Transcript

Translation

After twelve years Nature came along
Who accused Silence harshly and scolded her.
She said, 'This is a strange thing
That you amuse yourself like a man,
Going out in the wind and the scorching sun
When I had a special image of you,
When, with my own two hands, I formed you
And with all the beauty I had in store
I have drawn so much of it together in you.
One thousand people accuse me of being miserly
For the beauty with which you are filled to the brim.
I have taken away from one thousand people
The beauty of which you were also made.
There are one thousand women today
Who desire you very much
For the beauty that they see there
For in you being so convincing (as a man) they believe
That you have something that, indeed, you have not.
And because of this they who now love you greatly,
Those (same women) who would hate you with all their hearts
If they really knew how you were made -
They would feel themselves to be maltreated
In that all their hopes and expectations came to an end.
You certainly insult me and do me a great wrong
In leading your life in such a way.
You must not go into the woods to meet with others
Jousting, hawking or hunting with a bow,
Away with you from all of this, said Nature.
Go to the (bed)-chamber and stitch a seam
That is what Nature wishes you to do
You are not Silentius.