In another passage (li. 13) he refers to the time before he had commenced his travels. The danger of which he speaks in the passage just quoted was owing to the fact that he had been the victim of some slanderous tongue, if one may be guided by his words in li. 1-12, where he thanks God in saying: Thou didst preserve me from the scourge of a slanderous tongue, And from the lips of them that turn aside to lies; Thou wast on my side in the face of those that rose up against me, Thou didst help me, according to the abundance of Thy mercy, Out of the snare of them that watch for my stumbling, And from the hands of those that seek my life ... The book contains a very large number of moral maxims and wise counsels for help and guidance in the every-day affairs of life; but the earnest piety of the writer which so frequently finds expression shows that his aim was not merely to write a handbook on ethics, but far more to be a spiritual adviser, wisdom in its manifold forms being, according to him, so many illustrations of godliness. Finally, “the mass of information which the book contains regarding Jewish religion, thought, and ethics, during a period for which we do not otherwise possess much knowledge, marks it out as a work of high importance. The writer evidently intended to offer to his people a kind of text-book to which men and women might have recourse for guidance in almost every conceivable circumstance of life. He does this, however, with the primary object of setting in clear light the superior excellence of Judaism over Hellenism. In a sense, therefore, Ecclesiasticus may be regarded as an apologetic work, inasmuch as it aims at combating the rising influence of Greek thought and culture among the Jews.”[347] III. THE DATE OF THE BOOK