On Friendship

If thou desirest to make a friendship to last within a house which thou enterest, be it as master, as brother, or as friend, go not to any place where thou art not invited. When thou enterest, and eye and ear are shut against thee, do not inquire into that which is concealed. For the gods have set silence as the condition of a man of worth.

If thou desirest thy conduct to be good and to preserve thyself from all evil, keep thyself from every attack of bad humour. For speech spoken in passion is the thing which tears friendship asunder. He who is gracious, his name endures. He who is violent, his name becomes a reproach.