Muscæ morientes perdunt suavitatem unguenti. Pretiosior est sapientia et gloria, parva et ad tempus stultitia.

No ointment can perfumer brew so sweet, but it grows foul when dead flies are lodged in it. And wouldst thou barter away wisdom and honour both, for a moment’s folly?

Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom and glory is more precious than a small and shortlived folly.

Cor sapientis in dextera ejus, et cor stulti in sinistra illius.

The fool’s wits are astray; the wise man’s right is to him left.

The heart of a wise man is in his right hand, and the heart of a fool is in his left hand.

Sed et in via stultus ambulans, cum ipse insipiens sit, omnes stultos æstimat.

By his way of it, every passer-by on the road is a fool, save he.

Yea, and the fool when he walketh in the way, whereas he himself is a fool, esteemeth all men fools.

Si spiritus potestatem habentis ascenderit super te, locum tuum ne demiseris, quia curatio faciet cessare peccata maxima.

Though a prince’s anger should mount against thee, do not desert thy post; great harm by thy healing touch may yet be assuaged.

If the spirit of him that hath power, ascend upon thee, leave not thy place: because care will make the greatest sins to cease.

Est malum quod vidi sub sole, quasi per errorem egrediens a facie principis:

This is a source of trouble I have marked, here under the sun; the causeless whim of tyrants.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were by an error proceeding from the face of the prince:

positum stultum in dignitate sublimi, et divites sedere deorsum.

Fools come to the top, down go rank and riches;

A fool set in high dignity, and the rich sitting beneath.

Vidi servos in equis, et principes ambulantes super terram quasi servos.

slaves you will see riding on horseback, and princes going afoot at their bridle-rein.

I have seen servants upon horses: and princes walking on the ground as servants.

Qui fodit foveam incidet in eam, et qui dissipat sepem mordebit eum coluber.

Fall into pit thou shalt not, if thou dig none; breach no walls, if thou wouldst avoid the adder’s sting.

He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.

Qui transfert lapides affligetur in eis, et qui scindit ligna vulnerabitur ab eis.

Stone crushes his foot that stone carries, and wood scratches him that wood cuts.

He that removeth stones, shall be hurt by them: and he that cutteth trees, shall be wounded by them.

Si retusum fuerit ferrum, et hoc non ut prius, sed hebetatum fuerit, multo labore exacuetur, et post industriam sequetur sapientia.

Blunt tool that has grown dull from long disuse shall cost thee pains a many; if thou hadst been wise sooner, thou shouldst have toiled less.

If the iron be blunt, and be not as before, but be made blunt, with much labour it shall be sharpened: and after industry shall follow wisdom.

Si mordeat serpens in silentio, nihil eo minus habet qui occulte detrahit.

Bite snake ere the spell begins, he is no better off that has the master-word.

If a serpent bite in silence, he is nothing better that backbiteth secretly.

Verba oris sapientis gratia, et labia insipientis præcipitabunt eum;

Wise utterance wins favour; the fool that opens his mouth does but ruin himself,

The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace: but the lips of a fool shall throw him down headlong.

initium verborum ejus stultitia, et novissimum oris illius error pessimus.

his preface idle talk, his conclusion madness.

The beginning of his words is folly, and the end of his talk is a mischievous error.

Stultus verba multiplicat. Ignorat homo quid ante se fuerit; et quid post se futurum sit, quis ei poterit indicare?

Of words a fool has no stint …… What went before, is lost to man’s view, and what shall befall when he is gone, none can tell him.

A fool multiplieth words. A man cannot tell what hath been before him: and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

Labor stultorum affliget eos, qui nesciunt in urbem pergere.

He is on a fool’s errand, that does not even know his way to town.

The labour of fools shall afflict them that know not how to go to the city.

Væ tibi, terra, cujus rex puer est, et cujus principes mane comedunt.

Woe to the land that has young blood on the throne, whose court sits feasting till daybreak!

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and when the princes eat in the morning.

Beata terra cujus rex nobilis est, et cujus principes vescuntur in tempore suo, ad reficiendum, et non ad luxuriam.

And happy the land whose king is of true princely breed, whose courtiers feast when feast should be, to comfort their hearts, not all in revelry.

Blessed is the land, whose king is noble, and whose princes eat in due season for refreshment, and not for riotousness.

In pigritiis humiliabitur contignatio, et in infirmitate manuum perstillabit domus.

Roof sags where idleness dwells; a leaking gutter means nerveless hands within.

By slothfulness a building shall be brought down, and through the weakness of hands, the house shall drop through.

In risum faciunt panem et vinum ut epulentur viventes; et pecuniæ obediunt omnia.

Food will cheer thee, wine bring thee gladness, but money, it answers every need.

For laughter they make bread, and wine that the living may feast: and all things obey money.

In cogitatione tua regi ne detrahas, et in secreto cubiculi tui ne maledixeris diviti: quia et aves cæli portabunt vocem tuam, et qui habet pennas annuntiabit sententiam.

Of the king, no treasonable thought; of the nobles, no ill word even in thy bed-chamber; the very birds in heaven will catch the echoes of it, and fly off to betray thy secret.

Detract not the king, no not in thy thought; and speak not evil of the rich man in thy private chamber: because even the birds of the air will carry thy voice, and he that hath wings will tell what thou hast said.