either as lavish or as churlish; as a
friend of rogues or as a slanderer of good men.

(ll. 717-721) Never dare to taunt a man with deadly poverty which eats
out the heart; it is sent by the deathless gods. The best treasure a man
can have is a sparing tongue, and the greatest pleasure, one that moves
orderly; for if you speak evil, you yourself will soon be worse spoken
of.

(ll. 722-723) Do not be boorish at a common feast where there are many
guests; the pleasure is greatest and the expense is least [1337].

(ll. 724-726) Never pour a libation of sparkling wine to Zeus after dawn
with unwashen hands, nor to others of the deathless gods; else they do
not hear your prayers but spit them back.

(ll. 727-732) Do not stand upright facing the sun when you make water,
but remember to do this when he has set towards his rising. And do not
make water as you go, whether on the road or off the road, and do not
uncover yourself: the nights belong to the blessed gods. A scrupulous
man who has a wise heart sits down or goes to the wall of an enclosed
court.

(ll. 733-736) Do not expose yourself befouled by the fireside in your
house, but avoid this. Do not beget children when you are come back from
ill-omened burial, but after a festival of the gods.

(ll. 737-741) Never cross the sweet-flowing water of ever-rolling rivers
afoot until you have prayed, gazing into the soft flood, and washed your
hands in the clear, lovely water. Whoever crosses a river with hands
unwashed of wickedness, the gods are angry with him and bring trouble
upon him afterwards.

(ll. 742-743) At a cheerful festival of the gods do not cut the withered
from the quick upon that which has five branches [1338] with bright
steel.

(ll. 744-745) Never put the ladle upon the mixing-bowl at a wine party,
for malignant ill-luck is attached to that.

(ll. 746-747) When you are building a house, do not leave it rough-hewn,
or a cawing crow may settle on it and croak.

(ll. 748-749) Take nothing to eat or to wash with from uncharmed pots,
for in them there is mischief.

(ll. 750-759) Do not let a boy of twelve years sit on things which may
not be moved [1339], for that is bad, and makes a man unmanly; nor yet
a child of twelve months, for that has the same effect. A man should
not clean his body with water in which a woman has washed, for there is
bitter mischief in that also for a time. When you come upon a burning
sacrifice, do not make a mock of mysteri