Chapter 37

Friends every man has that will say, I love him well; yet friends they may be in name only. Death itself cannot match it for sadness,

when friend and companion becomes thy enemy.

Cruel pretence, what mind first conceived thee, to turn solid earth into a morass of foul treachery?

A companion, how he will enjoy the delights of his friend’s prosperity, and turn against him in the hour of need!

A companion, how he will share a friend’s grief if he may share his bake-meats; use him as a shield against some enemy!

Never let friend of thine be far from thy thoughts; in thy prosperity never forget him.

Never take counsel with one who may be laying a trap for thee; from his envy hide thy purpose;

advice every counsellor will give thee, but some will counsel thee for their own ends.

Be on thy guard, then, against him who advises thee; how is his own turn best served? What is his secret mind?

It may be, he will hide stake in pit for thee, crying,

Thy course lies clear; then stand at a distance to see what becomes of thee.

Consult, if thou wilt,2 unbeliever about holiness, knave about justice, woman about her rival, dastard about war, merchant about value, buyer about price, cynic about gratitude,

scoffer about piety, rogue about honesty, farm labourer about work to be done,

yearman about year’s end, idle servant about great undertakings; but all the advice they give thee heed thou never.

Closet thyself rather with some man of holy life, known to thee as God’s worshipper,

some soul well matched with thine, such as would grieve to see thee stumbling in darkness.

And thy own heart enthrone as thy best counsellor; nothing may compare with that;

there are times when a man of piety sees truth clearer than seven sentinels high in a watch-tower.

With all this, entreat the most High to guide thy steps in the right path.

For every undertaking, every act of thine let just consideration prepare thee, and trustworthy counsel.

Ill counsel may make the heart veer round; four points its compass has, good and evil, life and death; and it is ever the tongue that sways it.3 Shrewdness there is that can much impart, yet is its own enemy.

And there is experience that imparts much to others, and is its own friend besides.

There is quibbling talk that will earn thee enemies, and an empty belly;

no power to win men the Lord has given it, so empty is it of all wisdom.

But there is wisdom that befriends the owner of it, earning high meed of praise;

if thus thou art wise, wisdom thou shalt impart to thy fellows, and shalt not miss thy own reward;

blessings the wise man reaps from all around, to see him is to praise him.

Man’s days are numbered, Israel’s none can number,

and among our people the wise man wins an inheritance of honour, a deathless renown.

Son, as thy life goes on, make trial of thy appetites, and if harmful they be, give them no liberty;

not all things all men suit, nor please.

When there is feasting, thy greed restrain; do not fall upon all the meats thou seest;

much feasting breeds infirmity, gluttony the bile,

and many have died of surfeiting; the temperate live long.