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Part I: On Virtue

Section I: Prologue

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Chapter 21: Dread of Sinful Deeds

Verse 206
A woman offers a gift to an older relative. Below, the older woman remembers that she herself hit the younger girl earlier and regrets the act, and her hurtful attack brings great suffering.

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Weaver's Wisdom

Verse 201

Wicked men do not fear, but worthy men dread,
the arrogance of sinful deeds.

Verse 202

From evil springs forth more evil.
Hence evil is to be feared even more than fire.

Verse 203

To commit no wrong, even against one's enemies,
is said to be supreme wisdom.

Verse 204

Only the forgetful plot another's ruin; others remember
that virtue itself devises every plotter's downfall.

Verse 205

Do not commit wrongful deeds, claiming to be poor.
Such deeds only cause one to be poorer still.

Verse 206

Let one who hopes for freedom from afflictions' pain
avoid inflicting harm on others.

Verse 207

One can escape from hate-filled enemies,
but his own hateful acts will pursue and destroy him.

Verse 208

As a man's shadow follows his footsteps wherever he goes,
even so will destruction pursue those who commit sinful deeds.

Verse 209

If a man feels any fond affection for himself,
let him not indulge in immoral deeds, however trifling.

Verse 210

If men neither deviate from right nor act wrongly,
they will be defended against destruction.