Heath Old Boys Association

    Qui mihi discipulus puer es, cupis atque doceri,
        Huc ades, haec animo concipe dicta tuo.
    Mane situs lectum fuge, mollem discute somnum.
        Templa petas supplex, & venerare Deum.
    Attamen in primis facies sit lota manusque:
        Sint nitidae vestes, comptaque caesaries.
    Desidiam fugiens, cum te schola nostra vocarit,
       Adsis nulla pigrae sit tibi causa morae.
    Me praeceptorem cum videris, ore saluta,
        Et condiscipulos, ordine quoque tuos.
    Tu quoque fac sedeas, ubi te sedisse iubemus:
        Inque loco, nisi si iussus abire, mane.
    At magis ut quisque est doctrinae munere clarus,
        Sic magis is clara sede locandus erit.
    Scalpellum, calami, atramentum, charta, libelli,
       Sint semper studiis, arma parata, tuis.
    Si quid dictabo, scribes, at singula recte:
       Nec macula, aut scriptis menda sit, ulla, tuis.
    Sed tua nec laceris dictata, aut carmina, chartis
        Mandes, quae libris inseruisse decet.
    Saepe recognoscas tibi lecta, animoque revolvas:
        Si dubites, nunc hos consule, nunc alios.
    Qui dubitat, qui saepe rogat, mea dicta tenebit:
        Is qui nil dubitat, nil capit inde boni.
    Disce puer, quaeso, noli dediscere quicquam:
        Ne mens te insimulet conscia desidiae.
    Sisque animo attentus, quid enim docuisse iuvabit,
        Si mea, non firmo pectore, verba praemis:
    Nil tam difficile est, quod non solertia vincat:
        Invigila, & parta est gloria militiae.
    Nam veluti flores tellus nec semina profert,
        Ni sit continuo victa labore manus:
    Sic puer ingenium, si non exercitet, ipsum
        Tempus & amittet, spem simul ingenii.
    Est etiam semper lex in sermone tenenda,
        Ne nos offendat improba garrulitas.
    Incumbens studio, submissa voce loqueris:
        Nobis dum reddis, voce canorus eris.
    Et quaecunque mihi reddis, discantur ad unguem:
        Singula, & abiecto, verbula redde, libro.
    Nec verbum, quisquam dicturo suggerat, ullum,
        Quod puero, exitium non mediocre, parit,
    Si quicquam rogito, sic responders studebis,
        Ut laudem dictis & mereare decus.
    Non lingua celeri, nimis, aut laudabere tarda:
       Est virtus medium quod tenuisse iuvat.
    Et quoties loqueris, memor esto, loquare latine:
        Et veluti scopulos, barbara verba fuge.
    Praeterea socios, quoties tecumque rogabunt,
        Instrue, & ignaros, ad mea vota, trahe.
    Qui docet indoctos, licet indoctissimus esset,
        Ipse brevi, reliquis, doctior esse queat.
    Sed tu nec stolidos imitabere grammaticastros,
        Ingens Romani dedecus eloquii.
    Quorum tam fatuus nemo, aut tam barbarus ore est,
        Quem non autorem, barbara turba probet.
    Grammaticas, recte si vis cognoscere, leges:
        Discere si cupias cultius ore loqui,
    Addiscas veterum, clarissima scripta, virorum,
        Et quos autores, turba latina, docet.
    Nunc te Vergilius, nunc ipse Terentius optat:
       Nunc simul amplecti te Ciceronis opus.
    Quos qui non didicit, nil praeter somnia vidit:
        Certat & in tenebris vivere Cimmeriis.
    Sunt quos delectat (studio virtutis honesta
       Posthabito) nugis tempora conterere,
    Sunt quibus est cordi, manibus pedibusve, sodales,
        Aut alio quovis solicitare modo.
    Est alius, qui se dum clarum sanguine iactat,
        Insulso, reliquis improbat, ore genus.
    Te tam prava sequi nolim vestigia morum,
        Ne tandem factis, praemia digna feras.
    Nil dabis aut vendes, nil permutabis emesve:
        Ex damno alterius, commoda nulla feres.
    Insuper & nummos, irritamenta malorum,
        Mitte aliis: puerum nil nisi pura decent.
    Clamor, rixa, ioci, mendacia, furta, cachinni,
        Sint procul a vobis: martis & arma procul.
    Nil penitus dices quod turpe, aut non sit honestum:
        Est vitae ac pariter ianua lingua necis.
    Ingens crede nefas cuiquam maledicta referre:
        Iurare, aut magni numina sacra Dei.
    Denique servabis res omnes atque libellos,
        Et tecum quoties isque redisque, feres.
    Effuge vel causas faciunt quaecunque nocentem:
        In quibus & nobis displicuisse potes.

Boy, you who are a student of mine and who desires to be taught, come here; consider these things in your mind.
From a prone position flee your bed in the morning, shake off soft sleep. As a suppliant, go to church and worship God.
Furthermore, among the first things (you do) let your face and hands be washed, let your clothes be clean and your hair combed.
When our school will have called you, come, putting aside your idleness and let there be no cause of sluggish delay in you.
When you see me, the teacher, greet me with a ‘good morning’ and also your fellow students in turn.
Also take your seat where I order you to have a seat and remain in that place unless you are ordered to leave.
And the more that anyone is distinguished in the performance of his lesson, so much the more should he be placed in a more distinguished seat.
Let there always be present for your studies your prepared arms--the pen, knife, quills, ink, paper and books.
And if I will dictate something, you will write each thing correctly. Let there not be any blots or defects in your writings.
Do not entrust to loose pages your dictation or poems which it is fitting that you have inserted in a book.
May you often review to yourself the things read and repeat them in your own mind. If you have doubts, consult at one time some and at another time others.
He who doubts and often asks a question, he will retain my words; he who doubts nothing, he takes nothing of value from here.
Learn boy, I beseech you, be unwilling to forget anything; let not the mind, desirous of laziness, indict you.
And may you be attentive with your mind, for what will be the use of having learned if you press my words in a heart which is not firm.
There is nothing so difficult which ingenuity does not conquer. Stay awake and the glory of the campaign is gained.
For just as the earth does not bring forth flowers or seed unless it has been mastered by continual labor of the hand,
so does a young boy, if he does not exercise, throw away talent, time itself and at the same time the expectation of talent.
Likewise, a rule must always be observed in speaking lest shameful babbling offend us.
Applying yourself to your studies, you will speak with a subdued voice. And whatever you respond to me, you will be melodious with your voice.
And whatever you respond to me, let these things be so learned that they are on your fingertips.
And when your book has been put aside, respond each and every word. Let not anyone suggest any word which produces for the young man a non mediocre injury.
If I ask anything, you will be so eager to answer that I praise you with words and that you deserve honor.
You will not be praised for a too quick, or a too slow tongue. There is virtue in having maintained the middle course which is pleasing.
And as often as you speak, be mindful to speak in Latin. And, as if rocks, flee foreign words.
Moreover, instruct your friends as often as they will question you and bring along the uneducated to my precepts.
He who teaches the unlearned, although he might be the most unlearned man, be himself can be more learned than the rest in a short period of time.
But do not imitate the stupid grammarians, the great shame of Roman eloquence.
No one of these is so foolish, or so barbarous in speech that the base crowd does not approve of him as an authority.
If you wish to correctly know the laws of grammar, if you desire to speak more elegantly,
learn the most famous writings of the old and which authors the Latin crowd suggests.
Now Virgil picks you out, now Terence himself, now at the same time the work of the esteemed Cicero picks you out.
He who has not learned these, he sees nothing but dreams, and he struggles to live in Cimmerian darkness.
There are those whom it pleases to waste away their time in trifles, once the pursuit of honest virtue has been placed secondary.
There are those to whom it is pleasing to annoy their friends by their hands or feet, or any other measure.
There is another, who while he boasts of himself as of noble blood, he condemns his race before others by his foul mouth.
I am unwilling that you follow such crooked footsteps of habit lest, at length, you bear worthy gains from these deeds.
You will give or sell nothing, you will exchange or sell nothing: from the loss of another, you will bear no gains.
In addition, leave coins, the inducements of evils, to others - nothing except pure things befit a young man.
Let shouting, quarreling joking, lies, stealth and loud laughter be far away from you; and let the arms of war be far away also.
Inwardly, you will say nothing which is base, or which is not honest. Language is the door of life and likewise of death.
Believe that it is a great wrong to return curses on anyone, or to swear by the sacred power of the holy God.
Finally, you will protect all things and books and you will carry them with you as often as you come and go.
Flee the reasons which make you noxious and as a result of which you can be displeasing to me.