1. I wonder, with what pride do you boast,
O meager vestige of modesty?

2. With a sword, generosity, glory, or eminence?
You have adorned yourself with arrogance,

3. Conceit and coldness,
Traits which are no virtue for the cultured.

4. Are you a son of kings, ministers,
Judges—men of knowledge and superiority?

5. Or of defenders meeting the foe during battle?
Or of eloquent speakers and rhetoricians?

6. Where do you fit into any of these categories,
You most foolish of fools?

7. You are not from the point
Of inception or conclusion in this context.

8. Rather your context is that of defamation,
Not requital.

9. Thus you have become one who vilifies
In the realm of disparagement.

10. With what do you proliferate your words?
You are not my match.

11. You are but a cowardly parasite
Feeding on misery,

12. As time pursues the worthless
In their greed for gain.

13. What pride for one nurtured
On the refuse of fleas? One who prospered

14. Among the hides of tanners,
Like manure.

15. Your grandfather was a porter
From the land of fools,

16. A barefoot wretch from the destitute,
So cease your boasting, which does not

17. Befit the rational.
Remove the burdensome cloak of arrogance,

18. For rising above one’s status
Is no virtue for the lowly.