1-3. When you go out to dinner with an influential person,mind your manners:Don’t gobble your food,don’t talk with your mouth full.And don’t stuff yourself;bridle your appetite.
4-5. Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;restrain yourself!Riches disappear in the blink of an eye;wealth sprouts wingsand flies off into the wild blue yonder.
6-8. Don’t accept a meal from a tightwad;don’t expect anything special.He’ll be as stingy with you as he is with himself;he’ll say, “Eat! Drink!” but won’t mean a word of it.His miserly serving will turn your stomachwhen you realize the meal’s a sham.
9. Don’t bother talking sense to fools;they’ll only poke fun at your words.
10-11. Don’t stealthily move back the boundary linesor cheat orphans out of their property,For they have a powerful Advocatewho will go to bat for them.
12. Give yourselves to disciplined instruction;open your ears to tested knowledge.