LI.
Concerning he who warns the just and sends away the impious.
The foolish pour water into the rivers while the garden is thirsty.
LII.
Praise of alms-giving
He who offers expenses (outlay) to the needy, profits by (lends to) that god ,
He, who did not know lies, promised to give back.
Full profit is released by heavier interest;
Much gold is returned for a modest amount of mud.
Thus a cup has earned nine gallons, and a drachma has earned a talent;
In this way an Obulus ($0.03) purchases a kingdom, and a drinking cup purchases Mt. Olympus;
Heavenly things are given back on earth, and fixed things are given back to the fallen (fleeting).
A wave destroys a fire, almsgiving makes clean a falling;
Water is death to a flame, almsgiving is death to guilt,
She fills hearts filled with well-watered rivers of tears,
She empties of sins, she adorns with flowers of virtue,
By her the bowels of dutiful conduct redeem Christ himself.
LIII.
To a rich miser
He who knows how to join cedar beams to fragrant cypress wood,
Builds foundations liable to no winds.
You are more wealthy than is the mud of the river Pactolus:
A wave raises up the bank, gold yellows the sand;
A bog destroys the fruits, rocks break away from the summit.
By this we rule life, we see this standing by a long way off;
God is rich with the widow, poor with the rich.
LIV.
To the proud man
When asserting reason, the mind springs forth true speech.
Truly although a beautiful rose reddens, it never lives through an entire year.
He who stands, soon (is ready for a) fall(s), just as flesh acts as a father slipping away fades like a flower.
The life of man moving swiftly runs in the manner of a river.
Remember that you are a leaf hanging in the wind.
Bad death of their sprouts subdues swollen necks.
He who suffers lives; he will enjoy a happy death;
He who enjoys life, will suffer a bitter death,
The short life does not allow, you ought not hope to live long.
Live mindful of death, with which you may always live.
Live everything in God, be totally dead to yourself.
Life brings forth death, a little death is permanent life.
He who lives for himself now, always asserts by dying;
He who is dead to himself, follow this blessed life.
Thus by weariness will be given back rest, by dying will be given back life.
LV.
To a malicious detractor
It would be better to eat bread than to slander (bite, or backbite) a brother;
One morsel is food for the body, the other thing is poison for the soul.
Having been slandered is not to die, slandering is held to be murder.
You look at yourself with mole’s eyes, you look at others with the eyes of a she-goat.
May you not give me many things right away, may you turn your back to yourself,
Making a mirror of myself, when you might make a handbag of yourself;
The octopus does not smell a putrid odor clinging to himself.
The ray of the eye of the lynx penetrates in internal organs full of life;
Although she does not see herself, she penetrates far into everything which stands near.
Blunt rocks cannot hew, they sharpen rocks,
Nor can they make different metals by their laws;
A file knows how to polish a scab, not to be polished itself;
It remains misshapen, while it smooths thorny gold of dross.
Does a mangy dog become worthy by calling her faithful,
If she has provoked the house-slave along with the thief by a rabid snarl?
He who says what he wants, more often hears what he does not want.
The tongue does not have a bone, but itself makes bones to be broken,
And alone it brings forth misfortune to many limbs.
Set a limit to your tongue, which you cause to vibrate like an arrow,
Swords are not brought back by a pike, stones by a pebble.
LVI.
To two enemies so that they may go in peace
Love brings together (hooks) those who are separate, discord separates those who are united.
There is no light of peace, where the heart is divided
(where there happens division of the heart).
Peace teaches the ignorant, discord blinds the intelligent,
There is not stability in things, the order of fortune is turned,
Unlooked for death threatens stiff necks.
Burning fever to the soles of their feet tames those with stiff necks
And those who have been freed by the divine law subdue those who have not (are indomitable).
Those who have been filled by God, are forced to yield to death;
Those things that give to disease, have forbidden to true health.
The common herd is often wild (the often savage face), as if vomiting flames from its mouth,
And the mouth is terrible, roaring words with gnashing of teeth
It spreads out insignificant stones with a twisted sling.
(He spreads out by a small pebble from a twisted sling.
LVII.
He calls forth to repentance
When the blood grows out (overflows?), the vein requires emptying,
He makes the wounded and the healthy, the blow brings health.
The mind produces a fluid, which a pious confession cleanses:
Thus as blood flows from a vein it (blood) of the soul flows out through the mouth.
Discharge that which violates your internal organs with deadly corruption.
Thou shalt be given to vomiting for your own health while struggling with disease
So that the stomach of the mind (soul) may be lifted from the heap of offence.
LVIII.
When the same writing (thing written) is sent twice.
It is noted in the law (It is noted that it is right) he who rewrites often writes the same thing.
it is not absurd, when the matteNeverthelessr which is repeated itself is considered,
There is a need for words until there is a doubling of things.
LIX.
Concerning the cross
This frightening image is the only hope for all;
Perceive the reward that hangs from the balancing scale,
That which (he who) redeemed the world, paid the debts of the first man,
The cross is life for me (and for you), for the enemy, it is death.
LX.
Also concerning the holy cross, (he says) in turn to the two enemies
Behold the cross of Christ having been just now bathed with his blood;
This makes heaven agree with earth, the lowest with the highest.
This commands the light of love to spring up in you,
The lawsuits having been settled, let the kisses of peace follow.