I. Weak creatures overcome the strongest man, since the strong cannot resist the weak. For I see the weak weaken the strong, and in this way the weak adversary subdues the stronger, and there is such strength in the weak one, I find, that the strong is deprived of his great valour. Against the weak, the strong man has no power.
II. It is a trifling thing that annihilates what it makes and what it can unmake, for it is what the world cherishes; therefore a trifle does the world great injury. And why does the world suffer such folly? It is because the trifle gives such great pleasure that the world welcomes and cherishes it.
III. I have seen and discovered in my fate that you can extract sweetness from sourness in a short time and without addition. Thus sweet and sour set out from the same harbour. And sourness so works on sweetness that it blends winter and summer; but the sourness flees when the sweetness appears.
IV. Often do I rejoice and take heart, when I see the dead come back to life. The dead can accomplish more than the living, and so I reconcile myself completely with the dead. And there is exceedingly great might in the dead, and that is why the dead should not inspire fear, for what is dead does not harm and can bring profit.
V. In the channel which speaks comfort I see warm and cold mingle; the one can pass away by means of the other, and both are of equal effect. You will be rich as long as you squander, and yet poor also. Is this a fable I am telling you? By no means, rather do I ally wit with truth.
VI. The strong are overcome by the weak, and you can extract sweetness from sourness, and mingle warmth and cold, and a trifle annihilates what it gives, and there is exceedingly great might in the dead, and the rich ruin themselves through the gifts they give, and this must needs happen to them.
