1. It is no fault of yours if you lack jewelry and finery,
If you are sublime in spirit, you are a king to me.

2. He who thought that wealth can avert what is decreed,
Has strayed; destiny laughs at such folly.

3. No blessing on the honor of one whose honor is for sale,
I have not gained what I prize by being servile.

4. Many an ignorant woman chides me,
For choosing a life of hardship over ease.

5. She says "I saw you composing an ode,
More radiant than a garden after ample rains have fallen."

6. "And yet among kings you have peers, go to them
So they may restore you to steeds and foals."

7. But I do not listen, though she importunes me
To swerve from the path of probity with her censure and rebuke.

8. My generosity refuses to malign a generous man
Or praise a miser, though this be my craft.

9. Never shall you see me, while I live,
Degrade myself by pursuing any but the valiant, the proud.

10. My pride, and that of my forebears, disdains
Baseness, and never will I rest content as a reprobate.

11. The soul of a noble man shuns roses accompanied
By disgrace burning in his breast.