Bernard of Cluny: DE CONTEMPTU MUNDI LIBRI DUO

Aurea tempora primaque robora praeterierunt,
Aurea gens fuit et simul haec ruit, illa ruerunt.
Flebilis incipit aurea suscipit aurea metas;
Transiit ocius et studium prius, et prior aetas.
Gratia firmior, ordo valentior esse solebat,
Melleque lactea lacteque mellea terra fluebat,
Afflua frugibus arva rigantibus arida coelis,
Dans bona dantibus atque fidelibus ipsa fidelis.

The golden times and the first strengths have passed,
There was a golden people, and together this one fell, that one fell.
A weeping era begins; the golden age attains its golden bounds;
More quickly passed both the former zeal and the earlier age.
Favor was firmer, order was wont to be stronger,
and the land flowed with honey and milky sweetness,
fields abundant with crops, the parched lands watered by the heavens,
bestowing goods on givers and itself faithful to the faithful.

Pax dabat ocia, gens erat inscia prorsus obesse;
Terra fidelibus afflua patribus, afflua messe. 10
Pax iacet irrita terraque perdita, iusque, bonumque;
Huius amor ruit, illius aruit, aret utrumque.
Terra negat sata, pax homini data sola fugatur,
Quae rata floruit, irrita corruit, et violatur.
Dum rata perstitit, affluus exstitit omnis arator,
Pristina respuit, et nova messuit agricolator.

Peace gave leisure, the people were wholly unknowing of harm;
the land affluent for faithful fathers, affluent in harvest. 10
Peace lies void and the land ruined, and law and the good;
the love of one collapses, the love of the other dries up, both parch.
The earth denies what is sown, peace given to man alone is driven away,
What once securely flourished, falls to nothing and is violated.
While the settled endured, every tiller proved affluent,
He spurned the ancient, and the farmer reaped the new.

Donec erat rata, multa satis sata reddidit arvo,
Dans bona gramina largaque semina semine parvo.
Gens erat optima, gens solidissima corde modesto,
Lucra forensia cogere nescia, dives honesto. 20
Nescia fallere, se sua tollere, sedula iuri,
Nescia criminis, igne cupidinis haud levis uri.
Nulla pericula, quippe piacula nulla ferebant;
Arva fidelia tectaque patria rite colebant,
Foedera iugia, cum lue proelia sola gerebant.

While it stood firm, it returned to the field much that had been sown,
giving good grasses and generous seeds from a small sowing.
A most excellent people they were, a people most solid of modest heart,
unknowing how to exact market profits, wealthy in honest ways. 20
Unknowing of deceit, of seizing what was another's, zealous for the law,
ignorant of crime, not lightly burned by the fire of desire.
No dangers, for they bore almost no offenses;
they rightly cultivated faithful fields and the roofs of their fatherland,
they kept pledged treaties and yoked bonds, while plague alone waged battles.

Quaerere culmina scireque crimina crimen habebant.
Tunc quasi ludere sueverat ubere copia cornu,
Multaque copia vitaque sobria, re, dape, potu.
Multa modestia multaque copia conveniebant;
Vivida corpora, nam bene pectora viva vigebant. 30

They regarded seeking the pinnacles and knowing crimes as a crime.
Then, as if by plentiful udder and horn, they had been wont to play,
And great abundance and a sober life — in deed, at feast, in drink.
Much modesty and much plenty were found together;
Lively bodies, for indeed living hearts flourished well. 30

Tunc erat inclita, quae modo perdita, mentis honestas;
Quae modo maxima tunc erat ultima nilve potestas;
Tam lyra musica, quam tuba bellica tunc reticebat,
Nec lyra gaudia, nec tuba proelia praecipiebat.
Gens erat aurea, cui furor alea, cui scelus aurum,
Cui pudor emptio, cui neque mentio divitiarum.
Non erat abdere fas neque tollere lucra crumenis.

Then there was famed honesty of mind, which now is lost;
Which then was greatest, and there was no power of force;
Both the lyre of music and the war-tuba were silent then,
Nor did the lyre proclaim joys, nor did the tuba proclaim battles.
It was a golden people, for whom frenzy was the die, for whom crime was gold,
For whom shame was for sale, for whom there was no mention of riches.
It was not lawful to hide away nor to lift up gains into purses.

Plenus opum Tagus aurifluus, vagus ibat arenis.
Moribus aemula lucra pericula quam preciosa,
Non homo foderat aut fore noverat invidiosa. 40
Sumpsit ut aurea pondera ferrea spicula quisque,
Mox tumor iraque sustulit utraque pugnat utrisque.
Pristina secula non nisi regula nata regebat,
Secula pristina non nisi pagina viva docebat.

Plenus opum Tagus aurifluus, vagus ibat arenis.
The Tagus, full of wealth and flowing with gold, wandered through the sands.
Moribus aemula lucra pericula quam preciosa,
Gains, emulating manners, prized dangers more than the precious things,
Non homo foderat aut fore noverat invidiosa. 40
No man had dug them out or knew them as things to be envied.
Sumpsit ut aurea pondera ferrea spicula quisque,
So each took up golden weights and iron spikes,
Mox tumor iraque sustulit utraque pugnat utrisque.
Soon swelling and anger arose, and each fought with the other with both (hands/weapons).
Pristina secula non nisi regula nata regebat,
The ancient ages were governed by nothing but an innate rule,
Secula pristina non nisi pagina viva docebat. The ancient times taught by nothing but a living page (living example).

Non capitolia marmore fortia tunc neque iaspis,
Non color Indicus aut lapis unicus ex Arimaspis.
Gens erat utilis, invariabilis, alta, severa,
Sueta cubilia coniugialia ducere sera.
Nulla libidinis, unica germinis insita cura;
Tunc sacra vincula, tunc dabat oscula crimine pura. 50
Quisquis erat pater, ille decem quater egerat annos.

Not Capitols of strong marble then nor jasper,
Nor Indian colour nor a sole stone from the Arimaspi.
The race was useful, unchangeable, high, austere,
Accustomed to lead conjugal couches late.
No lust, the sole care implanted in the offspring;
Then sacred bonds, then gave kisses pure from crime. 50
Whoever was father, he had completed forty years.

Ergo viros genus hoc dabat, haud Venus ebria, magnos,
Effigialiter in puero pater ipse redibat;
Stirps bona patribus intereuntibus orta subibat.
Non Venus ebria sed pia gratia tunc dabat orbi,
Sospite sanguine quosque satos sine semine morbi.
Membra virilia, corpora stantia, stans cor habebant,
Non ea potibus, haec dape, luxibus illud alebant.

Therefore this stock produced men, great, not drunken Venus,
the father himself returned in the boy in effigy;
a good stock, sprung up as the fathers were perishing, rose up.
Not drunken Venus but pious grace then gave to the world,
with blood preserved those offspring sown free from the seed of disease.
Manly members, steadfast bodies, a steadfast heart they had,
they nourished not the one by drinks, the other by banquet, nor the heart by luxuries.

Criminis alea velleque balnea non erat illis,
Colla tegentibus aut refluentibus ire capillis. 60

They had neither the hazard of crime nor the wish for baths,
to go with necks covered or with hair flowing back. 60

Cygnea tempora canaque pectora non revereri,
Vina cupiscere, ludicra dicere, vim profiteri.
Gens bene conscia, gens bene sobria, gens erat ipsa,
Non sibi corpora, non sibi pectora, mensve remissa.
Non dabat illius ordo quid amplius, aut minus aequo.

Not to revere swanlike temples and white breasts,
to crave wines, to speak of trifles, to profess force.
A people well-conscious, a people well-sober, that very people was,
their bodies not for themselves, their breasts not for themselves, nor a mind relaxed.
That order bestowed nothing of that thing more, or less, than what was equal.

Ad nova pocula, non sibi crapula, non sibi praeco.
Vina pericula vinaque vincula, vina venena
Dicere sueverat et fore noverat aspide plena.
Fons sibi vinea, tegmina linea rarus habebat,
Serica tegmina tunc neque foemina sponsa trahebat; 70
Portio propria non nisi sobria sponsa vacabat.

To new cups — not for their own debauch, not their own herald.
They were wont to call wine perils and wine bonds, wine poisons;
they used to say and knew that it would be full of asp.
He had for himself a spring, a vineyard; he rarely possessed silken coverings by the line,70
then neither woman nor bride wore silk garments; a bride’s proper portion was vacant unless she were sober.

Nunc nimis unica, tunc bona publica quisque vocabat.
Publica vellera, lac, sata, iugera, fertilitates,
Pocula, prandia, pascua, praedia, prata, penates.
Prandia mentior, haec etenim prior haud tulit aetas,
Sueta reposcere nec nisi vespere, nec satis escas,
Pars quota vivere de Iovis arbore rite solebat.

Now each called (them) his sole possession, then each called them public goods.
Public fleeces, milk, sown crops, acres, fertility,
cups, lunches, pastures, estates, meadows, household gods.
I lie about “lunches,” for that earlier age in truth did not bear these things;
they were wont to demand accustomed fare only at evening, nor plentiful food;
a certain share was accustomed rightly to live from Jove’s tree.

His eremitica prandia carica contribuebat.
His cibus ex ove, somnia sub Iove, status in herba.
Iussa minoribus a gravioribus, a sene verba. 80
Pax sacra gaudia, pax dabat ocia, fertilitatem,
Sed neque gaudia probra, nec ocia debilitatem.

To these hermitic meals, heavily laden, contributed.
To these food from the sheep, dreams under Jove, a resting-place on the grass.
Orders to the younger from the graver, words from the old man. 80
Sacred peace, joys; peace gave leisure, fertility,
But neither were the joys disgraces, nor the leisures weakness.

Pax dabat ocia sancta, negocia cultus agrestis,
Terra legumina, pocula flumina, cingula restis;
Obsequium pecus, hospitium specus, hordea victum,
Herba cubilia, petra sedilia, pellis amictum,
Ramus opercula festaque fercula raro legumen.
Lux pede tendere, nox requiescere, taedaque lumen.
Quae modo marmore, qualibet arbore templa struebant,
Quae modo cultibus atria frondibus expoliebant. 90

Peace gave holy leisure, rustic cares of cultivation,
land for legumes, cups for rivers, belts of rope;
obedience the flock, hospitality the cave, barley the sustenance,
grass the beds, stone the seats, hide the garment,
a branch the covering, and festive platters, legumes only rarely.
To set forth by day, to rest by night, and the torch for light.
Which then with marble, with any tree they would rear temples,
which then with cultivated greenery adorned the atria. 90

Secula lactea, gens erat aurea, gens bona, de qua
Audeo paupere carmine dicere, gens fuit aequa.
Aurea gens fuit, aurea gens ruit, orba subivit;
Quae cupit afflua menteque mortua vivere vivit,
Afflua censibus, indiga sensibus, orba patronis,
Se dat in impia, raptat in invia perditionis.
Mundus origine, non nisi nomine ‘mundus’ habetur,
Mundiciam spuit, in Veneres ruit, hisque repletur.

Milk-white ages: there was a golden race, a good race, of whom
I dare to speak in a humble song; the race was even (just).
A golden race it was, the golden race falls, bereavement overtook it;
She who covets wealth, and with a dead mind lives on, lives;
Wealthy in treasure, needy in senses, bereft of patrons,
She gives herself to impieties, she snatches into the pathless ways of perdition.
The world by origin is held only by the name “world”,
It spits out cleanliness, rushes into Venuses, and is filled with these.

Ille prior ruit, alter inhorruit, alter at idem;
Non modo tempora sunt neque pectora qualia pridem. 100
Tempora florida, pectora vivida primo fuerunt;
Tempora florida, pectora vivida praeterierunt.
Aurea transiit, horrida prodiit orbis imago,
Plaga novissima veraque lacrima, vera vorago.
Haec neque nomine digna nec ordine recta stat aetas
Haec vitiis perit, haec animas gerit irrequietas.

Ille prior ruit, alter inhorruit, alter at idem;
Not only the times are not, nor the breasts what they were before. 100
Blooming times, hearts vivid at first they were;
Blooming times, hearts vivid have passed away.
The golden (age) has gone by, forth came a horrid image of the world,
a most recent plague and a true tear, a true gorge.
This age stands neither worthy of a name nor right in order
This one perishes by vices, this one bears restless souls.

Cumque ruens eat, haec populum creat ad mala stantem,
Rebus, honoribus, ebrietatibus invigilantem.
Haec bona perdidit, haec genus edidit omne dolosum,
Pectore mobile, re variabile, mente probrosum. 110
Ista novissima dicitur infima fex aliarum,
Ista novissima prodiit intima mors animarum.
Recta perhorruit, ordine corruit, eminet astu,
Sollicitudine, fraude, libidine, crimine, fastu.

And as it rushes on, it creates this people standing toward evils,
watchful over things, honors, and drunkennesses.
This has destroyed good, this has brought forth the whole deceitful race,
with a fickle breast, changeable in deed, shameful in mind. 110
That latest thing is called the lowest dregs of others,
that latest thing has come forth the innermost death of souls.
It recoiled from the right, it fell from order, it rises by craft,
by anxiety, fraud, lust, crime, and haughtiness.

Est sine nomine, nam sine numine, nam sine iure,
Perdita cladibus, est quia fraudibus, haec sibi curae.
Istius omnia flenda nefaria flere, profari,
Cuncta minus queo, credite, flens eo, paucula fari.
Ut breve daruit, ille peraruit aureus orbis,
Convenientibus undique mortibus, undique morbis. 120

It is without a name, for without divinity, for without law,
ruined by disasters; it is because of frauds — these are its cares.
All its nefarious things must be bewailed, to bewail, to utter them aloud;
I am unable to tell all, believe me; weeping, therefore, I speak but few things.
As the golden world gave but a brief time, that one rotted away,
with deaths coming together from every side, with diseases from every side. 120

Secula perdita re, lue perdita, praevaluere,
Stando iacentia, falso virentia, marcida vere.
Talia dum loquor, uror et excoquor igne fideli,
Concremor aestibus interioribus et face zeli.
Dum noto turpia, quanta quot impia, quae mala terrae,
Sit licet inscia lingua silentia non queo ferre.

Lost ages by deed, lost by plague, have prevailed,
Those lying standing, falsely green, truly rotten.
While I speak such things, I am burned and scorched by faithful fire,
I am kindled by inward heats and by the torch of zeal.
As I note the foul—how many, how great the impious, what evils of the earth—
though the tongue be ignorant, though it may be allowed to be silent, I cannot endure silence.

Unde quid ordiar? Unde subaudiar? Eloquar unde?

From where shall I begin? From where shall I be understood? From where shall I speak?

Unde Deus monet, ipse quod os sonet afflat abunde.
Quid prius insequar? An mala persequar, an bona strata?

From whence God admonishes, He himself abundantly breathes forth what the mouth should utter.
What shall I pursue first? Shall I pursue the evils, or the good things laid out?

Stant mala, ius latet, hinc satirae patet area lata. 130
Parce, modestia, multa sequentia sunt inhonesta,
Cura tamen mea facta vetat rea, suadet honesta.
Da veniam precor; hic satiram sequor, hic mala sperne,
Indue cor sene; dico malum bene, tu bene cerne.
Perdita crimine secula limine mortis in ipso.

Evil stands, justice lies hidden, hence the broad arena of satire is open. 130
Spare me, Modesty; many things that follow are dishonorable,
Yet my care forbids guilty acts, it urges what is honorable.
I beg pardon; here I pursue satire, here spurn evils,
Put on a heart, old man; I speak evil rightly, you judge rightly.
The ages ruined by crime stand at the very threshold of death.

Vociferans fleo, flere dolens eo carmine misso,
O mala secula, quaerere sedula rem, pigra rectum,
Fraus quibus edita, gratia perdita, iusque reiectum.
O mala tempora, quae mala pectora progenuere,
Nulla volentia, pauca valentia recta videre. 140
Castus amor latet et Veneris patet alta lacuna;
Omne bonum iacet, una Venus placet omnibus una.
Vos, mea lumina, fundite flumina nunc lacrimarum.

Shouting I weep, grieving to weep I go, this song having been sent,
O wicked ages, eager to seek the thing, sluggish toward the right,
Fraud by which things are born, grace lost, and law cast aside.
O evil times, which have begotten evil hearts,
No will, little strength to see the right. 140
Chaste love lies hidden and the deep abyss of Venus lies open;
All good lies fallen, one Venus pleases all alike.
You, my lights, pour forth rivers now of tears.

Recta perit via, cor grave, mens pia, ploret amarum.
Luxuries viget, ut stipulas liget ignis Averni,
Luxuries calet atque palam valet, edita cerni.
Pax flet, amor gemit, ira stat et fremit, exule recto.

The right path perishes; the heavy heart, the pious mind, may they weep bitterly.
Luxury flourishes, as the fire of Avernus consumes stubble,
Luxury burns and openly prevails, conspicuous to behold.
Peace weeps, love groans, anger stands and roars, the upright man exiled.

Qua fero lumina laetaque crimina, laxaque specto,
Non ego visibus, immo nec auribus haurio quicquam,
Quid memorabile laude, quid utile re, fore dicam. 150

Where I bear joyful lights and crimes, and gaze upon things loose,
Not by my eyes do I take in anything, nay not even by my ears do I draw aught,
What will be memorable in praise, what useful in deed, I will declare. 150

Quo libet exeo, cernere lugeo mox inhonesta,
Qua feror obvius, est furor impius, intus et extra.
Nemo libidinis aut vitiaminis effugit exsors.
Qua geminus polus eminet, est dolus, est furor, est mors.

Whithersoever I go forth, I grieve to behold dishonour straightaway,
Whithersoever I am encountered, there is impious fury, within and without.
No one escapes the blind lot of lust or vice.
Where the twin pole rises, there is deceit, there is fury, there is death.

Fraus sedet omnibus incolitur quibus utraque zona.
Omnis in omnibus ad mala partibus est caro prona.
Civica proelia nilque fidelia corda probantur.

Fraud sits; it is inhabited by all to whom either girdle belongs.
All flesh in everything is prone to evil.
Civic battles and faithful hearts are proved to be of no account.

Colchica pocula nec minus oscula perfida dantur.
Prava licentia criminis omnia, vult, valet, audet.
Post mala ducitur, in mala labitur, in mala gaudet! 160
Nomine gens tua, Christe, tibi sua, se dat Averno.

Colchian cups and no less perfidious kisses are given.
The perverse license of crime desires all, prevails, and dares all things.
After evils he is led, into evils he slips, in evils he rejoices! 160
In name, your people, Christ, give their own to you; they give themselves to Avernus.

Flenda perennibus, undique fletibus, audio, cerno.
Plausus ad impia, clamor ad ebria post, sed et ante.
Terga sonant mea, facta sedent rea iure labante.

I hear, I perceive: she is to be bewailed with perennial tears, with tears on every side.
Applause for the impious, a cry for the drunken after, but also before.
My back resounds; my deeds sit guilty, with justice slipping away.

Intrat inania milite moenia rex Babylonis,
Ipseque praesidet, ipsius assidet ala furoris.
Exul origine se patre lumine fit Sedechias;
Prospice, mens, tibi, ne similis sibi crimine fias.
Proh dolor!

The king of Babylon enters the walls with an inane soldiery,
And he himself presides, and a wing of his fury sits beside him.
By origin an exile, by his father's light he becomes Sedechias;
Look to yourself, mind, lest you become like him in crime.
Proh dolor!

omnia nunc querimonia sunt rationis,
Nuda tragoedia lacrima propria relligionis. 170
Secula lubrica possidet unica mortis imago,
Lubrica secula gens replet aemula, prava propago,
(Docta sed inscia) blanda sed impia, sed vitiosa,
Dissociabilis, insatiabilis, ingluviosa.
Gens pia vocibus, impia moribus, ecce creatur,
Gens sibi provida, moribus invida, multiplicatur,
Est mala famine, peior acumine, pessima re gens,
Quae mala digerit, incitat, exerit, in mala vergens.
Gens pia transiit in Sion exiit hanc Babylona.

all things now are complaints of reason,
a naked tragedy, the tear proper to religion. 170
The slippery ages hold the single image of death,
A slippery age the people fills — rival, a perverse progeny,
(learned yet unknowing) suave yet impious, yet vicious,
Dissociable, insatiable, gluttonous.
A people pious in words, impious in morals, behold is created,
A people provident for itself, envious in morals, multiplies,
Evil in hunger, worse in craft, worst in deed is the people,
Which evil it digests, provokes, brings forth, inclining into evils.
A pious people passed into Zion; Babylon went forth from here.

Nunc Iacob Israel et Lea fit Rachel, ordo corona; 180

Now Jacob, Israel, and Leah, Rachel becomes the crown of the order; 180

Regnat in aethere, sugit ab ubere Philosophiam,
Iam patriam via, Rachel habet Lea, Martha Mariam.
Ille chorus pius et status illius ivit, obivit;
Vivit in aethere, iam sine funere, credite, vivit.
Gens fuit aurea, quam modo laurea viva coronat,
Salvat adoptio, liberat actio, palma perornat.

He reigns in the ether, draws Philosophy from the breast,
Now the road is homeland, Rachel has Leah, Martha Mary.
That pious chorus and that order went forth, passed away;
He lives in the ether, now without funeral, believe, he lives.
There was a golden people, which now the living laurel crowns,
Adoption saves, action frees, the palm adorns.

Gens pia transiit, impia prodiit, et numerosa,
Vulgus inutile, corpore debile, corde perosa;
Gens sine pectore plurima tempore fervet in isto,
Obvia moribus, obvia legibus, obvia Christo. 190
Torpet in ordine, gaudet in agmine crescere, crescit,
Fit grege plurima, lucra scit infima, cetera nescit.
Ad mala labilis, ad bona debilis, his ea praefert,
In vitium perit, huic vacat, id gerit, id scit, id effert.
Est, neque mentior, ad mala laetior, ad bona tristis;
Reproba comprobat et proba reprobat, omnis in istis.

A pious race has passed away, an impious one has arisen, and numerous,
a useless vulgus, weak in body, corroded in heart;
a people without pith, very many, seethe in that time,
hostile to morals, hostile to laws, hostile to Christ. 190
It numbs in order, rejoices to grow in the host, it grows,
becomes very much a herd, knows the lowest gains, the rest it does not know.
Fickle toward evils, weak toward goods, it prefers the former,
it perishes into vice, it is given to this, it bears it, it knows it, it brings it forth.
It is — and I do not lie — more glad at evils, sad at goods;
it commends the reprobate and reproves the approved, all is in these.

Scit bona vocibus, acta sed actibus edere nescit,
Prompta malo viget, aegra deo riget, et lapidescit.
Aurea secula cordaque credula praeterierunt,
Sunt modo sarcina, qui neque crimina, nec mala quaerunt; 200
Suntque peripsema, qui lucra plurima non sibi servant,
Qui lucra grandia, lucra forensia non coacervant.
Vult modo carnea, commoda terrea vult modo quisque,
Praeest gula plebibus, aes senioribus, error utrisque.

He knows good things by voices, but knows not to bring deeds forth by actions,
Ready for evil he thrives, sick for God he stiffens, and turns to stone.
The golden ages and credulous hearts have passed by,
They are now a burden, those who seek neither crimes nor evils; 200
And they are peripsema who do not keep very great gains for themselves,
Who do not amass great profits, mercantile profits.
Each now wants the carnal, each now wants earthly conveniences,
Gluttony rules the common people, money rules the elders, error rules both.

Gratia venditur omneque curritur in scelus aere.
Cumque fides labet, omnis habens habet, horret egere,
Cana fides fuit, hac amor hac ruit ordo ruente.
Stante fide stetit ordo; fugam petit hac fugiente.

Grace is sold, and all is run into crime for money.
And when faith slips, every possessor holds what he has and shudders at being needy,
Hoary faith there was; by this love, by this the order falls as it rushes down.
While faith stood, order stood; it seeks flight when that flees.

Pectora sobria praetereuntia praeterierunt,
Corda virilia, casta cubilia, terga dederunt. 210

Temperate hearts, passing, have passed away;
manly hearts, chaste beds, have turned their backs. 210

Lex domini ruit, improba non luit improbus ausus.
Ausibus ultio deest, datur unctio, pro cruce plausus.
Vis caret obice, crimina vindice, iudice lites,
Probraque verbere, furtaque carcere, praesule mites.

The law of the Lord falls; the wicked deed is not expiated by the wicked daring.
For bold offenses, vengeance is lacking; anointing is given, applause in place of the cross.
Force lacks an obstacle, crimes lack an avenger, disputes lack a judge,
And reproaches by the scourge, thefts by imprisonment, while the prelate is mild.

Prorsus ad impia larga licentia fertur, ubique
In mala curritur et male vivitur, itur inique.
Iuris abit status, est scelerum latus undique fultum.
Qui male quod libet audet et exhibet, audit inultum;
Fertur ad omnia transgredientia ramus olivae.

Straightway it is carried to impious lavish license, everywhere
There is a running into evils and a living ill, things go unjustly.
The status of law departs, the flank of crimes is supported on every side.
He who wickedly dares and displays whatever pleases him, hears it unpunished;
An olive branch is borne to all transgressors.

Mors replet aemula crimine secula, Tartara cive. 220
Transgredientibus evenit omnibus, O furor, O fraus,
Pro cruce plaudere, pro truce suggere, pro stimulo laus.
Vis habet ubera, fictio prospera, fastus honorem,
Lac levis actio, sceptra remissio, probra favorem,
Iusticiae vigor, Ecclesiae rigor, ordoque patrum
Nunc ubi praeminet aut ubi permanet unio fratrum?
Quae manus obvia sumit in impia, sive superba?

Death, a rival, fills the ages with crime, a citizen of Tartarus. 220
It befalls all who transgress, O fury, O fraud,
To applaud in place of the cross, to suck up for cruelty, for a spur praise.
Force has udders, fiction prosperity, pride honor,
Milk a light action, scepters slackening, insults favor,
The vigor of Justice, the rigor of the Church, and the order of the fathers
Now where does brotherly union prevail or where does it remain?
Which hand meets it in the impious, or the proud?

Non ego verbera dico sed aspera, dicere verba.
Corde quis aestuat ut scelus arguat invaluisse?
Quis pater ordinis est similaginis hostia frissae? 230
Quis modo dux bonus excipiens onus omne suorum?

I speak not of lashes but of harsh words, to speak words.
Who boils in his heart to accuse that crime has prevailed?
Who is the father of the order, the sacrificial victim of a crushed semblance? 230
Who now is a good leader, receiving every burden of his own?

Qui bona clamitet et bene militet in lucra morum?
Quis gemit impia, quis mala stantia, iusque relictum?
Quis gladium vibrat oris et hinc librat in scelus ictum?

Who cries up the good and fights well for the lucre of morals?
Who groans at impieties, who at the lingering evils, and the law left behind?
Who brandishes the sword of the lips and therefrom poises a stroke into crime?

Quis docet ocia pellere noxia, flendaque flere?
Quis probra spernere spretaque tergere, tersa cavere?
Omnis ad omnia nititur impia gens, gradus, ordo,
Et male vivitur et male psallitur in decachordo.

Who teaches to drive away harmful idleness, and to bewail what must be bewailed?
Who scorns reproach, and wipes away the spurned, and takes heed of what is made clean?
All an impious people, degree, and order strive toward all things,
And life is ill-lived and ill-sung upon the decachord.

Omnis ad omnia nititur impia mundus oberrans;
Est senior gravis, est iuvenis levis, est puer errans. 240

The impious world, wandering astray, leans toward all things;
There is an old man heavy, there is a young man light, there is a boy errant. 240

Praesul adest; praeit, ipse suum vehit, ipse suorum.
Hinc scelus, hinc onus, altus ei thronus est grave lorum.
Sceptriger est; fremit, hos levat, hos premit, estque tyrannus,
Quodque magis fleo, mitibus est leo, furibus agnus.

Praesul is present; he goes before, himself bears his own, himself of his followers.
From him crime, from him burden; to him a high throne, a heavy rein.
He is scepter-bearer; he bellows, he uplifts some, he crushes others, and he is a tyrant,
And what I weep the more: to the meek he is a lion, to thieves a lamb.

Presbyter est; iter utile presbyter ad bona debet,
Non iter utile sed lacrimabile vel sibi praebet.
Clericus est; legit, haud bene se regit, ima volutat,
Et facienda scit et minime facit, his ea mutat.
Miles adest; gerit arma, furit, ferit, emicat hasta,
Castra perambulat, omnia strangulat, estque cerasta. 250
Nobilis est; tumet, ipse nihil timet, ergo timetur,
Erigit ardua tortaque cornua, nil reveretur.

He is a presbyter; a presbyter ought to travel usefully to good things,
He offers not a useful journey but a lachrymable one even to himself.
He is a cleric; he reads, he rules himself poorly, he turns over the lowest things,
And he knows what must be done and does least of it, by these he alters those things.
A soldier is present; he bears arms, rages, strikes, the spear flashes,
He walks the camps, strangles all things, and is cerasta. 250
He is noble; he swells, he himself fears nothing, therefore he is feared,
He lifts up high and curved horns, he reveres nothing.

Censor adest; labra vendit, amat lucra, censet iniquum,
Astat habentibus, obstat egentibus, os inimicum.
Institor est; fora girat et aequora, propria laudat,
Et sua comprobat et tua reprobat, indeque fraudat.
Rusticus est; serit et sata congerit, horrea farcit,
Primicias tegit et decimas legit, hinc sibi parcit.

The censor is present; he sells favors, loves profit, judges matters unfairly,
he stands with the wealthy, opposes the needy, an unfriendly mouth.
The merchant is present; he ranges the markets and the seas, praises his own wares,
and approves his own and condemns yours, and from that defrauds.
The rustic is present; he sows and gathers his sown things, fills his granaries,
hides the first-fruits and exacts the tithes, hence he is sparing to himself.

Singula latius et spaciosius haec repetendo,
Addo revolvere crimina rodere denuo tendo. 260
Pontificalia corda pecunia contenebravit,
Pontificalia corda carentia corde probavit,
Pontificis status ante fuit ratus, integer ante,
Ille statum dabat, ordine nunc labat ille labante;
Qui super hoc mare debuerat dare se quasi pontem,
In Sion omnibus est via plebibus in phlegetontem.
Si nova dicere vel nova discere non grave nossem,
Quos scio sed tego, pontifices ego dicere possem.
Stat sibi gloria, pompa, superbia divitiarum,
Hoc prope tempore nemo studet fore pons animarum. 270

By recounting these things one by one more broadly and at greater length,
I add that I strive anew to roll over and to gnaw at the crimes. 260
Money has bound pontifical hearts,
he approved pontifical hearts lacking a heart,
he thought the pontiff’s office formerly was upright, formerly whole,
he gave the office, now he falters with the order faltering;
he who over this sea ought to have given himself as it were a bridge,
in Zion for all plebs the road is to the Phlegethon.
If it were not burdensome to me to speak new things or to learn new things,
those whom I know but conceal, I could name the pontiffs.
Glory, pomp, the pride of riches stand for themselves,
at this near time no one strives to be a bridge of souls. 270

Praesulis infula, solvere vincula, vincla tenere,
Canone respuit aereque destruit, astruit aere.
Regia culmina vel moderamina regia nactus,
Praedo fit hosticus estque tyrannicus illius actus.
Rex modo nomine, consul imagine, mente tyrannus,
Civibus improbus est, reprobis probus, et sibi magnus.

The prelate's fillet, to loose chains, to hold chains,
He spurns the canon, and with money destroys, and with money erects.
Having seized royal summits or royal reins,
He becomes a plunderer, is hostile, and that act is tyrannical.
King only in name, consul in image, in mind a tyrant,
To citizens he is wicked, to the reprobate upright, and great for himself.

Hoc probra iudice, norma caret duce, fit via lucris;
Hoc male vindice, non volat a cruce pasta volucris.
Pro grege paupere recta capescere despicit arma,
Tetra latronibus esse timentibus affore parma. 280
Ecclesiae vigor, imperii rigor interierunt;
Est via fraudibus, his, ea, stantibus, occubuerunt;
Schismata mutuo, stant gladii duo, nil metuuntur;
Iuraque regia, pontificalia iura premuntur.
Lex Domini tacet et gladius iacet imperialis.

With reproach as judge, the norm lacks a leader, the way is made for lucre;
With this ill avenger, the bird fed at the cross does not fly.
It scorns to take up righteous arms for the poor flock,
A foul shield it will be to the robbers who fear to be present. 280
The vigor of the Church and the rigor of the empire have perished;
The road is one of frauds; with these things standing, they have fallen;
Schisms mutually, two swords stand, they fear nothing;
And royal rights, pontifical rights are oppressed.
The law of the Lord is silent and the imperial sword lies.

Mors animae fremit et gladius tremit heu! synodalis,
Plebs sine praeside pressa tyrannide dilaceratur,
Crimine perditur, hoste reliditur, igne crematur.
Nec stola praesulis, hanc neque consulis obvia dextra
A capitalibus intus, ab hostibus eripit extra. 290
Qui stat in agmine primus imagine presbyteratus,
Est vicio levis, officio brevis, inguine fractus;
Ut soror intima fit sibi proxima presbyterissa,
Ipsa patrem vocat, ipsa toro locat, assidet ipsa;
Servit uti solet et cerebro dolet ipsa dolenti.

Death of the soul bellows and the synodal sword trembles, alas!
The people, pressed by tyranny without a presiding officer, is torn apart,
It is ruined by crime, cleaved by the enemy, consumed by fire.
Nor does the prelate's stole, nor the consul's opposing right hand
Snatch it from the capital ones within, nor rescue it from enemies without. 290
He who stands first in the column, in the semblance of the presbyterate,
Is light in vice, short in duty, shattered at the groin;
As an intimate sister becomes for herself the nearest presbyteress,
She herself calls the father, she herself places him on the couch, she herself sits beside him;
She serves as she is wont and in her mind she grieves for the one suffering.

Ipsa dapes emit, assidet et gemit ipsa gementi.
Ipsa fovet, favet, audit, amat, pavet, ipsa magistrum;
Est thalamo sera, mittit ad extera saepe ministrum.
Praestat inaniter ordine presbyter ille vocatus,
Heu!

She herself buys the feast, she herself sits beside and groans with the groaning one.
She herself cherishes, favors, hears, loves, fears the master himself;
She is late to the bridal chamber, and often sends a minister to the outside.
That presbyter, called by ordination, stands in office to no purpose,
Alas!

sibi corporat et populi vorat ille reatus. 300

he takes to himself a body and devours the guilt of the people. 300

Quam venerabile, quam sacret utile, qualeque sacrum
Non satis aspicit, ordinis efficit hinc simulacrum.
Pura libidine dignaque sanguine carneque Christi;
Ora minus gerit orbaque plebs ferit acta magistri.
Non nisi nomine clerus in agmine sorteque cleri
Vivere sustinet, arduus eminet esse videri.

How venerable, how sacredly useful, and what a sacred thing
he does not sufficiently behold; hence he makes here a simulacrum of the order.
With impure lust and with blood and with the flesh of Christ;
the mouths manifest less, and the bereft plebs strikes the deeds of the master.
The clerus lives only in name in the line and lot of the clergy;
he scarcely sustains living, loftily he stands forth to seem to be.

Fervet in agmine, torpet in ordine quo titulatur,
Nomine clericus, actibus aulicus esse probatur.
Aspicias sine lege vel ordine currere clerum,
Atria visere, regia volvere turbida rerum, 310
Ad popularia stare negocia resque forenses;
Adde quod exserit arma quod ingerit ensibus enses.
Agmina ducere, proelia iungere, miles haberi,
Clericus eligit et sacra negligit ocia deri.

He burns in the rank, he grows torpid in the order by which he is titled,
Called a cleric by name, by deeds proved to be courtly.
You see the clerus run without law or order,
To visit halls, to turn over the palace’s turbid affairs, 310
To stand at popular business and at forensic matters;
Add that he bares arms, that he thrusts swords with swords.
To lead ranks, to join battles, to be reckoned a soldier,
The cleric chooses these and neglects sacred things, his leisures scorned.

Miles atrox, rapit, angit, agit, capit, urget egentes,
Quos premit opprimit, omnibus imprimit undique dentes.
Non modo non regit ore, manu tegit agricolantes,
Sed fugat et ferit, et cremat et terit arva terentes.
Raptus ei cibus hos operit, quibus hos male nudat;
Ad mala militat, ad mala cursitat, ad mala sudat. 320
Miles edacior igne, rapacior est quoque milvo,
Tigride saevior atque nocivior igne nocivo.

The fierce soldier snatches, torments, drives on, seizes, and presses the needy,
Whom he presses he crushes, he impresses teeth upon all sides.
Not only does he not rule by his mouth, with his hand he covers the tillers,
But he puts to flight and strikes, and burns and grinds the fields that tillers till.
Stolen food shelters him for those whom he badly strips;
He wars for evil, he runs about for evil, he toils for evil. 320
The soldier more voracious than fire, also more rapacious than the milvus,
More savage than a tiger and more harmful than a noxious fire.

Saevit in agmine, clarus origine nobilitatis,
Nec sibi propria sed reverentia stat sibi patris.
Praeficitur, praeit, ore patres vehit, haud vehit actu,
Stemmate nobilis, est reprobabilis ipse reatu.
Rebus, origine, carne, nec ordine nobilitatur,
Est resolubilis et caro nobilis, aret, humatur.

He rages in the ranks, renowned from the origin of nobility,
and he stands not by his own but by the reverence due to his father.
He is put in command, he presides; with his mouth he bears fathers, not with deed,
noble by pedigree, yet himself condemnable by guilt.
Not by riches, origin, flesh, nor by rank is he ennobled,
he is dissolvable, and his noble flesh withers, dries up, is buried.

In vitium tener est homo degener, altus et imus.
Cur? Quia corpore non animo fore vult quasi primus. 330

Man is tender to vice, degenerate, both high and low.
Why? Because he wishes to be first in body, not in spirit. 330

Ad lucra supplicat et male iudicat ob lucra iudex.
Te scelus impedit, aureus expedit aere silet lex.
Aes domat omnia, res piat impia, lex silet aere.

The judge begs for gain and judges wrongly for gain.
Crime hinders you, gold frees you; the law is silent for money.
Money rules all things, money propitiates impious matters; the law is silent for money.

Vim lupus ingeris, agnus habeberis, offer habere.
Per tua munera tangis et aethera, lege cremandus.
Census adest tibi, censor erit tibi, ne fuge, blandus.

You inflict force like a wolf, you will be reckoned a lamb, offer to have.
Through your gifts you touch even the heavens, by law you are to be burned.
A census is at hand for you, a censor will be assigned to you; do not flee, O flattering one.

Munere non sinis ullius ordinis hunc meminisse.
Ad lucra clamitat, his sua venditat ora, premit se,
Denique lex ita fit sibi subdita, non homo legi.
Aspice munere tot mala surgere, tot bona mergi. 340
Proh furor!

By a gift you do not allow any man of rank to remember this.
He clamors for gains, he hawks his own mouth with these things, he checks himself,
In short the law is made thus subject to him, not man to the law.
Behold by a gift so many evils arise, so many goods are plunged. 340
Proh furor!

aspice quam cito iudice lucra tenente,
Stent mala, ius ruat, haec legat, haec spuat ille triente.
Quam sine iudice iudicet, aspice, quam sine iure;
Quippe pecunia, non Theodosia lex sibi curae.
Institor omnia pene negotia fraude volutat,
Lucra lucris emit, haec levat, haec premit, his ea mutat;
Per nigra frigora, per iuga, per fora, per freta currit;
Fur capit, hunc ferit hostis, hiems terit, aestus adurit.

look how quickly profits prevail with a judge holding them,
Let evils stand, let justice collapse; this he may read, that he may spit upon for a trient.
See how he judges without a judge, how without law;
For money, not Theodosian law, is his care.
The merchant almost turns all business by fraud,
He buys gains with gains, this one he lifts, that one he presses, with these he exchanges those;
Through black colds, over ridges, through fora, across seas he runs;
A thief seizes, an enemy strikes this one, winter grinds him down, heat scorches.

Captus, egens abit et vacuus canit ante latronem;
Lucra resuscitat, hinc iter incitat in Babylonem, 350
Inde repatriat, huc nova nunciat, et nova defert.
Fraudat emens tua, quippe tuis sua pondera praefert.
Est male perfidus, ambulat invidus agricolator,
Saepe novalia proxima propria iurat arator.

Seized, needy he goes away and empty cries out before the robber;
He revives profits, hence spurs a journey into Babylon, 350
Thence he brings back home, here proclaims the new, and carries off the new.
Your raging one defrauds, for indeed he prefers his own weights to yours.
He is wickedly treacherous, an envious agricolator walks about,
Often the ploughman swears the newly-tilled neighboring lands are his own.

Iurat ut auferat et cito peierat, atque scienter,
Inde frequentia mutuo iurgia, causa frequenter.
Rusticus hordea mittit in horrea, farra recondit,
Horrea grandia, vasa capacia, multaque condit,
Nec pecus aut sata, dante Deo data, vult decimare,
Nec sacra portio nec decimatio redditur arae. 360

He swears to carry it off and soon breaks his oath, and knowingly,
thence frequent mutual quarrels, cause upon cause.
The rustic sends barley into the storehouses, hides away spelt,
he fills great granaries, capacious jars, and lays up many things,
nor does he wish to tithe cattle or the sown, gifts given by God,
neither the sacred portion nor the tithe is returned to the altar. 360

Prava stat actio quaeque professio, gens, gradus, aetas,
Quaeque nefaria patrat; habet via sobria metas.
Omne bonum perit, omnis homo gerit alteritatem;
Pugnat inertia solvere fortia, fraus pietatem.
Nunc premit omnia sola pecunia, res dominatur;
Mammona conditur, ad fora curritur, ad lucra statur.

Perverse stands every act, and every profession, nation, rank, age,
and whatever wickedness they accomplish; the sober way has limits.
All good perishes, every man bears alterity;
inertia strives to unmake the strong, fraud opposes piety.
Now money alone presses on all things, the thing rules;
Mammon is established, men run to the fora, they set themselves on profit.

Stat modo Mammona, sunt oneri bona, crimen honori.
Opprobrio via iusticiae, pia facta pudori.
Culmine clericus, arce monasticus excidit ordo.

Now Mammon alone stands; goods are burdens, an offense to honour.
The path of justice is a reproach, pious deeds a shame.
The cleric has fallen from his summit, the monastic order from its citadel.

Pars ea frangitur, ista resolvitur ordine torto, 370
Altera flebilis, est miserabilis altera prorsus.
Utraque nomine stat, iacet ordine versa retrorsus;
Utraque pars labat, illa decus dabat, ista decorem;
Utraque decidit, utraque perdidit arida florem.
Quis bonus est?

That part is broken, this one is undone by order having been twisted, 370
the one lamentable, the other altogether miserable.
Both stand in name, lie turned back in reversed order;
each part slips, that one gave honor, this one gave ornament;
each falls, each has lost the withered flower.
Who is good?

bene spernitur a sene sacra senecta,
A puero pudor, a valido rubor, et via recta.
Denique crimina, differo nomina dicere quorum
Clamat, amat, gerit et parit et perit ordo malorum.
Est facies ita crimine perdita totius orbis
Ut neque iam puer exeat integer a lue morbis. 380
Sunt puerilia, sunt iuvenilia cum senis aevo,
Sordida pectora nullaque tempora sunt sine naevo.

The sacred old age is well scorned by the old man,
From the boy comes modesty, from the strong comes shame, and the straight way.
Denique crimina, differo nomina dicere quorum
It proclaims, loves, wages, begets, and perishes — the order of evils.
The face of the whole world is thus lost by crime
Ut neque iam puer exeat integer a lue morbis. 380
There are childish things, there are youthful things in the age of the old man,
Filthy hearts, and no times are without blemish.

Ipseque parvulus, haud quasi masculus — at reticebo;
Talia, talia, tam furialia probra silebo.
Parco retexere, differo prodere sordidiora.
Quod vitio fuit edere, polluit et cor et ora.

And he himself but a little one, by no means manly — yet I will keep silent;
Such things, such things, such furiously shameful reproaches I will hold my peace about.
I spare to unweave them, I defer to betray the fouler matters.
What was fit to be published as vice, it soils both heart and face.

Stat Venus ignea, solvitur aurea zona pudoris.
Stant probra stantia, sunt modo retia tensa furoris,
Parcere clunibus excidit omnibus, omnibus inquam;
Non ego rodere, non reprehendere quemque relinquam. 390

Fiery Venus stands, the golden zone of modesty is loosened.
Scandals stand flowing, only the nets of frenzy are stretched,
To spare the buttocks has fallen away for all, for all, I say;
I will not gnaw, I will not reproach each one I leave. 390

Vulgus in impia, vulgus in omnia turpia fluxum,
Lugeo, rideo, Diogenes ego, Democritus sum.
Nam meretricia nosse cubilia gens putat aequum;
Lex genii iubet, inquit, ut hic cubet illaque secum.
Cur etenim data foemina vel sata, ni patiatur?

The mob poured into impious acts, the mob into all shameful deeds,
I mourn, I laugh, I am Diogenes, I am Democritus.
For the people think it fair to know the beds of prostitutes;
“The law of the genius bids,” he says, “that this man should lie with that woman and hold her with himself.”
For why, then, should a woman, whether given or born, not endure it?

Sexus id imperat, inquit, ut haec ferat, ille feratur.
Quomodo prandia, sic meretricia probra licere
Gens putat ebria, scilicet inscia se cohibere.
Omnis in omnibus ad mala partibus omnia mundus
Sponte sua ruit, ordine stans fuit, est ruibundus. 400
Ultro relabitur, ultro resolvitur, occidit ultro,
Stante libidine stanteque crimine, iure sepulto.

Sexus id imperat, inquit, ut haec ferat, ille feratur.
Sex demands it, he says, that she should bear these things, that he be borne.
Quomodo prandia, sic meretricia probra licere
As meals are allowed, so the prostitutes’ disgraces are allowed
Gens putat ebria, scilicet inscia se cohibere.
The people think themselves drunk, of course unaware to restrain themselves.
Omnis in omnibus ad mala partibus omnia mundus
The whole world in all its parts rushes headlong to evils
Sponte sua ruit, ordine stans fuit, est ruibundus. 400
It rushes of its own accord; once it stood in order, now it is ruinous.
Ultro relabitur, ultro resolvitur, occidit ultro,
Moreover it slides back, moreover it unbinds, moreover it falls,
Stante libidine stanteque crimine, iure sepulto. With lust standing and crime standing, with the law buried.

Qua Tanais fluit et tropicum subit ora Syenes,
Quisque resolvere nemoque cingere vult sibi renes.
Gens asinaria iugiter ebria luxuriatur;
Vitaque sobria castaque gratia vituperatur.
Quisque, velut pecus aut saliens equus, in scelus hinnit,
In Venerem salit, hanc fovet, hanc alit, hinc mala gignit.

Where the Tanais flows and the shores of Syene pass beneath the tropic,
each one wishes to unloose and no one to gird his loins.
A donkey-like people continually revel drunk with luxury;
and sober and chaste life is reproached.
Each, like a flock or a leaping horse, neighs into crime,
he leaps into Venus, cherishes her, nourishes her, and from her begets evils.

Nulla nefaria, cernimus omnia pulchra relinqui.
Dant sibi vincula carnis et oscula carne propinqui, 410
Oscula turpia nilque sororia, clanculo fratri
Congeminat soror; est via, quid moror? ampla barathri.

No wicked thing — we see all beautiful things abandoned.
They give themselves the bonds of the flesh and kisses akin to flesh to those near, 410
Shameful kisses and nothing sisterly, secretly to the brother
The sister multiplies it; there is the wide way of the abyss — why do I delay?

Conseritur genus, omnibus est Venus unica cura.
Non modo septimus est gradus ultimus in genitura;
Legitimus perit, arva patris terit haud patris heres.
Conserit omnia caeca licentia per mulieres.

A race is sown; Venus is the one care of all.
Not only is the seventh degree the last in begetting;
The legitimate one perishes, he tills his father’s fields yet is not his father’s heir.
Blind licentiousness through women sows all.

Pignora spuria dat vaga curia nobilitatis,
Pluribus ordine dispare, sanguine compare natis.
Fervet adultera; nec probat integra foedera magnus;
Herodias vaga pluribus est data, nemo Iohannes. 420

The fickle court of nobility gives spurious pledges,
unequal in order to many, yet comparable in blood to those born alike.
The adulteress seethes; nor does the great man approve intact covenants;
Herodias, roaming, is given to many; there is no John. 420

Nunc quoque lilia spiritualia prostituuntur,
Viva monilia, coelica lilia subiiciuntur.
Dos sacra rumpitur atque resolvitur in probra velum.
Quisque sibi cavet atque Dei pavet edere zelum.

Now even spiritual lilies are prostituted,
living necklaces, heavenly lilies are subjected beneath.
The sacred dowry is broken and the veil is dissolved into reproaches.
Each one looks out for himself and fears to put forth God's zeal.

Virgineus chorus aret, abit thorus immaculatus,
Sponsa Dei ruit, omnis homo fluit in probra fractus.
Ah, gemit omnia vivere turpia regula casta,
Haec querimonia sive tragoedia clamat ad astra.
Horreo dicere quae reprehendere saepe reflammor,
Criminis unius heu ferit obvius aethera clamor. 430
Criminis actio vociferatio dicitur eius,
Quod Noe tempore nunc scelus affore vel puto peius,
Est modo sanguine, fraude, libidine terra repleta.

The virginal chorus withers, the immaculate couch departs,
The Bride of God falls, every man flows, shattered into reproach.
Ah, all things groan to live; the chaste rule becomes shameful,
This complaint, or tragedy, cries out to the stars.
I shudder to speak what I, oft rekindled, am wont to reprove,
Alas, the cry of a single crime smites the ether. 430
The deed of the crime is called its outcry,
Which, in Noah’s time, now would be a crime — or I think worse;
The earth is now filled with blood, fraud, and lust.

Ventre modestia, munere gratia, re bona spreta.
Omne quod aspicis in probra fornicis est resolutum;
Nil stat in ordine, nil stat ab inguine nunc bene tutum.
Daemonialia denique retia stant modo scorta,
Corpora perdita tritaque semita, publica porta.

Modesty in the belly, grace in the gift, good things spurned.
All that you behold in shameful fornications is undone;
Nothing stands in order, nothing now stands safe from the groin.
At last demoniacal nets stand as prostitutes,
Bodies ruined and the trodden path—a public gate.

Luxuries viget, impietas riget, undat iniquum.
Inquinat omnia turba nefaria, grex meretricum. 440
Vita procacibus est meretricibus ire licenter,
Lingua, cor, actio, commaculatio, crapula, venter;
Omnis et unica gloria lubrica carnis amare,
Corda voragine, membra libidine commaculare.
Foemina sordida, foemina perfida, foemina fracta,
Munda coinquinat, impia ruminat, atterit aucta.

Luxury flourishes, impiety hardens, iniquity swells in a flood.
A nefarious crowd corrupts all, a flock of prostitutes. 440
Life is for wanton prostitutes to go licentiously,
tongue, heart, deed, defilement, drunkenness, belly;
the sole and only glory is to love the slippery flesh,
to soil hearts with a gulf, to defile limbs with lust.
A filthy woman, a treacherous woman, a broken woman,
the clean one soils, the impious ruminates, the increased one grinds away.

Ad scelus, ad bona, fit mala foemina calcar, habena,
Est fera foemina, sunt sua crimina sicut harena.
Non eo carpere quas benedicere debeo iustas,
Sed quia debeo, carmine mordeo mente Locustas. 450

For crime, for goods, the wicked woman becomes spur, rein,
She is a wild woman, her crimes are like sand.
I do not seize those just things which I ought to bless,
But because I ought, in song I bite Locusts in my mind. 450

Nunc mala foemina fit mihi pagina, fit mihi sermo.
Se satis approbo, sed sua reprobo, persequar ergo.
Foemina nutibus artibus actibus impia suadet,
Cogere crimina totaque foemina vivere gaudet.

Now an evil woman becomes to me a page, becomes to me a speech.
I approve her herself enough, but I reject her own things; therefore I will pursue.
The woman, impious, by nods, by arts, by deeds urges;
She delights to compel crimes, and the whole woman rejoices to live.

Nulla quidem bona, si tamen et bona contigit ulla,
Est mala res bona namque fere bona foemina nulla.
Foemina res rea, res male carnea, vel caro tota,
Strenua prodere nataque fallere, fallere docta;
Fossa novissima, vipera pessima, pulchra putredo,
Semita lubrica, res male publica praedaque praedo, 460
Horrida noctua, publica ianua, dulce venenum.
Nil bene conscia, mobilis, impia, vas lue plenum,
Vas minus utile, plus violabile, flagitiosum,
Insatiabile, dissociabile, litigiosum.

No good indeed, if yet any good has happened at all,
The good thing is a bad thing—for almost no woman is good.
A woman a guilty thing, a thing ill of flesh, or wholly flesh,
Born active to betray and to deceive, skilled at deceiving;
A most dreadful pit, the worst viper, a fair putrefaction,
A slippery path, a thing badly public and prey to the plunderer, 460
A horrid owl, a public door, a sweet poison.
Conscious of nothing good, fickle, impious, a vessel full of plague,
A vessel less useful, more violable, shameful,
Insatiable, dissociable, quarrelsome.

Merx leve vendita sed cito perdita, serva metalli,
Flamma domestica, diligit unica fallere falli.
Extat amantibus hostis et hostibus extat amica.
Ni petitur petit idque lucri metit ut sit iniqua.

A light merchandise, sold but quickly lost, a keeper of metal,
the household flame, she delights solely to deceive and to be deceived.
She stands an enemy to lovers and a friend to foes.
If not sought she seeks, and she reaps it as gain so that it may be unjust.

Sunt sua gaudia, sunt sua propria, lux sua nocte.
Haec nihil excipit, ex patre concipit, exque nepote; 470
Fossa libidinis, arma voraginis, os vitiorum
Haec fuit, est, erit et per eam perit ordo bonorum.
Donec erunt sata ruricolis data, credita ruri,
Haec lea rugiet, haec fera saeviet obvia iuri.

They have their own delights, they have their own possessions, their own light by night.
This takes in nothing, it conceives from the father and from the grandson; 470
A ditch of lust, the arms of the abyss, the mouth of vices
This was, is, and will be, and through her the order of goods perishes.
Until the things sown are given to the husbandmen, entrusted to the countryside,
This she‑wolf will roar, this wild beast will rage opposed to law.

Haec furor ultimus, hostis et intimus, intima pestis.
Dum negat illicit et scelus iniicit ipsa modestis.
Haec caro carnea sed lue Protea mobilitate
Vincere noscitur, haec pia cernitur impietate.

This is the last madness, an enemy and an intimate one, the inmost plague.
While she denies the illicit and casts crime upon the modest themselves.
This flesh, fleshly, by a Protean mobility of pestilence
is known to conquer; this piety is perceived as impiety.

Haec vitium docet, ars mea non vocet hanc vitiosam;
Hanc vitium voco, perfidiam probo, nomino noxam. 480

This teaches vice, may my art not call this vicious;
I call this vice, I approve perfidy, I name it guilt. 480

Merx ea plurima, res ea pessima, pessima rerum,
Cautior omnibus una fit artibus ars mulierum.
Non lupa nequior hac quia parcior impetus eius.
Non draco, non leo sed quid ea queo dicere peius?

Her merchandise very abundant, that thing most wretched, the worst of things,
The art of women alone grows more cautious than all arts.
Not a she‑wolf more wicked than she, for her onset is more restrained.
Not a dragon, not a lion — but what worse than this can I say?

Istius omnia non modo noxia sed bona dampnes.
Hoc scelus arguit enseque corruit ille Iohannes.
Hac quoque vir fuit Hippolytus ruit, hac ruit Ammon,
Hac Ioseph angitur et coma raditur hac tua, Samson.

Of this woman you condemn all things, not only the harmful but even the good.
That crime convicts, and by the sword that John fell.
By this likewise the man Hippolytus fell, by this Ammon falls,
By this Joseph is tormented and his hair is shorn; by this, your Samson.

Hac Ruben, hac David, hac Salomon cadit, hac homo primus.
Haec dat, agit, gerit, unde pudor perit, unde perimus. 490
Foemina cordibus, ore vel actibus est draco dirus,
Flamma gravissima serpit in intima, quomodo virus.
In sua crimina se mala foemina pingit, adornat,
Fucat, adulterat, innovat, alterat atque colorat.

By this Reuben falls, by this David, by this Solomon falls, by this the first man falls.
She gives, she does, she bears, from whom modesty perishes, from whom we perish. 490
A woman in hearts, in mouth or in deeds is a dire dragon,
a most grievous flame creeps into the innermost, like a poison.
In her own crimes the wicked woman paints and adorns herself,
she counterfeits, adulterates, renovates, alters and colors.

Dum scelus instruit, ut leo circuit, ut fera currit,
Currit et ignibus ignis edacibus uritur, urit.
Lubrica lumine, fervida crimine, crimen et ipsa,
Stans in amoribus, in levitatibus est modo fixa.
Glutinat, illicit, ut nimis inspicit inspicientem,
Et quoties licet, hanc toties libet esse nocentem. 500
Quando fidelior et tibi iunctior aspicietur,
Tunc famulum tibi praeficiet, sibi si mage detur.

While crime instructs, as the lion prowls, as the wild beast runs,
it runs and is consumed by devouring fires, is burned, burns.
Slippery in appearance, fervent in crime, crime itself also,
standing in loves, in levities is now fixed.
It clings, illicitly, so as to gaze too much at the gazer,
and as often as it may, so often it delights to be injuring her. 500
When she shall be looked on as more faithful and more joined to you,
then she will set a servant over you, if more is granted to herself.

Cor leve, vox levis atque fides brevis in muliere.
Foemina munere dat breve ludere, non breve flere;
Ultima tristia primaque dulcia sunt in amore,
Criminis exitus assolet obsitus esse dolore.
Pectora perdita primitus excita flamma reflammat,
Criminis exitus: heu mihi!

A light heart, a light voice, and a brief faith in a woman.
A woman, in giving a gift, gives brief dalliance, not long weeping;
The last are sad and the first are sweet in love,
The outcome of sin is wont to be overlaid with sorrow.
The flame rekindles ruined hearts first aroused,
The outcome of sin: alas for me!

funditus, heu mihi! clamat.
Foemina foetida, fallere fervida, flamma furoris,
Prima peremptio, pessima portio, praedo pudoris. 510

utterly, alas for me! she cries.
A foul woman, ardent to deceive, a flame of fury,
first ruin, the worst portion, a plunderer of modesty. 510

Propria germina, proh fera crimina! decutit alvo,
Edita desecat, abiicit, enecat, ordine pravo.
Foemina vipera, non homo sed fera, nec sibi fida.

Her own offspring, ah, fierce crimes! she shakes them from her womb,
she severs what is born, casts it away, drowns it, in a perverse order.
A woman viper, not a human but a beast, nor faithful to herself.

Plasmatis illius, immo sui prius, est homicida,
Aspide saevior et furiosior est furibundis.
Proh truculentia! viscera propria mergit in undis.

Of that creature's offspring—nay, of her own first—she is a murderer,
more savage than an asp and more furious than the frenzied.
O brutality! she plunges her own entrails into the waves.

Foemina perfida, foemina foetida, foemina foetor,
Est Sathanae thronus; huic pudor est onus, hanc fuge lector.
Et legitur quia plus domino pia, plus quoque grata,
Prava virilia quam muliebria sunt bene facta. 520
O mala tempora! Cur?

A treacherous woman, a foul woman, a woman of foulness,
She is Satan’s throne; to her modesty is a burden, flee her, reader.
And it is read that more to the Lord pious, and also more pleasing,
are perverse masculine deeds than well-done feminine ones. 520
O evil times! Why?

quia stercora tot pepererunt,
Tantaque sordida, ne loquar horrida, tanta dederunt.
Omne bonum ruit, omnis homo fluit in probra quaeque,
Omne bonum iacet, omne malum placet omnibus aeque.
Casta cubilia sunt modo vilia, lata petuntur;
Coniugialia sive iugalia pacta sinuntur.

because they have produced so much dung,
and such filthy, nay not to say horrid, so many things have they given.
All goodness collapses, every man is swept into each reproach,
every good lies prostrate, every evil pleases all alike.
Chaste beds are now cheap, broad ones are sought;
conjugal, or yoke-like, pacts are permitted.

Nupta virum spuit inque viros ruit, hos trahit ad se;
Ne cubet unica, ne quasi rustica, dat sua, dat se.
Quae bona foemina? cui bona nomina? Quae bene casta?

A married woman spits upon men and rushes against men, and drags them to herself;
She will not lie with one alone, nor, like a rustic, keep her own; she gives her goods, she gives herself.
What woman is good? to whom a good name? Who truly chaste?

Quae pia praeminet aut fore sustinet integra claustra? 530
Quae sacra foedera? ne sit adultera, ne rea signat,
Ne sobolem sine lege vel ordine, ceu lupa, gignat,
Ut patris hic puer, hic pueri pater ore notetur,
Nil in origine, nil in imagine degeneretur.
Stirpsque viro data, patre viro sata, non patre verna,
Os patris exserat ipsaque praeferat acta paterna.

Which pious woman excels, or will sustain her bolts intact? 530
What sacred bonds? — that she be not adulteress, nor marked guilty,
Nor bear offspring without law or order, like a she‑wolf,
So that this one be noted as the son of his father, this the father of the son in name,
Let nothing be degenerate in origin, nothing degenerate in likeness.
And let the stock be given to the husband, sown by a father to the husband, not slave‑born by the father,
May she put forth the father’s name and herself set forth paternal deeds.

Cui rata pactio vel benedictio quae fit in ara?
Cui pia lumina? quae bona foemina?

To whom is the ratified pact or benediction that is made on the altar?
To whom the pious lights? what good woman?

credite, rara.
Rarior haec avis, haec nimis est gravis herba repertu.
Talia mordeo, talia rideo, non sine fletu. 540

believe it, O rare ones.
This bird is rarer, this herb is found too heavy on discovery.
I bite such things, I laugh at such things, not without tears. 540

Rara fidem gerit, omnis enim perit ordo marito.
Grex sine turture, nam sine passere nulla cupito.
Vir populis placet omnibus, ut vacet unica nupta.

Faith she bears rarely; for every order perishes for a husband.
A flock without a turtledove, for without a sparrow no desire.
A man pleases all peoples, so that the sole married woman is left empty.

Pluribus unica fit via lubrica, semita rupta.
Vir petit extera, gaudet adultera, publica gaudet.
Mox scelus instruit, evocat, annuit, ardet et audet.

For many the single way becomes slippery, the path broken.
The man seeks foreign women, the adulteress rejoices, the public woman rejoices.
Soon he prepares the crime, summons it forth, nods assent, burns with passion and dares.

Coniugis otia conspicit anxia, laeta feretrum,
Laeta pericula laetaque vincula laetaque letum.
Iussio Iulia lexque Scatinia nunc ubi dormis?
Vivitur omnibus et sine legibus et sine normis; 550
Plurima foemina, plurima crimina, multa ruina.

She, anxious, beholds her husband's ease, joyful at the bier,
Joyful at dangers, joyful at bonds and joyful at death.
Iussio, the Julian law and Scatinia—now where do you sleep?
Everyone lives, both without laws and without norms; 550
Very many women, very many crimes, much ruin.

Plurima Lydia; rara Lucretia, nulla Sabina;
Nulla fere bona, nullus Amazona nunc videt ullam.
Absque procis tribus hisque procacibus, audio nullam.
Tam sine lumine quam sine crimine vult fore quaeque,
Ter fore clinica quam semel unica diligit aeque.

Many a Lydia; Lucretia rare, Sabina none;
Almost no good woman, no Amazon now sees any.
Excepting three suitors and these forward ones, I hear none.
Each wishes to be as much without light (reputation) as without guilt,
She equally loves a thrice-bed companion as one unique once.

Uxor adultera quaerit in infera plus quoque mitti,
Quam comes unius — o furor impius! — esse mariti.
Sufficientior et sibi gratior unus ocellus
Quam comes unicus, o furor ethnicus!

The adulterous wife seeks rather to be sent further into the nether world
than to be the companion of one husband — O impious madness! —
One small paramour is more sufficient and more pleasing to her herself
than a sole companion, O heathen frenzy!

o rea tellus! 560
Elige quaslibet, excipe quodlibet, has coaduna,
Non rea corpore castaque pectore paene nec una.
Per varium genus imperitat Venus imperiosis.
Flebile, sed quibus?

o guilty earth! 560
Choose whichever you like, take whichever one you will, coadunate these together, Not guilty in body and chaste in heart — almost not even one. From a varied stock Venus rules the imperious. Lamentable, but for whom?

astra flagrantibus, ima perosis.
Ipsa coinquinat et sibi glutinat omnia mundi,
In sua retia cogit inertia corda refundi.
Ipsa voracior atque rapacior ignibus ignis,
Ardet inertibus et male putribus insita lignis.

the stars blazing, the lowest things diseased.
She herself pollutes and glues all the world to herself,
into her nets she drives inert hearts to be poured back.
She herself more voracious and more rapacious than fires, fire,
she burns into the inert and into ill-rotten wood implanted.

In Venerem ruit, in coitum fluit omnis ut unus,
Coniugis illius arrha fit istius, est prope funus. 570

Everything rushes into Venus, into coitus all flows as one,
The arrha of that spouse becomes of this one, it is near a funeral. 570

Quis modo non pater? et pueros puer instat habere;
Imminet atria tectaque patria prole replere.
Quisque suam cupit et thalamos subit, estque maritus,
In Iacob agmine, non sine semine, fit benedictus.

Who now is not a father? and even a lad presses to have boys;
The halls and roofs of his fatherland loom to be filled with progeny.
Each desires his own and enters the bridal-chambers, and is a husband,
In the line of Jacob, not without seed, he becomes blessed.

Fit pater, editur, edita traditur huic nova proles,
Patris ad extera, matris ad ubera plurima moles.
O nova secula! Nunc quoque parvula nubere gliscit,
Cruda puellula coniugis oscula vimque cupiscit.

A father is made, a child is borne, the newly born offspring is delivered to him,
a great mass of cares to the father's outward affairs, to the mother's breasts very many burdens.
O new ages! Even now the tiny girl grows eager to wed,
the raw little maiden longs for the husband's kisses and for his force.

Dos sibi traditur, annulus additur, arrha dicatur.
Hinc lyricus iocus, inde strepit cocus, esca vagatur, 580
Fervet ovantibus atque canentibus aula choreis,
Pompa sequentibus et praeeuntibus est hymenaeis.
Nec mora: concipit, est gravis, accipit omnia matris,
Plena trahentibus atque bibentibus ubera natis.

A dowry is handed to her, a ring is added, let it be called an arrha.
Hence the lyric jest, thence the cook rattles, the fare goes wandering, 580
The hall seethes with those exulting and with singing choruses,
A pomp of followers and of those who go before attends the hymenaeals.
Nor delay: she conceives, is heavy with child, receives all of the mother’s,[sic]
The breasts full for the offspring drawing and drinking.

Maior et ardua stirps sua, mox sua stirps dubitatur,
Qui sibi filius est, pater illius esse putatur.
Morbida germina gignit et agmina multa libido,
Saepe parens gravis est et adest avis afflua nido.
Grex cito nascitur et seges editur hinc puerorum,
Fit generatio, multiplicatio crescit eorum. 590
Quid mora?

A greater and lofty stock is his, soon his own stock is doubted,
He who is son to himself is thought to be the father of that one.
Soft shoots desire begets and desire brings forth many ranks,
Often the parent is heavy and the abundant bird is present at the nest.
A flock is quickly born and a harvest is produced hence of boys,
A generation is made, their multiplication increases. 590
What delay?

plurimus ipseque pessimus errat ubique
Grex hominum, sine simplice lumine, mentis iniquae.
Rura per omnia paene frequentia spargitur urbis,
Nulla vacantia, nulla carentia sunt loca turbis.
Iam loca singula, mons, specus, insula, iugera, prata,
Sunt habitantibus atque meantibus assiduata.

Most numerous and himself the worst wanders everywhere
the flock of men, without simple light, of a crooked/unequal mind.
The countryside almost everywhere frequented is scattered through the city,
no vacant spots, no places lacking for the throngs.
Now single places—mount, cave, island, acres, meadows—
are made constant for dwellers and for thinking minds.

Iam iuga Caspia primitus invia, sunt pede trita;
Non modo maximus est quia plurimus est heremita;
Innumerabilis et miserabilis est hodie gens,
Post mala promptior, in mala pronior, ad mala vergens. 600

Now the Caspian ridges, at first untraversed, are trodden by foot;
Not only is it great because it is very full of hermits;
Countless and miserable is the folk today,
More ready for evils after evils, more prone into evils, leaning toward evils. 600

Quisque malum docet et minime nocet esse nocentem;
Quisque mero calet et minime valet esse scientem.
Quaeritur ocius atque libencius uda taberna,
Quam sacra numine splendida lumine templa superna.
Gens bibit impia vina furentia plus satis aequo,
Fert oleum focus inde subit iocus ordine caeco.

Each one preaches evil and is least ashamed to be harmful;
Each one is warmed by wine and is least fit to be knowing.
The wet tavern is sought more swiftly and more gladly,
Than the temples above, splendid with sacred divinity of light.
The impious folk drink maddening wines more than is fairly enough,
The hearth brings oil from that, and from it a jest arises in blind order.

Gens sitit ebria, vina celebria, bellica vina,
Vina furentia vimque ferentia, plena ruina.
His Noe frangitur, his Loth aduritur, ante pudicus,
Haeret edacibus atque bibacibus ardor iniquus. 610
Qui fore crebrius expetis ebrius atque recumbis
Ad mera pocula vis cito vincula solvere lumbis.
His quoque vinceris, uris et ureris ignis amore,
Mens furialibus aestuat ignibus, ossa calore.

The people thirst—drunk: celebrated wines, warlike wines,
raging wines and those that bear force, full of ruin.
By these Noah is broken, by these Lot is burned; formerly chaste,
an unjust ardor clings to the gluttonous and the bibbers. 610
Which you seek to be more often—drunk—and you lie down
at unmixed cups, force soon to loosen the bonds of the loins.
By these also you are bound; you burn and are burned by a love of fire,
the mind seethes with furial fires, the bones with heat.

Vermis edacior, haud ego mentior, insitus hostis
Est tibi renibus et viget ignibus intro repostis.
Verme libidinis ilico desinis esse modestus.
Hic furit hostibus hostis et aestibus acrior aestus.

A more edacious worm, I do not lie, an implanted enemy
it is in your kidneys and flourishes in the fires stored within.
By the worm of lust at once you cease to be modest.
It rages, an enemy among enemies, and is a passion fiercer than the heats.

Vina Venus cupit, hac face mens furit, actio fumat;
Mox stomachus satur in Venerem datur, in probra spumat. 620
Ob mera pocula primo furit gula, postea venter:
Mox Venus excita concitat abdita membra furenter.
Sunt fluitantia stanteque stantia ventre pudenda.
Hunc cibus, hunc Venus implet, amant scelus haec duo membra;
Alterius ruit in phialas, fluit in probra luxus;
Inde libidinis atque putredinis ilico fluxus.

Venus desires wines; with this torch the mind raves, action smokes;
Soon the stomach, sated, is given over to Venus, it foams into probra. 620
On account of mere cups at first gula rages, later venter:
Then Venus roused furiously agitates the hidden limbs.
There are pudenda flowing and pudenda standing with the belly firm.
Food fills this, Venus fills that; these two limbs love crime;
One rushes into the phialas of the other, luxury flows into probra;
Thence immediately the flux of lust and of putrefaction.

Alterius furor efficit ut pudor abiiciatur,
Ut pereat vigor, intereat rigor, ordo prematur;
Cura stat unica luctaque publica carnis in esu,
Ebrietas placet et tua vox iacet, O bone Iesu. 630

Another's fury effects that modesty be cast aside,
that vigor perish, that rigor be undone, that order be crushed;
one single care stands, and the public struggle is in the eating of flesh,
drunkenness pleases and your voice lies prostrate, O good Iesu. 630

Regnat edax gula plenaque crapula, corda gravantur
Ebrietatibus, improbitatibus exstimulantur.
Plena voragine, plena libidine, ventreque plena,
Tempora sunt quibus unus amor: cibus et caro, lena.
Viscera pastibus, os dare potibus est modo clarum,
Et Venus et gula sunt modo regula ventricolarum.

Voracious gluttony and full debauchery reign, hearts are weighed down
and are stung on by drunkennesses and wickednesses.
Full with the gorge, full with lust, and full in belly,
these are the times when there is one love: food and flesh, the bawd.
Entrails for fodder, to give the mouth to drinks is now plain,
and both Venus and gluttony are now the rule of the little bellies.

Christicolas nego, ventricolas ego dico gulosos,
Nulla nefaria denique turpia nulla perosos.
Nunc bonus est reus, est stomachus deus, est schola venter.
Quisque gulae studet, ah! piget et pudet ire pudenter. 640
Quod loquor accipe: diruta principe stante coquorum,
Ierusalem iacet, unda cibi placet, immo ciborum.

I deny them to be Christians; I call them little bellies, gluttonous stomachs,
no truly nefarious thing, no shameful thing, no detestable thing at all.
Now the good man is accused, the stomach is god, the belly a school.
Each one vies for gluttony; ah! it pains and shames to go modestly. 640
Take what I say: the cookery lies ruined though the chief of cooks still stands;
Jerusalem lies prostrate — a wave of food pleases, nay, of foods.

Semita spernitur atque requiritur ecce platea,
Dant sua vincula cuique prius gula, post Cytheraea.
Proh dolor! aspice secula triplice stricta furore,
Triplice crimine nexa: libidine, fraude, tumore.

The footpath is scorned and, behold, the broad street is sought,
They give to each his bonds: first Gluttony, afterwards Cytheraea.
O pain! behold the ages bound by a triple fury,
Bound by a triple crime: lust, fraud, and tumor.

Corda superbia sed Venus ebria corpora nectit.
Corpora cordaque fraus ligat utraque mors sibi flectit.
Sarcina terrea corda premit rea collaque prona,
Corde reflectimur immo revertimur ad Pharaona. 650
Imus in invia, stamus ad impia, sed male stantes,
Praetereuntia vel pereuntia prorsus amantes.

Hearts by pride, but drunken Venus binds bodies.
Fraud binds both bodies and hearts; death on both sides turns itself to them.
An earthly load presses guilty hearts and bowed necks,
From the heart we are turned back, nay we return to Pharaoh. 650
We go into pathless ways, we stand at impious things, yet standing ill,
Lovers utterly of the passing or the perishing.

Imus et ibimus, unde peribimus, unde ruemus,
Qui pereuntia sive ruentia sola videmus.
Pax flet, amor perit, hic furit et ferit, ille feritur.
Mars rigidus fremit, ille stat, hic gemit, in scelus itur,
Sanguineum rapit et rotat et quatit ira flagellum,
Fert fera spicula, saeva pericula funebre bellum,
Pax viget ethnica, pax ruit unica Christicolarum.

We go and will go, whence we shall perish, whence we shall rush down,
Who see only perishings or things rushing to ruin.
Peace weeps, love perishes, this one raves and strikes, that one is struck.
Rigid Mars bellows, that one stands, this one moans, into crime one goes,
Wrath seizes a bloody scourge and turns it and shakes it,
It bears wild spears, savage perils, a funereal war,
Pagan peace flourishes, the sole peace of the Christ-dwellers collapses.

Si bene sentio, iunctior unio paxque ferarum. 660

If I perceive rightly, the union is more closely joined, and the peace of the beasts. 660

Cernite, gens rea: nulla leam lea, non aper aprum
Devorat aut secat et sobolem necat ultio patrum.
Spiritualia denique praelia nos male tentant
Semper et impia mens homicidia saepe cruentat.
Ah pede compare lugeo currere fasque nefasque!

Behold, guilty people: no lion devours lioness, no boar devours boar;
nor does he devour or cut and kill the offspring — the fathers’ vengeance.
Spiritual battles, in short, ill tempt us always, and an impious mind often stains with homicidal blood.
Ah, with even foot I mourn to run, both right and wrong!

Militat hinc furor, inde manus furor armat utrasque,
Guerra parentibus hic ibi fratribus est uterinis.
In sua viscera gens furit, effera regnat Erinnys.
Proh truculentia!

Madness fights here, and thence a hand arms madness on both sides,
War for parents is here, there war is for uterine brothers.
The people rages within its own entrails, a savage Erinnyis rules.
O cruelty!

funera patria filius ardet,
Conqueritur quia mors homini via posthuma tardet; 670
Et pater impius expetit illius, ordine pulchro,
Ante recondere splendida paupere membra sepulcro.
Matris anilia lumina filia claudere gaudet,
Flereque funera, postea libera quodlibet audet.
Aspide pocula dant nece pabula plena novercae.

the son burns for the funerals of his country,
he complains because death delays for man the posthumous way; 670
and the impious father seeks to obtain that one, in fair order,
to hide away the splendid limbs in a pauper tomb before others.
The daughter rejoices to close the aged mother’s eyes,
and to weep the funerals; afterwards, free, she dares whatever she wills.
They give cups like an asp — death supplies fodder full for the stepmother.

Mors subit effera, qui petit extera divite merce.
Dives opes luit, in iugulum ruit hospitis hospes.
Rara superstite nullaque sospite coniuge sospes.

Cruel death overtakes him who seeks foreign riches as merchandise.
The rich man pays for his wealth; the guest rushes upon the throat of the host.
Seldom safe with a survivor present, and by no means safe with a spouse who is not safe.

Coniuge vir perit hancque viri ferit ensis acutus;
A rigido tener, a socero gener est male tutus; 680
Persequitur nece, si minus aut prece frater amicum;
Quem nequit ensibus, opprimit artibus, O cor iniquum!
Gens sibi noxia, turba praeimpia sunt sibi damno.
Proximus est tibi, mutuo tu sibi quod lupus agno.

By a wife a man perishes, and the sharp sword strikes the husband;
From a stern father-in-law the son-in-law is poorly safe; 680
He is pursued to death, if a brother is less moved by prayer or by friendship;
Whom he cannot fell with swords, he crushes by stratagems, O unjust heart!
A people harmful to itself, the crowd are foremost in their own ruin.
One nearest to you is, in mutual fashion, to you what a wolf is to a lamb.

Gratia corruit atque refriguit ignis amoris;
Est modo perdita regia semita, semita moris;
Cassaque lumine plenaque crimine corda gelantur;
Frigida pectora veraque frigora stare probantur.
Gratia corruit, algor inhorruit amplior Istro.
Est populus sine moribus, ordine, rege, magistro. 690

Grace has fallen and the fire of love has cooled;
There is now a lost regal path, a path of custom;
And hearts, hollow of light and full of crime, are frozen;
Cold breasts and true chills are proved to stand.
Grace has fallen, a chill has shuddered, broader than the Ister.
There is a people without manners, order, king, or master. 690

Lex Domini ruit huicque caput fluit undique rore,
Qui tepidos bonus — O gravis hic sonus — evomit ore.
Denique quid moror? et tumor et soror, Ira, tumoris
Stant super omnia frausque bifaria cordis et oris.

The law of the Lord collapses, and to this one his head flows on all sides with dew,
He who, lukewarm and good — O this heavy sound — vomits from his mouth.
At last why do I delay? both Tumor and his sister, Ira, the sister of Tumor,
stand above all, and a twofold fraud of heart and mouth.

Gens proba transiit, improba prodiit atque probrosa,
Garrulitatibus, ebrietatibus, officiosa,
Plena pigredine, plena libidine, crimine plena,
Callida pectore parvaque corpore, frontis egena.
Patria pectora, patria robora fert prope nemo;
A patre filius est quasi Sisyphus a Polyphemo. 700
Forma parentibus atque nepotibus haud manet una;
Corporis omnia deficientia sunt quasi luna.
Corporis ut status excidio datus; est ita mentis.

An honest people has passed away, an unhonest, loathsome one has come forth and disgraceful,
Given to prattling, to drunkennesses, officious,
Full of sluggishness, full of lust, full of crime,
Cunning in heart and small of body, needy of brow.
Scarcely anyone brings patriotic hearts, patriotic strengths; 700
From the father the son is as Sisyphus is from Polyphemus.
Beauty does not remain the same for parents and grandchildren;
All deficiencies of the body are as the moon.
As the state of the body is given over to ruin, so is that of the mind.

Gens scatet arida, corpora languida cordaque gentis.
Pectore pessimus et sibi proximus est modo quisque,
Qui tibi supplicat; intima duplicat arte dolisque,
In duo scinditur, unio solvitur alteritate,
Schismate foedera simplaque viscera duplicitate.
Ille fit istius iste fit illius hostis amicus.

Gens scatet arida, corpora languida cordaque gentis.
A parched people teems, bodies languid and the hearts of the nation.
Pectore pessimus et sibi proximus est modo quisque,
Each man now is worst in heart and nearest to himself,
Qui tibi supplicat; intima duplicat arte dolisque,
who begs you; he doubles his inmost things by art and by wiles,
In duo scinditur, unio solvitur alteritate,
he is split in two, unity is dissolved by otherness,
Schismate foedera simplaque viscera duplicitate.
by schism the bonds, and by plain duplicity the entrails.
Ille fit istius iste fit illius hostis amicus.
That one becomes of this, this one becomes of that; friend turns to foe.

Ridet et invidet, obstat et assidet, aequus iniquus. 710
Proditur irrita regia semita simplicitatis,
Induit impia fictio pallia duplicitatis.
Vos volo credere quod volo dicere, pseudo-prophetas
Nulla feracius aut numerosius hac tulit aetas.
Denique sordibus interioribus hi Pharisaei
Sunt via lubrica, ianua publica perniciei.

He laughs and envies, opposes and sits beside, even-handed and unjust; 710
The royal path of simplicity is shown vain,
An impious fiction dons the cloaks of duplicity.
I want you to believe what I wish to say, pseudo-prophets—
No age has brought forth more fertile or more numerous ones than this.
Indeed, these Pharisees, filthy within,
are a slippery road, a public gateway to ruin.

Pestis inhorruit, agmen et irruit hypocritarum,
Hispida corpore, lubrica pectore, gens tenebrarum.
His sacra nomina sacraque tegmina, corda superba;
Agnus eis patet in tunica, latet anguis in herba. 720

Pestilence shuddered, and the troop of hypocrites rushed in and broke upon them,
rough-haired in body, slippery of heart, a people of darkness.
To these, sacred names and sacred vestments, proud hearts;
a lamb is displayed on their tunic, a snake lies hidden in the grass. 720

Sunt petulantia corda, rigentia fronte Catonis,
Cerea moribus, aerea vultibus in mala pronis,
Corda minantia, corda rapacia, corda lupina,
Fucat imagine, palliat ordine, vestis ovina;
Corda tumentia, corda carentia monade cordis,
Sunt pia frontibus, impia fructibus, atria sordis.
His dolus additur, ut coma raditur et mutilatur;
Fingit ovem lupus atque rosae rubus assimilatur.
His mera pocula pluraque fercula, regula tota;
His locus unio, ius simulatio, lex sua vota. 730
Scandala, schismata nullaque Sabbatha mentis in illis.

There are petulant hearts, brows rigid like Cato's,
waxy in manners, bronzed in countenances bent to evil,
threatening hearts, rapacious hearts, lupine hearts,
the wolf disguises with an image, cloaks with order, the garment is sheepish;
swollen hearts, hearts lacking the monad of the heart,
they are pious in their foreheads, impious in their fruits, atria of filth.
To these deceit is added, so that the hair is shaved and mutilated;
the wolf fashions himself a sheep and the bramble is likened to a rose.
To these pure cups and many dishes, the whole rule;
to these place is union, law is simulation, their own law are vows. 730
Scandals, schisms, and in them no Sabbath of the mind.

Denique tollitur actibus, additur ordo capillis,
Forpice, pectine, crinis et ordine canonicantur,
Insipientior hic ego mentior, at simulantur.
Fronte vetustior et quasi iustior unus eorum
Inferioribus ordine fratribus est schola morum.
Cor mala ruminat, os bona seminat, et bona fatur.

At last he is raised by ceremonies, an order added by hair,
by shears, by comb, by locks and by canonical order they are made,
I here lie the more foolish, yet they are simulated.
One of them, older in brow and seemingly more just,
is a school of morals to the brothers lower in rank.
The heart chews over evils, the mouth sows good things, and utters goodness.

O pudor, O scelus! est Sathan, angelus esse putatur,
Est Sathan actibus ipseque vocibus angelus idem.
Quod sonus edocet, actio dedocet, hostis eidem. 740
Nec sua turpia nec videt impia fratribus Argus,
Eloquii sator et veniae dator est sibi largus.

O shame, O crime! Satan is thought to be an angel,
Satan is in deeds, and he himself is likewise an angel in voices.
What sound instructs, action mis-instructs, an enemy to the same; 740
Nor does Argus see his own foulness nor his impieties toward his brothers,
He is the author of speech and a bountiful giver of pardon to himself.

Corde carent sene dicta, senis bene dicta probantur;
Membra senilia sub iuvenilia vota citantur;
Vulpe lupum tegit, ordine se regit exteriori,
Ore patet bonus inque suo dolus interiori.
Mens male conscia, sarcina propria, proxima pestis,
Se sibi subiugat, effugit, effugat intima testis.
Frons gerit Hectora, vincere Nestora creditur aetas,
Est cutis arida fertque per hispida brachia setas. 750

Corde carent sene dicta, senis bene dicta probantur;
Heartless are the old man’s sayings; the well-spoken sayings of the old man are approved;
Membra senilia sub iuvenilia vota citantur;
Old limbs are drawn into youthful vows;
Vulpe lupum tegit, ordine se regit exteriori,
The fox conceals the wolf, he is governed by an exterior order,
Ore patet bonus inque suo dolus interiori.
The good man is open of mouth, and deceit is inward within him.
Mens male conscia, sarcina propria, proxima pestis,
A guilty mind is its own burden, the nearest pestilence,
Se sibi subiugat, effugit, effugat intima testis.
It subjugates itself to itself; the inner witness flees, flees away.
Frons gerit Hectora, vincere Nestora creditur aetas,
The brow bears Hector; age is thought to prevail over Nestor,
Est cutis arida fertque per hispida brachia setas. 750

Iam prope funera pollice dextera computat annos,
Cumque senex labet hic, animos habet ipse tyrannos.
Iam quid apertius? en Cato tertius aethere missus,
Fronte severior, in cute iustior, intro remissus.

Now with his right thumb he counts the years almost to his funeral,
and though this old man falters, he himself has tyrannical spirits.
Now what more plainly? behold Cato the Third sent from the aether,
with a sterner brow, more righteous in his skin, sent back inward.

Est Cato; tempore cernitur affore Maurus Hiarba.
Hinc Venus evirat, inde virum parat hispida barba,
Frons hominem gerit, intus homo perit, est lupus intus.
Sed tua gloria stat tibi filia regis ab intus.

There is Cato; in time it is seen that Maurus Hiarba will be present.
From this side Venus is emasculated, from that a bristly beard readies a man,
The brow presents a man; within the man perishes; there is a wolf within.
But your glory stands to you as a daughter of the king from within.

Quid mora nectitur? Ordo relinquitur, ad mala statur,
Stat simulatio, morigeratio ludificatur. 760
Irrita dextera fit tibi littera Pythagorea,
Dextra tibi iacet et scelerum placet ire platea.
Arta relinquitur et via carpitur ampla quibusque,
Quaerimus invia, fluxa, fluentia, confluimusque,
Architriclinia, sceptra, sedilia prima petendo;
Quisque tumultuat, instat et aestuat haec satagendo.

What delay is being contrived? Order is abandoned, one stands poised for evils,
Pretense stands, restraint is mocked. 760
The Pythagorean letter becomes void for you,
Your right hand lies idle, and the street delights in the passage of crimes.
The narrow way is forsaken and the broad road is seized by all,
We seek pathless things, the flowing, the fluent, and we flow together,
Seeking architrichinia, scepters, first seats;
Each one makes tumult, presses on and seethes in striving for these things.

Mundus honoribus est neque moribus omnis anhelus,
Stant modo stantia luxus, inertia, fictio, zelus;
Stat simulatio, dissimulatio, crimen utrumque,
Alea, crapula, fraus, facinus, gula, flagitiumque, 770
Ora bilinguia, lis, homicidia, Mars, tuba, terror,
Vis, probra, jurgia — quid moror? — omnia quae docet error.
Talia germina, scilicet agmina, sunt vitiorum,
Germina talia sunt capitalia vulnera morum;
Prima superbia suadet in invia pergere mentem,
Ingerit agmina, maxima crimina, crimina septem;
Prima superbia jussa dat impia, grex ululatum,
Prima cor obsidet et cito possidet hoc grege stratum.

The world is for honors and not for morals; not every breath is upright,
Now stand the abiding things: luxury, inertia, fiction, jealous zeal;
There stand simulation, dissimulation, crime of either sort,
Chance, drunkenness, fraud, deed of guilt, gluttony, and shameful outrage, 770
Two‑faced mouths, quarrel, homicides, Mars, trumpet, terror,
Violence, insults, brawls — why do I delay? — all that error teaches.
Such are the germinations, indeed the ranks, of vices,
Such germinations are the capital wounds of morals;
First, pride urges the mind to go into pathless ways,
It throws in the ranks, the greatest crimes, the sevenfold crimes;
First pride gives impious commands, a flock of howling,
First it besets the heart and quickly this layer possesses the flock.

Haec monet, hoc ruit et bona subruit, et mala servat,
Stante libidine stanteque crimine crimen acervat. 780

This warns, this rushes in and overturns the goods, and preserves the evils,
With lust standing and crime standing it heaps up crime. 780

Mascula pignora vivaque pignora mergit Hebraei,
Sed muliebria servat et omnia molliciei.
O mala secula! Cur?

The Hebrew plunges under male pledges and living pledges,
But keeps the feminine and all things of softness.
O wicked ages! Why?

quia regula nulla tenetur;
Promptus ad extima, doctus ad intima stultus habetur.
Non patientia sed violentia dat modo pacem.
Qui tacet esurit et lucra parturit esse loquacem.

because no rule is observed;
ready for externals, learned for internals, is held foolish.
not by patience but by violence gives peace for a while.
he who is silent is hungry, and bears profits that make him talkative.

Lingua sophistica, lingua tyrannica, lingua forensis
Praecipit omnia, percutit obvia, qualiter ensis.
Lingua volubilis est modo nobilis, “huc ades” audit.
Mutus Episcopus ordine reprobus, ostia claudit. 790
Nil tumidum sapis; aut pecus aut lapis esse probaris.

Sophistic tongue, tyrannical tongue, forensic tongue
It precipitates all, strikes what meets it, like a sword.
The tongue is changeable, now noble; it hearkens to “come hither.”
Muted the Bishop, reproved in rank, he shuts the doors. 790
You have no swollen wisdom; you are proved to be either beast or stone.

Es quasi vipera; pectora libera testificaris.
Nunc mala reddere gloria cedere culpa tenetur,
Irreverentia laus patientia crimen habetur.
Quam stipe vivere, non mala reddere, tam pudet aeque.

You are like a viper; you bear witness to free breasts.
Now glory is compelled by guilt to yield to giving back evils,
Irreverence is regarded as praise, patience is regarded as a crime.
How equally it shames—to live on bribe, not to repay wrongs.

Ad scelus, ad probra gens viget improba nocte dieque.
Heu! mala mentio, peior et actio, pessimus usus,
Stat modo criminis, est vigor ordinis ille retrusus.

Toward crime, toward reproaches the wicked race thrives, wicked by night and by day.
Alas! evil mention, worse the action, worst the custom/practice,
Only the stature of crime stands; that withdrawn vigor of order is gone.

Tot nego sobria corda quot ostia reflua Nili,
Tot pia viscera, quot vaga sidera, nunc reperiri. 800
Sicubi quem fore simplice pectore cerno modestum,
Id rude deputo monstraque computo pectus honestum!
Comparo curribus aequor arantibus, arida velis,
Ruraque piscibus, aera navibus, astra camelis.
Flaccus Horatius, et Cato, Persius et Iuvenalis:
Quid facerent, rogo, si foret his modo vita sodalis?

I deny that as many sober hearts are found as the mouths where the Nile ebbs,
as many pious entrails as there are wandering stars are now to be found. 800
If anywhere I discern someone to be modest with a simple heart,
I reckon him rude and count an honest breast among monsters!
I liken the sea to chariots ploughing the waves, dry lands to sails,
the countryside to fishes, bronze to ships, the stars to camels.
Flaccus Horatius, and Cato, Persius and Iuvenalis:
What would they do, I ask, if life were companion only to these?

Temporis istius acta Lucilius ille stuperet,
Et sua prospera sanctaque tempora non reticeret.
Diceret optima, quae fore pessima tempora dixit;
Scriberet aurea, quae nigra, quae rea, quae mala scripsit. 810

Lucilius would marvel at the deeds of this age,
And would not hold his prosperous and holy times silent.
He would call best the things which he had said would be the worst times;
He would write "golden" where he wrote "black," "guilty," "evil." 810

Prospice secula, prospice singula mersa tenebris!
In mala labere, lapsus amabere, rectus egebis.
Vis mala linquere, recta capescere, vivere recte?

Look forward to the ages, look upon each thing plunged in darkness!
Slide into evils, be beloved for a lapse, you will lack the right thing.
Would you wish to leave evils, to seize the right, to live rightly?

Es lyra publica, scena theatrica fit tibi de te.
Proh dolor! omnia mergit in impia vera Charybdis.
Crimina congere, primus habebere, maximus ibis.

You are a public lyre, a theatrical stage is made of you about yourself.
Ah sorrow! the impious, true Charybdis drowns all things.
Heap up crimes; you will hold the first place, you will go forth the greatest.

Vis requiescere, tutoque vivere? vis tibi pacem?
Leno potentibus esto reatibus, unge minacem.

Do you wish to rest, and to live safely? Do you wish peace for yourself?
Be a procurer to the powerful in their crimes; anoint the menacing one.

Facta videns rea, percipe caprea lumina talpae.
Visa tuo cito corde repellito, radito, scalpe. 820
Si mala prodere, crimina rodere vis aliena,
Nil tibi consulis: insuper exulis est tibi poena.
Fert fera iurgia pungere turpia nunc vitiorum;
Est probra carpere veraque dicere, fons odiorum.

Seeing the deeds, O accused, take note of the goatish eyes of the mole.
Having seen them, quickly drive them from your heart—scrape them off, pare them away. 820
If you wish to expose evils, to gnaw at another’s crimes,
you consult nothing for yourself: moreover exile is your punishment.
It brings forth savage quarrels to sting the shameful vices;
To pick at reproaches and to speak truths is the fountain of hatreds.

Est mihi sarcina qui mea crimina vel bene prodit,
Mens male conscia luminis omnia rodit et odit.
Gens bibit ebria pocula noxia, pocula lethes,
Quae morientibus invenit omnibus ille poetes.
Quisque mali memor, unius immemor est pietatis.

There is in me a burden that even well betrays my crimes,
a mind ill-conscious of the light that gnaws at and hates all things.
A people drinks, drunken, noxious cups, cups of Lethe,
which, as the poet says, find all who are dying.
Each one mindful of evil, forgetful of a single piety.

Iustus eget lare; nemo bonis dare vult sua gratis. 830
Singula censibus, omnia mercibus, at sine nummo,
Nil, nisi nil, geris. Heu! casa pauperis est sine fumo.

The just man needs a home; no one wishes to give his goods gratis. 830
Each thing by valuation, all things for merchandise, yet without coin,
You carry nothing, save nothing. Alas! the poor man’s cottage is without smoke.

Divitis atria seu laquearia celsa renident,
Mascula pignora primaque robora nunc sibi rident.
Accubat affluus, ambulat arduus, ipse Liburno,
Et quoties placet in thalamo iacet altus eburno.
Mane coquos citat et stomacho litat ilico taurum.

The rich man's halls or lofty paneled ceilings gleam,
manly pledges and prime strengths now smile for themselves.
The affluent reclines, the lofty one walks, even the Liburnian himself,
and whenever he pleases lies high in an ivory bedchamber.
At morning he summons the cooks and straightway appeases his stomach with a bull.

Mellea pocula crassaque fercula sustinet aurum.
Nox sibi somnia, sol dare prandia festa recurrit.
Par barathro gula, quid nisi secula tota ligurrit. 840

Honeyed cups and rich platters are sustained by gold.
Night brings dreams to itself, the sun returns to give festive meals.
Gluttony, equal to the abyss—what does it lap up but whole ages? 840

Nidor ei sapit atque gulam rapit esca culinae.
Sunt sua prandia, foenora, iurgia, lucra, rapinae.
Est homo bestia, ventris et hostia, bestia nempe,
Ventreque turgida denteque vivida, mortua mente.

The reek flavors him, and the kitchen fare seizes his throat.
There are his lunches, his usuries, quarrels, profits, and plunder.
He is man and beast, a victim of his belly, a beast indeed,
swollen with belly and eager with tooth, dead of mind.

Vult bona prandia, vult bona praedia, vult bona prata,
Vult bona pocula, vult bona fercula, non bona facta.
Res valet aes sapit his titulos rapit arca diebus;
Lingua, scientia vitaque sobria nil sine rebus.
Munera ditibus at flagra mitibus ingeminantur.

He wants good meals, he wants good estates, he wants good meadows,
He wants good cups, he wants good dishes, not good deeds.
Wealth prevails; money flavors these things; the chest snatches up titles in days;
Tongue, learning, and a sober life are worth nothing without resources.
Gifts to the wealthy, but passions to the mild, are multiplied.

Iura minoribus, inferioribus arma minantur. 850
Omnia praecipit, insuper accipit omnia nummus.
Dives it inclytus aereque praeditus, arceque summus;
Terrea possidet; haec sibi providet, auget, acervat.
Forte latronibus illa vel hostibus aucta reservat;
Denique scrinia fracta vel ostia flens magis aret,
Quam sua pignora caraque corpora si tumularet.

Iura minoribus, inferioribus arma minantur. 850
They grant rights to the lesser, to those below they menace with arms.
Money hurls all down, moreover money takes all things.
The wealthy man goes forth renowned and endowed with money, and highest in the citadel;
He possesses earthly goods; these he provides for himself, increases, and heaps up.
Perhaps he reserves those increased things for robbers or even for enemies;
At last, weeping over broken chests or doors, he is more distressed than if he were to bury
his pledges and his dear bodies.

Secula circinat, impia ruminat, ima volutat,
Itque per aequora, per iuga, per fora, sidera mutat.
Trans mare nititur, exulat, utitur orbe recenti.
Dant sibi littora, dant maris aequora, non freta venti. 860
Res sua frivola, mens sua subdola, sors sua flenda.

She encompasses the ages, chews over impious matters, rolls through the depths,
and goes across the seas, over ridges, through markets, she changes the stars.
She strives across the sea, exults abroad, uses the fresh globe.
The shores yield to her, the sea’s plains yield to her, but not the straits nor the winds. 860
Her affairs frivolous, her mind deceitful, her lot lamentable.

Vendita somniat, empta perampliat, artat emenda.
Lucra lucris parat et graphiis artat illa vel ista.
Debita, credita, quaeque recondita divite cista.

She dreams of selling, she amplifies what is bought, she readies things to be mended.
She makes profit from profits and outfits this or that with ledgers (graphiis).
Debts, credits, and whatever is concealed in the rich chest.

Huic requiescere dulce sub aggere divitiarum;
Saepe revolvere, diligit addere saepius aurum.
Denique deficit, his quia proficit, aret inundans;
Mammona conditur et sitis additur, O sitis undans!
Fit sine nomine nominis omine Tantalus ille.

To him it is sweet to rest beneath a mound of riches;
often to turn them over, he loves to add gold again and again.
At last he fails — because he profits from these, the overflowing dries up;
Mammon is stored and thirst is added, O swelling thirst!
He is made, without a name, that Tantalus in the omen of a name.

Sunt sua gaudia, lucra, pecunia, praedia, villae. 870

There are their own joys, lucre, money, estates, villas. 870

Horrea construit, omnibus affluit unus opimus,
Ad bona serior, ad mala promptior, ad fora primus.
Dives ad omnia concitus impia, tardus ad aequum;
Ut rosa cernitur, ut rota sternitur et sua secum,
Stans hodie cluit ipseque cras ruit, ipse sed alter.
Mane videt sua dives et haec tua vespere pauper.

He builds granaries, one wealthy man overflows for all,
Slow to good things, readier for evils, first to the market.
Rich in all things, impious in his haste, slow toward what is right;
As the rose is seen, as the wheel is overthrown and lays its own low with it,
Standing today, he himself tomorrow falls — himself, yet another.
In the morning the rich man sees his own, and you, poor one, see yours at evening.

Dormiet affluus, ilico mortuus omnia perdet;
Mox sua non sua latro feret sua se nece sternet.
Ut folium leve subtrahit ad breve fur sua, mors se,
Deserit omnia; tunc lucra noxia stant sibi noxae. 880
Quae labor intulit annuus abstulit una vel hora,
Divitis omnia quaeque nitentia, quaeque decora.
O miserabilis, O sibi flebilis, O miser idem.

The affluent man will sleep; straightaway, dead, he will lose all things;
Soon a thief will carry off his — what is not truly his — and his own death will prostrate him.
As a light leaf the fleeting thief snatches away, death deserts everything; tunc lucra noxia stant sibi noxae. 880
What annual labour brought, one hour has taken away — all the rich man’s things, both those that glitter and those that are fair.
O miserable one, O to himself lamentable, O miserable the same.

Quanta pecunia, tanta molestia crescit eidem.
Pertimet omnia, quem sua copia reddit egentem;
Res sua possidet, angit et obsidet undique mentem.
Cura cor anxiat, angor inebriat, impedit error.

As much money as there is, so great a trouble grows for the same man.
He fears everything whom his abundance makes needy;
His goods possess him, and press and besiege the mind on every side.
Care anxieties the heart, anguish inebriates, error impedes.

Pallet ei color, hinc dolus, hinc dolor, undique terror.
Somnus inania multaque somnia, nil sibi praestant;
Luce negocia, nocte minacia visa molestant. 890
Scrinia frangere, caetera tollere latro videtur,
Dives egens tremit, evigilans gemit idque veretur;
Ilico surgitur, arca revolvitur, aes reperitur.
Noctis abit mora, lux vocat ad fora, merx strepit, itur.

His color pales; thence deceit, thence pain, and terror on every side.
Sleep, vain and many dreams, yield him nothing;
During the day business, by night menacing visions trouble him. 890
A thief seems to break open the chests and carry off the rest,
the rich-and-needy man trembles; waking he groans and dreads it;
Straightaway he rises, the chest is overturned, money is found.
Night’s delay departs, light calls to the fora, merchandise rattles, they go.

Post lucra cursitat, in lucra militat, ad lucra spirat.
Spirat et aequora nauta pedes fora saepe regirat.
Per mala maxima, per flagra plurima vitat egere.

He runs after profits, he wages war in profits, he breathes toward profits.
The sailor also breathes the seas, and often directs his feet to the fora.
Through the greatest evils, through very many torments he avoids want.

Fraudat et eripit, id dat id accipit, aes novat aere.
Pauca suis dare, nil tibi, Lazare, quaerit avarus,
Fletus inest tibi, fletus erit sibi, qualis? amarus. 900

He cheats and snatches away, he gives what he takes, money renews money with money.
To his own he seeks to give little, to you, Lazarus, nothing, the miser;
There is weeping for you, there will be weeping for himself, what sort? bitter. 900

Nunc locuples eat, expleat, impleat impia vota,
Post breve defluet illaque corruet area tota;
Quomodo glarea decidet area divitiarum,
Copia concidet, area decidet, et vir earum.
Lucra ruentia praetereuntia lucra patenter,
Vult, voluit, volet, et colit et colet haec homo semper.
Dum dabit Anglia lac, ebur India, Smyrna cicadam,
Per fora, per iuga curret agens lucra plurimus Adam.

Now the wealthy may eat, may fill, may satisfy impious vows,
Afterwards it will flow away briefly and the whole threshing-floor will collapse;
As gravel falls, so falls the threshing-floor of riches,
Abundance will collapse, the threshing-floor falls, and the man of them.
Tumbling gains, passing gains plainly reveal themselves,
He wants, has wanted, will want, and he cultivates and will cultivate these things always.
While England yields milk, India ivory, Smyrna cicadae,
Through markets, through ridges will run, driving profits, very active Adam.

Lucra, pecunia, res, opulentia, nunc dominantur.
O mala! lacrima pauperis optima nullificantur. 910
Plurima praedia sive peculia fraude lucratus
Nunc benedicitur ipseque dicitur esse beatus.

Gains, money, goods, opulence, now hold sway.
O evils! the poor man’s best tear(s) are nullified. 910
Having profited by fraud in very many estates or peculia,
Now he is blessed and is himself said to be happy.

Quisque palatia vult sibi grandia, construit aedes,
Hic quasi propria secla per omnia sit sibi sedes.
Atria splendida castraque florida sunt rosa mundi,
Nemo perennia construit atria; terrea cuncti.
Pingimus atria, turba nefaria, gens Cananaea,
Atria marmore forsitan arbore structa Sabaea.

Each one desires great palaces for himself, he builds houses,
Here as if his own ages through all things were a seat for himself.
Splendid atria and flourishing camps are the rose of the world,
No one builds perennial atria; all are earthly.
We paint atria, wicked throng, a Canaanite people,
Atria, Sabaean, built of marble or perhaps of wood.

Pingimus atria — Christus ad ostia nostra gemiscit.
Nos dape tendimur et bene pascimur — ille famiscit. 920
Nos mala crapula solvit, agit gula, tibia frangit;
Ille sitit, gemit, esurit et tremit et grave plangit.
Nos grue pascimur, ansere vescimur illeque neutro.

We paint our halls — Christ at our thresholds groans.
We are stretched at the feast and well fed — he famishes. 920
Wicked crapula undoes us, gluttony drives, the pipe is broken;
He thirsts, groans, hungers and trembles and laments heavily.
We are fed on crane, we eat on goose — and he on neither.

Ah! reus ungitur et Deus angitur — ordine pulchro!
Nos ave, nos ove, nos sue, nos bove vescimur — hic non.
Pectora saxea stringit et aerea viscera daemon.

Ah! the accused is anointed and God is anguished — in fair order!
We eat bird, we eat sheep, we eat swine, we eat ox — not him.
A demon tightens stone-like hearts and brazen entrails.

Gens sumus ebria, gens sumus impia, daemone plena,
Pessima natio, prava creatio, gens aliena.
Fercula plurima quaerimus optima pondera ventri,
Vilia mittimus, immo relinquimus esurienti. 930

We are a drunken people, we are an impious people, demon-full,
A most wicked nation, a perverse creation, an alien gens.
We seek very many dishes, the choicest portions for the belly,
We send away cheap things, nay rather we leave them to the hungry. 930

O mala secula! Cur? Quia singula nunc vitiantur,
Illaque luxibus, improbitatibus ista ligantur.

O evil secula! Why? Because singular things are now vitiated,
and those are bound by luxuries and improprieties.

Dux stat, inops ruit, hunc populus spuit, excolit illum.
Stultus habens fremit inque probos emit ille sigillum.
Ius periit, quia lata patet via luxuriei,
Garrulitatibus, ebrietatibus, ingluviei;
Carnis amantibus, ordinis hostibus, invidiosis,
Concubitoribus, irreverentibus, ambitiosis,
Nulla nefaria nullaque turpia non peraguntur.

A leader stands, a pauper rushes; the people spit on this one, they exalt that one.
The fool, possessing, rages, and he buys the seal of the upright.
Law has perished, because the broad way of luxury lies open,
by garrulity, by ebriety, by gluttony;
to lovers of the flesh, to enemies of order, to the envious,
to concubitors, the irreverent, the ambitious,
no nefarious thing nor shameful deed goes uncommitted.

Re modo prodita, non prius agnita voce geruntur. 940
Ingenialia vel furialia crimina fiunt;
Illa novissima tempora pessima iam patefiunt.
Nam meretricia poene cubilia nil reputantur,
Et venialia quod genialia sint vocitantur.
Frons perit omnibus in lue stantibus, in probra stratis.

When a matter is newly revealed, it is carried by a voice not previously recognized; 940
ingenious or frenzied crimes are committed;
those most recent times now lie open as the worst. For meretricious beds and penalties are reckoned as nothing,
and venial things are proclaimed to be genial. Public reputation perishes for all who stand in this plague, laid in reproach upon their couches.

Quando boni minus, amplior aut sinus improbitatis?
Quando nefaria plus dominantia? Quando malorum
Copia latior?

When the good are fewer, or when a broader or larger fold/sphere of wickedness?
When are nefarious dominations greater? When is the abundance of evils broader?

aut fuit artior area morum?
Si Deus impia, si capitalia cuncta iuberet,
Quis vigilantius illa quis amplius ista teneret? 950
Si scelus addere, sobria spernere iure liceret,
Quis magis adderet haec ea sperneret atque caveret?
Per varium genus omne caput Venus una sagittat,
Quisque salubria, nemo nefaria promere vitat.

or was the realm of morals any narrower?
If God were to command all things impious, all capital deeds,
Who more watchfully would keep those, who more fully those other things? 950
If it were lawful to add crime, to scorn sobriety by right,
Who would be more ready to add these things, who to spurn and beware those?
Through every diverse kind Venus shoots the head with one arrow,
Each shuns salutary things, no one refrains from bringing forth wickedness.

Ob mala grandia si modo praemia celsa darentur,
Non mala promptius aut bona tardius appeterentur.
Dum loquor horreo. Non scio, non queo, non volo fari,
Fanda nefandaque, quis queat utraque vel lacrimari?

If, because of great evils, only lofty rewards were given,
evil would not be sought more readily nor good pursued more slowly.
While I speak I tremble. I do not know, I cannot, I will not speak,
the speakable and the unspeakable—who could either utter both or even weep?

Quae rogo flumina quaeve volumina sint lacrimarum
Sufficientia tergere turpia tot furiarum? 960

What rivers, I ask, or what volumes of tears would be sufficient to wash away the shameful deeds of so many furies? 960

Si furialia dixero talia, non erit aequum,
Si scelus est minus; heu! iacet eminus actio legum.
Carmen arans fleo; carmine non queo, non queo prosa,
Tot mala dicere, probra retexere, ferre probrosa.

If I should speak such furious things, it would not be fair,
If the crime be less; ah! the legal action lies afar.
Ploughing a song I weep; by song I cannot, by prose I cannot,
To name so many evils, to unweave reproaches, to bear shameful things.

Plurima sunt ea, defit eis mea vox referendis,
Non ea vocibus est pudor omnibus his retegendis;
Deficiet scio charta, locutio, tempus et hora,
Si volo tangere, si reprehendere vel graviora.
Musa quidem mea, iam nimis est ea lassa notare,
Non tamen est rea progenies ea lassa patrare. 970
Ergo parum stylus isteque dactylus hic reprimetur.
Secula perdita post quoque subdita Musa loquetur,
Alta per aequora currimus anchora nunc iaciatur;
Vis ubi plenior auraque gratior ibit, eatur.

There are very many things; my voice fails to report them to them,
There is not such modesty in words for uncovering all these things;
I know the paper, speech, time and hour will be lacking,
If I wish to touch on them, if to reproach, or graver matters.
My Muse indeed is already too weary to note them down,
Yet the progeny is not guilty to accomplish what is brought by such weariness; 970
Therefore this small stylus and this dactyl shall be restrained.
The Muse, set after the lost ages, will speak afterwards too,
We sail now over the deep — let the anchor be cast;
Where force is fuller and the breeze more gracious, let it go, let it be.