And he [, Brother John,] received this brief rule from [his] teacher, Romuald; which he very carefully kept throughout his [monastic] life

Et hanc brevem regulam a magistro Romaldo accepit, quam custodire in vita ipse multum sollicitus fuit:

THE RULE of ROMUALD

1. SIT in [your] cell as if in paradise;

1. Sede in cella quasi in paradiso;

2. cast behind you all memory of the world ;

2. proice post tergum de memoria totum mundum,

3. cautiously watching your thoughts, as a good fisher watches the fish.

3. cautus ad cogitationes, quasi bonus piscator ad pisces.

4. there is in the Psalms one path: do not relinquish it. If you, having arrived with the fervor of a novice, are not able to [comprehend] everything, chant the psalms now here, now there, striving to understand with spirit and mind; and when you start to wander while reading, do not give up, but make haste to improve yourself by understanding.

4. Una via est in psalmis; hanc ne dimittas. Si non potes omnia, qui venisti fervore novicio, nunc in hoc, nunc in illo loco psallere in spiritu et intelligere mente stude, et cum ceperis vagare legendo, ne desistas, sed festina intelligendo emendare;

5. Place yourself before all else in the presence of God with fear and trembling, like one who stands in the sight of the emperor;

5. pone te ante omnia in presentia Dei cum timore et tremore, quasi qui stat in conspectu imperatoris;

6. Completely eliminate yourself,

6. destrue te totum,

7. and sit like a chick, content with the grace of God, for unless its mother gives it something to eat, it neither tastes nor has anything.

7. et sede quasi pullus, contentus ad gratiam Dei, qui, nisi mater donet, nec sapit nec habet quod comedat.