Propter inopiam multi deliquerunt: et qui quærit locupletari avertit oculum suum.

Sin comes often of an empty purse; nothing distorts the eye like the love of riches.

Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeketh to be enriched, turneth away his eye.

Sicut in medio compaginis lapidum palus figitur, sic et inter medium venditionis et emptionis angustiabitur peccatum:

Stake that is held between two stones cannot escape; nor may sin be avoided when there is seller on this side, buyer on that.

As a stake sticketh fast in the midst of the joining of stones, so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall stick fast.

conteretur cum delinquente delictum.

Wrong done shall be undone, and the doer of it as well;

Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner.

Si non in timore Domini tenueris te instanter, cito subvertetur domus tua.

hold fast to thy fear of the Lord, or thy wealth shall soon come to ruin.

Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown.

Sicut in percussura cribri remanebit pulvis, sic aporia hominis in cogitatu illius.

The sieve shaken, nothing is left but refuse; so thou wilt find a man’s poverty in his thought.

As when one sifteth with a sieve, the dust will remain: so will the perplexity of a man in his thoughts.

Vasa figuli probat fornax, et homines justos tentatio tribulationis.

Pottery is tested in the furnace, man in the crucible of suffering.

The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.

Sicut rusticatio de ligno ostendit fructum illius, sic verbum ex cogitatu cordis hominis.

Good fruit comes from a tree well dressed, and a man will be in word what he is in thought;

As the dressing of a tree sheweth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man.

Ante sermonem non laudes virum: hæc enim tentatio est hominum.

do not give thy opinion of a man till he has spoken; there lies the proof.

Praise not a man before he speaketh, for this is the trial of men.

Si sequaris justitiam, apprehendes illam, et indues quasi poderem honoris: et inhabitabis cum ea, et proteget te in sempiternum, et in die agnitionis invenies firmamentum.

Make right-doing thy quest, and thou wilt not miss the mark; this shall be a robe of honour to clothe thee, a welcome guest in thy house, to watch over thee continually, and to be thy stronghold at the hour when all is made known.

If thou followest justice, thou shalt obtain her: and shalt put her on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with her: and she shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment thou shalt find a strong foundation.

Volatilia ad sibi similia conveniunt: et veritas ad eos qui operantur illam revertetur.

Bird mates with bird, and he that shews faithfulness faithfulness shall meet.

Birds resort unto their like: so truth will return to them that practise her.

Leo venationi insidiatur semper: sic peccata operantibus iniquitates.

The lion waits in ambush for his prey; leave the right path, and sin shall be ever at thy heels.

The lion always lieth in wait for prey: so do sins for them that work iniquities.

Homo sanctus in sapientia manet sicut sol: nam stultus sicut luna mutatur.

Unfailing as the sun is the wisdom of a devout mind; moon and fool change continually.

A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon.

In medio insensatorum serva verbum tempori: in medio autem cogitantium assiduus esto.

When thou hast fools for thy company, thy word can wait; be closeted continually with the wise.

In the midst of the unwise keep in the word till its time: but be continually among men that think.

Narratio peccantium odiosa, et risus illorum in deliciis peccati.

Out upon the wearisome talk of sinners, that of sin and its dalliance makes a jest!

The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin.

Loquela multum jurans horripilationem capiti statuet, et irreverentia ipsius obturatio aurium.

Out upon the man that uses oaths lightly; hair stands upright at his blaspheming, and ears are stopped!

The speech that sweareth much shall make the hair of the head stand upright: and its irreverence shall make one stop his ears.

Effusio sanguinis in rixa superborum, et maledictio illorum auditus gravis.

Out upon the proud, that provoke bloodshed with their quarrelling, and by their cursing offend all who listen!

In the quarrels of the road is the shedding of blood: and their cursing is a grievous hearing.

Qui denudat arcana amici fidem perdit, et non inveniet amicum ad animum suum.

Betray thy friend’s secret, and all confidence is lost; never more shalt thou have friend to comfort thee.

He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth his credit, and shall never find a friend to his mind.

Dilige proximum, et conjungere fide cum illo.

Use such a man lovingly, and keep faith with him;

Love thy neighbour, and be joined to him with fidelity.

Quod si denudaveris absconsa illius, non persequeris post eum.

if once thou hast betrayed him, court no more his company.

But if thou discover his secrets, follow no more after him.

Sicut enim homo qui perdit amicum suum, sic et qui perdit amicitiam proximi sui.

Friendship thus killed, thy friend is dead to thee;

For as a man that destroyeth his friend, so also is he that destroyeth the friendship of his neighbour.

Et sicut qui dimittit avem de manu sua, sic dereliquisti proximum tuum, et non eum capies.

bird let go from the hand is not lost more irretrievably;

And as one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so hast thou let thy neighbour go, and thou shalt not get him again.

Non illum sequaris, quoniam longe abest: effugit enim quasi caprea de laqueo, quoniam vulnerata est anima ejus:

he is gone, like hind released from the snare, gone beyond thy pursuit. The wound that hurts a man’s soul

Follow after him no more, for he is gone afar off, he is fled, as a roe escaped out of the snare because his soul is wounded.

ultra eum non poteris colligare. Et maledicti est concordatio:

there is no healing; the bitter taunt may yet be unsaid,

Thou canst no more bind him up. And of a curse there is reconciliation:

denudare autem amici mysteria, desperatio est animæ infelicis.

but once the secret is out all is misery, all is despair.

But to disclose the secrets of a friend, leaveth no hope to an unhappy soul.

Annuens oculo fabricat iniqua, et nemo eum abjiciet.

Sly glance of the false friend! How shall a man be rid of him?

He that winketh with the eye forgeth wicked things, and no man will cast him off:

In conspectu oculorum tuorum condulcabit os suum, et super sermones tuos admirabitur: novissime autem pervertet os suum, et in verbis tuis dabit scandalum.

Here in thy presence, he smooths his brow, and is all in wonderment at thy wise sayings; but ere long he will change his tune, and lend thy words an ill colour.

In the sight of thy eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will admire thy words: but at the last he will writhe his mouth, and on thy words he will lay a stumblingblock.

Multa odivi, et non coæquavi ei, et Dominus odiet illum.

Above all else, he earns my hatred; God’s hatred too, I doubt not.

I have hated many things but not like him, and the Lord will hate him.

Qui in altum mittit lapidem, super caput ejus cadet: et plaga dolosa dolosi dividet vulnera.

None can throw stone in air but at his own head’s peril, nor ever was blow struck treacherously, but the traitor must have his share of hurt;

If one cast a stone on high, it will fall upon his own head: and the deceitful stroke will wound the deceitful.

Et qui foveam fodit incidet in eam: et qui statuit lapidem proximo offendet in eo: et qui laqueum alii ponit, peribit in illo.

a man may fall into the pit he dug, trip on the stone he set in his neighbour’s path, perish in the snare he laid for another.

He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it: and he that layeth a snare for another, shall perish in it.

Facienti nequissimum consilium, super ipsum devolvetur, et non agnoscet unde adveniat illi.

Plot ill, and the ill shall recoil on thyself, springing up beyond all thy expectation.

A mischievous counsel shall be rolled back upon the author, and he shall not know from whence it cometh to him.

Illusio et improperium superborum, et vindicta sicut leo insidiabitur illi.

For the proud, mockery and shame! Vengeance, like a lion, couches in wait for them.

Mockery and reproach are of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him.

Laqueo peribunt qui oblectantur casu justorum, dolor autem consumet illos antequam moriantur.

For all who triumph at the ill fortune of the just, a snare to catch them, and a long remorse before death takes them!

They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die.

Ira et furor utraque execrabilia sunt, et vir peccator continens erit illorum.

Rancour and rage are detestable things both; and the sinner has both in store.

Anger and fury are both of them abominable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them.