-Brave not the furious with war and opposition
before their arms of strength cross thy hands of submission.

XLIX

A weak man who tries his courage against the strong leagues with the foe
to his own destruction:--Nurtured in a shade, what strength can he have
that he should engage with the warlike in battle; impotent of arm, he
was falling the victim of folly when he set his wrist in opposition to a
wrist of iron.

L

Whoever will not listen to admonition harbors the fancy of hearing
reprehension:--When advice gains not an admission into the ear, if I
give thee reproof, hear it in silence.

LI

The idle cannot endure the industrious any more than the curs of the
market-place, who, on meeting dogs employed for sporting, will snarl at
and prevent them passing.

LII

A mean wretch that cannot vie with another in virtue will assail him
with malignity:--The narrow-minded envier will somehow manage to revile
thee, who in thy presence might have the tongue of his utterance struck
dumb.

* * * * *

LV

To hold counsel with women is bad, and to deal generously
with prodigals a fault:--Showing mercy upon the sharp-fanged
pard must prove an injustice to the harmless sheep.

LVI

Whoever has his foe at his mercy, and does not kill him, is his own
enemy:--With a stone in his hand, and the snake's head convenient, a
wise man hesitates not in crushing it.

Certain people have seen this maxim in an opposite point of view,
saying: "It were wiser to delay the execution of captives, inasmuch as
the option is left so that you can slay, or you can release them; but if
you shall have heedlessly put them to death, the policy is defunct, for
the opportunity of repairing it is lost":--There is no great difficulty
to separate the soul from the body, but it is not so easy to restore
life to the dead: prudence dictates patience in giving the arrow flight,
for let it quit the bow and it never can be recalled.

LVII

A learned man who has got into an argument with the ignorant can have no
hopes of supporting his own dignity; and if an ignoramus by his
loquacity gets the upper hand it should not surprise us, for he is a
stone and can bruise a gem:--No wonder if his spirit flag; the
nightingale is cooped up in the same cage with the crow:--If the man of
sense is coarsely treated by the vulgar, let it not excite our wrath and
indignation; if a piece of worthless stone can bruise a cup