HOLY BIBLE: Proverbs 23 (original) (raw)

29 τίνι οὐαί τίνι θόρυβος τίνι κρίσις τίνι ἀηδίαι καὶ λέσχαι τίνι συντρίμματα διὰ κενῆς τίνος πέλειοι οἱ ὀφθαλμοί 30 οὐ τῶν ἐγχρονιζόντων ἐν οἴνοις οὐ τῶν ἰχνευόντων ποῦ πότοι γίνονται 31 μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ ἀλλὰ ὁμιλεῖτε ἀνθρώποις δικαίοις καὶ ὁμιλεῖτε ἐν περιπάτοις ἐὰν γὰρ εἰς τὰς φιάλας καὶ τὰ ποτήρια δῷς τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς σου ὕστερον περιπατήσεις γυμνότερος ὑπέρου 32 τὸ δὲ ἔσχατον ὥσπερ ὑπὸ ὄφεως πεπληγὼς ἐκτείνεται καὶ ὥσπερ ὑπὸ κεράστου διαχεῖται αὐτῷ ὁ ἰός 33 οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου ὅταν ἴδωσιν ἀλλοτρίαν τὸ στόμα σου τότε λαλήσει σκολιά 34 καὶ κατακείσῃ ὥσπερ ἐν καρδίᾳ θαλάσσης καὶ ὥσπερ κυβερνήτης ἐν πολλῷ κλύδωνι 35 ἐρεῖς δέ τύπτουσίν με καὶ οὐκ ἐπόνεσα καὶ ἐνέπαιξάν μοι ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ ᾔδειν πότε ὄρθρος ἔσται ἵνα ἐλθὼν ζητήσω με{Q'} ὧν συνελεύσομαι

29 Unhappy son of an unhappy father, who is this, ever brawling, ever falling, scarred but not from battle, blood-shot of eye? 30 Who but the tosspot that sits long over his wine? 31 Look not at the wine’s tawny glow, sparkling there in the glass beside thee; how insinuating its address! 32 Yet at last adder bites not so fatally, poison it distils like the basilisk’s own. 33 Eyes that stray to forbidden charms, a mind uttering thoughts that are none of thine, 34 shall make thee helpless as mariner asleep in mid ocean, when the tiller drops from the helmsman’s drowsy grasp. 35 What! thou wilt say, blows all unfelt, wounds that left no sting! Could I but come to myself, and be back, even now, at my wine!

29

Cui væ? cujus patri væ?
cui rixæ? cui foveæ?
cui sine causa vulnera? cui suffusio oculorum?

30
nonne his qui commorantur in vino,
et student calicibus epotandis? 31
Ne intuearis vinum quando flavescit,
cum splenduerit in vitro color ejus:
ingreditur blande, 32
sed in novissimo mordebit ut coluber,
et sicut regulus venena diffundet. 33
Oculi tui videbunt extraneas,
et cor tuum loquetur perversa. 34
Et eris sicut dormiens in medio mari,
et quasi sopitus gubernator, amisso clavo. 35
Et dices: Verberaverunt me, sed non dolui;
traxerunt me, et ego non sensi.
Quando evigilabo, et rursus vina reperiam?

[1] At first sight, this passage suggests the danger of poisoning; but since no such occurrences are mentioned in the Old Testament, we should perhaps understand that the prince is trying to extort some advantage out of his guest by taking him off his guard.

[2] Literally, ‘prudence’.

[3] vv. 6-8. The language of this passage is strained throughout, and it is hard to feel certain that we have found the right clue to its meaning.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd