Acting Cautiously
Being cautious involves two aspects: cautious trust and a certain generosity. Cautious trust means being on guard even with friends, as some friendships exist to deceive, and trusting no one without reason to suspect them. Generosity, in this context, means refraining from indiscriminately telling the truth or correcting others’ errors and habits, while maintaining a pretense of doing so, although this is not entirely harmless.
Entrust a secret to no one, because anyone can become an enemy at any moment.
Do nothing when distracted by life’s joys, or you will make mistakes and betray yourself.
Do not assume that anyone will interpret your actions favorably, as people who do so are exceedingly rare.
Entrust nothing to letters that you would not want read by a third party; in fact, put praises in them, so that they may come into their hands.
If someone tries to extract information from you by pretending to know it already, do not correct their errors.
Either conceal the vices of others or excuse them; hide your own feelings or pretend to have the opposite ones.
No matter how great a friendship may be, consider the possibility of hatred; in times of fortune, prepare for adversity.
If you are victorious, never return the noblest captives to the enemy. By holding them, you may compel the enemy to spare you if fortune turns against you, as they will seek the release of their own captured nobles. Moreover, do favors for the leaders of your enemies and maintain correspondence with them, unless faced with an unavoidable and pressing situation that prevents you from doing so.
Avoid acting solely for the sake of appearances, unless you are prepared to justify your actions. People will condemn your deeds without waiting for an explanation, and in this era, even certain virtues are condemned, let alone questionable ones.
If inferiors and servants ask something of you, order them to leave it in writing for you, so that you may be able to inspect all the circumstances more closely. You, however, should give responses only orally.
When conversing in situations where your words may be used against you, preemptively claim that you often speak in jest, exploring contradictory ideas and occasionally being mischievous. This way, if you say something incautious, you can excuse it by reminding others of your earlier disclaimer.
If you find yourself pressured by games, hunting, and love or lust, and carried away by passions, forbid these activities to yourself altogether. Otherwise, you are likely to act incautiously in many situations.
When dealing with infants, the elderly, the stubborn, those with unstable memory, or tyrants, act as much as possible in the presence of witnesses.
Receive and request orders in writing.
Do not readily give advice to the more ferocious and impetuous; they judge by the outcome.
Where it is believable that you are being observed, speak very little; there is an easy lapse in many things.
In everything, observe vices and virtues, so that if there is need, you may be able to turn to one part or the other: those weapons will prove useful for many things.
Have shutters on the insides of windows, and let the part where they meet the windows be black, so that it cannot be discerned whether the window is closed or not.
b696db4 @ 2024-05-23