Quid necesse est homini majora se quærere, cum ignoret quid conducat sibi in vita sua, numero dierum peregrinationis suæ, et tempore quod velut umbra præterit? aut quis ei poterit indicare quod post eum futurum sub sole sit?

What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can tell him what shall be after him under the sun?

What need for man to ask questions that are beyond his scope? There is no knowing how best his life should be spent, this brief pilgrimage that passes like a shadow, and is gone. And what will befall after his death, in this world beneath the sun, who can tell?

Melius est nomen bonum quam unguenta pretiosa, et dies mortis die nativitatis.

A good name is better than precious ointments: and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

There is no embalming like a good name left behind; man’s true birthday is the day of his death.

Melius est ire ad domum luctus quam ad domum convivii; in illa enim finis cunctorum admonetur hominum, et vivens cogitat quid futurum sit.

It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting: for in that we are put in mind of the end of all, and the living thinketh what is to come.

Better a visit paid where men mourn, than where they feast; it will put thee in mind of the end that awaits us all, admonish the living with the foreknowledge of death.

Melior est ira risu, quia per tristitiam vultus corrigitur animus delinquentis.

Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of the countenance the mind of the offender is corrected.

Frown ere thou smile; the downcast look betokens a chastened heart.

Cor sapientium ubi tristitia est, et cor stultorum ubi lætitia.

The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of fools where there is mirth.

Sadness, a home for the wise man’s thoughts, mirth for the fool’s.

Melius est a sapiente corripi, quam stultorum adulatione decipi;

It is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by the flattery of fools.

Better receive a wise man’s rebuke, than hear thy praises sung by fools.

quia sicut sonitus spinarum ardentium sub olla, sic risus stulti. Sed et hoc vanitas.

For as the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool: now this also is vanity.

Loud but not long the thorns crackle under the pot, and fools make merry; for them, too, frustration.

Calumnia conturbat sapientem, et perdet robur cordis illius.

Oppression troubleth the wise, and shall destroy the strength of his heart.

Oppression bewilders even a wise man’s wits, and undermines his courage.

Melior est finis orationis quam principium. Melior est patiens arrogante.

Better is the end of a speech than the beginning. Better is the patient man than the presumptuous.

Speech may end fair, that foul began; patience is better than a proud heart.

Ne sis velox ad irascendum, quia ira in sinu stulti requiescit.

Be not quickly angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of a fool.

Never be quick to take offence; it is a fool’s heart that harbours grudges.

Ne dicas: Quid putas causæ est quod priora tempora meliora fuere quam nunc sunt? stulta enim est hujuscemodi interrogatio.

Say not: What thinkest thou is the cause that former times were better than they are now? for this manner of question is foolish.

Never ask why the old times were better than ours; a fool’s question.

Utilior est sapientia cum divitiis, et magis prodest videntibus solem.

Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more advantage to them that see the sun.

Great worth has wisdom matched with good endowment; more advantage it shall bring thee than all the rest, here under the sun.

Sicut enim protegit sapientia, sic protegit pecunia; hoc autem plus habet eruditio et sapientia, quod vitam tribuunt possessori suo.

For as wisdom is a defence, so money is a defence: but learning and wisdom excel in this, that they give life to him that possesseth them.

Wealth befriends whom wisdom befriends; better still, who learns wisdom wins life.

Considera opera Dei, quod nemo possit corrigere quem ille despexerit.

Consider the works of God, that no man can correct whom he hath despised.

Mark well God’s doings; where he looks askance, none may set the crooked straight.

In die bona fruere bonis, et malam diem præcave; sicut enim hanc, sic et illam fecit Deus, ut non inveniat homo contra eum justas querimonias.

In the good day enjoy good things, and beware beforehand of the evil day: for God hath made both the one and the other, that man may not find against him any just complaint.

Come good times, accept the good they bring; come evil, let them never take thee unawares; bethink thee, that God has balanced these against those, and will have no man repine over his lot.

Hæc quoque vidi in diebus vanitatis meæ: justus perit in justitia sua, et impius multo vivit tempore in malitia sua.

These things also I saw in the days of my vanity: A just man perisheth in his justice, and a wicked man liveth a long time in his wickedness.

In my days of baffled enquiry, I have seen pious men ruined for all their piety, and evil-doers live long in all their wickedness.

Noli esse justus multum, neque plus sapias quam necesse est, ne obstupescas.

Be not over just: and be not more wise than is necessary, lest thou become stupid.

Why then, do not set too much store by piety, nor play the wise man to excess, if thou wouldst not be bewildered over thy lot.

Ne impie agas multum, et noli esse stultus, ne moriaris in tempore non tuo.

Be not overmuch wicked: and be not foolish, lest thou die before thy time.

Yet plunge not deep in evil-doing; folly eschew; else thou shalt perish before thy time.

Bonum est te sustentare justum: sed et ab illo ne subtrahas manum tuam; quia qui timet Deum nihil negligit.

It is good that thou shouldst hold up the just, yea and from him withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God, neglecteth nothing.

To piety thou must needs cling, yet live by that other caution too; fear God, and thou hast left no duty unfulfilled.

Sapientia confortavit sapientem super decem principes civitatis;

Wisdom hath strengthened the wise more than ten princes of the city.

Wisdom is a surer ally than ten city magistrates;

non est enim homo justus in terra qui faciat bonum et non peccet.

For there is no just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not.

there is no man on earth so exact over his duties that he does ever the right, never commits a fault.

Sed et cunctis sermonibus qui dicuntur ne accomodes cor tuum, ne forte audias servum tuum maledicentem tibi;

But do not apply thy heart to all words that are spoken: lest perhaps thou hear thy servant reviling thee.

The chance words men utter, heed but little; how if thou shouldst hear thy own servant speaking ill of thee?

scit enim conscientia tua quia et tu crebro maledixisti aliis.

For thy conscience knoweth that thou also hast often spoken evil of others.

Thy own conscience will tell thee how often thou too hast spoken ill of other men.

Cuncta tentavi in sapientia. Dixi: Sapiens efficiar: et ipsa longius recessit a me,

I have tried all things in wisdom. I have said: I will be wise: and it departed farther from me,

Thus, by the touchstone of my wisdom, I would test all things; Wisdom, cried I, I must have; yet all the while she withdrew from me,

multo magis quam erat. Et alta profunditas, quis inveniet eam?

Much more than it was: it is a great depth, who shall find it out?

further away than ever. Deep, deep is her secret; who shall read it?

Lustravi universa animo meo, ut scirem et considerarem, et quærerem sapientiam, et rationem, et ut cognoscerem impietatem stulti, et errorem imprudentium:

I have surveyed all things with my mind, to know, and consider, and seek out wisdom and reason: and to know the wickedness of the fool, and the error of the imprudent:

Here is a mind that has passed the whole world of things in review, examining everything, weighing everything, so as to have a wise estimation of them, eager to understand the fool’s rebelliousness, the false calculations of rash souls.

et inveni amariorem morte mulierem, quæ laqueus venatorum est, et sagena cor ejus; vincula sunt manus illius. Qui placet Deo effugiet illam; qui autem peccator est capietur ab illa.

And I have found a woman more bitter than death, who is the hunter’s snare, and her heart is a net, and her hands are bands. He that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a sinner, shall be caught by her.

And this I have ascertained; death itself is not so cruel as woman’s heart that wheedles and beguiles, as woman’s clutches that release their captive never. God’s friends escape her; of sinners she makes an easy prey.

Ecce hoc inveni, dixit Ecclesiastes, unum et alterum ut invenirem rationem,

Lo this have I found, said Ecclesiastes, weighing one thing after another, that I might find out the account,

I weighed this against that (he, the Spokesman, tells us), and the sum of my enquiry was this.

quam adhuc quærit anima mea, et non inveni. Virum de mille unum reperi; mulierem ex omnibus non inveni.

Which yet my soul seeketh, and I have not found it. One man among a thousand I have found, a woman among them all I have not found.

One thing I ever longed to find, and found never, a true woman. One true man I might find among a thousand, but a woman never.

Solummodo hoc inveni, quod fecerit Deus hominem rectum, et ipse se infinitis miscuerit quæstionibus. Quis talis ut sapiens est? et quis cognovit solutionem verbi?

Only this I have found, that God made man right, and he hath entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Who is as the wise man? and who hath known the resolution of the word?

Of this, beyond all else, I have satisfied myself; man’s nature was simple enough when God made him, and these endless questions are of his own devising.

The wise man, there is none like him. O for one who should read the riddle!