In a city of honest men unavailing + 

Is the trickster’s babble, yet still he essays, + 

Fawning on all men, the toils to twine + 

Of his subtlety. Never his vaunt shall be mine⁠— + 

“To a friend he I friend, to a foe malign! + 

As a wolf will I covertly track him, assailing + 

This side and that side, by crooked ways.” + 

In what state soever a people be dwelling, + 

’Tis the man of straightforward speech alway + 

That unto the foremost place attains; + 

Whether it be where a despot reigns, + 

Or where the rabble hot-headed strains + 

Against use and wont, or where sages excelling + 

In wisdom the helm of the commonweal sway. + 