It is in mercy that I forbear to make him a plague for mankind. But indeed, there is no resisting me,

Non quasi crudelis suscitabo eum: quis enim resistere potest vultui meo?

I WILL not stir him up, like one that is cruel: for who can resist my countenance?

nor can any deserve my thanks by lending me the aid I lacked; nothing on earth but is at my disposal.

Quis ante dedit mihi, ut reddam ei? omnia quæ sub cælo sunt, mea sunt.

Who hath given me before that I should repay him? All things that are under heaven are mine.

I give him no quarter, for all his boastful, all his flattering words.

Non parcam ei, et verbis potentibus, et ad deprecandum compositis.

I will not spare him, nor his mighty words, and framed to make supplication.

Who can strip the skin of him, who can penetrate into the cavern of his mouth,

Quis revelabit faciem indumenti ejus? et in medium oris ejus quis intrabit?

Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can go into the midst of his mouth?

forcing the gates that guard it, the terrors of his teeth?

Portas vultus ejus quis aperiet? per gyrum dentium ejus formido.

Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

The body of him is like shields of cast metal, scale pressing on scale,

Corpus illius quasi scuta fusilia, compactum squamis se prementibus.

His body is like molten shields, shut close up with scales pressing upon one another.

so close to one another as to leave no vent between;

Una uni conjungitur, et ne spiraculum quidem incedit per eas.

One is joined to another, and not so much as any air can come between them:

so well joined that nothing will part them.

Una alteri adhærebit, et tenentes se nequaquam separabuntur.

They stick one to another and they hold one another fast, and shall not be separated.

Let him but sneeze, the fire flashes out; let him open his eyes, it is like the glimmer of dawn;

Sternutatio ejus splendor ignis, et oculi ejus ut palpebræ diluculi.

His sneezing is like the shining of fire, and his eyes like the eyelids of the morning.

flames come from his jaws, bright as a burning torch,

De ore ejus lampades procedunt, sicut tædæ ignis accensæ.

Out of his mouth go forth lamps, like torches of lighted fire.

smoke from his nostrils, thick as the fumes of a seething pot;

De naribus ejus procedit fumus, sicut ollæ succensæ atque ferventis.

Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, like that of a pot heated and boiling.

his very breath will set coals aflame, such fire issues from that mouth.

Halitus ejus prunas ardere facit, et flamma de ore ejus egreditur.

His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh forth out of his mouth.

What strength dwells in that neck of his, what terrors play about him!

In collo ejus morabitur fortitudo, et faciem ejus præcedit egestas.

In his neck strength shall dwell, and want goeth before his face.

Firm-set are the folds of his flesh, unyielding though a thunder-bolt should strike them;

Membra carnium ejus cohærentia sibi: mittet contra eum fulmina, et ad locum alium non ferentur.

The members of his flesh cleave one to another: he shall send lightnings against him, and they shall not be carried to another place.

firm-set, too, is the heart of him, firm as ever stone was, or smith’s anvil.

Cor ejus indurabitur tamquam lapis, et stringetur quasi malleatoris incus.

His heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith’s anvil.

Rises he up, angels themselves are afraid, and take sanctuary in their dread.

Cum sublatus fuerit, timebunt angeli, et territi purgabuntur.

When he shall raise him up, the angels shall fear, and being affrighted shall purify themselves.

Sword-thrust, nor spear, nor breast-plate can hold their own against him;

Cum apprehenderit eum gladius, subsistere non poterit, neque hasta, neque thorax:

When a sword shall lay at him, it shall not be able to hold, nor a spear, nor a breastplate.

to him, steel is but chaff, bronze but touch-wood,

reputabit enim quasi paleas ferrum, et quasi lignum putridum æs.

For he shall esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.

nor fears he the archer; sling-stones he counts as straw,

Non fugabit eum vir sagittarius: in stipulam versi sunt ei lapides fundæ.

The archer shall not put him to flight, the stones of the sling are to him like stubble.

as straw the hammer-blow, laughs at the brandished spear.

Quasi stipulam æstimabit malleum, et deridebit vibrantem hastam.

As stubble will he esteem the hammer, and he will laugh him to scorn who shaketh the spear.

Sunlight flashes beneath him as he goes, a path of gold through the slime;

Sub ipso erunt radii solis, et sternet sibi aurum quasi lutum.

The beams of the sun shall be under him, and he shall strew gold under him like mire.

he makes the deep sea boil like a pot where ointment simmers;

Fervescere faciet quasi ollam profundum mare, et ponet quasi cum unguenta bulliunt.

He shall make the deep sea to boil like a pot, and shall make it as when ointments boil.

how it shines in his wake, as though ocean itself had grown hoary with age!

Post eum lucebit semita: æstimabit abyssum quasi senescentem.

A path shall shine after him, he shall esteem the deep as growing old.

He has not his like among the strong things of earth, that fearless nature,

Non est super terram potestas quæ comparetur ei, qui factus est ut nullum timeret.

There is no power upon earth that can be compared with him who was made to fear no one.

that heaven-confronting eye. Over all the pride of earth he reigns supreme.

Omne sublime videt: ipse est rex super universos filios superbiæ.

He beholdeth every high thing, he is king over all the children of pride.