Part 8/9:
Never let others interrupt you, because you will lose respect. Beware of a man who interrupts you, because he is trying to show you strength. Men will always deceive you unless they are kept honest by constraint. There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy.
Of mankind, we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy for gain. Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened. Everything in this world in any epic has their replicas in Antiquity. A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge of it.