Therefore when Tobias thought that his prayer was heard that he might die, he called to him Tobias his son,

et missus est angelus Domini sanctus Raphaël ut curaret eos ambos, quorum uno tempore sunt orationes in conspectu Domini recitatæ.

And now, thinking that his prayer for death was to be granted, the elder Tobias called his son to him

And said to him: Hear, my son, the words of my mouth, and lay them as a foundation in thy heart.

Igitur cum Tobias putaret orationem suam exaudiri ut mori potuisset, vocavit ad se Tobiam filium suum,

and gave him a charge; Let these rules of mine, said he, be the frame-work of thy life, my son.

When God shall take my soul, thou shalt bury my body: and thou shalt honour thy mother all the days of her life:

dixitque ei: Audi, fili mi, verba oris mei, et ea in corde tuo quasi fundamentum construe.

When God takes my soul to himself, give this body of mine burial, and give thy mother her due while her life lasts;

For thou must be mindful what and how great perils she suffered for thee in her womb.

Cum acceperit Deus animam meam, corpus meum sepeli: et honorem habebis matri tuæ omnibus diebus vitæ ejus:

do not forget what hazard she underwent to bear thee in her womb;

And when she also shall have ended the time of her life, bury her by me.

memor enim esse debes, quæ et quanta pericula passa sit propter te in utero suo.

and when she, too, has lived out her allotted span of years, bury her at my side.

And all the days of thy life have God in thy mind: and take heed thou never consent to sin, nor transgress the commandments of the Lord our God.

Cum autem et ipsa compleverit tempus vitæ suæ, sepelias eam circa me.

And do thou, while thou hast life, think ever upon God, nor lend thyself to any sinful design, nor leave the commandments of the Lord our God unfulfilled.

Give alms out of thy substance, and turn not away thy face from any poor person: for so it shall come to pass that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from thee.

Omnibus autem diebus vitæ tuæ in mente habeto Deum: et cave ne aliquando peccato consentias, et prætermittas præcepta Domini Dei nostri.

Use thy wealth in giving of alms; never turn thy back on any man who is in need, and the Lord, in thy own need, will have eyes for thee.

According to thy ability be merciful.

Ex substantia tua fac eleemosynam, et noli avertere faciem tuam ab ullo paupere: ita enim fiet ut nec a te avertatur facies Domini.

Shew to others what kindness thy means allow,

If thou have much give abundantly: if thou have little, take care even so to bestow willingly a little.

Quomodo potueris, ita esto misericors.

giving much, if much is thine, if thou hast little, cheerfully sharing that little.

For thus thou storest up to thyself a good reward for the day of necessity.

Si multum tibi fuerit, abundanter tribue: si exiguum tibi fuerit, etiam exiguum libenter impertiri stude.

To do this is but to lay up a store against the day of distress;

For alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness.

Præmium enim bonum tibi thesaurizas in die necessitatis:

alms-deeds were ever a sovereign way of escape from guilt and death, a bar against the soul’s passage into darkness;

Alms shall be a great confidence before the most high God, to all them that give it.

quoniam eleemosyna ab omni peccato et a morte liberat, et non patietur animam ire in tenebras.

none has less to fear when he stands before the most high God than he who does them.

Take heed to keep thyself, my son, from all fornication, and beside thy wife never endure to know a crime.

Fiducia magna erit coram summo Deo, eleemosyna omnibus facientibus eam.

Keep clear, my son, of fornication; save for thy wife, never let woman’s name be linked with thine.

Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind, or in thy words: for from it all perdition took its beginning.

Attende tibi, fili mi, ab omni fornicatione, et præter uxorem tuam numquam patiaris crimen scire.

In thought and word of thine, pride must never bear rule; thence it was all our undoing came.

If any man hath done any work for thee, immediately pay him his hire, and let not the wages of thy hired servant stay with thee at all.

Superbiam numquam in tuo sensu aut in tuo verbo dominari permittas: in ipsa enim initium sumpsit omnis perditio.

There and then pay thy workman his wages; do not let the hire he has earned remain in thy keeping;

See thou never do to another what thou wouldst hate to have done to thee by another.

Quicumque tibi aliquid operatus fuerit, statim ei mercedem restitue, et merces mercenarii tui apud te omnino non remaneat.

never use another as thou wert loth thyself to be used.

Eat thy bread with the hungry and the needy, and with thy garments cover the naked.

Quod ab alio oderis fieri tibi, vide ne tu aliquando alteri facias.

Share thy bread with the hungry and the poor; in thy garments let the naked go clad.

Lay out thy bread, and thy wine upon the burial of a just man, and do not eat and drink thereof with the wicked.

Panem tuum cum esurientibus et egenis comede, et de vestimentis tuis nudos tege.

Bestow thy meat and thy drink upon a just man’s burying, never share them with sinners.

Seek counsel always of a wise man.

Panem tuum et vinum tuum super sepulturam justi constitue, et noli ex eo manducare et bibere cum peccatoribus.

Still take a wise man’s counsel over thy doings;

Bless God at all times: and desire of him to direct thy ways, and that all thy counsels may abide in him.

Consilium semper a sapiente perquire.

but praise God all the while, and ask him to guide thy paths aright; let all thy designs repose in him.

I tell thee also, my son, that I lent ten talents of silver, while thou wast yet a child, to Gabelus, in Rages a city of the Medes, and I have a note of his hand with me:

Omni tempore benedic Deum: et pete ab eo ut vias tuas dirigat, et omnia consilia tua in ipso permaneant.

This too I would have thee know, my son, that long since, when thou wert but a child, I lent ten talents of silver to a citizen of Rages in Media, called Gabelus, and I have his bond still.

Now therefore inquire how thou mayst go to him, and receive of him the foresaid sum of money, and restore to him the note of his hand.

Indico etiam tibi, fili mi, dedisse me decem talenta argenti, dum adhuc infantulus esses, Gabelo, in Rages civitate Medorum, et chirographum ejus apud me habeo:

Do thou find means to reach his home, and so recover from him the sum I speak of, in return for his bond.

Fear not, my son: we lead indeed a poor life, but we shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good.

et ideo perquire quomodo ad eum pervenias, et recipias ab eo supra memoratum pondus argenti, et restituas ei chirographum suum.

Never lose heart, my son, though we lead, thou and I, the life poor men lead. Fear we but God, shun guilt, and do the good we can, blessings shall be ours in abundance.