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

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

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

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

Donum bonum tribuam vobis: legem meam ne derelinquatis.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

her attainment exalts, her embrace ennobles thee;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Viam sapientiæ monstrabo tibi; ducam te per semitas æquitatis:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

shun their haunts and turn thy back upon them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Comedunt panem impietatis, et vinum iniquitatis bibunt.

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

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

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

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

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

Via impiorum tenebrosa; nesciunt ubi corruant.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

vita enim sunt invenientibus ea, et universæ carni sanitas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dirige semitam pedibus tuis, et omnes viæ tuæ stabilientur.

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

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. )

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.

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.