1. It is forbidden for the free spirit and mind
To see aught but truth in open and secret.

2. Shall I ever show affection for my boon companion
While in my heart is that which breeds evil?

3. I seem then to have joined the party of deceit
And lost, mid the glory-crowned, my good name.

4. In vain my prudence; vain in me all honour;
My hidden self at war with my outward seeming.

5. And, if in speech with friend I chance to anger,
He shows me that whereby my worth's appraised.

6. Not that I see myself as acting wrongly:
I but reveal to him what in his heart lies hid.

7. Nor is it mine with boastful words to fill the air,
Boasting restricted to the lines of verse.

8. Nor was it in my thoughts reproached to see thee
Or do the thing deserving of reproach through life.