"Now in the treatises on the subject statesmanship is subsumed under five heads, to wit: proper inception; resources, human and material; determination of place and time; countermeasures for mischance; and successful accomplishment. At the present moment, the master finds himself in serious peril. So, if you have any such capacity, devise countermeasures for his mischance. For the wisdom of a counselor finds its test in the patching of friendship. Ah, you fool! That you cannot do, because you have a perverted mind. As the saying goes:
No scamp can further others' work,
But can deprave it:
The mole uproots the mulberry,
But cannot save it.
"After all, the fault is not yours, but rather the master's, who trusts your words, dull-witted as you are. And the proverb says:
Educating sluggish wit
Kills no pride but fosters it:
In the sunlight others find
Aid to vision; owls go blind.
Education thrusts aside
Man's fatuity and pride;
If it foster them, who can
Cure the educated man?
Remedies are useless when
Heaven's nectar poisons men."
And Cheek, beholding his master in pitiful plight, sank into deep dejection. "Dreadful," he cried,
