O HOW beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for the memory thereof is immortal: because it is known both with God and with men.

O quam pulchra est casta generatio, cum claritate! immortalis est enim memoria illius, quoniam et apud Deum nota est, et apud homines.

How fair a thing is the unwedded life that is nobly lived! Think not the memory of it can fade; God and man alike preserve the record;

When it is present, they imitate it: and they desire it when it hath withdrawn itself, and it triumpheth crowned for ever, winning the reward of undefiled conflicts.

Cum præsens est, imitantur illam, et desiderant eam cum se eduxerit; et in perpetuum coronata triumphat, incoinquinatorum certaminum præmium vincens.

in life how eagerly imitated, in death how long regretted, in eternity how crowned with triumph, the conquest gained in fields of honourable striving!

But the multiplied brood of the wicked shall not thrive, and bastard slips shall not take deep root, nor any fast foundation.

Multigena autem impiorum multitudo non erit utilis, et spuria vitulamina non dabunt radices altas, nec stabile firmamentum collocabunt.

Let the wicked gender as they will, it shall nothing avail them; what, should those bastard slips ever strike their roots deep, base the tree firm?

And if they flourish in branches for a time, yet standing not fast, they shall be shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall be rooted out.

Etsi in ramis in tempore germinaverint, infirmiter posita, a vento commovebuntur, et a nimietate ventorum eradicabuntur.

Burgeon they may for a little, but the wind will shake their frail hold; root and all, the storm will carry them away.

For the branches not being perfect, shall be broken, and their fruits shall be unprofitable, and sour to eat, and fit for nothing.

Confringentur enim rami inconsummati; et fructus illorum inutiles et acerbi ad manducandum, et ad nihilum apti.

Half-formed, the boughs will be snapped off, and their fruit go to waste, unripe, unprofitable.

For the children that are born of unlawful beds, are witnesses of wickedness against their parents in their trial.

Ex iniquis enim somnis filii qui nascuntur, testes sunt nequitiæ adversus parentes in interrogatione sua.

And indeed, when the day of reckoning comes, needs must they should be cited as witnesses against their own parents, these, the children of their shame, by unlawful dalliance begotten.

But the just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest.

Justus autem si morte præoccupatus fuerit, in refrigerio erit;

Not so the innocent; though he should die before his time, rest shall be his.

For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years: but the understanding of a man is grey hairs.

senectus enim venerabilis est non diuturna, neque annorum numero computata: cani autem sunt sensus hominis,

A seniority there is that claims reverence, owing nothing to time, not measured by the lapse of years; count a man grey-haired when he is wise,

And a spotless life is old age.

et ætas senectutis vita immaculata.

ripe of age when his life is stainless.

He pleased God and was beloved, and living among sinners he was translated.

Placens Deo factus est dilectus, et vivens inter peccatores translatus est.

Divine favour, divine love banished him from a life he shared with sinners;

He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.

Raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus, aut ne fictio deciperet animam illius.

caught him away, before wickedness could pervert his thoughts, before wrong-doing could allure his heart;

For the bewitching of vanity obscureth good things, and the wandering of concupiscence overturneth the innocent mind.

Fascinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona, et inconstantia concupiscentiæ transvertit sensum sine malitia.

such witchery evil has, to tarnish honour, such alchemy do the roving passions exercise even on minds that are true metal.

Being made perfect in a short space, he fulfilled a long time:

Consummatus in brevi, explevit tempora multa;

With him, early achievement counted for long apprenticeship;

For his soul pleased God: therefore he hastened to bring him out of the midst of iniquities: but the people see this, and understand not, nor lay up such things in their hearts:

placita enim erat Deo anima illius: propter hoc properavit educere illum de medio iniquitatum. Populi autem videntes, et non intelligentes, nec ponentes in præcordiis talia,

so well the Lord loved him, from a corrupt world he would grant him swift release.The world looks on, uncomprehending; a hard lesson it is to learn,

That the grace of God, and his mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect to his chosen.

quoniam gratia Dei et misericordia est in sanctos ejus, et respectus in electos illius.

that God does reward, does pity his chosen friends, does grant his faithful servants deliverance.

But the just that is dead, condemneth the wicked that are living, and youth soon ended, the long life of the unjust.

Condemnat autem justus mortuus vivos impios, et juventus celerius consummata longam vitam injusti.

Did they know it, the death of the just man, with its promise early achieved, is a reproach to the wicked that live yet in late old age.

For they shall see the end of the wise man, and shall not understand what God hath designed for him, and why the Lord hath set him in safety.

Videbunt enim finem sapientis, et non intelligent quid cogitaverit de illo Deus, et quare munierit illum Dominus.

But what see they? Here is a man dead, and all his wisdom could not save him. That the Lord planned all this, and for the saving of him, does not enter their minds.

They shall see him, and shall despise him: but the Lord shall laugh them to scorn.

Videbunt, et contemnent eum; illos autem Dominus irridebit.

What wonder if the sight fills them with contempt? And they themselves, all the while, are earning the Lord’s contempt;

And they shall fall after this without honour, and be a reproach among the dead for ever: for he shall burst them puffed up and speechless, and shall shake them from the foundations, and they shall be utterly laid waste: they shall be in sorrow, and their memory shall perish.

Et erunt post hæc decidentes sine honore, et in contumelia inter mortuos in perpetuum: quoniam disrumpet illos inflatos sine voce, et commovebit illos a fundamentis, et usque ad supremum desolabuntur, et erunt gementes, et memoria illorum peribit.

they themselves, doomed to lie there dishonoured among the dead, eternally a laughing-stock! How they will stand aghast, when he pricks the bubble of their pride! Ruins they shall be, overthrown from the foundation, land for ever parched dry; bitter torment shall be theirs, and their name shall perish irrecoverably.

They shall come with fear at the thought of their sins, and their iniquities shall stand against them to convict them.

Venient in cogitatione peccatorum suorum timidi, et traducent illos ex adverso iniquitates ipsorum.

Alas, the long tally of their sins! Trembling they shall come forward, and the record of their misdeeds shall rise up to confront them.