DIONYSIUS CATO His Four BOOKS OF Moral Precepts.  
Translated out of Latin Hexameter, into English Meeter:  
By J. M.  
EDINBURGH, Printed in the Year 1700.   

DIONYSIUS CATO, HIS Moral Precepts.   

THE PREFACE.  
WHEN I observed, how many Men  
In manners went awry,  
And grossly erred in their course,  
From Paths of Piety;  
I thought my counsel (to amend,  
If happily I might)  
Was not amiss; And teach Men how,  
To live in happy plight.  
Now therefore (my beloved Son)  
I will inform thy mind,  
To walk a course, whereby thou may'st,  
Both praise and profit find.  
So then my precepts read, as that  
They may be understood.  
For why? to read and not regard,  
Is to neglect thy Good.   

THE INTRODUCTION.  
PRay to thy God with reverent fear  
And always love thy Parents dear  
Respect thy kindred with good will  
Fear to offend your Teachers still.  
Keep what is given to thee in Trust  
And to the Court prepare thou must.  
With upright men, walk where thou walled  
To council come thou not uncalled.  
Be neat and cleanly, as thou can:  
And bid Good Day to every Man.  
To all Superiors, give due place.  
'Slight no Inferiors, with Disgrace.  
Keep your Estate, with serious care.  
Be bashful ay, where you repair.  
Ply well your care in every thing:  
Read Books for Learning's cherishing  
And what ye read, strive to retain.  
Your Family seek to maintain.  
Be fair spoken at all essays;  
And let not anger blind your eyes.  
Mock none lest you be mocked again.  
The poorest Wretch do not disdain.  
Spare not to lend, but look to whom:  
And to the Judgement you must come.  
Feast rarely: And sleep in due time.  
To break your Oath, abhor the crime.  
By too much wine, wrong not your health  
Fight for your Country's Common wealth  
Trust nothing rashly; I advise you:  
Flee from all Whores; lest they abuse you.  
Ply Learning for your future bless,  
Let good Men feel your Bounteousness.  
Avoid ill speaking: Do not rail.  
An honest Name's of great avail.  
Judge righteous Judgement: By deserts,  
And patience, win your Parents hearts.  
Mind well a Benefit received:  
Keep watch and waird, when thou art craved.  
Give your advice when it is sought;  
Make use of Valour, not for nought.  
Assuage your anger, and subdue it.  
Let Tops be used and Dice eschewed.  
Though thou be strong, no violence do;  
And no Inferior overthrow.  
Covet not, what's none of thine.  
Love thy Spouse, and ' 'gainst foes combine  
Train up your Children virtuously:  
Thine own Law thou must underly:  
Speak spareingly at Banquet-Table,  
Press what is just, when thou art able  
And willingly endure Love's pain:  
To love, and to be loved again.   

DIONYSIUS CATO, HIS MORAL PRECEPTS. Translated out of Latin Hexameter, into English Meeter; By J. M.  
BOOK I.  

1  
IF GOD Almighty be a Spirit,  
As Writings testify,  
He must be worshipped aright,  
In Spirit and Verity.   

2.  
Be watchful always; And to sleep  
Let not thy Mind be bend;  
For Ease continual unto Vice,  
Affordeth nourishment.   

3.  
Of moral Virtues hold it chief,  
Th' unbridled Tongue to tame;  
Next unto GOD is He, that can  
With reason rule the same.   

4.  
Repugnant to thyself in aught,  
By varying scorn to be:  
For he, that from himself dissents,  
With no Man will agree.   

5.  
If thou survey the Lives of Men,  
And manners of the time,  
While each reproves another's fault,  
What Man is free from Crime?   

6.  
Abandon things that hurtful are,  
Though dear to thee they seem:  
In time, thy private profit, more  
Than Wealth, thou must esteem.   

7.  
Be constant, and [if cause require,]  
Unstable seem to be:  
Wise Men their Manners sometimes change,  
And yet from fault are free.   

8.  
Believe not rashly what thy wife  
Of Servants shall relate:  
For oftimes whom the Husband loves  
The Wife is found to hate.   

9  
If thou [in kindness] warn a man  
Self-willed and loath to hear:  
Yet leave not off thy course begun,  
If he to thee be dear.   

10.  
With jangling fellows, full of words,  
Contend thou not in vain:  
For speech is common unto all,  
But Wisdom few attain.   

11.  
So love thy Friends, as to thyself,  
A loving Friend thou be:  
So bound thy Bounty to the best,  
As harm pursue not thee.   

12.  
Flee Tales and Rumours; Lest of News  
A Coiner thou be thought:  
For silence seldom hurts a Man,  
But speech much care hath wrought.   

13.  
On trust to others words, make thou  
No promise, lest thou break;  
For Faith and Truth is rare; Because  
Most mean not as they speak.   

14.  
When other Men commend thee most,  
Judge of thy merit so:  
As thou believe not more their Words,  
Than what thyself does know.   

15.  
Each pleasure done thee by a friend,  
To many make thou known:  
But what to others thou hast done,  
Keep to thyself alone.   

16.  
When thou art old, and shalt report  
The Acts of divers Men:  
Remember well thy youthful times  
And what thyself did then.   

17.  
Take no regard what Standards by  
In private whispering chat;  
A guilty Conscience still mistrusts,  
Herself is aimed at.   

18.  
In time of wealth, remember woe;  
Mutations are not strange.  
All humane things are ordered so,  
To have their Interchange.   

19  
Since frail and doubtful is our life,  
Unknown our dying day:  
To live in hope of others Death,  
Great folly doth bewray.   

20.  
If from thy poor well-wishing Friend  
Some slender Gift be sent:  
In thankful ways accept his love,  
And praise his good intent.   

21.  
Since naked from the womb thou cam'st,  
As Nature formed thee there;  
The burden of external wants,  
With patience, see thou bear.   

22.  
Dread not thy death, in time to come,  
Nor fear the fatal Knife:  
Who dreads his end, therein exiles  
The comforts of his Life.   

23.  
If Friends, to whom thou hast been kind,  
Thy kindness naught regard,  
Accuse not Fate; But blame thyself:  
Be wiser afterward.   

24.  
The better to supply thy want,  
Spare what thy hand hath got:  
And that thou may'st thy penny save,  
Suppose thou hadst it not.   

25.  
What in thy power rests to perform  
Twice promise not, for shame  
Least [while thou would be civil thought,]  
Thy lightness all Men blame.   

26.  
Who speaks right fair and loves thee not,  
Like measure let him find;  
So Art by Art is met withal,  
And falsehood in her kind.   

27  
Approve not fawning Flatterers,  
Whose words are full of Wiles,  
Most sweetly sounds the Fowlers call,  
Whiles he the Bird beguiles.   

28.  
If wedded thou have Children store,  
And little wealth to give,  
Then train them up in honest Arts,  
That each may learn to live.   

29.  
Things that be cheap imagine dear,  
Things dear as cheap esteem.  
So neither niggard to thyself,  
Nor greedy shalt thou seem.   

30.  
What fault thou finds with other Men,  
Let not be found in thee,  
Foul shame in him, that vice reproves,  
Himself not to be free.   

31.  
What is thy due, thou may'st require,  
Or what seems honest, crave:  
But folly were it, to desire  
A thing, thou should not have.   

32.  
Things known, before things never tried  
Prefer, if thou be wise:  
Sith those by Judgement are discerned,  
But these by mere surmise.   

33.  
Since Life in daily danger lies,  
and issues doubtful are:  
Each day thou liv'st account thou gain,  
that captive are to care.   

34.  
Sometimes, when thou may'st Victor be,  
Give place as vanquished,  
By yielding up in Courtesy,  
Kind Friends are conquered.   

35.  
Great things requiring, grudge thou not,  
Small Charges to bestow:  
For by this means 'twixt Friend and Friend,  
Doth favour greatly grow.   

36.  
With whom thou art in League of Love,  
To quarrel think profane;  
Brawls hatred breeds, and friendship breaks;  
But Peace doth Love maintain.   

37.  
When careless Servants move thy mind  
To Wrath, and ireful Rage;  
Do nought in choler, till the time  
Thy Fury shall assuage.   

38.  
Whom thou by force may'st conquer, seek  
By sufferance to convince:  
Of moral Virtues wise Men hold  
Sweet Patience Sovereign Prince.   

39  
Keep rather Goods by labour got,  
Than spend till things be scant:  
In loss to work and toill afresh,  
Is still to live in want.   

40.  
If wealth abound, be liberal  
Each Friendship to reward:  
Yet so as always of thyself,  
Thou have a due regard.    

Dionysius Cato, His MORAL PRECEPTS.  
BOOK II.  

The PREFACE.  
OF Tillage if perhaps thou would,  
The Skill exactly know.  
Read Learned Virgil, whose Discourse  
Each thing at large doth show.  
But if of Herbs and Plants the Force  
Thou rather wish to find,  
Lo Macer write a Book in Verse,  
To satisfy thy Mind.  
●f Roman Wars and bloody Broils  
Of Carthage please thee more:  
Search Lucan, who of Mars his Stirs  
And Stratagems hath store.  
Or if by reading thou desire,  
The Laws of Love to Learn,  
In Nasoes wanton Legend, lo,  
This Art thou may'st discern.  
But if thy chiefest Care intent,  
A wise Man's state to see:  
Then listen thou to lead a Life  
From filthy Vices free.  
Approach, I say, and to my Lore.  
Attend while I relate,  
What Wisdom is, and how by her,  
Thou may'st be fortunate.   


1  
EVEN unto strangers (if thou may'st]  
Do good, in time of need:  
For friends, by love and bounty won,  
A kingdom's worth exceed.   

2.  
What heaven and Gods high secrets are,  
Waste not thy wits to learn:  
Since thou art mortal, mind the things  
Which mortal men concern.   

3.  
Fond fear of Death abandon quite,  
As follies foul effect:  
Which, who so dreads, all joy of life,  
Doth utterly reject.   

4.  
In disputation suffer not,  
Incensed wrath to rise;  
Which wit and judgement so beguiles,  
That truth obscured lies.   

5.  
Spare for no cost, when time shall serve,  
And cause require the same,  
A penny better spent then spared,  
Adds to an honest name.   

6.  
Abandon Superfluities,  
With little rest content:  
Safe is the bark on calmer streams  
To wished Haven bend.   

7.  
Remember well (as wisdom would,)  
To hid thy proper shame:  
Lest what thy private self-mislikes  
Incur more public blame.   

8.  
Think not that men offending oft  
Can closely so conceal  
Their faults: but that one time shall sure  
Their secret Sins reveal.   

9  
A man of limbs and stature small  
Disdain not in thy pride:  
For nature's want by wisdom's wealth  
Is commonly Supplied.   

10.  
Contending with superior powers  
Take heed in time to yield:  
For oft the party Vanquished,  
Hath after won the field.   

11.  
Against thy friend, by force of words,  
Strive not in any ways:  
Sometimes of words (which are but wind)  
Great controversies rise.   

12.  
What God intends, endeavour not  
By lot, to know or shun.  
What he determines, touching thee,  
Without thee shall be done.   

13.  
Eschew, by over nice attires,  
Foul Envies hateful sting:  
Which (though it hurt not,) to endure  
Is yet an irksome thing.   

14.  
By wrongful Judgement overthrown,  
Thyself discourage not:  
By doom unjust who overcomes,  
Not long enjoys his lot.   

15.  
Once reconciled, rip not up  
The wrongs of former days:  
Old Sores to rub, and wrath revive,  
A wicked mind betrays.   

16.  
To praise or discommend thyself,  
Are things alike unfit:  
For so do fools whom glory vain,  
Bereaves of common wit.   

17.  
In midst of plenty, keep a mean,  
Spend not thyself too fast:  
Goods, long in gathering, oft are seen  
In little time to waste.   

18.  
To play the fool in time and place  
Occasion serving fit,  
Amongst the wisest is esteemed  
The primest point of Wit.   

19  
Flee wanton Riot, and withal  
Eschew the common Fame  
Of Avarice; Both which Extremes  
Impair a Man's good Name.   

20.  
Believe not lightly every Tale,  
Each Babbler shall relate:  
Small Credit crave his idle Words  
That useth much to prate.   

21.  
The Sin of Surfeit pardon not:  
Do Penance for the same:  
Not Wine, but Drinkers foul Abuse,  
That doth deserveth Blame.   

22.  
Thy Secrets to a secret Friend,  
Commit, if thou be wise:  
Thy crazed Body to his Trust,  
That Health by Art supplies.   

23.  
Ungodly Persons thriving fast  
Let not thy Mind affright:  
For Fortune favours wicked Men.  
To Work them farther Spite.   

24  
Provide for After-Claps in time,  
And arm thyself to bear;  
So shall thou in expected Broils,  
Prevent both Harm and Fear.   

25.  
In time of trouble, be not like  
A wounded Man, half slain,  
But hope the best: For Hope alone  
Revives the Dead again.   

26.  
Neglect not fit Occasion, for  
Thy proper Good assigned:  
Old Father Time hath hairy Locks  
Before, but not behind.   

27.  
Look back what follows, and withal  
Forseee what stands in place.  
This Wisdom may that Emblem teach,  
Of Janus double Face.   

28.  
Sometimes, for Health, spare diet use;  
For though of Dainties store  
Dame Pleasure crave; Yet to thy Health  
Thou art addebted more.   

29.  
The Judgement of the Multitude  
Despise not thou alone:  
Lest while thou many Men contemnest  
Thyself be liked of none.   

30.  
Of wished Health have chiefest Care,  
Prefer thy Health to all:  
If evil Diet make thee sick,  
Blame not the Spring nor Fall.   

31.  
Regard not Dreams; For what men's Thoughts  
Broad waking entertain,  
And wish, or hope, then muse upon,  
In Sleep appears again.     

Dionysius Cato, His MORAL PRECEPTS.  
BOOK III.  

The PREFACE.  
GOOD Reader, whosoever thou art,  
That takes this Book in Hand,  
These brief Directions good for Life,  
Give heed to understand.  
With honest Precepts store thy Mind,  
Learn well their wise Contents.  
For Life of civil Learning void,  
Death's Image represents,  
Great Profit may'st thou reap thereby,  
Which if thou not respect,  
Not me the Writer, but thyself  
Thou chief shalt neglect.   


1  
WHereas thou leadest an upright life,  
Regard not causeless wrongs:  
By base detractors offered; for  
Thou canst not rule men's tongues.   

●  
〈◊〉 ●●ll'd by law, against thy Friend,  
〈◊〉 ●●●●ess crimes forepast:  
〈◊〉 honest reputation saved.]  
●●●ceale them what thou may'st.   

3.  
Of fawning words and flattering speech,  
beware, [in any ways,]  
For simple truth unmasked walks,  
But fraud fair words disguise.   

4.  
Flee beastly sloth, the bane of life:  
Some honest business do.  
An idle mind decays itself,  
And wastes the body too.   

5.  
To make both mind and body strong,  
No labour then refuse:  
But in thy many careful toils  
Some recreation use.   

6.  
To carp at others words, let not  
Thy wit be ill applied;  
Lest by thine own example taught,  
Another the deride.   

●.  
What by deceased Friends bequeathed,  
Is happened to thy Lot,  
Keep and increase, that common Fame  
A Spend-Thrift call thee not.   

●.  
Of Riches, if thy latter age  
A greater portion find:  
Abound in Bounty, and abhor  
A wretched Miser's Mind.   

●  
Sage counsel from thy Servant's mouth,  
Disdain not to respect;  
●or any men's advice, that may  
Thy proper good effect.   

●.  
If wont wealth and substance fail,  
Yet banish Care and Grief;  
●nd live content with what the times,  
Shall yield for thy Relief.   

11.  
Beware thou marry not a Wife,  
For Wealth and Worldly store;  
And if she falsity her Faith,  
Admit her Love no more.   

12.  
By many men's example learn,  
What to embrace or flee:  
An others Life, in this behalf,  
May thine instructor be.   

13.  
Attempt not matters past thy strength,  
Left overpress with pain,  
Thy Labour fail: and so thy work  
And Enterprise prove vain.   

14.  
What ill thou knowst of others wrought  
Spare not in time to tell:  
Lest by thy silence thou subscribe,  
and seem to like it well.   

15.  
By Law unjust condemned, seek  
The Judges help to have:  
For Laws themselves by Equity,  
To be reform crave.   

16.  
What penalty deserved inflicts,  
To bear thou must not grudge;  
For guilty to thyself in aught,  
Thyself thou ought to judge.   

17.  
Improve thyself by Reading much,  
And mending things amiss:  
For Poets many marvels write,  
Whose Credit doubtful is.   

18.  
At Feasts and Banquets busy not  
Thy Tongue, with too much chat:  
Lest while thou would be pleasant thought,  
Thy Talk be laughed at,   

19  
The Speeches of thy angry Wife,  
Let not thy Courage daunt:  
For Women with their wily Tears,  
Their Husbands oft enchant.   

20.  
Use that thou hast, to do thee good,  
But see thou make no waste;  
Who vainly spend their own, and want,  
Seek other men's at last.   

21.  
Resolve, fond fear of future Death  
To banish from the still:  
Which, though it be not good itself,  
Yet makes an end of ill.   

22.  
With inward and Religious love  
Thy Parents both embrace:  
And to offend thy Mother dear  
forbear in any case.     

Dionysius Cato, His MORAL PRECEPTS.  
BOOK IU.  

The PREFACE.  
WHOSO thou art that dost desire  
To lead a quiet Life,  
And touching Manners, to eschew  
Corruptions that are rise.  
This little Volume oft revolve,  
Wherein thyself shalt find  
Such Precepts, grave as (Tutor-like,)  
May teach and rule thy Mind.   


1.  
ONE special Note of Blessedness  
Is Riches to deny;  
Which whoso covets to engross  
Lives always beggarly.   

2.  
Dame Nature's Wealth he cannot want,  
Who curbs his vain desires.  
And measures his Expense, with what  
Necessity requires.   

3  
Through want of care, if thine Affairs  
Succeed not to thy mind:  
Accuse not feigned Fortune, nor  
Reproach her to be blind.   

4.  
Love Money well; but to the stamp  
Put not thy mind in thrall:  
Which honest and Religious Men  
Do not respect at all.   

5.  
If thou be rich, bestow the more  
On Physic for thine Health;  
A rich Man sick hath store of Coin,  
But wants his chiefest wealth,   

6.  
If of thy Master thou receive  
Correction more severe,  
Thine angry Father's sharp Reproof,  
With Patience see thou bear.   

7.  
In things that profit may procure,  
Thy labours exercise:  
But never undertake Affairs  
Where Doubt or Error lies.   

8.  
What thou may'st give, from him that craves  
Desire not to detain:  
For why to benefit the best,  
Is held the greatest Gain.   

9  
Suspecting aught to find it out,  
With speed have due regard:  
For things, at first neglected, prove  
Mischievous afterward   

10.  
To Venus' damned pleasures prone,  
If thou thyself distrust,  
Forbear to feed on costly Meats,  
As Motives unto Lust.   

11.  
Whereas thou shunest savage Beasts,  
Whose Forces fearful are:  
I only wish thee to avoid  
Lewd Men, more cruel far.   

12.  
Not strength of able Limbs alone,  
That others most surmount,  
But wisdom, managing the Might,  
True Valour Men Account.   

13.  
Seek Comfort of thy constant Friend,  
Afflicted if thou be:  
For no Physician in his Cure,  
May more prevail than he.   

14.  
For thine Offence, why should thy Beast  
In Sacrifice be slain?  
To hope for Health by others Death,  
Fond Folly doth maintain   

15.  
A good Companion, or a Friend  
In seeking to select:  
Regard not what his Fortunes are:  
His honest Name respect.   

16.  
Make use of Wealth, and scorn the Name  
Of Niggard evermore.  
What good do Riches to though Man  
That starves in midst of store?   

17.  
If thou desire in Life and Death  
A good report to find:  
All Earthly pleasures, vain and vile,  
Abandon from thy mind.   

18.  
Deride not Ages dull conceit,  
In things to thee more plain,  
For whoso lives till he be Old,  
Shall wax a Child again.   

19  
Learn something, and if Suddenly  
Thy Substance should decay:  
Thy Skill remaining may relieve  
Thy Wants another way.   

20.  
Observe with Silence whereunto  
Each one's Discourse doth tend;  
For Speech men's Manners doth cnoceal  
And utters in the end.   

21.  
Though learned, yet thy Studies grave  
By no means intermit:  
As labour keeps the hand in use,  
So practice helps the wit.   

22.  
Regard not how the Fates conspire  
In time to work thee Spite;  
He dreads not Death, in doubtful Life  
That learns not to delight.   

23.  
Learn; But of such as learned are,  
Thyself instruct the rest,  
For knowledge, where it may do good,  
Ought not to be suppressed.   

24  
Drink what thou canst: For forced Draughts  
men's Health doth much impair;  
Such beastly Pleasures oftentimes  
Procures the Bodies Care.   

25  
What ever thing thou shalt approve,  
Or Praise in public place;  
Condemn not lightly afterward,  
Lest thou sustain Disgrace.   

26,  
In time of calm and quiet rest,  
Remember storms aloft;  
Again in trouble hope the best,  
Sith Fortune altars oft.   

27.  
To learning still thy mind apply,  
By study wisdom grows;  
And prudence rare, to industry,  
In time her Treasure shows.   

28  
Commend thy Friend more sparingly  
And rest content with this;  
That time at length shall manifest  
His Merit, what it is.   

29  
Blush not, of Ignorance, to show  
Thy willingness to learn;  
As wit's a glory, so scandalous for those,  
Who nothing will discern.   

30  
In Wine and Women (wise men say)  
Both good and evil rest:  
What therefore is in either bad  
Refuse, and take the best.   

31  
Of sad and sullen countenanced  
And silent Men, beware;  
For when the stream is calmest, there  
The waters deepest are.   

32  
If discontented with thy state,  
Thou weigh the sad Decline  
Of other men (superiors late)  
Thou need to repine.   

33  
Attempt according to thy strength;  
Close by the shore to keep  
Is safer, then to hoist up Sails  
And launch into the deep.   

34  
Against a just and upright man,  
Contend not wickedly:  
For God in justice doth revenge  
All wrong and injury.   

35  
Bereft of Riches, sorrow not,  
Nor vex thyself in vain:  
Be rather merry, if thou may'st  
Recover them again.   

36  
To suffer loss of all, a wrack  
Intolerable were:  
Yet things there are, which patiently  
Behoves a friend to bear.   

37.  
In no ways promise, to thyself,  
Long Life and many Years:  
For like a shadow at the back,  
Death every where appears.   

38  
With incense make the Altar smoke,  
Spare Oxen to the Blow;  
Burnt Sacrifice with Blood embrued,  
The LORD doth not allow.   

39  
Give Fortune place, and bear thyself  
To mighty Men submiss:  
For he that knows to yield in time,  
May profit him and his.   

40  
In oft offending, never free  
Thy fault, from punishment;  
In cureing wounds one smart (we see)  
Another doth prevent.   

41  
Thy ancient friend dishonour not,  
Though he unconstant prove,  
And change his manners; yet respect  
The bonds of former love.   

42  
To gain the greater Love of all,  
In thankfulness abound:  
Lest thou incur the Name of one,  
In whom deserts are drowned.   

43  
Flee vain Suspicions, lest thou lead  
Thy Life in Misery:  
For fearful and surmising Folks  
Are aptest still to die.   

44.  
When for thy proper use thou buyer  
bond-Servants now and then,  
And call'st them Slaves; Remember yet  
That they are also Men.   

45.  
Occasion fit to apprehend,  
With speed have due respect;  
Lest afterwards thou seek in vain,  
What late thou didst neglect.   

46  
Rejoice not in the sudden Death,  
Of Sinners caught away:  
For Saints, whose Lives unspotted are,  
Must Death's Arrest obey.   

47.  
If thou be poor, and hast withal  
A Wife of ill report:  
Bar such, as by the Name of Friends,  
Would to thy House resort.   

48.  
Although by Studies thou be brought,  
Deep matters to discern;  
Yet show thyself in things unknown  
Desireous still to learn.   

49.  
And wonder, not that plainest words  
My Poems entertain;  
Sith brevity my Muse affects,  
To help the shallow Brain.   
FINIS.