_A merchant shall hardly keep himself from doing wrong, And a huckster shall not be acquitted of sin. Many have transgressed for the sake of gain, And the fortune-hunter requires a blind eye. As a nail will stick fast between the joinings of stones, So will sin thrust in between buying and selling_ (E. 26^{29}-27^{2}). Six of one and half a dozen of the other, but perhaps neither buyer nor seller were such rogues as they are painted! Let us allow a discount for the epigram. Of the man in debt, a problem for society in all periods, the Sages said plainly but sufficiently: _The rich man lords it over the poor, And the borrower is the lender’s slave_ (Pr. 22^{7}). Ben Sirach, however, was much more graphic; says he, _Many have treated a loan as a windfall, And have been a plague to those that helped them. Till the loan is lent, he will kiss a man’s hand, And for his neighbour’s money will speak right humbly; But when payment falls due, he prolongs the days, And girds and grumbles and says, “Hard times”_ (E. 29^{4, 5}). Support for Ben Sirach’s description might still be obtained. The rendering of assistance to unfortunate members of the community has always been a prominent and admirable feature of Jewish society, and quotations to be given later on will bear witness to the esteem in which the Sages held the practice of charity. But the alms-giving was not wide enough, or else not deep enough or (it may be) not wise enough--as our own is not yet--to succour the lowest _stratum_ of society. Remember Lazarus at the rich man’s gate: apparently there were such as he in Ben Sirach’s time, whether brought low by misfortune or by fault: _My son, lead not a beggar’s life; It is better to die than to beg. A man that looketh unto the table of another, His life is not to be counted life_ (E. 40^{28-29}). In E. 38, Ben Sirach discusses an ancient and unsettled controversy--subject, the doctor. As he devotes half a chapter to the matter, we may reasonably assign it a paragraph.