1. Oh, how wretched is virtue, if no fault assails it,
It spews out poison from the venomous fangs of its detractor.

2. Yet it remains, while culpability clings to it,
Ignorantly assailing the honorable for their reproacher’s flaws.

3. If he denounced me, he disgraced none but his own mentor,
And dishonored himself by dishonoring his teacher.

4. Thus like a dog whose owner has provoked it,
It turned rabid and attacked its own provocateur.

5. If he betrays, betrayal has clothed him,
With the mantle of fatherhood and ancestry.

6. When endeavors debase a man thus,
He loves people's faults, as he who denounced him.

7. So it is with one whose habit is destroying glory,
For he assails the builders of glory for their reproacher.