24
The friendship of the bad is like the shade of some precipitous bank with crumbling sides, which, falling, buries him who is beneath.
Bhāravi.
25
His action no applause invites
Who simply good with good repays;
He only justly merits praise
Who wrongful deeds with kind requites.*
Panchatantra.
Notes
* Matt. V, 43, 44.
26
Death comes, and makes a man his prey,
A man whose powers are yet unspent;
Like one on gathering flowers intent,
Whose thoughts are turned another way.
Begin betimes to practise good,
Lest fate surprise thee unawares
Amid thy round of schemes and cares;
To-morrow’s task to-day conclude.*
Mahābhārata.
Notes
* Eccles. IX, 10; XII, 1.