| 8 ἐπερώτησον γὰρ γενεὰν πρώτην ἐξιχνίασον δὲ κατὰ γένος πατέρων 9 χθιζοὶ γάρ ἐσμεν καὶ οὐκ οἴδαμεν σκιὰ γάρ ἐστιν ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὁ βίος 10 ἦ οὐχ οὗτοί σε διδάξουσιν καὶ ἀναγγελοῦσιν καὶ ἐκ καρδίας ἐξάξουσιν ῥήματα 11 μὴ θάλλει πάπυρος ἄνευ ὕδατος ἢ ὑψωθήσεται βούτομον ἄνευ πότου 12 ἔτι ὂν ἐπὶ ῥίζης καὶ οὐ μὴ θερισθῇ πρὸ τοῦ πιεῖν πᾶσα βοτάνη οὐχὶ ξηραίνεται 13 οὕτως τοίνυν ἔσται τὰ ἔσχατα πάντων τῶν ἐπιλανθανομένων τοῦ κυρίου ἐλπὶς γὰρ ἀσεβοῦς ἀπολεῖται 14 ἀοίκητος γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἔσται ὁ οἶκος ἀράχνη δὲ αὐτοῦ ἀποβήσεται ἡ σκηνή 15 ἐὰν ὑπερείσῃ τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ οὐ μὴ στῇ ἐπιλαβομένου δὲ αὐτοῦ οὐ μὴ ὑπομείνῃ 16 ὑγρὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὑπὸ ἡλίου καὶ ἐκ σαπρίας αὐτοῦ ὁ ῥάδαμνος αὐτοῦ ἐξελεύσεται 17 ἐπὶ συναγωγὴν λίθων κοιμᾶται ἐν δὲ μέσῳ χαλίκων ζήσεται 18 ἐὰν καταπίῃ ὁ τόπος ψεύσεται αὐτόν οὐχ ἑόρακας τοιαῦτα 19 ὅτι καταστροφὴ ἀσεβοῦς τοιαύτη ἐκ δὲ γῆς ἄλλον ἀναβλαστήσει |
8 Ask counsel of the ages that are long past; let the experience of former men overrule thee. 9 How blind are we, creatures of a day, whose time on earth passes like a shadow! 10 Those fathers of ours will be thy best teachers, and this is the advice their wisdom offers thee: 11 Never yet grew bulrush without moisture, nor reed-bed that lacked water; 12 fade it must, no leaf so soon, in its first flower, before men have time to gather it. 13 So frail their happiness, who leave God unremembered; so fade the hopes of false hearts. 14 Little shall their recklessness avail them; in threads of gossamer they put their trust. 15 Vain his reliance on the house he has built, vainly he seeks to underpin it. 16 Here is a plant that seems well-watered enough, spreads abroad its early shoots, but only till the sun rises; 17 wrapped about stones are the roots of it, and stones all its dwelling-place; 18 yonder sun must needs drain its life, and the garden will keep no memory of its passage. 19 So brief its pride; they are waiting even now underground, the shoots that will fill its place. |
8
Interroga enim generationem pristinam,
et diligenter investiga patrum memoriam 9
(hesterni quippe sumus, et ignoramus,
quoniam sicut umbra dies nostri sunt super terram), 10
et ipsi docebunt te, loquentur tibi,
et de corde suo proferent eloquia. 11
Numquid vivere potest scirpus absque humore?
aut crescere carectum sine aqua? 12
Cum adhuc sit in flore, nec carpatur manu,
ante omnes herbas arescit. 13
Sic viæ omnium qui obliviscuntur Deum,
et spes hypocritæ peribit. 14
Non ei placebit vecordia sua,
et sicut tela aranearum fiducia ejus. 15
Innitetur super domum suam, et non stabit;
fulciet eam, et non consurget. 16
Humectus videtur antequam veniat sol,
et in ortu suo germen ejus egredietur. 17
Super acervum petrarum radices ejus densabuntur,
et inter lapides commorabitur. 18
Si absorbuerit eum de loco suo,
negabit eum, et dicet: Non novi te. 19
Hæc est enim lætitia viæ ejus,
ut rursum de terra alii germinentur. |