HKB
observe such signs of vexation, shorten your speech or vary your argument; and if you do otherwise, then instead of the favour you seek you will incur hate and hostility.
And if you would see what gives pleasure to a man speak to him on various themes, and when you see him intent, without yawning, or contracting his brow, or performing other actions, then be certain that the matter of which you are speaking is such as affords him pleasure.
[Sidenote: Advice]
Here is a thing which the more it is needed the more it is rejected: and this is advice, which is unwillingly heeded by those who most need it, that is to say, by the ignorant.
Here is a thing which the more you fear and avoid it the nearer you approach to it, and this is misery; the more you flee from it the more miserable and restless you will become. When the work comes up to the standard of the judgement, this is a bad sign for the judgement; and when the work excels the standard of the judgement, this is the worst sign, as occurs when a man marvels at having worked so well; and when the standard of the judgement exceeds that fulfilled by the work, this is a sign of perfection; and if the man is young and be thus disposed, he will without doubt grow into an excellent workman: he will only accomplish few works. But they will {41} be of a quality which will compel men to contemplate their perfection with admiration.
[Sidenote: Proverbs]
Nothing should be so greatly feared as empty fame.
This empty fame issues from vices.
A broken vase of clay can be remodelled, but this is no longer possible when it has been baked.
The vow is born when hope dies.
The beautiful is not always the good. And the fine talkers labour under this error without any reason.
He who wishes to grow rich in a day will be hanged in a year.
The memory of benefits is a frail defence against ingratitude.
Reprove your friend in secret and praise him in public.
He who fears dangers will not perish by them.
The evil which does me no harm is like the good which in no wise avails me.
He who offends others is not himself secure.
Be not false about the past.
Folly is the shield of lies, just as unreadiness is the defence of poverty.
Where there is liberty, there is no rule.
{42}
Here is a thing which the more it is heeded the more it is spurned,--advice.
It is ill to praise, and worse to blame, the thing which you do not understand.
On Mount Etna the words freeze in your mouth and you make ice of them.
Threats are the only weapons of the threatened man.
Ask advice of him who governs himself well.
Justice needs power, intelligence and will, and is like the Queen Bee.
Not to punish evil is equivalent to authorizing it.
He who takes the snake by the tail will be bitten by it.
The pit will fall in upon him who digs it.
He who does not restrain voluptuousness is in the category of the beasts.
You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself.
He who thinks little errs much.
It is easier to contend at the first than at the last.
No counsel is more sincere than that given on ships which are in danger.
Let him who acts on the advice of the young expect loss.
You grow in reputation like bread in the hands of a child.
{43}
Cannot beauty and utility be combined--as appears in citadels and men?
He who is without fear often incurs great losses, and is often full of regret.
If you governed your body according to virtue you would not live in this world.
Where good fortune enters, envy lays siege to her and attacks her, and when she departs sorrow and regret remain behind.