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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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?

For among the dead there is no accusing of life.

non est enim in inferno accusatio vitæ.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Luctus hominum in corpore ipsorum: nomen autem impiorum delebitur.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verumtamen reveremini in his quæ procedunt de ore meo:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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