Proverbiorum 7
1 [Fili mi, custodi sermones meos, et præcepta mea reconde tibi. Fili,
My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 serva mandata mea, et vives; et legem meam quasi pupillam oculi tui:
Keep my commandments, and live; and my teaching, as the apple of thine eye.
3 liga eam in digitis tuis, scribe illam in tabulis cordis tui.
Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the tablet of thy heart.
4 Dic sapientiæ: Soror mea es, et prudentiam voca amicam tuam:
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, and call intelligence [thy] kinswoman:
5 ut custodiant te a muliere extranea, et ab aliena quæ verba sua dulcia facit.
that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger who flattereth with her words.
6 De fenestra enim domus meæ per cancellos prospexi,
For at the window of my house, I looked forth through my lattice,
7 et video parvulos; considero vecordem juvenem,
and I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the sons, a young man void of understanding,
8 qui transit per plateam juxta angulum et prope viam domus illius graditur:
passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
9 in obscuro, advesperascente die, in noctis tenebris et caligine.
in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the blackness of night and the darkness.
10 Et ecce occurrit illi mulier ornatu meretricio, præparata ad capiendas animas: garrula et vaga,
And behold, there met him a woman in the attire of a harlot, and subtle of heart.
11 quietis impatiens, nec valens in domo consistere pedibus suis;
She is clamorous and unmanageable; her feet abide not in her house:
12 nunc foris, nunc in plateis, nunc juxta angulos insidians.
now without, now in the broadways, — and she lieth in wait at every corner.
13 Apprehensumque deosculatur juvenem, et procaci vultu blanditur, dicens:
And she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
14 Victimas pro salute vovi; hodie reddidi vota mea:
I have peace-offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows:
15 idcirco egressa sum in occursum tuum, desiderans te videre, et reperi.
therefore came I forth to meet thee, to seek earnestly thy face, and I have found thee.
16 Intexui funibus lectulum meum; stravi tapetibus pictis ex Ægypto:
I have decked my bed with tapestry coverlets of variegated linen from Egypt;
17 aspersi cubile meum myrrha, et aloë, et cinnamomo.
I have perfumed my couch with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Veni, inebriemur uberibus, et fruamur cupitis amplexibus donec illucescat dies.
Come, let us revel in love until the morning, let us delight ourselves with loves.
19 Non est enim vir in domo sua: abiit via longissima:
For the husband is not at home, he is gone a long journey;
20 sacculum pecuniæ secum tulit; in die plenæ lunæ reversurus est in domum suam.
he hath taken the money-bag with him, he will come home on the day of the full moon.
21 Irretivit eum multis sermonibus, et blanditiis labiorum protraxit illum.
With her much enticement she beguiled him; with the smoothness of her lips she constrained him.
22 Statim eam sequitur quasi bos ductus ad victimam, et quasi agnus lasciviens, et ignorans quod ad vincula stultus trahatur:
He went after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, and as stocks [serve] for the correction of the fool;
23 donec transfigat sagitta jecur ejus, velut si avis festinet ad laqueum, et nescit quod de periculo animæ illius agitur.
till an arrow strike through his liver: as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for its life.
24 Nunc ergo, fili mi, audi me, et attende verbis oris mei.
And now, ye sons, hearken unto me, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Ne abstrahatur in viis illius mens tua, neque decipiaris semitis ejus;
Let not thy heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths:
26 multos enim vulneratos dejecit, et fortissimi quique interfecti sunt ab ea.
for she hath cast down many wounded, and all slain by her were strong.
