"Truly I cannot imagine, as I survey this world,
why my mind should not be saddened, when I fully consider
the life of earls, how they have suddenly resigned their halls,
brave-hearted fellows! So day by day
this middle-earth declines and falls,
for mortals cannot grow wise until he lives his years
portion in the world.
A wise man must be patient;
he must not be too passionate, not too hasty of speech,
not too timid a warrior, neither too rash,
not too afraid, nor too exultant, nor too greedy of money,
never too ready to boast ere he know full well.
A man must pause when he utters a boast,
until, for all his magnanimity, he really knows
whether his heart’s meditation will tend.