The 14 commandments of the Romans

This is the sort of thing that people forward to each other, except that you couldn't read it unless you could understand the Roman dialect of Italian. (In fact, I don't understand the Roman dialect well enough to translate the first one properly, but I'll give it a shot.) It comes from a Roman who maintains a web page of Italian proverbs, and gives you an idea of Italian regionalism and playful caricature. Rome, of course, is the bureacratic center of Italy, and the Vatican's slowness at anything is frequently attributed to its high proportion of Roman employees. My mother (who is not Roman, but Gaetana) enjoys this so much that she has hung it in her home office.

My only concern about posting it is: into which one of my New Weblog Order (bottom of the page) does it fit? AUGHHHHH...

The 14 comandments of the Romans

1. The desire to labor attacked me


2. Labor is exhaustion


3. You're born tired, you live to rest


4. Love your bed as yourself


5. Rest by day, sleep by night


6. Never do today what you could do tomorrow


7. You always hear of accidents at work; never of accidents while resting


8. In life, try to do little, and that little that you do, assign to others


9. When the desire to labor draws near, sit down and let it pass by


10. No one ever died from too much rest


11. He who invented work died long ago


12. If work is good for your health, three cheers for illness!


13. Lest you tire yourself too much, we suggest you read this slowly, or better yet, have someone read it to you

Original romanesco:

Li 14 Comandamenti de' li romani

1. Voja de lavorà sarteme addosso


2. Er lavoro è fatica


3. Se nasce stanchi se vive pe riposà


4. Ama er letto come te stesso


5. Riposa er giorno pe dormi la notte


6. Se vedi chi riposa aiutalo


7. Nun fa' oggi quello che poi fa' domani


8. Se sente sempre parla' de incidenti sul lavoro e mai de quelli sul riposo


9. Nella vita cerca de fa' poco e quer poco fallo fa' all'artri


10. Quanno te' viene voja de lavora' mettete a sede e aspetta che te passa


11. De troppo riposo non è mai morto nisuno


12. Quello ca 'nventato a fatica è morto dan pezzo


13. Si er lavoro è salute, viva la malattia


14. Pe' evita' d'affaticasse troppo se consija de legge la presente lentamente o mejo ancora da fassela legge