O mors, quam amara est memoria tua homini pacem habenti in substantiis suis:

O DEATH, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions!

Out upon thee, death, how bitter is the thought of thee to a man that lives at ease in his own home,

viro quieto, et cujus viæ directæ sunt in omnibus, et adhuc valenti accipere cibum!

To a man that is at rest, and whose ways are prosperous in all things, and that is yet able to take meat!

a man untroubled by care, no difficulties in his path, that his food still relishes!

O mors, bonum est judicium tuum homini indigenti, et qui minoratur viribus,

O death, thy sentence is welcome to the man that is in need, and to him whose strength faileth:

Hail, death! Welcome is thy doom to a man that is in need, and lacks vigour;

defecto ætate, et cui de omnibus cura est, et incredibili, qui perdit patientiam!

Who is in a decrepit age, and that is in care about all things, and to the distrustful that loseth patience!

worn out with age and full of anxieties, that has no confidence left in him, no strength to endure.

Noli metuere judicium mortis: memento quæ ante te fuerunt, et quæ superventura sunt tibi: hoc judicium a Domino omni carni.

Fear not the sentence of death. Remember what things have been before thee, and what shall come after thee: this sentence is from the Lord upon all flesh.

Never fear death’s doom; bethink thee of the years that went before thee, and must come after thee. One sentence the Lord has for all living things.

Et quid superveniet tibi in beneplacito Altissimi? sive decem, sive centum, sive mille anni:

And what shall come upon thee by the good pleasure of the most High? whether ten, or a hundred, or a thousand years.

What the will of the most High has in store for thee, none can tell; what matter, whether it be ten years, or a hundred, or a thousand?

non est enim in inferno accusatio vitæ.

For among the dead there is no accusing of life.

Once thou art dead, thou wilt take no grudging count of the years.

Filii abominationum fiunt filii peccatorum, et qui conversantur secus domos impiorum.

The children of sinners become children of abominations, and they that converse near the houses of the ungodly.

The children wicked men beget are born under a curse, familiars of a godless home;

Filiorum peccatorum periet hæreditas, et cum semine illorum assiduitas opprobrii.

The inheritance of the children of sinners shall perish, and with their posterity shall be a perpetual reproach.

all they inherit is soon lost to them; reproach dogs the footsteps of their posterity.

De patre impio queruntur filii, quoniam propter illum sunt in opprobrio.

The children will complain of an ungodly father, because for his sake they are in reproach.

How bitter their complaints against the father who is the author of their ill fame!

Væ vobis, viri impii, qui dereliquistis legem Domini Altissimi!

Woe to you, ungodly men, who have forsaken the law of the most high Lord.

Woe to you, rebels, that have forsaken the law of the Lord, the most High,

Et si nati fueritis, in maledictione nascemini: et si mortui fueritis, in maledictione erit pars vestra.

And if you be born, you shall be born in malediction: and if you die, in malediction shall be your portion.

born of an unholy birth, an unholy death your destiny!

Omnia quæ de terra sunt in terram convertentur: sic impii a maledicto in perditionem.

All things that are of the earth, shall return into the earth: so the ungodly shall from malediction to destruction.

All that is of earth, to earth must needs return; from ban to bale is the cycle of a life ill lived.

Luctus hominum in corpore ipsorum: nomen autem impiorum delebitur.

The mourning of men is about their body, but the name of the ungodly shall be blotted out.

Man sighs over his body’s loss; what of his name? The wicked are lost to memory.

Curam habe de bono nomine: hoc enim magis permanebit tibi quam mille thesauri pretiosi et magni.

Take care of a good name: for this shall continue with thee, more than a thousand treasures precious and great.

Of thy good name heed take thou; it shall remain thine longer than thousand heaps of rare treasure.

Bonæ vitæ numerus dierum: bonum autem nomen permanebit in ævum.

A good life hath its number of days: but a good name shall continue for ever.

Life is good, but its days are numbered; a good name lasts for ever.

Disciplinam in pace conservate, filii: sapientia enim abscondita, et thesaurus invisus, quæ utilitas in utrisque?

My children, keep discipline in peace: for wisdom that is hid, and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is there in them both?

My sons, here is wholesome teaching. Wisdom hidden, I told you, is wasted, is treasure that never sees the light of day;

Melior est homo qui abscondit stultitiam suam, quam homo qui abscondit sapientiam suam.

Better is the man that hideth his folly, than the man that hideth his wisdom.

silence is rightly used when it masks folly, not when it is the grave of wisdom.

Verumtamen reveremini in his quæ procedunt de ore meo:

Wherefore have a shame of these things I am now going to speak of.

Yet sometimes bashfulness is no fault, as I will now make known to you.

non est enim bonum omnem reverentiam observare, et non omnia omnibus bene placent in fide.

For it is not good to keep all shame facedness: and all things do not please all men in opinion.

It is ill done to be abashed on every occasion; but yet neither is self-confidence for all and every use.

Erubescite a patre et a matre de fornicatione: et a præsidente et a potente de mendacio:

Be ashamed of fornication before father and mother: and of a lie before a governor and a man in power:

Of these things, then, be ashamed; that thy parents should find thee a fornicator, ruler or prince a liar,

a principe et a judice de delicto: a synagoga et plebe de iniquitate:

Of an offence before a prince, and a judge: of iniquity before a congregation and a people:

magistrate or judge a wrong-doer, assembly of the people a law-breaker,

a socio et amico de injustitia, et de loco in quo habitas:

Of injustice before a companion and friend: and in regard to the place where thou dwellest,

partner or friend a knave, or thy neighbour a thief.

de furto, de veritate Dei, et testamento: de discubitu in panibus, et ab obfuscatione dati et accepti:

Of theft, and of the truth of God, and the covenant: of leaning with thy elbow over meat, and of deceit in giving and taking:

… concerning the faithfulness of God, and his covenant; concerning thy sitting over meat … Ashamed be thou of belittling the gift received,

a salutantibus de silentio, a respectu mulieris fornicariæ, et ab aversione vultus cognati.

Of silence before them that salute thee: of looking upon a harlot: and of turning away thy face from thy kinsman.

of leaving the greeting unreturned, of letting thy eyes stray after harlots, of denying thyself to kinsman

Ne avertas faciem a proximo tuo, et ab auferendo partem et non restituendo.

Turn not away thy face from thy neighbour, and of taking away a portion and not restoring.

that has a near claim on thy regard, of property fraudulently shared.

Ne respicias mulierem alieni viri, et ne scruteris ancillam ejus, neque steteris ad lectum ejus.

Gaze not upon another man’s wife, and be not inquisitive after his handmaid, and approach not her bed.

Let not thy eye fall on woman wed to another, nor ever exchange secrets with handmaid of hers, nor come between her sheets.

Ab amicis de sermonibus improperii: et cum dederis, ne improperes.

Be ashamed of upbraiding speeches before friends: and after thou hast given, upbraid not.

Be ashamed of uttering reproach against thy friends, nor insult the receiver of thy gift.