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Expediens impedior Bombyx.

The useful silk-worm’s entrapment

A man standing at a table in a large room. He is working with some leaves, and a large open sack of leaves is on the floor and another closed sack lies under the table.
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Donec obaeratum expedio, ditesque labore
Pendulus efficio, me impedit istud opus.
Involvor Bombyx opere, infelixque morando
Commorior, sobolem semine linquo tamen.
Haec ignara mali sequitur quoque fata suorum,
Nullus & ob lucrum est qui monuisse velit.
Tantus amor pensi, tantum vos serica nostra
Delectant, vitae parcere nemo potest.
Res nimium dura est multos servire per annos,
Nec retulisse lucrum, se implicitumque mori.

“Even as I free the debtor, and dangling, make men wealthy with my dangling labour, I myself am hindered. I, the silk-worm, am entangled in my labour, I wait frustrated at the delay, and still I leave my offspring in the seed”. Ignorant of evil, she pursues her own fate, and no one for the sake of his profit will wish to warn her. Such is her love of work, and so our silken cloths delight you: no one can spare life. The thing’s just too hard! She serves for many years and takes no profit home; and finally, entangled in herself, she dies.

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