Habet argentum venarum suarum principia, et auro locus est in quo conflatur.

Silver hath beginnings of its veins, and gold hath a place wherein it is melted.

Where, then, does wisdom lie? Easy to trace where the veins of silver run, where gold-ore is refined,

Ferrum de terra tollitur, et lapis solutus calore in æs vertitur.

Iron is taken out of the earth, and stone melted with heat is turned into brass.

where iron is dug from the depths of earth, and rocks must be melted to yield copper.

Tempus posuit tenebris, et universorum finem ipse considerat: lapidem quoque caliginis et umbram mortis.

He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death.

See how man has done away with the darkness, has pierced into the very heart of things, into caves under ground, black as death’s shadow!

Dividit torrens a populo peregrinante eos quos oblitus est pes egentis hominis, et invios.

The flood divideth from the people that are on their journey, those whom the food of the needy man hath forgotten, and who cannot be come at.

Where yonder ravine cuts them off from the shepherd-folk, the miners toil, forgotten; lost to all track, far from the haunts of men.

Terra de qua oriebatur panis, in loco suo igni subversa est.

The land, out of which bread grew in its place, hath been overturned with fire.

That earth, from whose surface our bread comes to us, must be probed by fire beneath,

Locus sapphiri lapides ejus, et glebæ illius aurum.

The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and the clods of it are gold.

till the rocks yield sapphires, and the clods gold.

Semitam ignoravit avis, nec intuitus est eam oculus vulturis.

The bird hath not known the path, neither hath the eye of the vulture beheld it.

Here are passages no bird discovers in its flight, no vulture’s eye has seen;

Non calcaverunt eam filii institorum, nec pertransivit per eam leæna.

The children of the merchants have not trodden it, neither hath the lioness passed by it.

that never gave roving merchant shelter, or the lioness a lair.

Ad silicem extendit manum suam: subvertit a radicibus montes.

He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint, he hath overturned mountains from the roots.

Boldly man matches himself against the flint, uproots the mountain,

In petris rivos excidit, et omne pretiosum vidit oculus ejus.

In the rocks he hath cut out rivers, and his eye hath seen every precious thing.

cuts channels through the rock, where things of price have dazzled his eye;

Profunda quoque fluviorum scrutatus est, et abscondita in lucem produxit.

The depths also of rivers he hath searched, and hidden things he hath brought forth to light.

narrowly he scans the river’s depths, and brings to light all they hide.

Sapientia vero ubi invenitur? et quis est locus intelligentiæ?

But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding?

But wisdom, tell me where to search for wisdom; tell me in what cache discernment lies?

Nescit homo pretium ejus, nec invenitur in terra suaviter viventium.

Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights.

How should man set a price on it? This earth our pleasant home, yields no return of it;

Abyssus dicit: Non est in me, et mare loquitur: Non est mecum.

The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me.

Not here, cries the abyss beneath us, and the sea echoes, Not here.

Non dabitur aurum obrizum pro ea, nec appendetur argentum in commutatione ejus.

The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it.

Not for pure gold is it bartered, or weighed against silver in the balance;

Non conferetur tinctis Indiæ coloribus, nec lapidi sardonycho pretiosissimo vel sapphiro.

It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire.

not the bright wares of the Indies, nor jewel of sardonyx, nor sapphire can vie with it;

Non adæquabitur ei aurum vel vitrum, nec commutabuntur pro ea vasa auri.

Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it.

it is not to be matched with treasures of glass or gold, rivalled by all the goldsmith’s workmanship.

Excelsa et eminentia non memorabuntur comparatione ejus: trahitur autem sapientia de occultis.

High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places.

Do not talk of coral or of crystal; for wisdom you must make deeper search still;

Non adæquabitur ei topazius de Æthiopia, nec tincturæ mundissimæ componetur.

The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing.

with wisdom the topaz from Ethiopia and the finest gold-leaf cannot compare.

Unde ergo sapientia venit? et quis est locus intelligentiæ?

Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

Whence, then, does wisdom come to us; where is discernment to be found?

Abscondita est ab oculis omnium viventium: volucres quoque cæli latet.

It is hid from the eyes of all living, and the fowls of the air know it not.

That is the secret kept hidden from beast on earth and bird in heaven;

Perditio et mors dixerunt: Auribus nostris audivimus famam ejus.

Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof.

the shadow-world of death claims no more than to have heard the rumour of it.

Deus intelligit viam ejus, et ipse novit locum illius.

God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof.

Only God knows the way to it, only God can tell where it lies,

Ipse enim fines mundi intuetur, et omnia quæ sub cælo sunt respicit.

For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven.

he whose view reaches to the world’s end, sees all that passes under the wide heavens.

Qui fecit ventis pondus, et aquas appendit in mensura.

Who made a weight for the winds, and weighed the waters by measure.

He, when first he took scale and measuring-line to set wind and water their task,

Quando ponebat pluviis legem, et viam procellis sonantibus:

When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms.

when he appointed a time for the rain’s abating, and a track for the whistling storm,

tunc vidit illam et enarravit, et præparavit, et investigavit.

Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it.

descried wisdom already; traced its plan, and set all in order, and mastered it.

Et dixit homini: Ecce timor Domini, ipsa est sapientia; et recedere a malo, intelligentia.

And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding.

To man, he has told this much, that wisdom is fearing the Lord; there lies discernment, in refusing the evil path.