Shun mighty cares, all anger deem profane;
From heavy suppers and much wine abstain;
Nor trivial count it, after pompous fare,
To rise from table and to take the air;
Shun idle noonday slumbers, nor delay
The urgent calls of nature to obey:
These rules if thou wilt follow to the end,
Thy life to greater length thou may’st extend.”
It has been translated into English by Thomas Paynell in 1530, by John Harrington in 1607, and by Alexander Croke in 1830.
The poem is a composite work, and its form was doubtless adopted for facility of committing to memory an important text-book of health rules.