On Avoiding the Company of the Young and Frivolous

A pretty face at home will ruin you; go instead and build a happy home with a wife. It makes no sense to flirt with a rose that has a new suitor singing at its door every morning. Once someone has made themselves the candle of every gathering, stop circling them like a moth. A good wife, gentle and graceful: how can she compare to some ignorant upstart? Breathe a breath of loyalty into her like a budding rose, so that from her laughter she blooms open, her hair falling back like petals. Not like a wild, unruly boy, stubborn and hard, who cannot be broken even against a stone. Do not be fooled by his charming looks, as though he were a heavenly beauty, for on the other side he is as ugly as a demon. Even if you kiss his feet, he will show you no respect; even if you become the dust beneath him, he will offer no thanks. Empty your head of sense and your hands of money the moment you set your heart on another person's child. Do not look with lust at other people's children, or your own child will come to ruin.