Sit, my dear. Let me share a few of my words with you. Please, listen up.
Are you seated at a lavish banquet? Don’t be over-ready to eat and don’t say, “What a feast!” Judge the needs of your fellow guest by your own and in all things act prudently. Eat what is set before you like an educated person and don’t be a glutton, lest you be detested. Like a well-mannered person, be first to stop; don’t be voracious if you are to avoid difficulties. Healthy sleeping is for the moderate eater. He rises early and feels fit! Sleeplessness and stomach trouble attend the overindulgent. If important people are present, do not be the first to serve yourself. When an influential person invites you, delay and he will call you all the more. Do not go so forward that you are pushed aside or so far back that you are overlooked. Do not try to talk to him as an equal or trust his many words. With all this verbiage he is only trying to test you and under pretense of kindness, he is weighing you up. He will repeat your words without pity and will not spare you either blows or chains. Be wary and take great care because you are walking with your own stumbling block. Take care not to be deceived and humiliated through stupidity. Do not boast before the king or put yourself among the great. It would be better to be invited, “Come up here,” than to be humiliated after having seen the prince. Do not try to show how much wine you can take, for wine has been the ruin of many. And consider this much, my dear! Never act without first reflecting and you will have no regrets. A person of judgment reflects beforehand. 14.05.24