Keep away from imbeciles, from deaf and dumb, and from women; have no quarrels with them. If thou hast not acquired wisdom and understanding, sit near the judges of the people when they preside. Be not ashamed to learn and to seek knowledge; be a tail to the wise, so that thou mayest become a head. It is wisdom to tread in the ways of faith; to fear God and to depart from evil is understanding. Be near the judges of the community, and buy thy things in the proper manner of transaction. For thy possessions choose good witnesses,—they will relieve thee from strife. It is better for thee to visit mourners than to go to the house of feasting and rejoicing. Reveal not to an enemy that which is in thy heart; uproot his enmity, if thou hatest him not. Inquire about the sick, and visit them with a cure; speak comfortingly unto embittered men. Depart from quarrel, and flee from strife, and stand not upon the verge of a pit and an abyss. Honor thy parents, and also thy kinsmen and all that seek their peace. If thou drawest nigh unto the shadow of a king, know that thou standest near a lion. Then other men shall be exceedingly afraid of thee, but thy fear shall also be great and awful. Thou shouldst not hold the horns of a fierce bull, and do not seize the bridle of a lion. Grieve not if unto thee a daughter is born; trust in God, exult and rejoice in thy lot. At times a daughter is better than a son; she is good and pure to her parents. Take delight in whatsoever comes from God, and say: ‘This also is for the best!’ It is better that thy daughter should go down to the grave as a maiden than that she should beseech a man. Buy thee a dwelling among the upright; depart from the habitation of the covetous and envious. XIII. SAMUEL HA-NAGID [Born at Cordova 993, and died at Granada 1055. He was famous as a poet, Halakist, and philologist, and was the author of a treatise on the methodology of the Talmud. Some medieval Jewish critics considered him the greatest Hebrew poet. This view, however, cannot be maintained, as he was certainly surpassed by Ibn Gebirol and Judah ha-Levi. He was for some time vizier at the court of King Habus. His poems, perhaps more than those of any other poet of that epoch, resemble the Arabic poems very closely.] 1. On Leaving Cordova[83]