Distichs of Cato
Translated by Wayland Johnson Chase
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The opening
BOOK I
1. If God a spirit is as poets sing, With mind kept pure make thou thy offerinf .
2. Be oft awake: from too much sleep abstain. For vice from sloth doth ever nurture gain.
3. Who rules his tongue doth highest praises reap: Godlike is he who silence well doth keep.
4. Ne’er with thyself perversely disagree; Who’s out with self in peace with none will be.
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About this edition
- The words
- Wayland Johnson Chase's English translation, copied word for word.
- Left out
- The title page and opening pages before chapter 1, in 3 places
- Series imprint and list of University of Wisconsin Studies (Nos. 1–7) (12 blocks)
- A preface, foreword or afterword
- Facing-page Latin text (Collectio distichorum uulgaris / Liber I–IV) and its page furniture (216 blocks)
- Other material that isn't the author's
- Page numbers and running heads from the printed pages, in 2 places
- Margin speck on page 21, read as “i” by the OCR
- End flyleaves, library circulation slip, stamp and barcode (University of California, Berkeley) (18 blocks)
- Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers