O Lord, father, and sovereign ruler of my life, leave me not to their counsel: nor suffer me to fall by them.

Domine, pater et dominator vitæ meæ, ne derelinquas me in consilio eorum, nec sinas me cadere in illis.

Lord, that gavest my life and art the ruler of it, never may these lips of mine have me at their mercy, never let them betray me into a fall!

Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over my heart, that they spare me not in their ignorances, and that their sins may not appear:

Quis superponet in cogitatu meo flagella, et in corde meo doctrinam sapientiæ, ut ignorationibus eorum non parcant mihi, et non appareant delicta eorum,

Be my thoughts ever under the lash, my heart disciplined by true wisdom; let it never deal gently with their unwitting offences, or gloss over the wrong they do!

Lest my ignorances increase, and my offences be multiplied, and my sins abound, and I fall before my adversaries, and my enemy rejoice over me?

et ne adincrescant ignorantiæ meæ, et multiplicentur delicta mea, et peccata mea abundent, et incidam in conspectu adversariorum meorum, et gaudeat super me inimicus meus?

What if my transgressions should go, all unobserved, from bad to worse, if I should sin ever oftener, and add fault to fault? What humiliation were this, in full view of my enemies; how would my ill-wishers triumph at the sight!

O Lord, father, and God of my life, leave me not to their devices.

Domine, pater et Deus vitæ meæ, ne derelinquas me in cogitatu illorum.

Lord, that gavest my life and art the divine ruler of it, let them not have me at their mercy;

Give me not haughtiness of my eyes, and turn away from me all coveting.

Extollentiam oculorum meorum ne dederis mihi, et omne desiderium averte a me.

never let haughty looks be mine, never the assaults of passion come near me.

Take from me the greediness of the belly, and let not the lusts of the flesh take hold of me, and give me not over to a shameless and foolish mind.

Aufer a me ventris concupiscentias, et concubitus concupiscentiæ ne apprehendant me, et animæ irreverenti et infrunitæ ne tradas me.

Let the itch of gluttony pass me by, nor ever carnal lust overtake me; do not leave me, Lord, at the mercy of a shameless, an unprofitable mind!

Hear, O ye children, the discipline of the mouth, and he that will keep it shall not perish by his lips, nor be brought to fall into most wicked works.

Doctrinam oris audite, filii: et qui custodierit illam non periet labiis, nec scandalizabitur in operibus nequissimis.

Here is the lore, my sons, of the tongue’s use; hold fast by it, and thy own lips shall never be thy undoing, to ensnare thee in heinous wrong.

A sinner is caught in his own vanity, and the proud and the evil speakers shall fall thereby.

In vanitate sua apprehenditur peccator: et superbus et maledicus scandalizabitur in illis.

What is it but his lying that entraps the sinner, what snare but their own speech catches the proud, the slanderers?

Let not thy mouth be accustomed to swearing: for in it there are many falls.

Jurationi non assuescat os tuum: multi enim casus in illa.

That mouth of thine do not inure to oath-taking; therein lie many perils;

And let not the naming of God be usual in thy mouth, and meddle not with the names of saints, for thou shalt not escape free from them.

Nominatio vero Dei non sit assidua in ore tuo, et nominibus sanctorum non admiscearis, quoniam non erit immunis ab eis.

wilt thou take God’s name often on thy lips, and of holy titles make thy constant invocation, thy word is forfeit to them.

For as a slave daily put to the question, is never without a blue mark: so every one that sweareth, and nameth, shall not be wholly pure from sin.

Sicut enim servus interrogatus assidue a livore non minuitur, sic omnis jurans et nominans in toto a peccato non purgabitur.

Slave that is evermore under the lash cannot escape without bruises a many; thy often swearing, thy often invoking, shall lead thee into guilt at last.

A man that sweareth much, shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house.

Vir multum jurans implebitur iniquitate, et non discedet a domo illius plaga.

Oaths a many, sins a many; punishment shall be still at thy doors.

And if he make it void, his sin shall be upon him, and if he dissemble it, he offendeth double:

Et si frustraverit, delictum illius super ipsum erit: et si dissimulaverit, delinquit dupliciter:

Forswear thyself, thou shalt be held to account for it; forget the oath, it is at thy double peril;

And if he swear in vain, he shall not be justified: for his house shall be filled with his punishment.

et si in vacuum juraverit, non justificabitur: replebitur enim retributione domus illius.

and though it were lightly taken, thou shalt find no excuse in that; plague shall light on all thou hast, in amends for it.

There is also another speech opposite to death, let it not be found in the inheritance of Jacob.

Est et alia loquela contraria morti: non inveniatur in hæreditate Jacob.

Sin of speech there is, too, that has death for its counterpart; God send it be not found in Jacob’s chosen race;

For from the merciful all these things shall be taken away, and they shall not wallow in sins.

Etenim a misericordibus omnia hæc auferentur, et in delictis non volutabuntur.

from men of tender conscience every such thought is far away, not theirs to wallow in evil-doing.

Let not thy mouth be accustomed to indiscreet speech: for therein is the word of sin.

Indisciplinatæ loquelæ non assuescat os tuum: est enim in illa verbum peccati.

Beware of habituating thy tongue to lewd talk; therein is matter of offence.

Remember thy father and thy mother, for thou sittest in the midst of great men:

Memento patris et matris tuæ: in medio enim magnatorum consistis:

Not thine to bring shame on father and mother. There are great ones all around thee;

Lest God forget thee in their sight, and thou, by thy daily custom be infatuated and suffer reproach: and wish that thou hadst not been born, and curse the day of thy nativity.

ne forte obliviscatur te Deus in conspectu illorum, et assiduitate tua infatuatus, improperium patiaris, et maluisses non nasci, et diem nativitatis tuæ maledicas.

what if thyself God should disregard, when thou art in their company? Then shall this ill custom of thine strike thee dumb and bring thee to great dishonour; thou wilt wish thou hadst never been, and rue the day of thy birth.

The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words, will never be corrected all the days of his life.

Homo assuetus in verbis improperii in omnibus diebus suis non erudietur.

Let a man grow into a habit of railing speech, all his days there is no amending him.

Two sorts of men multiply sins, and the third bringeth wrath and destruction.

Duo genera abundant in peccatis, et tertium adducit iram et perditionem.

Two sorts of men are sinners above measure, and a third I can name that calls down vengeance.

A hot soul is a burning fire, it will never be quenched, till it devour some thing.

Anima calida quasi ignis ardens, non extinguetur donec aliquid glutiat:

There is a hot temper, all fire and fury, that cannot die down till it has had its fill.

And a man that is wicked in the mouth of his flesh, will not leave off till he hath kindled a fire.

et homo nequam in ore carnis suæ non desinet donec incendat ignem.

A man that is corrupted by the prompting of his own lust will not be content until it bursts into flame.

To a man that is a fornicator all bread is sweet, he will not be weary of sinning unto the end.

Homini fornicario omnis panis dulcis: non fatigabitur transgrediens usque ad finem.

To the fornicator, one pasture-ground is as good as another; there is no wearying him till he has tried all.

Every man that passeth beyond his own bed, despising his own soul, and saying: Who seeth me?

Omnis homo qui transgreditur lectum suum, contemnens in animam suam, et dicens: Quis me videt?

Out on the man that takes his life in his hands and comes between another’s sheets! There is none to witness it, thinks he;

Darkness compasseth me about, and the walls cover me, and no man seeth me: whom do I fear? the most High will not remember my sins.

Tenebræ circumdant me, et parietes cooperiunt me, et nemo circumspicit me: quem vereor? delictorum meorum non memorabitur Altissimus.

darkness all about, and walls to shelter me, and none watching; what have I to fear? Sins like mine the most High will never mark.

And he understandeth not that his eye seeth all things, for such a man’s fear driveth him from the fear of God, and the eyes of men fearing him:

Et non intelligit quoniam omnia videt oculus illius, quoniam expellit a se timorem Dei hujusmodi hominis timor, et oculi hominum timentes illum:

Of that all-seeing eye no heed takes he; fear of a man has driven the fear of God from his thoughts; of human eyes only he shuns the regard.

And he knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun, beholding round about all the ways of men, and the bottom of the deep, and looking into the hearts of men, into the most hidden parts.

et non cognovit quoniam oculi Domini multo plus lucidiores sunt super solem, circumspicientes omnes vias hominum, et profundum abyssi, et hominum corda, intuentes in absconditas partes.

What, are not God’s eyes a thousand times more piercing than the sun’s rays? Do they not watch all the doings of men, the depths of earth, and man’s heart, every secret open to their scrutiny?

For all things were known to the Lord God, before they were created: so also after they were perfected he beholdeth all things.

Domino enim Deo antequam crearentur omnia sunt agnita: sic et post perfectum respicit omnia.

God, that knows all he means to make, does he not watch over all he has made?

This man shall be punished in the streets of the city, and he shall be chased as a colt: and where he suspected not, he shall be taken.

Hic in plateis civitatis vindicabitur, et quasi pullus equinus fugabitur, et ubi non speravit apprehendetur.

In full view of the open street the adulterer shall pay the penalty; loud, as for a runaway horse, the hue and cry; where he thought to escape, justice outruns him.

And he shall be in disgrace with all men, because he understood not the fear of the Lord.

Et erit dedecus omnibus, eo quod non intellexerit timorem Domini.

All the world shall witness his shame, that left the fear of the Lord unregarded.

So every woman also that leaveth her husband, and bringeth in an heir by another:

Sic et mulier omnis relinquens virum suum, et statuens hæreditatem ex alieno matrimonio:

Nor less guilty is she who plays her husband false, giving him for heir a child that is no son of his.

For first she hath been unfaithful to the law of the most High: and secondly, she hath offended against her husband: thirdly, she hath fornicated in adultery, and hath gotten her children of another man.

primo enim in lege Altissimi incredibilis fuit: secundo in virum suum deliquit: tertio in adulterio fornicata est, et ex alio viro filios statuit sibi.

Broken, the law of the most High; her plighted troth forsaken; sons borne to a paramour, has she not thrice played the wanton?

This woman shall be brought into the assembly, and inquisition shall be made of her children.

Hæc in ecclesiam adducetur, et in filios ejus respicietur:

Needs must she confront the folk assembled, nor shall those sons of hers be spared;

Her children shall not take root, and her branches shall bring forth no fruit.

non tradent filii ejus radices, et rami ejus non dabunt fructum:

such roots must not burgeon, such boughs never bear fruit;

She shall leave her memory to be cursed, and her infamy shall not be blotted out.

derelinquet in maledictum memoriam ejus, et dedecus illius non delebitur.

she leaves but the memory of an accursed name, a name for ever dishonoured.

And they that remain shall know, that there is nothing better than the fear of God: and that there is nothing sweeter than to have regard to the commandments of the Lord.

Et agnoscent qui derelicti sunt, quoniam nihil melius est quam timor Dei, et nihil dulcius quam respicere in mandatis Domini.

Warning she gives to after ages that God’s fear is best, nor sweeter lot is any than the divine law well observed.

It is great glory to follow the Lord: for length of days shall be received from him.

Gloria magna est sequi Dominum: longitudo enim dierum assumetur ab eo.

Follow the Lord, and it shall be thy renown; a long life is the reward it shall bring thee.