XC
Refraining from Offending the Great Ones
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The greatest care of a man that looketh to his safety should be to guard himself carefully from offending the Great Ones.
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If a man slighteth the Great Ones, their power will bring down on him miseries without end.
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Dost thou seek thy annihilation? then close thy ears to good counsel and offer provocation to men who have the power to destroy thee when they please.
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Behold the weak man slighting men of might and power: it is as if he beckoneth to the God of Death to come to him.
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Behold the men who provoke the wrath of princes of the mighty arm: wheresoever they go they will not thrive.
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Even men who are caught in a conflagration may escape alive: but there is no safety for men who wrong the mighty ones.
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Where will be thy life with its varied glories and thy wealth with all its splendour, if sages, strong in the strength of the spirit, are incensed against thee?
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Behold the princes who look as if they are established on an everlasting foundation: even they will perish with all their kin if men who are mighty as the mountain but will their doom.
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Even the king of the Gods will fail from his place and lose his sovereignty if men of holy vows look on him in anger.
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Even men who rest upon the most solid of supports will not be saved if men of great spiritual power frown on them.