I will read
the Latin first, and afterward a little version which I made the
other day."
The old man rolled the lines out in his sonorous voice, almost
chanting:
"'Esto bonus miles, tutor bonus, arbiter idem
Integer; ambiguae si quando citabere testis
Incertaeque rei, Phalaris licet imperet ut sis
Falsus et admoto dictet periuria tauro,
_Summum crede nefas, animam praeferre pudori
Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.'"_
"Please to translate, sir," said Dick, copying exactly the professor's
classroom phrase and manner.
"To gratify my nephew," said the professor, nodding and winking at
Hardman. "But, understand, this is not a real translation. It is
only a paraphrase. Here it is:
"Be a good soldier, and a guardian just;
Likewise an upright judge. Let no one thrust
You in a dubious cause to testify,
Through fear of tyrant's vengeance, to a lie.
Count it a baseness if your soul prefer
Safety above what Honor asks of her:
And hold it manly life itself to give,
Rather than lose the things for which we live.
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