O linguam miro verborum fonte fluentem, Romani decus eloquii, cui cedat et ipse Tullius! has fundit dives facundia gemmas! os dignum aeterno tinctum quod fulgeat auro si mallet laudare Deum! cui sordida monstra praetulit et liquidam temeravit crimine vocem, haud aliter quam, si rastris quis temptet eburnis caenosum versare solum, limoque madentes excolere aureolis si forte ligonibus ulvas, splendorem dentis nitidi scrobis inquinat atra, et pretiosa acies squalenti sordet in arvo.
How marvellous the stream of speech that flows from that tongue, the glory of Roman eloquence, surpassing even Tullius himself! Yet these are the jewels its rich fluency pours forth! Lips worthy to be bathed in the unfading sheen of gold, if only they would rather have praised God! But to Him they have preferred unclean monstrosities and polluted their clear voice with sin,'just as, if a man should set himself to work the miry soil with a rake of ivory, or till sodden, muddy ground with a golden fork, the black soil befouls the brightness of the shining prongs, the sharp tool that cost so much is defiled by the dirty earth.
final_alignments\Prudentius_Reply_to_Symmachus_Book1.json