只和可敬之人交往。你能信任他们，他们也会信任你。他们的名声是其行为的最好保证，哪怕是有误会，也不会例外，因为他们总是言如其心、行如其人。所以，宁可与高尚之人争高下，也别与卑鄙之人争输赢。和堕落之人打交道很难，因为他们没有东西可做正直的抵押——和他们不可能建立真正的友情，和他们签订的协议也没有约束力（无论这种协议看上去多么严格），因为他们没有荣誉感。不要和没有荣誉感的人产生任何关系——荣誉无法约束他们，因此也不能要求他们有德行，因为荣誉是人格的宝座。
only act with honourable men. you can trust them and they you. their honour is the best surety of their behaviour even in misunderstandings, for they always act according to what they are. hence it is better to have a dispute with honourable people than to have a victory over dishonourable ones. you cannot treat with the ruined, for they have no hostages for rectitude. with them there is no true friendship, and their agreements are not binding, however stringent they may appear, because they have no feeling of honour. never have anything to do with such men, for if honour does not restrain them, virtue will not, since honour is the throne of rectitude.
