On Kindness to Subjects and Mercy to the Fallen

Don't expose anyone's shame in a quarrel, for you too have hidden faults behind your own curtain. Don't roar at fierce, lion-hearted men when you can't even best a child with your fist. A father was giving his son some advice: hold onto the counsel of a wise man. Don't be cruel to those smaller than you, my son, for one day greatness may pass into your own hands. Aren't you afraid, little witless wolf, that a leopard may one day tear you apart? In my youth I had strength in my fist, and I made those beneath me suffer at my hand. Then one day I took a blow from stronger men, and after that I never bullied the weak again. Take care not to sleep in careless ease, for slumber is forbidden to the leader of a people. Beware: carry the sorrows of those beneath you, and fear the upper hand that fate can seize. Advice that is free of any hidden motive is like bitter medicine that cures the disease.