Bodleian quatrain nr. 78
Cadell 1899 - 68
Wine is unlawful. 'Twere best first to think,
Who drinks, how much, what his companions be;
Be sure, if answered well these questions three,
That no one but the wise of wine will drink.
Christensen 1927 - 20
"Wine is forbidden, it is true, but the question is: who
drinks? and then how much? and how and with whom he drinks?
When those four conditions are observed altogether,
then, if a wise man does not drink, who drinks?
Grolleau 1902 - 78
Le vin est défendu, car tout dépend de qui le boit,
Et aussi de sa qualité et de la compagnie du buveur.
Ces trois conditions réalisées, tu peux dire:
Qui donc boit du vin, si ce n'est le sage?
Heron-Allen 1898 - 78
Even though wine is forbidden, for all that it depends upon who drinks it,
and then in what quantity, and also with whom he drinks it;
these three conditions being as they should be; say!
who drinks wine if a wise man does not do so?
De Marthold 1910 - 78
Le vin prohibé, tout dépend du personnage
Qui le boit, de son prix et du compagnonnage.
Ayant réalisé ces trois conditions,
Dis: "Qui donc boit du vin, qui, si ce n'est le sage?"
Nicolas 1867 - 180
Le vin est prohibé, soit, mais il n'est prohibé que suivant la personne qui en boit, suivant la quantité qu'elle en boit et suivant l'individu avec qui elle en boit. Une fois ces points-là observés, qui en boirait, sinon les sages?
Von der Porten 1927 - 78
Der Wein ist unerlaubt, doch kommt's drauf an,
Wer trinkt, mit wem, und dann wieviel und wann,
Wenn diese vier sich recht zusammenfinden,
Da trinkt doch wohl ein jeder weise Mann.
Talbot 1908 - 78
Is wine an evil? Tell me first who drinks,
How much he thirsts, with whom his glass he clinks?
If these conditions three be meetly fill'd,
No son of Wisdom from the grape-juice shrinks.
Thompson 1906 - 244
To drink wine though forbidden, yet this ban
Is as to measure, company and man;
These three conditions being right, then say,
If wine a wise man cannot drink, who can?
Tirtha 1941 - X.98
Tho’ wine is forbid, Yea! but who should take?
How much again with whom or for whose sake?
These four essentials when are brought to square,
Who drink? The wise with reason wide awake!
Whinfield 1883 - 195
Though drink is wrong, take care with whom you drink,
And who you are that drink, and what you drink;
And drink at will, for, these three points observed,
Who but the very wise can ever drink?
- MAHFUZ 1939 - 132