But yet, 'tis sweeter far
Wisdom to gain from others' woes, than others
Should learn from ours.
REGISTER OF GOOD AND EVIL DEEDS.
Rud. Prolog. 9.
Qui est imperator Divûm atque hominum Juppiter,
Is nos per gentes alium alia disparat,
Hominum qui facta, mores, pietatem, et fidem
Noscamus, ut quemque adjuvet opulentia:
Qui falsas lites falsis testimoniis
Petunt, quique in jure abjurant pecuniam,
Eorum referimus nomina, exscripta ad Jovem :
Cotidie ille scit, quis hic quærat malum.
Jove, supreme sovereign of gods and men,
Spreads us throughout all nations several ways,
To mark the people's actions, learn their manners,
Their pity and faith, that so each man
May find reward according to his virtues.
Those who suborn false witnesses, to gain
A villainous suit in law, who shuffle off
Due payments by false swearing, we return
Their names in writing to high Jove: each day
He is inform'd of those that call for vengeance,
And seek their own perdition by their crimes.
WICKED MEN.
Rud. Prolog. 22.
Hoc scelesti illi in animum inducunt suum,
Jovem se placare posse donis, hostiis:
Et operam,
et sumptum perdunt: id eo sit, quia
Nihil ei acceptum est à perjuris supplicii.
Facilius, si qui pius est à Diis supplicans,
Quam qui scelestus est, inveniet veniam sibi.
Fondly imagine they can Jove appease
With gifts and sacrifice; and thus they lose
Their labour and their cost; for no petition
Is acceptable to him from bad men.
He that is good and just, will sooner find
Grace from above, in praying to the gods,
Than will the wicked.
OTHERS' MISFORTUNES.
Rud. i. 3. 1.
Nimio hominum fortunæ minus miseræ memorantur,
Quam reapse experiundo iis datur acerbum.
The storied miseries of men's mishaps,
(How sad soe'er relation sets them forth,)
Are far less sharp than those we know and feel
Ourselves from sore experience.
UNEXPECTED GOOD.
Rud. ii. 3. 69.
Nam multa præter spem, scio, multis bona evenisse.
At ego etiam qui speraverint, spem decepisse multos.
For true it is,
Good oft befalls us when we least expect it.
And true it is, that when we trust in hope,
We're often disappointed.
EQUANIMITY.
Rud. ii. 3. 74.
Animus æquus optimus est ærumnæ condimentum.
Is the best remedy against affliction.
WHEN A WOMAN'S GOOD DISPOSITIONS ARE DISCOVERED. Stich. i. 2. 60.
Ubi facillime spectatur mulier, quæ ingenio est bono?
Cum malefaciundi est potestas, quæ ne faciat, id temperat.
When is it best discern'd a woman has
Good dispositions? When mischief's in her power,
And she restrains that power, and does it not.
Secundas fortunas decent superbiæ.
High airs befit prosperous fortune.
PROSPERITY.
Stich. iv. 1. 16.
Ut cuique homini res parata est, firmi amici sunt: si res labat,
Itidem amici collabascunt. Res amicos invenit.
According as men thrive, their friends are true;
Go their affairs to wreck, their friends sink with them.
Fortune finds friends.
EVIL MANNERS.
Trinum. i. 1. 8.
Quasi herbâ irriguâ succrêrunt uberrime.
Evil manners, like well-water'd plants,
Have shot up in abundance; we may gather
A plenteous harvest of them.
EVIL KNOWN IS BEST.
Trinum. i. 2. 25.
Habeas ut nactus: nota mala res optima'st.
Keep what you've got: the evil that we know!
Is best.
FRIENDS.
Trinum. i. 2. 54.
Sunt, quos scio esse amicos, sunt, quos suspicor :
Sunt quorum ingenia, atque animos, non possum noscere,
Ad amici partem, an ad inimici perveniant.
Sed tu ex amicis certis mihi es certissimus.
There are, I know are friends; there are, I think so ;
There are whose dispositions and whose minds
I cannot know, or whether to enrol them
Among my friends or foes. But you I hold
Of all my fast friends the most fast.
BUSYBODIES.
Trinum. i. 3. 1.
Nihil est profecto stultius, neque stolidius,
Neque mendaciloquius, neque argutum magis,
Neque confidentiloquius, neque perjurius,
Quam urbani assidui cives, quos scurras vocant.
Atque egomet me adeo cum illis una ibidem traho,
Qui illorum verbis falsis acceptor fui,
Qui omnia se simulant scire nec quicquam sciunt.
Quod quisque in animo habet aut habiturus est, sciunt.
Quod in aurem rex reginæ dixit, id sciunt.
Quæ neque futura, neque facta sunt, tamen ii sciunt.
In troth there cannot be more errant dolts,
More barefaced fibbers, and more prating puppies,
Than these officious fools, the busybodies.
And I too should rank with them, thus to credit
Their groundless suppositions. Everything
They will pretend to know, yet nothing know.
They'll dive into your breast, and learn your thoughts
Present and future: nay, they can discover
What the king whisper'd in her highness' ear.
And tell what pass'd in Juno's chat with Jove.
They know what never was, nor ever will be.
Amor amara dat tibi satis, quod ægre sit; fugit forum, fugat tuos
Cognatos, fugat ipse se à suo contuitu ;
Neque enim eum sibi amicum volunt dici; mille modis amor ignorandu'st,
Procul adhibendus est, atque abstinendus: nam qui in
Præcipitavit, pejus perit, quam si saxo saliat; apage sis
Tuas res tibi habe. Amor, mihi amicus ne fuas unquam ; sunt tamen
Quos miseros maleque habeas, quos tibi obnoxios fecisti. Certum'st ad frugem applicare animum: quanquam ibi
Labos grandis capitur. Boni sibi hæc expetunt, rem, fidem, honorem,
Gloriam, et gratiam; hoc probis pretium'st: eo mihi magis lubet
Cum probis potius, quam cum improbis vivere vanidicis.
A smatch of bitter to create disgust.
Love shuns the noisy bustle of the bar,
Drives off relations, and oft banishes
Himself from his own sight. There's no one who
Would woo him for companion. Thousand ways
Love should be held a stranger, kept at distance,
Wholly abstain'd from. Hapless into love
Who plunges headlong; greater his destruction
Than to have leapt down toppling from a rock.
Love, get thee gone, then; I divorce thee from me,
Nor ever be thou friend of mine. Go, torture
Those that are bound unto thee. I am bent
Henceforward to apply my mind to thrift,
Although the toil be great. Hence good men gather
Gain, esteem, credit, reputation: This
The price of virtue. "Tis my choice to herd
With good men rather than the vain and dissolute.
BAD AND ENVIOUS MEN.
Trinum. ii. 2. 6.
Novi ego hoc seculum moribus quibus sit: malus bonum malum
Esse volt, ut sit sui similis: turbant, miscent mores mali;
Avarus, invidus, sacrum profanum, publicum privatum
I know; bad men would fain corrupt the good,
And make them like themselves. Our evil manners
Confound, disorder everything. The greedy,
The envious, turn what's sacred to profane
The public good to private interest.
PASSIONS.
Trinum. ii. 2. 29.
Tu si animum vicisti, potius quam animus te, est quod gaudeas.
You've vanquish'd, you not vanquish'd by your will,
You've reason to rejoice.
Is probus est, quem non pœnitet, quam probus sit, et frugi bonæ,
Qui ipsus sibi satis placet, nec probus est, nec frugi bonæ.
Qui ipsus se contemnit, in eo est indoles industriæ.
That man's an upright man, who don't repent him
That he is upright: he who seeks alone
Self-satisfaction, merits not that title :
The man that thinks but meanly of himself,
Shews there's a just and honest nature in him.
|
