My son, here is good advice for thy heeding; listen to wise counsel,

Fili mi, attende ad sapientiam meam, et prudentiæ meæ inclina aurem tuam:

My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence.

if thou wouldst be circumspect, if thou wouldst have ever on thy lips the maxims of prudence. First, give no credence to the wiles of woman;

ut custodias cogitationes, et disciplinam labia tua conservent. Ne attendas fallaciæ mulieris;

That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.

honey-sweet words the temptress may use, all her talk be soothing as oil,

favus enim distillans labia meretricis, et nitidius oleo guttur ejus:

For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.

but oh, the dregs of that cup are bitter; a two-edged sword brings no sharper pang.

novissima autem illius amara quasi absinthium, et acuta quasi gladius biceps.

But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.

Death’s road she follows, her feet set towards the grave;

Pedes ejus descendunt in mortem, et ad inferos gressus illius penetrant.

Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.

far from the highway that leads to life is the maze she treads.

Per semitam vitæ non ambulant; vagi sunt gressus ejus et investigabiles.

They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.

Heed, then, my warning, and depart from it never;

Nunc ergo fili mi, audi me, et ne recedas a verbis oris mei.

Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

shun her company, do not go near her doors.

Longe fac ab ea viam tuam, et ne appropinques foribus domus ejus.

Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.

Wouldst thou squander the pride of thy manhood upon heartless strangers like these?

Ne des alienis honorem tuum, et annos tuos crudeli:

Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.

If thus thou wilt spend all thy hopes, bestow all thy pains, upon an alien home that is no home of thine,

ne forte implentur extranei viribus tuis, et labores tui sint in domo aliena,

Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,

a time will come at last when health and strength shall be wasted away. Then thou wilt complain bitterly,

et gemas in novissimis, quando consumpseris carnes tuas et corpus tuum, et dicas:

And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say:

Alas, why did I spurn every precept, reject every warning,

Cur detestatus sum disciplinam, et increpationibus non acquievit cor meum,

Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,

unheard, unheeded, every lesson I was taught?

nec audivi vocem docentium me, et magistris non inclinavi aurem meam?

And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?

No marvel, had I paid the last penalty, with the assembled people for my judges!

pene fui in omni malo, in medio ecclesiæ et synagogæ.

I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.

Nay, drink, and drink deep, at thy own well, thy own cistern;

Bibe aquam de cisterna tua, et fluenta putei tui;

Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:

thence let thy offspring abound, like waters from thy own fountain flowing through the public streets;

deriventur fontes tui foras, et in plateis aquas tuas divide.

Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.

only let them be thy own, let there be no commerce between thyself and strangers.

Habeto eas solus, nec sint alieni participes tui.

Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.

A blessing on that fountain of thine! take thy pleasure with the bride thy manhood wins for thee.

Sit vena tua benedicta, et lætare cum muliere adolescentiæ tuæ.

Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:

Thy own bride, gentle as a hind, graceful as a doe; be it her bosom that steals away thy senses with the delight of a lover that loves still.

Cerva carissima, et gratissimus hinnulus: ubera ejus inebrient te in omni tempore; in amore ejus delectare jugiter.

Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times; be thou delighted continually with her love.

What, my son, wouldst thou yield to the wiles of a stranger, dally with her embraces that is none of thine?

Quare seduceris, fili mi, ab aliena, et foveris in sinu alterius?

Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?

The Lord is watching, and knows what a man’s errand is, let him betake himself where he will.

Respicit Dominus vias hominis, et omnes gressus ejus considerat.

The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.

The sinner will be ensnared by his own guilt, caught in the toils of his own wrong-doing;

Iniquitates suas capiunt impium, et funibus peccatorum suorum constringitur.

His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.

doomed by his own incontinence, by his own great folly bemused.

Ipse morietur, quia non habuit disciplinam, et in multitudine stultitiæ suæ decipietur.

He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.