Keep watch always on your words and actions, that you may fall into as few mistakes as possible. For while it is best to grasp your opportunities at exactly the right moment, yet, since they are difficult to discern, choose to fall short rather than to overreach them;Cf. Artistot. Nic. Eth. 2.5; Cicero, xxii.: “etsi suus cuique rei modus est, tamen magis offendit nimium quam parum.” for the happy mean is to be found in defect rather than in excess.

Try to combine courtesy with dignity; for dignity is in keeping with the position of a king and courtesy is becoming in his social intercourse. Yet no admonition is so difficult to carry out as this; for you will find that for the most part those who affect dignity are cold, while those who desire to be courteous appear to lower themselves; yet you should cultivate both these qualities and try to avoid the danger that attaches to each.