Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 13
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Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 13
Literature -- Collections
"If thou wishest to prolong friendship in a house into which thou
enterest as master, as brother, or as friend, [in fact in] any place
that thou enterest, beware of approaching the women: no place in which
that is done prospereth. The face is not watchful in attaining it. A
thousand men are injured in order to be profited for a little moment,
like a dream, by tasting which death is reached."...
19. [Keep from injustice or covetousness.]
"If thou desirest thy procedure to be good, take thyself from all evil:
beware of any covetous aim. That is as the painful disease of colic. He
who entereth on it is not successful. It embroileth fathers and mothers
with the mother's brothers, it separateth wife and husband. It is a
thing that taketh to itself all evils, a bundle of all wickedness. A man
liveth long whose rule is justice, who goeth according to its [the
rule's] movements. He maketh a property thereby, while a covetous man
hath no house."
20. [Be satisfied with a fair share.]
"Let not thine heart be extortionate about shares, in grasping at what
is not thy portion. Let not thy heart be extortionate towards thy
neighbors: greater is the prayer to a kindly person than force. Poor is
he that carrieth off his neighbors [by violence] without the persuasion
of words. A little for which there hath been extortion maketh remorse
when the blood[294] is cool."
21. [Pay attention to thy wife when thou hast attained a competence.]
"If thou art successful and hast furnished thine house, and lovest the
wife of thy bosom, fill her belly, clothe her back. The medicine for her
body is oil. Make glad her heart during the time that thou hast. She is
a field profitable to its owner."...
22. [Entertain visitors with thy means.]
23. [Do not repeat scandal [?].]
24. [Talk not of unfamiliar things in the council.]
25. [Advice to an able speaker.]
"If thou art strong, inspiring awe by knowledge or by pleasing, speak in
first command; that is to say, not according to [another's] lead. The
weak man [?] entereth into error. Raise not thine heart, lest it be cast
down. Be not silent. Beware of interruption and of answering words with
heat [?].... The flames of a fiery heart sweep away the mild man, when a
fighter treadeth on his path. He who doth accounts all day long hath not
a pleasant moment; he who enjoyeth himself all day long doth not provide
his house. The archer will hit his mark even as he that worketh the
rudder, at one time letting it alone, at another pulling; he that
obeyeth his heart [conscience?] shall _command_."
26. [Do not add to others' burdens.]
27. [Teach a noble what will profit him.]
28. [Deliver an official message straightforwardly.]
29. [Call not to remembrance favors that you have bestowed, when the
recipient has ceased to thank you.]
30. [Advice to one that has risen in the world.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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