23:1 Quando sederis ut comedas cum principe, diligenter attende quæ apposita sunt ante faciem tuam.

23:1 When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face:

23:2 Et statue cultrum in gutture tuo : si tamen habes in potestate animam tuam.

23:2 And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.

23:3 Ne desideres de cibis ejus, in quo est panis mendacii.

23:3 Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.

23:4 Noli laborare ut diteris, sed prudentiæ tuæ pone modum.

23:4 Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.

23:5 Ne erigas oculos tuos ad opes quas non potes habere, quia facient sibi pennas quasi aquilæ, et volabunt in cælum.

23:5 Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards heaven.

23:6 Ne comedas cum homine invido, et ne desideres cibos ejus :

23:6 Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:

23:7 quoniam in similitudinem arioli et conjectoris æstimat quod ignorat. Comede et bibe, dicet tibi ; et mens ejus non est tecum.

23:7 Because, like a soothsayer, and diviner, he thinketh that which he knoweth not. Eat and drink, will he say to thee: and his mind is not with thee.

23:8 Cibos quos comederas evomes, et perdes pulchros sermones tuos.

23:8 The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words.

23:9 In auribus insipientium ne loquaris, qui despicient doctrinam eloquii tui.

23:9 Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.

23:10 Ne attingas parvulorum terminos, et agrum pupillorum ne introëas :

23:10 Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:

23:11 propinquus enim illorum fortis est, et ipse judicabit contra te causam illorum.

23:11 For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.

23:12 Ingrediatur ad doctrinam cor tuum, et aures tuæ ad verba scientiæ.

23:12 Let thy heart apply itself to instruction and thy ears to words of knowledge.

23:13 Noli subtrahere a puero disciplinam : si enim percusseris eum virga, non morietur.

23:13 Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.

23:14 Tu virga percuties eum, et animam ejus de inferno liberabis.

23:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.

23:15 Fili mi, si sapiens fuerit animus tuus, gaudebit tecum cor meum :

23:15 My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:

23:16 et exsultabunt renes mei, cum locuta fuerint rectum labia tua.

23:16 And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.

23:17 Non æmuletur cor tuum peccatores, sed in timore Domini esto tota die :

23:17 Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:

23:18 quia habebis spem in novissimo, et præstolatio tua non auferetur.

23:18 Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.

23:19 Audi, fili mi, et esto sapiens, et dirige in via animum tuum.

23:19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.

23:20 Noli esse in conviviis potatorum, nec in comessationibus eorum qui carnes ad vescendum conferunt :

23:20 Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:

23:21 quia vacantes potibus et dantes symbola consumentur, et vestietur pannis dormitatio.

23:21 Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together, shall be consumed: and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.

23:22 Audi patrem tuum, qui genuit te, et ne contemnas cum senuerit mater tua.

23:22 Hearken to thy father, that begot thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.

23:23 Veritatem eme, et noli vendere sapientiam, et doctrinam, et intelligentiam.

23:23 Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

23:24 Exsultat gaudio pater justi ; qui sapientem genuit, lætabitur in eo.

23:24 The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.

23:25 Gaudeat pater tuus et mater tua, et exsultet quæ genuit te.

23:25 Let thy father and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.

23:26 Præbe, fili mi, cor tuum mihi, et oculi tui vias meas custodiant.

23:26 My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.

23:27 Fovea enim profunda est meretrix, et puteus angustus aliena.

23:27 For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

23:28 Insidiatur in via quasi latro, et quos incautos viderit, interficiet.

23:28 She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.

23:29 Cui væ ? cujus patri væ ? cui rixæ ? cui foveæ ? cui sine causa vulnera ? cui suffusio oculorum ?

23:29 Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

23:30 nonne his qui commorantur in vino, et student calicibus epotandis ?

23:30 Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink off their cups.

23:31 Ne intuearis vinum quando flavescit, cum splenduerit in vitro color ejus : ingreditur blande,

23:31 Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,

23:32 sed in novissimo mordebit ut coluber, et sicut regulus venena diffundet.

23:32 But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.

23:33 Oculi tui videbunt extraneas, et cor tuum loquetur perversa.

23:33 Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.

23:34 Et eris sicut dormiens in medio mari, et quasi sopitus gubernator, amisso clavo.

23:34 And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep when the stern is lost.

23:35 Et dices : Verberaverunt me, sed non dolui ; traxerunt me, et ego non sensi. Quando evigilabo, et rursus vina reperiam ?

23:35 And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake and find wine again?