Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 13

¹ Whoever touches pitch will be defiled, and anyone who associates with a proud man will come to be like him.

² Do not try to carry a burden too heavy for you, do not associate with someone more powerful and wealthy than yourself. Why put the clay pot next to the iron cauldron? It will only break when they collide.

³ The rich man wrongs a man and puts on airs, while the poor man is wronged and apologises.

⁴ If you are useful he will exploit you, if you cannot keep up with him he will desert you.

⁵ Are you well off?-he will live with you, he will clean you out without a single qualm.

⁶ Does he need you?-he will hoodwink you, smile at you and raise your hopes; he will speak to you with smooth words and say, ‘I wonder what you would like?’

⁷ And he will put you to shame with his grand dinners, until he has cleaned you out two or three times over, and he will finish by making you ridiculous. When he sees you afterwards he will snub you, and wag his head about you.

⁸ Take care you are not hoodwinked and thus humiliated through your own stupidity.

⁹ When an influential man invites you, show reluctance, and he will press his invitation all the more.

¹⁰ Do not thrust yourself forward, in case you are pushed aside, but do not stand aloof, or you will be overlooked.

¹¹ Do not affect to treat him as an equal, do not trust his flow of words; since all this talking is expressly meant to test you, under cover of geniality he will be weighing you up.

¹² Pitiless is the man who is too free with his words, he will not spare you either blows or chains.

¹³ Be wary, take very great care, because you are walking with your own downfall.

¹⁵ Every living thing loves its own sort, and every man his neighbour.

¹⁶ Every creature mixes with its kind, and man sticks to his own sort.

¹⁷ How can a wolf and lamb agree? – Just so with sinner and devout.

¹⁸ What peace can there be between hyena and dog? And what peace between rich man and poor?

¹⁹ Wild donkeys are the prey of desert lions; so too, the poor are the quarry of the rich.

²⁰ The proud man thinks humility abhorrent; so too, the rich abominate the poor.

²¹ When the rich man stumbles he is supported by friends; when the poor man falls, his friends push him away.

²² When the rich man slips, there are many hands to catch him, if he talks nonsense he is congratulated.

²⁷ The poor man slips, and is blamed for it, he may talk good sense, but no room is made for him.

²³ The rich man speaks and everyone stops talking, and then they praise his discourse to the skies. The poor man speaks and people say, ‘Who is this?’ and if he staggers they push him down.

²⁴ Wealth is good where there is no sin, poverty is evil, the godless say.

²⁵ A man’s heart moulds his expression whether for better or worse.

²⁶ The mark of a good heart is a cheerful expression; inventing proverbs is weary work.