"If thou hearkenest to these things that I tell thee, and all thy
behavior is according to what precedeth,[299] verily they have a true
course. They are precious, their memory goeth in the mouth of men by
reason of the excellence of their phrasing; and each saying is carried
on; it is not destroyed out of this land ever; it maketh a rule to
advantage by which the nobles may speak. It is a teaching for a man that
he may speak to the future. He that heareth them becometh an expert. A
good hearer speaketh to the future of what he hath heard. If good
fortune befalleth by reason of him who is at the head of affairs, it is
to him good forever, and all his satisfactoriness remaineth to eternity.
It is he who knoweth that blesseth his soul[300] in establishing his
excellence upon earth: he who knoweth hath satisfaction of his
knowledge. A noble[301] taketh his right course in what his heart and
his tongue provide; his lips are correct when he speaketh, his eyes in
seeing, his ears just in hearing; a profitable thing for his son is
doing right, free from wrong.
"It is a profitable thing for the son of one who hath hearkened [to
instruction] to hearken [to his father], entering and listening to a
hearkener. A hearkener becometh a person hearkened to, good in
hearkening and good in speech; a hearkener possesseth what is
profitable: profitable to the hearkener is hearkening. Hearkening is
better than anything: it befalleth indeed that love is good, but twice
good is it when a son receiveth what his father saith: old age cometh to
him therewith. He who loveth God hearkeneth, he who hateth God doth not
hearken: it is the heart that maketh its possessor hearken or not
hearken, and the Life, Prosperity, and Health[302] of a man is his
heart. The hearkener heareth what is said. He that loveth to hear doeth
according to what is said. Twice good is it for a son to hearken to his
father. How happy is he to whom these things are told! A son, he shineth
as possessing the quality of hearkening. The hearkener to whom they are
told, he is excellent in body. He that is pious-and-well-pleasing[303]
to his father, his memory is in the mouth of the living who are upon
earth, whoever they shall be."