Sons of mine, take a lesson from your father; a lesson that will make discerning men of you, will you but heed it.

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend that you may know prudence.

Audite, filii, disciplinam patris, et attendite ut sciatis prudentiam.

A precious heirloom it is, the tradition I teach, not to be lightly bartered away.

I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law.

Donum bonum tribuam vobis: legem meam ne derelinquatis.

Time was when I had a father of my own; and when I was but a boy, my mother’s darling,

For I also was my father’s son, tender and as an only son in the sight of my mother:

Nam et ego filius fui patris mei, tenellus et unigenitus coram matre mea.

in such words as these he would teach me: Ever be thy heart true to my bidding; if thrive thou wouldst, hold fast the charge I give thee.

And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.

Et docebat me, atque dicebat: Suscipiat verba mea cor tuum; custodi præcepta mea, et vives.

Wisdom be thy quest, thy quest discernment still; thy father’s apt and faithful pupil,

Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.

Posside sapientiam, posside prudentiam: ne obliviscaris, neque declines a verbis oris mei.

keep her at thy side, thy guardian; cherish her, thy preserver.

Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall preserve thee.

Ne dimittas eam, et custodiet te: dilige eam, et conservabit te.

Wisdom be thy chief thought, make discernment thine at all hazards;

The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession purchase prudence.

Principium sapientiæ: posside sapientiam, et in omni possessione tua acquire prudentiam.

her attainment exalts, her embrace ennobles thee;

Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her.

Arripe illam, et exaltabit te; glorificaberis ab ea cum eam fueris amplexatus.

a wreath of fresh graces she will give thee, a crown of glory, to overshadow thy brow.

She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown.

Dabit capiti tuo augmenta gratiarum, et corona inclyta proteget te.

Listen, then, my son, and master the charge I give thee, as thou wouldst have long life.

Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be multiplied to thee.

Audi, fili mi, et suscipe verba mea, ut multiplicentur tibi anni vitæ.

Here lies the road to wisdom, here is the path that will bring thee straight to thy goal;

I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity:

Viam sapientiæ monstrabo tibi; ducam te per semitas æquitatis:

here thou mayst walk unhampered, run without fear of stumbling.

Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock.

quas cum ingressus fueris, non arctabuntur gressus tui, et currens non habebis offendiculum.

Hold fast by the instruction thou hast received, and never let it go; guard it as thou wouldst guard thy life.

Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is thy life.

Tene disciplinam, ne dimittas eam; custodi illam, quia ipsa est vita tua.

For godless ways and the example of sinful men have thou neither love nor liking;

Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee.

Ne delecteris in semitis impiorum, nec tibi placeat malorum via.

shun their haunts and turn thy back upon them.

Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.

Fuge ab ea, nec transeas per illam; declina, et desere eam.

Rest they never without some ill deed done; some traveller’s feet must stumble, or they lie sleepless on their beds;

For they sleep not except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.

Non enim dormiunt nisi malefecerint, et rapitur somnus ab eis nisi supplantaverint.

godlessness is the very bread they eat, they crave for wrong-doing as for wine.

They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.

Comedunt panem impietatis, et vinum iniquitatis bibunt.

See how the path of the just grows ever brighter, like the light of dawn opening out into full day!

But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day.

Justorum autem semita quasi lux splendens procedit, et crescit usque ad perfectam diem.

But these, the sinners, are fain to walk on in darkness, surprised by every fall.

The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall.

Via impiorum tenebrosa; nesciunt ubi corruant.

Hear then and heed, my son, these words of warning;

My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings.

Fili mi, ausculta sermones meos, et ad eloquia mea inclina aurem tuam.

never lose sight of them, cherish them in thy inmost heart;

Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart:

Ne recedant ab oculis tuis: custodi ea in medio cordis tui:

let a man master them, they will bring life and healing to his whole being.

For they are life to those that find them, and health to all flesh.

vita enim sunt invenientibus ea, et universæ carni sanitas.

Use all thy watchfulness to keep thy heart true; that is the fountain whence life springs.

With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.

Omni custodia serva cor tuum, quia ex ipso vita procedit.

Far, very far from thy tongue be the cheating word, from thy lips the whisper of calumny;

Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far from thee.

Remove a te os pravum, et detrahentia labia sint procul a te.

let thy eyes see straight, thy gaze ever scan the path that lies before thee.

Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy steps.

Oculi tui recta videant, et palpebræ tuæ præcedant gressus tuos.

Consider that path well, and on safe ground thou shalt journey still;

Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established.

Dirige semitam pedibus tuis, et omnes viæ tuæ stabilientur.

swerving neither to right nor left, but keeping thy steps ever clear of wrong-doing. (To the right lie such ways as win the Lord’s favour, to the left such as miss the goal. He it is that will guide thy course aright, and set thy journey forward in peace. )

Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy foot from evil. For the Lord knoweth the ways that are on the right hand: but those are perverse which are on the left hand. But he will make thy courses straight, he will bring forward thy ways in peace.

Ne declines ad dexteram neque ad sinistram; averte pedem tuum a malo: vias enim quæ a dextris sunt novit Dominus: perversæ vero sunt quæ a sinistris sunt. Ipse autem rectos faciet cursus tuos, itinera autem tua in pace producet.