First of all, then, show devotion to the gods, not merely by doing sacrifice, but also by keeping your vows; for the former is but evidence of a material prosperity, whereas the latter is proof of a noble character. Do honor the divine powers at all times, but especially on occasions of public worship; for thus you will have the reputation both of sacrificing to the gods and of abiding by the law.

Conduct yourself toward your parents as you would have your children conduct themselves toward you.

Train your body, not by the exercises which conduce to strength, but by those which conduce to health. In this you will succeed if you cease your exertions while you still have energy to exert yourself.

Be not fond of violent mirth, nor harbor presumption of speech; for the one is folly, the other madness.

Whatever is shameful to do you must not consider it honorable even to mention. Accustom yourself to be, not of a stern, but of a thoughtful, mien; for through the former you will be though self-willed, through the latter, intelligent. Consider that no adornment so becomes you as modesty, justice, and self-control; for these are the virtues by which, as all men are agreed, the character of the young is held in restraint.

Never hope to conceal any shameful thing which you have done; for even if you do conceal it from others, your own heart will know.

Fear the gods, honor your parents, respect your friends, obey the laws.

Pursue the enjoyments which are of good repute; for pleasure attended by honor is the best thing in the world, but pleasure without honor is the worst.

Guard yourself against accusations, even if they are false; for the multitude are ignorant of the truth and look only to reputation. In all things resolve to act as though the whole world would see what you do; for even if you conceal your deeds for the moment, later you will be found out. But most of all will you have the respect of men, if you are seen to avoid doing things which you would blame others for doing.

If you love knowledge, you will be a master of knowledge. When you have come to know, preserve by exercise; what you have not learned, seek to add to your knowledge; for it is as reprehensible to hear a profitable saying and not grasp it as to be offered a good gift by one's friend and not accept it. Spend your leisure time in cultivating an ear attentive to discourse, for in this way you will find that you learn with ease what others have found out with difficulty. Believe that many precepts are better than much wealth; for wealth quickly fails us, but precepts abide through all time; for wisdom alone of all possession is imperishable. Do not hesitate to travel a long road to those who profess to offer some useful instruction; for it were a shame, when merchants cross vast seas in order to increase their store of wealth, that the young should not endure even journeys by land to improve their understanding.

Be courteous in your manner, and cordial in your address. It is the part of courtesy to greet those whom you meet; and of cordiality to enter into friendly talk with them. Be pleasant to all, but cultivate the best; thus you will avoid the dislike of the former and have the friendship of the latter. Avoid frequent conversations with the same persons, and long conversations on the same subject for there is satiety in all things.

Train yourself in self-imposed toils, that you may be able to endure those which others impose upon you. Practice self-control in all things by which it is shameful for the soul to be controlled, namely, gain, temper, pleasure, and pain. You will attain such self-control if you regard as gainful those things which will increase your reputation and not those which will increase your wealth; if you manage your temper towards those who offend against you as you would expect others to do if you offended against them; if you govern your pleasures on the trouble, you contemplate the misfortunates of others and remind yourself that you are human.

Guard more faithfully the secret which is confided to you than the money which is entrusted to your care; for good men ought to show that they hold their honor more trustworthy than an oath. Consider that you owe it to yourself no less to mistrust bad men that to put your trust in the good. On matters which you would keep secret, speak to no one save when it is equally expedient for you to speak and for those who hear that the facts should not be published. Never allow yourself to be put under oath save for one of two reasons -- in order to clear yourself of disgraceful charges or to save your friends from great dangers. In matters of money, swear by none of the gods, not even when you intended to swear a true oath; for you will be suspected on the one hand of perjury, on the other of greed.

Make no man your friend before inquiring how he has used his former friends; for you must expect him to treat you as he has treated them. Be slow to give your friendship, but when you have given it, strive to make in lasting; for it is as reprehensible to make many changes in one associates as to have no friends at all. Neither test your friends to your own injury nor be willing to forgo a test of your companions. You can manage this if you pretend to be in want when really you lack nothing. Confide in them about matters which require no secrecy as if they were secrets; for if you fail you will not injure yourself, and if you succeed you will have a better knowledge of their character. Prove your friends by means of the misfortunes of life and of their fellowship in your perils; for as we try gold in the fire, so we come to know our friends when we are in misfortune. You will best serve your friends if you do not wait for them to ask your help, but go of your own accord at the crucial moment to lend them aid. Consider it equally disgraceful to be outdone by your enemies in doing injury and to be surpassed by your friends in doing kindness. Admit to your companionship, not those alone who show distress at your reverses, but those also who show no envy at your good fortune; for there are many who sympathize with their friends in adversity, but envy them in prosperity. Mention your absent friends to those who are with you, so that they may think you do not forget them, in their turn, when they are absent.

In matters of dress, resolve to be a man of taste, but not a fop. The man of taste is marked by elegance, the fop by excess.

Set not your heart on the excessive acquisition of goods, but on a moderate enjoyment of what you have. Despise those who strain after riches, but are not able to use what they have; they are in like case with a man who, being but a wretched horsemen, gets him a fine mount. Try to make of money a thing to use as well as to possess; it is a thing of use to those who understand how to enjoy it, and a mere possession to those who are able only to acquire it. Prize the substance you have for two reasons -- that you may have the means to meet a heavy loss and that you may go to the aid of a worthy friend when he is in distress; but for your life in general, cherish your possessions not in excess but in moderation.

Be content with your present lot, but seek a better one.

Taunt no man with his misfortune for fate is common to all and the future is a thing unseen.

Bestow your favors on the good; for a goodly treasury is a store of gratitude laid up in the heart of an honest man. If you benefit bad men, you will have the same reward as those who feed stray dogs; for these snarl alike at those who give them food and at the passing stranger; and just so base men wrong alike those who help and those who harm them.

Abhor flatterers as you would deceivers; for both, if trusted, injure those who trust them. If you admit to your friendship men who seek your favor for the lowest ends, your life will be lacking in friends who will risk your displeasure for the highest good.

Be affable in your relations with those who approach you, and never naughty; for the pride of the arrogant even slaves hardly endure, whereas when men are affable all are glad to bear with their ways. But to affable, you must not be quarrelsome, nor hard to please, nor always determined to have your way; you must not oppose harshly the angry moods of your associates, even if they happen to be angry without reason, but rather give way to them when they are in the heat of passion and rebuke them when their anger has cooled; you must avoid being serious when the occasion is one for mirth, or taking pleasure in mirth when the occasion is serious (for what is unseasonable is always offensive); you must not bestow your favors ungraciously as do the majority who, when they must oblige their friends, do it offensively, and you must not be given to fault-finding, which is irksome, nor be censorious, which is exasperating.

If possible avoid drinking-parties altogether, but if ever occasion arises when you must be present, rise and take your leave before you become intoxicated; for hen the mind is impaired by wine it is like chariots which have lost their drivers; for just as these plunge along in wild disorder when they miss the hands which should guide them, so the soul stumbles again and again when the intellect is impaired.

Cultivate the thoughts of an immortal by being lofty of soul, but of a mortal by enjoying in due measure the good things which you possess.

Consider culture to be a good so far superior to the lack of culture that while in general everyone derives gain from the practice of vice, boorishness is the one vice which actually penalizes its possessors; for the latter are often punished in deed for the offenses they give by their words.

When you desire to make a friend of anyone, say good things about him to those who are wont to report them; for praise is the foundation of friendship, as blame is that of enmity.

In your deliberations, let the past be an exemplar for the future; for the unknown may be soonest discerned by reference to the known. Be slow in deliberation, but be prompt to carry out your resolves. Consider that as the one thing which we have from the gods is good fortune, so the best thing which we have in ourselves is good judgement. When there is anything of which are ashamed to speak openly, but about which you wish to confer with some of your friends, speak as though it were another's affair; thus you will get at their opinion, and will not betray your own case. Whenever you purpose to consult with anyone about your affairs, first observe how he has managed his own; for his who has shown poor judgement in conducting his own business will never give wise counsel about business of others. The greatest incentive you can have to deliberation is to observe the misfortunes which springs from the lack of it; for we pay the closest attention to our health when we recall the pains which spring from disease.

Pattern after the character of kings, and follow closely their ways. For you will thus be thought to approve them and emulate them, and as a result you will have greater esteem in the eyes of multitude and a surer hold on the favor of royalty. Obey the laws which have been laid down by kings, but consider their manner of life your highest law. For just as one who is a citizen in a democracy must pay court to the multitude, so also one who lives under monarch should revere the king.

When you are placed in authority, do not employ any unworthy person in your administration; for people will blame you for any mistakes which he may make. Retire from the public trusts, not more wealthy, but more highly esteemed; for the praise of a people is better than many possessions.

Never support or defend a bad cause, for people will suspect that you yourself do the things which you aid others in doing.

Put yourself in a position in which you have the power to take advantage, but refrain when you have your fair share, so that men may think that you strive for justice, not from weakness, but from a sense of equity. Prefer honest poverty to unjust wealth; for justice is better than riches in that riches profit us only while we live, while justice provides us glory even after we are dead, and which riches are shared by bad men, justice is a thing in which the wicked can have no part. Never emulate those who seek to gain by injustice, but cleave rather to those who have suffered loss in the cause of justice; for if the just have no other advantage over the unjust, at any rate they have surpass them in their high hopes.

Give careful heed to all that concerns your life, but above all train your own intellect; for the greatest thing in the small compass is a sound mind in a human body. Strive with your body to be a lover of toil, and which your soul to be a lover of wisdom, in order that with the one you may have the strength to carry out your resolves, and which the other the intelligence to foresee what is for your good.

Always when you are  about to say anything, first weigh it in your mind; for with many the tongue outruns the thought, let there be but occasions for speech -- when the subject is one which you thoroughly know and when it is one on which you are compelled to speak. On these occasions alone is speech better than silence, on all others, it is better to be silent that to speak.

Consider that nothing in human life is stable; for then you will not exult overmuch in prosperity, nor grieve overmuch in adversity. Rejoice over the good things which come to you, but grieve in moderation over the evils which befall you, and in either case do not expose your heart to others; for it were strange to away one's treasure in the house, and yet walk about laying bare one's feelings to the world.

Be more careful in guarding against censure than against danger; for the wicked may well dread the end of life, but good men should dread ignominy during life. Strive by all means to live in security, but if ever it falls to your lot to face the dangers of battle, seek to preserve your life, but with honor and not with disgrace; for death is the sentence which fate has passed on all mankind, but to die nobly is the special honor which nature has reserved for the good.

Do not be surprised that many things which I have said do not apply to you at your present age. For I also have not overlooked this fact, but I have deliberately chosen to employ this one treatise, not only to convey to you advice for your life now, but also to leave with you precepts for the years to come; for you will then readily perceive the application of my precepts, but you will not easily find a man who will give you friendly counsel. In order, therefore, that you may not seek the rest from another source, but that you may draw from this as from a treasure-house, I thought that I ought not to omit any of the counsels which I have to give you.

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 Duo Versisque

 

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