, Mel 1173; Ecclesiasticus 12:10, Mel 1186; Ecclesiasticus 60:28, Mel 1571; Ecclesiasticus 300:17, Mel 1572; Ecclesiasticus 33:27, Mel 1589; Ecclesiasticus 12:12, Mel 1639; Ecclesiasticus 3:27, Mel 1671; Ecclesiasticus 33: 19-20, Mel 1754. Melibee's adversaries claim they quote Solomon, but they too quote Ecclesiasticus 6:5, Mel 1740. The Nun's Priest quotes Ecclesiasticus 12:10, 11, 16, in NPT 3329-3330. [Salomon]


Albertanus Brixiensis, Liber consolationis et consilii (The Book of Consolation and Counsel), ed. T. Sundby, 4, 10, 40; J.B. Severs, "The Tale of Melibeus." S&A, 568-614.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

Main Menu | List of entries | finished