3 What is more crushing than stone, more burdensome than sand? A fool’s ill humour. 4 Fierce, fierce is rage, and indignation mounts like a flood, but the pangs of jealousy, these there is no resisting.
3 Grave est saxum, et onerosa arena,sed ira stulti utroque gravior. 4 Ira non habet misericordiam nec erumpens furor,et impetum concitati ferre quis poterit?
9 Sweeter than ointment, sweeter than any perfume, when man’s heart talks to heart of friend. 10 Friend of thine, and friend that was thy father’s, never forsake; so, in thy sore need, no kinsman’s door thou shalt need to enter.Neighbour over the way is better than kinsman at a distance.
9 Unguento et variis odoribus delectatur cor,et bonis amici consiliis anima dulcoratur. 10 Amicum tuum et amicum patris tui ne dimiseris,et domum fratris tui ne ingrediaris in die afflictionis tuæ.Melior est vicinus juxtaquam frater procul.
15 Between a scold and a roof that drips in winter there is nothing to choose. 16 As well store up the wind in thy house, though thou call her the marrow of thy right hand.[4]
15 Tecta perstillantia in die frigoriset litigiosa mulier comparantur. 16 Qui retinet eam quasi qui ventum teneat,et oleum dexteræ suæ vocabit.
21 Silver and gold are judged by furnace and crucible, man by his repute.[6] (Heart of knave is ever set on mischief, heart of true man on wisdom.)
21 Quomodo probatur in conflatorio argentum et in fornace aurum,sic probatur homo ore laudantis.Cor iniqui inquirit mala,cor autem rectum inquirit scientiam.
23 Spent be thy care, thy eyes watchful, over flock and herd of thine; 24 riches will slip from thy grasp, and crowns, will they last for ever?[7] 25 See, where the meadows are laid bare, and the aftermath is springing, the hay all carried, now, from the hill-slopes! 26 Pasture for the lambs that shall clothe thee, for the goats that shall be the price of more fields yet; 27 goat’s milk, too, shall suffice to feed thee, give life and strength to thy men and thy serving-maids.
23 Diligenter agnosce vultum pecoris tui,tuosque greges considera: 24 non enim habebis jugiter potestatem,sed corona tribuetur in generationem et generationem. 25 Aperta sunt prata, et apparuerunt herbæ virentes,et collecta sunt fœna de montibus. 26 Agni ad vestimentum tuum,et hædi ad agri pretium. 27 Sufficiat tibi lac caprarum in cibos tuos,et in necessaria domus tuæ, et ad victum ancillis tuis.
[1] See 22.3.
[2] See 20.16.
[3] The precise bearing of this proverb remains in doubt.
[4] The whole of this verse is obscure, and the second half of it probably corrupt.
[5] The Hebrew text reads simply, ‘As water face to face, so heart of man to man’, it is not clear in what sense.
[6] That common repute should be regarded as a test of what a man really is, seems unlikely (cp. especially 17.3 above). Some think the Hebrew text means a man should be judged by what he holds in repute, and this would fit in well with the second part of the verse (which is found in the Septuagint Greek, but not in the Hebrew text itself). Others would read, instead of ‘repute’, ‘adversity’, and this would lead on well to verse 22.
[7] The Latin version here ignores the question, and runs ‘but a crown shall be granted for ever’; a rendering which yields no good sense in the context.
