A wise ruler, a folk well disciplined; firm sits prudence on the throne.

A wise judge shall judge his people, and the government of a prudent man shall be steady.

Judex sapiens judicabit populum suum, et principatus sensati stabilis erit.

Like king, like court; like ruler, like subjects.

As the judge of the people is himself, so also are his ministers: and what manner of man the ruler of a city is, such also are they that dwell therein.

Secundum judicem populi, sic et ministri ejus: et qualis rector est civitatis, tales et inhabitantes in ea.

Royal folly is a people’s ruin; where prudence reigns, there cities thrive most.

An unwise king shall be the ruin of his people: and cities shall be inhabited through the prudence of the rulers.

Rex insipiens perdet populum suum: et civitates inhabitabuntur per sensum potentium.

God’s will it is, then, that rules a nation; when the time comes, he will give it the prince it needs,

The power of the earth is in the hand of God, and in his time he will raise up a profitable ruler over it.

In manu Dei potestas terræ: et utilem rectorem suscitabit in tempus super illam.

granting prosperity where he will; no scribe bears office but has divine authority stamped on his brow.

The prosperity of man is in the hand of God, and upon the person of the scribe he shall lay his honour.

In manu Dei prosperitas hominis, et super faciem scribæ imponet honorem suum.

Forget the wrong done, nor enrol thyself among the doers of it.

Remember not any injury done thee by thy neighbour, and do thou nothing by deeds of injury.

Omnis injuriæ proximi ne memineris, et nihil agas in operibus injuriæ.

Before God and man alike pride is hateful, and the wrong the Gentiles do is foully done;

Pride is hateful before God and men: and all iniquity of nations is execrable.

Odibilis coram Deo est et hominibus superbia, et execrabilis omnis iniquitas gentium.

wrong and crime and outrage and treacherous shift, that he punishes by passing on the sceptre of empire into new hands;

A kingdom is translated from one people to another, because of injustices, and wrongs, and injuries, and divers deceits.

Regnum a gente in gentem transfertur propter injustitias, et injurias, et contumelias, et diversos dolos.

but worse sin is none than avarice. See how man, for all his pride, is but dust and ashes!

But nothing is more wicked than the covetous man. Why is earth, and ashes proud?

Avaro autem nihil est scelestius. Quid superbit terra et cinis?

This love of money is of all things the most perverse; what does the miser but sell his own soul? As well be bowelled alive!

There is not a more wicked thing than to love money: for such a one setteth even his own soul to sale: because while he liveth he hath cast away his bowels.

Nihil est iniquius quam amare pecuniam: hic enim et animam suam venalem habet, quoniam in vita sua projecit intima sua.

Why be tyrannies short-lived? Why, it is a wearisome thing to the physician, a long illness,

All power is of short life. A long sickness is troublesome to the physician.

Omnis potentatus brevis vita; languor prolixior gravat medicum.

so he is fain to cut it short, and the king that reigns to-day will be dead to-morrow.

The physician cutteth off a short sickness: so also a king is to day, and to morrow he shall die.

Brevem languorem præcidit medicus: sic et rex hodie est, et cras morietur.

And what is the new kingdom he inherits? Creeping things, and carrion beast, and worm.

For when a man shall die, he shall inherit serpents, and beasts, and worms.

Cum enim morietur homo, hæreditabit serpentes, et bestias, et vermes.

Pride’s beginning is man’s revolt from God,

The beginning of the pride of man, is to fall off from God:

Initium superbiæ hominis apostatare a Deo:

when the heart forgets its Maker; and of all sin pride is the root. Leave it, or curses thou shalt have in full measure, and be ruined at the last.

Because his heart is departed from him that made him: for pride is the beginning of all sin: he that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end.

quoniam ab eo qui fecit illum recessit cor ejus, quoniam initium omnis peccati est superbia. Qui tenuerit illam adimplebitur maledictis, et subvertet eum in finem.

Such humiliation the Lord has in store; vanished utterly is yonder confederacy;

Therefore hath the Lord disgraced the assemblies of the wicked, and hath utterly destroyed them.

Propterea exhonoravit Dominus conventus malorum, et destruxit eos usque in finem.

proud thrones cast down, to make room for the oppressed,

God hath overturned the thrones of proud princes, and hath set up the meek in their stead.

Sedes ducum superborum destruxit Deus, et sedere fecit mites pro eis.

proud nations withered from the root, and humbler rivals planted instead!

God hath made the roots of proud nations to wither, and hath planted the humble of these nations.

Radices gentium superbarum arefecit Deus, et plantavit humiles ex ipsis gentibus.

Whole nations of the world the Lord has overthrown, rased them to the ground;

The Lord hath overthrown the lands of the Gentiles, and hath destroyed them even to the foundation.

Terras gentium evertit Dominus, et perdidit eas usque ad fundamentum.

shrivelled and vanished away, they have left no trace of their passage.

He hath made some of them to wither away, and hath destroyed them, and hath made the memory of them to cease from the earth.

Arefecit ex ipsis, et disperdidit eos, et cessare fecit memoriam eorum a terra.

The proud forgotten, the humble kept in memory; such was the Lord’s will.

God hath abolished the memory of the proud, and hath preserved the memory of them that are humble in mind.

Memoria superborum perdidit Deus, et reliquit memoriam humilium sensu.

Pride was never made for man’s estate; never child born of woman had anger’s mood for its birthright.

Pride was not made for men: nor wrath for the race of women.

Non est creata hominibus superbia, neque iracundia nationi mulierum.

There are two breeds of men; one fears God and wins renown, the other passes his commandments by, and is forgotten.

That seed of men shall be honoured, which feareth God: but that seed shall be dishonoured, which transgresseth the commandments of the Lord.

Semen hominum honorabitur hoc, quod timet Deum: semen autem hoc exhonorabitur, quod præterit mandata Domini.

Let clansmen honour a chieftain’s rank; it is humble fear wins the divine regard.

In the midst of brethren their chief is honourable: so shall they that fear the Lord, be in his eyes.

In medio fratrum rector illorum in honore: et qui timent Dominum erunt in oculis illius.

For riches and renown, as for the lowly born, there is one boast worth having, the fear of God.

The fear of God is the glory of the rich, and of the honourable, and of the poor.

Gloria divitum, honoratorum, et pauperum, timor Dei est.

Honest poverty never despise, nor flatter, for all his wealth, the evil-doer;

Despise not a just man that is poor, and do not magnify a sinful man that is rich.

Noli despicere hominem justum pauperem, et noli magnificare virum peccatorem divitem.

prince nor ruler nor nobleman can win any higher title than the fear of God.

The great man, and the judge, and the mighty is in honour: and there is none greater than he that feareth God.

Magnus, et judex, et potens est in honore: et non est major illo qui timet Deum.

Of his master’s sons a prudent servant shall yet be master. Only the fool, that is ill trained, takes punishment amiss; and a fool will never rise to greatness.

They that are free shall serve a servant that is wise: and a man that is prudent and well instructed will not murmur when he is reproved; and he that is ignorant, shall not be honoured.

Servo sensato liberi servient: et vir prudens et disciplinatus non murmurabit correptus, et inscius non honorabitur.

Do not boast of thy fine craftsmanship and then, in time of urgent need, stand idle;

Extol not thyself in doing thy work, and linger not in the time of distress:

Noli extollere te in faciendo opere tuo, et noli cunctari in tempore angustiæ.

better fall to work and have a full belly than keep thy pride and go fasting.

Better is he that laboureth, and aboundeth in all things, than he that boasteth himself and wanteth bread.

Melior est qui operatur et abundat in omnibus, quam qui gloriatur et eget pane.

Abate thy pride, keep body and soul together; value thy life as it deserves.

My son, keep thy soul in meekness, and give it honour according to its desert.

Fili, in mansuetudine serva animam tuam, et da illi honorem secundum meritum suum.

There is no excusing the man who is his own enemy, no worth in the man who thinks his life worth nothing.

Who will justify him that sinneth against his own soul? and who will honour him that dishonoureth his own soul?

Peccantem in animam suam quis justificabit? et quis honorificabit exhonorantem animam suam?

One man, that little wealth has, may boast of his skill and the fear of God, another man of his riches.

The poor man is glorified by his discipline and fear: and there is a man that is honoured for his wealth.

Pauper gloriatur per disciplinam et timorem suum: et est homo qui honorificatur propter substantiam suam.

Grow he rich, the poor man shall boast indeed; that other, grow he poor, has good cause to fear his poverty.

But he that is glorified in poverty, how much more in wealth? and he that is glorified in wealth, let him fear poverty.

Qui autem gloriatur in paupertate, quanto magis in substantia! et qui gloriatur in substantia, paupertatem vereatur.