Addidit quoque Job, assumens parabolam suam, et dixit:

And thus Job continued to lay bare his thought:

Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:

Quis mihi tribuat ut sim juxta menses pristinos, secundum dies quibus Deus custodiebat me?

Alas for the changes the months have brought with them! Alas for the old days, when God was my protector,

Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which God kept me?

Quando splendebat lucerna ejus super caput meum, et ad lumen ejus ambulabam in tenebris:

when his light shone above me, its rays guiding me through the darkness!

When his lamp shined over my head, and I walked by his light in darkness?

sicut fui in diebus adolescentiæ meæ, quando secreto Deus erat in tabernaculo meo:

Days of ripe manhood, when God was my home’s familiar guest,

As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle?

quando erat Omnipotens mecum, et in circuitu meo pueri mei:

he, the Almighty, at my side! I had my children still about me;

When the Almighty was with me: and my servants round about me?

quando lavabam pedes meos butyro, et petra fundebat mihi rivos olei:

the milk frothed in pools at my feet, no rock so hard but my olives bathed it in oil.

When I washed my feet with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil?

quando procedebam ad portam civitatis, et in platea parabant cathedram mihi.

Went I to the city gate, there was my seat ready for me in the open square;

When I went out to the gate of the city, and in the street they prepared me a chair?

Videbant me juvenes, et abscondebantur: et senes assurgentes stabant.

rose the young men to make place for me, rose the aged to do me honour;

The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the old men rose up and stood.

Principes cessabant loqui, et digitum superponebant ori suo.

nobles fell silent, and waited, finger on lip,

The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on their mouth.

Vocem suam cohibebant duces, et lingua eorum gutturi suo adhærebat.

words failed the chieftains, and counsel they gave no more.

The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat.

Auris audiens beatificabat me, et oculus videns testimonium reddebat mihi:

None heard the fame of me then, but called me a happy man; none watched my doings then, but spoke in my praise.

The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me:

eo quod liberassem pauperem vociferantem, et pupillum cui non esset adjutor.

Poor man nor helpless orphan cried to me in vain;

Because I had delivered the poor man that cried out; and the fatherless, that had no helper.

Benedictio perituri super me veniebat, et cor viduæ consolatus sum.

how they blessed me, souls reprieved from instant peril; with what comfort the widow’s heart rejoiced!

The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I comforted the heart of the widow.

Justitia indutus sum, et vestivi me, sicut vestimento et diademate, judicio meo.

Dutiful observance was still the vesture I wore, my robe and crown integrity;

I was clad with justice: and I clothed myself with my judgment, as with a robe and a diadem.

Oculus fui cæco, et pes claudo.

in me, the blind found sight, the lame strength,

I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.

Pater eram pauperum, et causam quam nesciebam diligentissime investigabam.

the poor a father. None so ready to give the stranger’s cause a hearing,

I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.

Conterebam molas iniqui, et de dentibus illius auferebam prædam.

break open the fangs of the wrong-doer and snatch the prey from his teeth.

I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey.

Dicebamque: In nidulo meo moriar, et sicut palma multiplicabo dies.

Here, thought I, I have built myself a nest to die in; here, like some palm-tree, I shall defy the years,

And I said: I shall die in my nest, and as a palm tree shall multiply my days.

Radix mea aperta est secus aquas, et ros morabitur in messione mea.

palm-tree that spreads out its roots to the river-bank, on whose leaves lodges the dew;

My root is opened beside the waters, and dew shall continue in my harvest.

Gloria mea semper innovabitur, et arcus meus in manu mea instaurabitur.

my fame never diminishing, never worn out the bow I bear.

My glory shall always be renewed, and my bow in my hand shall be repaired.

Qui me audiebant, expectabant sententiam, et intenti tacebant ad consilium meum.

How eagerly men hung upon my words, intent to learn what counsel I would give,

They that heard me, waited for my sentence, and being attentive held their peace at my counsel.

Verbis meis addere nihil audebant, et super illos stillabat eloquium meum.

nor ventured to speak when I had done! A gracious influence my words fell,

To my words they durst add nothing, and my speech dropped upon them.

Expectabant me sicut pluviam, et os suum aperiebant quasi ad imbrem serotinum.

like autumn rain or the spring showers on lips athirst.

They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for a latter shower.

Siquando ridebam ad eos, non credebant: et lux vultus mei non cadebat in terram.

Were they faint-hearted, they found me smiling still, and the encouragement of my glance never failed them.

If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth.

Si voluissem ire ad eos, sedebam primus: cumque sederem quasi rex, circumstante exercitu, eram tamen mœrentium consolator.

Deigned I to be their leader, the first place was mine; yet ever when I sat like a king with his retinue about him, I would comfort the mourner’s tears.

If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned.