se, nor too foolish,
be not too conceited, nor too diffident,
be not too haughty, nor too humble,
be not too talkative, nor too silent,
be not too hard, nor too feeble.

If you be too wise, one will expect too much of you;
if you be too foolish, you will be deceived;
if you be too conceited, you will be thought vexatious;
if you be too humble, you will be without honour;
if you be too talkative, you will not be heeded;
if you be too silent, you will not be regarded;
if you be too hard, you will be broken;
if you be too feeble, you will be crushed.'

NOTES

'The Isles of the Happy' and 'The Sea-god's Address to Bran' are poems
interspersed in the prose tale called 'The Voyage of Bran son of Febal to
the Land of the Living.' For text and translation see my edition (London:
D. Nutt, 1895), pp. 4 and 16. The tale was probably first written down
early in the eighth, perhaps late in the seventh century.

'The Tryst after Death' (_Reicne Fothaid Canainne_) belongs to the ninth
century. For the original text and translation see my 'Fianaigecht, a
collection of hitherto inedited Irish poems and tales relating to Finn and
his Fiana' (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis and Co., 1910), p. 10 ff.

'Deirdre's Farewell to Scotland' and 'Deirdre's Lament' are taken from the
well-known tale called 'The Death of the Children of Usnech.' The text
which is here rendered is that of the Middle-Irish version edited and
translated by Whitley Stokes (_Irische Texte_, ii., Leipzig, 1884), pp.
127 and 145. My rendering follows in the main that of Stokes.

'The Hosts of Faery.'--From the tale called 'Laegaire mac Crimthainn's
Visit to the Fairy Realm of Mag Mell,' the oldest copy of which is found
in the Book of Leinster, a MS. of the twelfth century, p. 275 _b_. See
S.H. O'Grady's _Silva Gadelica_ (Williams and Norgate, 1892), vol. i. p.
256; vol. ii. p. 290, where, however, the verse is not translated.

The two poems from the 'Vision of MacConglinne' are taken from my
translation of the twelfth-century burlesque so called (D. Nutt, 1892),
pp. 34 and 78.

'A Dirge for King Niall of the Nine Hostages.'--Text and translation in
_Festschrift fuer Whitley Stokes_ (Harrassowitz, Leipzig, 1900), p. 1 ff.,
and in the _Gaelic Journal_, x.p. 578 ff. Late eighth or early ninth
century.

'The Song of Carroll's Sword.'--Edited and translated in _Revue Celtique_,
xx. p. 7 ff., and again in the _Gaelic Journal_, x.p