Paedagogica Index

[ 401 ] Negandi causa avaro nusquam deficit.

[ 401 ] Greedy people never lack an excuse [a reason for refusing].

[ 402 ] Quotidie damnatur qui semper timet.

[ 402 ] The person who lives in fear is convicted every day.

[ 403 ] Semper aetas vergit in pejus, et mores hominum in dies magis ac magis degenerant.

[ 403 ] The times are always getting worse and day by day people's morality is deteriorating more and more.

[ 404 ] Stultum est timere, quod vitari non potest.

[ 404 ] It is foolish to fear what can't be avoided.

[ 405 ] Tam deest avaro quod habet, quam quod non habet.

[ 405 ] Persons compelled by greed lack what they have as much as what they don't have.

[ 406 ] Avarus et suis et alienis ex aequo caret.

[ 406 ] Misers are equally deprived of what belongs to them and what belongs to others.

[ 407 ] Sententiae.

[ 407 ] Maxims.

[ 408 ] Magnus erroris magister, populus.

[ 408 ] A great teacher of error, the people. ["People in general are very good at illustrating what not to do."]

[ 409 ] Assuescat unusquisque jam tum a puero veras habere de rebus opiniones, quae simul cum aetate adolescent.

[ 409 ] From childhood, people all get used to having the right ideas about things, and these ideas will mature in keeping with the stages of their lives.

[ 410 ] Eligenda est optima vitae ratio, hanc consuetudo jucundissimam reddet.

[ 410 ] Select the best plan for living - routine will make it a most delightful one.

[ 411 ] Homo ex corpore constat et animo.

[ 411 ] A person is made up of body and intellect.

[ 412 ] Corpus habemus ex terra et his elementis quae cernimus ac tangimus, corporibus bestiarum simile.

[ 412 ] We have a body [made] out of earth and these elements that we perceive and touch, like the bodies of animals.

[ 413 ] Animum divinitus datum, Angelis et Deo similem, unde censetur homo, et qui solus merito esset homo appellandus, ut maximis viris placuit. Animus enim cujusque is est quisque.

[ 413 ] [We have] a mind given by divine power, an intellect like the angels and God. On this basis one is judged a person, and only should such be rightly called a person, as the greatest men have chosen to do. For the intellect [or spirit] of each person is that individual.

[ 414 ] Regina et princeps rerum omnium praestantissima est Virtus, cui reliqua omnia si suo velint officio defungi, ancillari oportet.

[ 414 ] The best queen and leader of all endeavors is Virtue, which all the rest have to serve if they want to perform their duties.

[ 415 ] Divitiae non sunt gemmae aut mettalla, non magnifica aedificia, vel supellex instructa: sed non iis carere quae sunt ad tuendam vitam necessaria.

[ 415 ] Wealth is not precious stones or metals, not magnificent buildings, or well-made furniture: but it is not being deprived of that which is indispensable for the protection of life.

[ 416 ] Corpus ipsum nihil aliud est, quam tegumentum vel mancipium animi, cui et natura, et ratio, et Deus jubent subjectum esse, ut brutum sentienti, mortale immortali ac divino.

[ 416 ] The body itself is nothing but a protective shell and a serving agency for the mind, to which nature, and reason, and God bids it to be subject, as the insensate is subject to what has feeling and what dies is subject to what is undying and godly.

[ 417 ] Quid aliud est vita, quam peregrinatio quaedam, tot undique casibus objecta et petita, cui nulla hora non imminet finis, qui potest levissimis de causis accidere?

[ 417 ] What is life but a kind of journey, beset and beleaguered by so many calamities on all sides, over each moment of which looms an end that can occur for the silliest of reasons?

[ 418 ] Quemadmodum in via, sic et in vita, quo quis expeditior, et paucioribus sarcinis implicitus, hoc levius et jucundius iter facit.

[ 418 ] The way it is on the road is the same way it is in life: the one who has less baggage and is entangled with fewer burdens makes it a lighter and more delightful journey.

[ 419 ] Divitiae, et possessiones, et vestimenta in usum tantum parantur. Non adjuvant quenquam immensae opes, sed opprimunt, ut navem ingentia onera.

[ 419 ] Riches and possessions and clothing are gotten only for their use. Vast wealth doesn't help anyone; rather it weighs everyone down, as heavy cargo does a ship.

[ 420 ] Aurum nisi utare, parum differt a coeno, nisi quod magis angit ejus custodia: et efficit ut dum uni studes, ea negligas, quae sunt homini maxime salutaria.

[ 420 ] Gold is not very different from garbage, unless you make use of it, except that guarding it causes more stress, and it distracts you from whatever is especially good for a person's health while it makes you put your interest into that one thing alone.

[ 421 ] Divitiarum maxima pars, aedificia, supellex numerosa et opulenta, gemmae aurum, argentum, ornamentorum omne genus, spectantium oculis, et comparantur, et exponuntur, non possidentium usibus.

[ 421 ] The largest part of riches, buildings, furniture that is rich and abundant, precious stones, gold, silver, and every kind of decoration - [these] are both gotten and displayed for the eyes of the ones looking at it, and not for the uses of those possessing it.

[ 422 ] Quid aliud est nobilitas, quam nascendi sors et opinio a populi stultitia inducta? [e]t quae saepenumero latrociniis quaeritur.

[ 422 ] What is nobility but accident of birth and belief that has been introduced by the foolishness of the people? And it is quite often gotten by means of robberies.

[ 423 ] Vera et solida nobilitas a virtute nascitur: stultumque est gloriari te parentem habuisse bonum, quum sis ipse malus; et turpitudine tua dedecori sis pulchritudini generis.

[ 423 ] A real, authentic nobility arises from virtue: it is silly to boast that you had a good parent, when you yourself are bad, and by your disreputable character you are a shameful stain upon the attractive wholesomeness of your house.

[ 424 ] Ignobilitatem contemnere, est Deum nascendi authorem tacite reprehendere.

[ 424 ] To despise someone's lowly birth is to quietly rebuke God, the originator of [all] bearing.

[ 425 ] Potentia quid est aliud quam speciosa molestia? in qua si quis sciret, quae solicitudines, quae anxietates insint, quantum malorum mare, nemo est tam ambitiosus, qui non eam fugeret, ut gravem miseriam.

[ 425 ] What is power but an alluring annoyance? No one is so ambitious that he, if he knew what worries, what concerns, and how great a sea of troubles are in it, would not flee it as he would flee a situation of serious distress.

[ 426 ] Quantum est odium si regas malos, quanto majus si malus ipse.

[ 426 ] How great is the hatred if you have control over wicked people, and how much worse it is if you are wicked yourself!

[ 427 ] Quid in somno, quid in solitudine inter summum regem interest, et infimum servum?

[ 427 ] What difference is there in sleep or solitude between the greatest king and the lowest servant?

[ 428 ] In corpore ipso quid est forma? Nempe articula bene colorata. Si intraria cerni possent, quanta vel in corpore speciosissimo cerneretur foeditas?

[ 428 ] What is beauty in the body itself? Certainly attractively-colored limbs. If the inner organs could be perceived, how much ugliness would be found to exist in even the most appealing body?

[ 429 ] Lineamenta et corporis decor quid juvant, si turpis sit animus? Et (sicut Graecus ille dixit) in hospitio pulchro hospes deformis?

[ 429 ] What good do the handsome looks and attractive features of the body do, if the mind is base and like "an ugly guest in a beautiful lodge," as that famous Greek said?

[ 430 ] Forma, vires, agilitas, et caeterae corporis dotes, ut flosculi celeriter marcescunt, exiguis casibus diffugiunt. Vel una febricula validissimum quandoque hominem concutit, et summum decorem tollit.

[ 430 ] Beauty, strength, agility, and the other gifts of the body wither quickly, as little flowers disappear on account of trivial causes. Even a bout of fever sometimes shakes the most robust of men, and wipes out all the charm of his appearance.

[ 431 ] Nemo potest externa, jure sua dicere, quae tam facile ad alios transeunt: nec corporea, quae tam cito avolant.

[ 431 ] No one can rightly call "his" the external things that so easily pass to others: not bodily things either, which so quickly disappear.

[ 432 ] Quid quod haec quae multi admirantur, magnorum vitiorum sint causae, velut insolentiae, arrogantiae, socordae, ferocitatis, livoris, aemulationis, simultatum, rixarum, bellorum, caedis, stragis, cladis?

[ 432 ] Why is it that the things that many admire are the causes of the worst vices, like impertinence, arrogance, sloth, aggressiveness, spite, rivalry, enmity, quarreling, wars, slaughter, massacre, calamity?

[ 433 ] Ex luxu et intemperantia, morbi plaerique ad corpus redundant, et ad rem familiarem permagna damna, tum ad animum certa poenitentia, et hebetudo ingenii, quod deliciis corporis extenuatur, ac frangitur.

[ 433 ] From soft and self-indulgent living, a great number of diseases infiltrate the body, and quite extensive loss is sustained by one's property, then sure regret comes to one's heart, and dullness in the wit, which shrinks away by the body's fun, and breaks down.

[ 434 ] Maximum malum putato, non paupertatem, aut ignobilitatem, aut carcerem, aut nuditatem, ignominiam, deformitatem corporis, morbos, imbecillitatem: sed vitia, et his proxima, inscitiam, stuporem, dementiam.

[ 434 ] Don't think that the worst evil is poverty, or lowly birth, or prison, or bodily exposure, disgrace, bodily handicaps, diseases, or feebleness, but consider it to be the vices and what approaches them: ignorance, a numb insensitivity, and mad behavior.

[ 435 ] Magnum bonum credito horum contraria, virtutem, et quae huic sunt finitima, peritiam, acumen ingenii, sanitatem mentis.

[ 435 ] Consider the great good to be the opposites of these: Virtue, and what approaches it, skill, keen intelligence, mental health.

[ 436 ] Si externa bona habeas, proderunt tibi ad virtutem relata; oberunt, ad vitia: si non habeas, cave ne quaeras vel cum minimo virtutis dispendio.

[ 436 ] If you possess external goods, they will profit you [to the extent that they are] connected with virtue; they will hinder you [to the extent that they are connected ] with vice. If you do not have them, be careful not to seek [them] even with the smallest forfeit of virtue.

[ 437 ] Quo curatius est corpus, hoc animus neglectior.

[ 437 ] The greater the concern for the body, the less there is for the spirit.

[ 438 ] Quo mollius habetur corpus, hoc acrius menti reluctatur; et ut equus delicate pastus sessorem excutit.

[ 438 ] The more pampered the body is, the more keenly it resists the mind, even as a horse when it has been fastidiously fed tries to unseat its rider.

[ 439 ] Gravis sarcina corporis animum elidit, acumen ingenii sagina corporis, aut indulgentia retunditur.

[ 439 ] The heavy burden of the body undoes the spirit, and the lavish feeding or the indulgence of the body blunts the sharpness of the intellect.

[ 440 ] Cibi, somni, exercitationes, tota corporis curatio, ad sanitatem referenda est, non ad voluptatem, ut animo prompte inserviat.

[ 440 ] Food, sleep, exercises -- all the care of one's health ought to be related to being well rather than to feeling good, so that one's body may give quick service to one's mind.

[ 441 ] Nihil est quod aeque, et vigorem mentis debilitet, et robur ac nervos corporis infringat, ut voluptas: quippe vires omnes et corporis et mentis, opere ac labore vegetantur: otio ac mollitie voluptatis languescunt.

[ 441 ] Nothing matches pleasure for weakening the liveliness of the mind and crushing the strength and power of the body: to be sure, all strength of mind and body thrives on work and effort: it wilts under leisure and tenderness.

[ 442 ] Mundicies corporis et victus citra delicias, aut morositatem, ad valetudinem et ingenium confert.

[ 442 ] Cleanliness of the body and a way of life that does not go as far as luxury or fastidiousness contribute to one's health and wit.

[ 443 ] Ablues subinde manus et faciem frigida, detergesque mundo linteolo.

[ 443 ] Wash your hands and face with cold water regularly, and wipe them off with a clean towel.

[ 444 ] Arceatur frigus quum ab aliis partibus, tum vel maxime a cervice.

[ 444 ] Keep the cold away from the other parts of your body, but especially from your neck.

[ 445 ] Ne statim edas a quiete, nec ante prandium, nisi tenuiter.

[ 445 ] Do not eat right after resting, or before lunch, except sparingly.

[ 446 ] Ientaculum sedando stomacho, aut refocillando datur corpori, non satietati.

[ 446 ] Breakfast is for settling the stomach, or for giving strength back to the body. It is not for feeling full.

[ 447 ] Tres aut quatuor panis bucceae sufficiunt sine potione, aut certe exigua, atque ea tenui: salutare hoc non minus ingenio quam corpori.

[ 447 ] Three or four mouthfuls of bread are enough, without drink, or certainly just a little bit and even that diluted: this is as good for the mind as for the body.

[ 448 ] In prandio et coena assuesce non vesci, nisi ex uno obsonii genere: eodem simplicissimo, et, quantum per facultates licebit, saluberrimo, quamvis multa mensae inferantur.

[ 448 ] In your lunch and dinner, get accustomed to taking only one kind of food, a very simple dish and as wholesome as supplies allow, however many things are brought to the table.

[ 449 ] Varietas ciborum homini pestilens, pestilentior condimentorum.

[ 449 ] The wide choice of foods is unhealthy for a person, and that of spices is worse.

[ 450 ] Natura necessaria docuit, quae sunt pauca, et parabilia: Stultitia superflua excogitavit, quae sunt infinita, et difficilia.

[ 450 ] Nature has taught [us] what things are essential -- these are few and they are readily available. Foolishness has contrived the non-essentials, which are unlimited and hard to come by.

[ 451 ] Naturae si des necessaria, delectatur et roboratur tanquam propriis: sin superflua, debilitatur, et affligitur tanquam alienis.

[ 451 ] If you give nature the essentials, she's happy and strengthened as if by what belongs to her: but if you give nature what is not essential, she weakens and is crushed as if by what belongs to something else.

[ 452 ] Stultitiam necessaria non explent: superflua cum obruant, non satiant.

[ 452 ] What is essential does not satisfy foolishnss: [even] when the non-essentials are overwhelming, they are not enough for it.

[ 453 ] A coena ne bibe, aut si id admonet sitis, sume humidum aliquid, et frigidiusculum, aut perpusillum tenuis potiunculae.

[ 453 ] Don't drink right after dinner, or if your thirst nags you, take something moist and a little chilled, or a very small bit of a diluted drink.

[ 454 ] Inter eam potionem, et quietem interpone, quum minimum horae dimidium.

[ 454 ] Separate that drinking and your rest with at least half an hour.

[ 455 ] Exercitationes corporis non erunt immodicae, caeterum aptandae rationi valetudinis.

[ 455 ] Physical exercise should not be overdone, but undertaken in proportion to what good health demands.

[ 456 ] Somnus sumendus est tanquam medicina quaedam, curando corpori: tantummodo quantus sufficit. Immodicus enim reddit corpora redundantia noxiis humoribus, segnia, pigra, lenta, et celeritatem mentis tardat.

[ 456 ] Take sleep as if it were a kind of medicine, for taking care of the body, only as much as is necessary. For excessive sleep fills bodies with harfmul fluids and makes them sluggish, lazy, and slow, and it slows one's mental speed.

[ 457 ] Non est existimandum vitae id tempus, quod somno impenditur: vita enim vigilia est.

[ 457 ] The time given to sleep ought not to be thought to belong to life, for life is awareness.

[ 458 ] Non attingendi sunt authores spurci, ne quid sordium animo ex contagie adhaereat.

[ 458 ] Don't dip into filthy authors, so that no bit of squalor sticks to your spirit from the contact.

[ 459 ] Tribus velut instrumentis fabricamur eruditionem, ingenio, memoria, cura.

[ 459 ] We fashion learning with three instruments, as it were: wit, memory, interest.

[ 460 ] Ingenium, exercitatione acuitur: memoria, excolendo augetur: Utrumque enervant deliciae, bona valetudo confirmat.

[ 460 ] Wit is sharpened by practice; memory is extended by developing it. Amusements undo both; good health strengthens them.

[ 461 ] Scito te operam et tempus perdere, si quae legis, vel audis, non attendas.

[ 461 ] Realize that you are losing your time and trouble if you do not pay close attention to what you read or hear.

[ 462 ] Quae ignoras, ne pudeat quaerere. Ne erubesce a quovis doceri, quod maximi viri non erubuerunt: erubesce potius ignorare, aut nolle discere.

[ 462 ] Don't be ashamed to ask about what you do not know. Don't be embarrassed [= don't blush] to be taught by anyone, because the greatest men have not been embarrassed [at that]. Rather be embarrassed about not knowing, or about not wanting to learn.

[ 463 ] Si videri vis doctus, da operam ut sis: nulla est compendiosior via. Quemadmodum non alia ratione facilius consequeris, ut existimeris bonus, quam si sis talis.

[ 463 ] If you want to appear learned, make the effort to be so. There is no shortcut. In the same way you will not find any easier way to be thought good than actually being so.

[ 464 ] Quicquid videri cupis, fac ut sis [original: scis]: aliter frustra cupis.

[ 464 ] Whatever you want to seem, make yourself be: otherwise you are desiring in vain.

[ 465 ] Falsa tempus infirmat, vera confirmat.

[ 465 ] Time undoes what is false, and it validates what is true.

[ 466 ] Cujusvis hominis est errare: nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare.

[ 466 ] Any person can make mistakes: nobody but a fool continues on in his error.

[ 467 ] Ne labores quam multa respondeas, sed quam apte, et in tempore.

[ 467 ] Don't strive as much to answer at great length as to answer in an appropriate and a timely way.

[ 468 ] Prandio tuo, et coenae, illos adhibe, qui te possint instituere, quique suavi ac docta collocutione pariter et exhilarent te, et peritiorem reddant.

[ 468 ] Invite to your lunch and dinner those who can teach you, and who can with charming and intelligent conversation both raise your spirits and make you smarter.

[ 469 ] Ex sapientibus disces, quo fias cautior.

[ 469 ] You will learn from the wise how to be more careful.

[ 470 ] Annitere, ne sola verba authoris quem legis intelligas, sed praecipue sensa.

[ 470 ] Strive to understand not only the words of the author whom you are reading, but especially his meanings.

[ 471 ] Quo plura memoriae commendabis, hoc custodiet omnia fidelius: quo pauciora, infidelius.

[ 471 ] The more you entrust to your memory, the more faithfully it will keep it all; the less you entrust, the less faithfully will it do so.

[ 472 ] Studio sapientiae nullus in vita terminus statuendus est, cum vita est finiendum. Semper illa tria sunt homini, quamdiu vivit, meditanda: quomodo bene sapiat, quomodo bene dicat, quomodo bene agat.

[ 472 ] No limit must be put on the pursuit of wisdom in life; it should end wth life. People should always contemplate those three things as long as they live: how to discern well, how to speak well, how to act well.

[ 473 ] Ab studiis arrogantia omnis arcenda est. Nam ea quae vel doctissimus mortalium novit, non sunt minutissimum eorum quae ignorat. Exiguum quiddam, et obscurum, et incertum est quicquid homines sciunt, mentesque nostrae in hoc corporeo carcere devinctae, magna ignoratione, et altissimis tenebris premuntur: aciemque adeo retusam habemus, ut nec summas penetremus rerum facies.

[ 473 ] All arrogance should be kept out of intellectual pursuits. For the things that even the most learned of mortals understands do not amount to the slightest fraction of what that person fails to know. Whatever people know is something slender and unclear and unsure, and our minds, shackled in this bodily prison, are hemmed in by extensive ignorance and the darkest shadows: We have so blunt a vision that we don't even scratch the surface of reality.

[ 474 ] Profectui studiorum plurimum nocet arrogantia. Multi enim potuissent ad sapientiam pervenire, ni jam putassent se pervenisse.

[ 474 ] Arrogance hurts the progress of studies to a great extent. For many would have been able to arrive at wisdom if they had not already thought that they had arrived [there].

[ 475 ] Vitanda contentio, aemulatio invida, obtrectatio, inanis gloriae cupido: quum in hoc sequamur studia, ut illa fugiamus.

[ 475 ] Avoid competition, jealous rivalry, detraction, and the vain compulsion for glory, since we pursue these studies precisely to escape those things.

[ 476 ] Studia res laetas condiunt, tristes leniunt, temerarios impetus juventae cohibent, senectutis molestam tarditatem levant. Domi, foris, in publico, in privato, in solitudine, in frequentia, in otio, in negotio comitantur, adsunt, imo praesunt, opitulantur, juvant.

[ 476 ] Studies spice up happy matters, they soften sad ones, they restrain the rash impulses of youth, they lighten the annoying sluggishness of old age. At home, abroad, in public, in private, in solitude, in a crowd, in leisure, in work, they companion, they support, no--they take the initiative, they lend assistance, they give aid.

[ 477 ] Non est despondendus animus, aut contrahendus reflante fortuna: quippe adversis matutinis, interdum succedunt prospera vespertina.

[ 477 ] The spirit ought not despair or withdraw in the face of a buffeting fortune: indeed, a morning against you will sometimes give way to an evening in your favor.

[ 478 ] Nihil aliud est haec vita, quam peregrinatio, qua in alteram sempiternam tendimus, paucissimisque rebus ad hoc iter conficiendum egemus.

[ 478 ] This life is nothing but a pilgrimage by which we press on to another one that is eternal, and we are lacking very few things for the completion of this journey.

[ 479 ] Fortunae muneribus expleri, quid aliud est, quam peditem multis sarcinis impediri, ac obrui.

[ 479 ] Getting one's fill of fortune's favors is nothing different from a footsoldier being hampered with many burdens and overwhelmed.

[ 480 ] Nemo est tam stupide amens, qui non se illi civitati ad quam tendit, et ubi morari destinat, potius quam itineri adornet, componatque.

[ 480 ] No one is so stupidly mindless as to get herself ready and dress herself up for the journey rather than for that city toward which she is headed and in which she has a mind to stay.

[ 481 ] Per Religionem Deus cognoscitur; cognitus, fieri nequit aliter, quin ametur.

[ 481 ] By Religion, God is known; once known, he can't but be loved.

[ 482 ] Mundus hic est velut domus quaedam Dei, vel potius templum. Ipse ex nihilo in hanc faciem, atque ornatum protulit.

[ 482 ] This world is like a kind of home for God, or rather a temple. He himself brought it forth from nothing to its present appearance and splendor.

[ 483 ] Angeli, daemones, homines, animantia, stirpes, lapides, coeli et elementa, cuncta denique Deo curae sunt, ac parent.

[ 483 ] Angels, demons, people, living beings, plants, stones, heavens and essential matter-- all these things are finally in God's hands and they obey him.

[ 484 ] Nihil videmus fieri, nihil moveri, nihil contingere, ac ne stipulam quidem attolli ullam, aut floccum volitare extra Dei praescripta, et jussa.

[ 484 ] We don't see anything arising or moving or happening, and not even a straw being lifted or a tuft of wool floating outside of God's direction and command.

[ 485 ] Humana omnis sapientia, si cum religione Christana conferatur, coenum est, et mera stultitia.

[ 485 ] All human wisdom, if it is compared with the Christian faith, is garbage and pure folly.

[ 486 ] Hanc nosse, perfecta est sapientia: juxta hanc vivere, perfecta virtus: sed nemo vere novit qui non pie vivit.

[ 486 ] To know it is complete wisdom; to live by it, perfect virtue: but no one knows it who does not live devoutly.

[ 487 ] Bonitas Christi, amorem elicit: Majestas ejus, cultum: Sapientia, fidem.

[ 487 ] The goodness of Christ elicits our love; his majesty, religious worship; his wisdom, faith.

[ 488 ] Corporalia opera fatua sunt ante Deum, nisi conditura ex animo addatur.

[ 488 ] Works done by the body are silly in God's sight, unless they are seasoned with feeling from the heart.

[ 489 ] In occultissimis recessibus, et procul ab omnium oculis, atque adeo in corde ipso, atque in animo tuo scito te habere Deum arbitrum, testem, judicem omnium, etiam cogitationum tuarum, ut illius praesentiam reveritus, nihil non modo facias, sed nec in animum admittas nefarium, aut turpe.

[ 489 ] In the most secret hiding-places, and far away from everyone's eyes, and even in your heart itself, and in your mind, know that you have God as an on-looker, a witness, a judge of everything, even of your thoughts, so that revering his presence, you not only do but even entertain the thought of nothing wicked or shameful.

[ 490 ] Impium est in res sacras jocari, aut dicta sanctarum Scripturarum ad lusus, ineptias, aniles fabulas, scommata convertere: ceu quis medicinam ad salutem paratam coeno aspergat.

[ 490 ] It is wicked to joke about holy matters or to use the sayings of the Sacred Scriptures for play, foolishness, old wives' tales, or taunting: that would be like someone sprinkling medicine gotten for one's health on garbage.

[ 491 ] Sacris intersis, attente ac pie, non ignarus quaecunque seu vides, seu audis, esse purissima et sacrosancta, spectareque ad immensam illam Dei majestatem; quam adorare facile est, comprehendere impossibile.

[ 491 ] Take part in liturgies attentively and devoutly, fully aware that whatever you see or hear is very pure and holy, and that it looks to that vast majesty of God, which is easy to worship and impossible to understand.

[ 492 ] Quum Deum, Dominum appellas, fac illi servias: quum Patrem, fac ames: et dignum te praestes tanto Patre filium.

[ 492 ] When you call God Lord, make sure that you serve him: when you call him Father, make sure that you love him, and show yourself to be a son worthy of such a Father.

[ 493 ] In citharoedo turpe est aliud ipsum ore, aliud fides ejus sonare: multo est turpius, quum Deo psallimus, aliud linguam dicere, aliud animum cogitare.

[ 493 ] It is awful for a musical entertainer to sing one thing while playing another; it is much more awful in prayer to God to say one thing and to think another.

[ 494 ] Deus omnibus animantibus variam quotidie alimoniam sufficit, conservat omnia, et vindicat ab interitu, quo nutu suo tendunt.

[ 494 ] God provides various kinds of nourishment for all living things every day, he keeps them safe, and he rescues them from the death toward which they are heading at his command.

[ 495 ] Nihil verius datur Christo, quam quod egenis datur.

[ 495 ] Nothing is given to Christ in a more real way than what is given to the needy.

[ 496 ] Ubi lectum ingrederis, fac cogites, unumquemque diem imaginem esse humanae vitae, cui succedit nox, et somnus simulacrum mortis expressissimum.

[ 496 ] When you go to bed, think that each day is an image of a human life that night follows, and think that sleep is a very close representation of the state of death.

[ 497 ] Sapientissimus vitae nostrae magister, nempe et author, unicum dedit ad vivendum documentum, ut Amemus.

[ 497 ] The wisest teacher of our life, in fact even its originator, has given a singular example for living, that we should love.

[ 498 ] Nemo invidet ei, quem amat: nec quisquam malis amici gaudet, nec bonis indolet. Amor enim omnia reddit communia, suaque esse existimat, quae sunt ejus quem amat.

[ 498 ] No one has ill-will for the one whom he loves: and no one is happy about the troubles of a friend, or is hurt by his good fortunes. For Love makes everything common, and he considers his own the things that belong to the one he loves.

[ 499 ] Longissimae et obscurissimae sunt in humano corde latebrae; quae humana acies in tantam caliginem penetrabit?

[ 499 ] Very long and very dark are the shadows in the human heart; what human sight will pierce through so deep a night?

[ 500 ] Hominem tibi a Deo commendatum, si dignus est, ama, quia dignus est, quem ames: sin indignus, ama, quia Deus dignus, cui pareas.

[ 500 ] Respect a person commended to you by God if that person is worthy because that one is worthy of your respect: if not, respect that person because God is worthy of your obedience.

Paedagogica Index