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Strongly she reaches from one end of the world to the other and she governs the whole world for its good.
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Wisdom I loved and searched for from my youth; I resolved to have her as my bride, I fell in love with her beauty.
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She enhances her noble birth by sharing God's life, for the Master of All has always loved her.
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Indeed, she shares the secrets of God's knowledge, and she chooses what he will do.
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If in this life wealth is a desirable possession, what is more wealthy than Wisdom whose work is everywhere?
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Or if it be the intellect that is at work, who, more than she, designs whatever exists?
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Or if it be uprightness you love, why, virtues are the fruit of her labours, since it is she who teaches temperance and prudence, justice and fortitude; nothing in life is more useful for human beings.
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Or if you are eager for wide experience, she knows the past, she forecasts the future; she knows how to turn maxims, and solve riddles; she has foreknowledge of signs and wonders, and of the unfolding of the ages and the times.
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I therefore determined to take her to share my life, knowing that she would be my counsellor in prosperity and comfort me in cares and sorrow.
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'Thanks to her, I shall be admired by the masses and honoured, though young, by the elders.
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I shall be reckoned shrewd as a judge, and the great will be amazed at me.
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They will wait on my silences, and pay attention when I speak; if I speak at some length, they will lay their hand on their lips.
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By means of her, immortality will be mine, I shall leave an everlasting memory to my successors.
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I shall govern peoples, and nations will be subject to me;
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at the sound of my name fearsome despots will be afraid; I shall show myself kind to the people and valiant in battle.
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'When I go home I shall take my ease with her, for nothing is bitter in her company, when life is shared with her there is no pain, nothing but pleasure and joy.'
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Having meditated on all this, and having come to the conclusion that immortality resides in kinship with Wisdom,
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noble contentment in her friendship, inexhaustible riches in her activities, understanding in cultivating her society, and renown in conversing with her, I went all ways, seeking how to get her.
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I was a boy of happy disposition, I had received a good soul as my lot,
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or rather, being good, I had entered an undefiled body;
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but, realising that I could never possess Wisdom unless God gave her to me, -a sign of intelligence in itself, to know in whose gift she lay -- I prayed to the Lord and entreated him, and with all my heart I said:
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