[996]
One who would invite, even with a seat,
a person unacquainted¹ and never before seen —
to that very one a man should do good:
him the wise call "one who follows the way traveled" (yātānuyāyī).
In whosever house a man should dwell even for a single night,
where he should obtain² food and drink,
he should not think evil against him even in his mind;
the betrayer of friends (mittadubbha) burns the moist hand.
In the shade of whatever tree one should sit or lie down,
one should not break a branch of it; for the betrayer of friends is wicked.
Though a man should give this earth, filled full of wealth,
to a woman he holds in esteem,
yet, having found her moment, she would despise even him:
one should not go under the power of those unfaithful women (asatī).
Thus indeed is one "a follower of the way traveled";
and thus, again, does one "burn the moist hand";
such is she, the unfaithful one; and he, moreover, is the betrayer of friends.
Be righteous, then — abandon unrighteousness!
(This is) named the Section on the Dhamma of Good Men (Sādhunaradhammakaṇḍa).
¹ Footnote in the text: "There is also the reading asanthutaṃ" — the sense followed here.
² Footnote in the text: the Burmese edition reads "labheyya" (for labhetha).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.