from ‘Carmen ad Astralabium’

Just as wisdom is worth more than any treasure,
So nothing is worth less than its opposite.
No one becomes wise through native intelligence.
A moral life is what makes a man wise.
Wisdom is nourished by deeds, not by words.
This grace is granted to the good alone.
A wise son is a blessing and boon to his parents;
A foolish son, their sorrow and disgrace.
What an elders bears should not be hard for one younger;
No one should put himself above others.
Cato brought water and slaked the thirst of his people
But would not allow his own thirst to be slaked.
A foolish king is like a jackass sporting a crown,
A bane to himself as well as to others.
Praise a prince’s good sense rather than his army.
Judgment, not power, is the highest regime.
When a ruler is good, it is a gift from heaven;
Bad rulers appear when the people are bad.

door Pierre Abélard
vertaald door Stanley Lombardo

tekstbron: William Levitan (ed.-trad.), ABELARD AND HELOISE, The Letters and Other Writings, Hackett, Indianapolis 2007
opgenomen in WEEKBLADEN #44 - trisonore astrolabe
vertaling: Carmen ad Astralabium 54-70 vertaald door Stanley Lombardo

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