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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Locus sapphiri lapides ejus, et glebæ illius aurum.

till the rocks yield sapphires, and the clods gold.

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

Semitam ignoravit avis, nec intuitus est eam oculus vulturis.

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

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

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

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

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

Ad silicem extendit manum suam: subvertit a radicibus montes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sapientia vero ubi invenitur? et quis est locus intelligentiæ?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unde ergo sapientia venit? et quis est locus intelligentiæ?

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

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

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

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

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

Perditio et mors dixerunt: Auribus nostris audivimus famam ejus.

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

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

Deus intelligit viam ejus, et ipse novit locum illius.

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

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

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

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

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

Qui fecit ventis pondus, et aquas appendit in mensura.

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

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

Quando ponebat pluviis legem, et viam procellis sonantibus:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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