Men of virtue, from the vicious;
Wives, from creatures meretricious.
Yet, after all:
Wise men, even, carry through
What their nature bids them do:
Nature ever will direct;
What can punishment effect?
"Instruction has value only for him who grasps what has been said once. But you are like a stone—brainless, immovable. Why waste effort to instruct you? More than that, O fool! it is a mistake even to live beside you. A disaster might some day befall me from mere association with you. As the proverb says:
To live beside a dunderhead
In house or village, town or nation,
Is evil pure and simple, though
One may escape all litigation.
Better plunge in sea or fire,
Hell or deepest pit,
Than associate with one
Quite devoid of wit.
With the bad or good consort,
Vice or virtue clings;
Just as when the breezes in
Distant wanderings
Carry odors foul or sweet
On their restless wings.
"Indeed, there is wisdom in the old story:
Two birds were we. I and the other
One father had; we had one mother.
