184 THE KING'S MIRROR 



tinue your suit and try to find a more convenient time, 

 when your affairs may have a more favorable outcome. 

 However, while you are seeking to gain the king's favor, 

 I you will need above all to keep close to the best and 

 most discreet men, and you should often be seen in the 

 , $ Q \ company of those who are dearest to the king. But pay 

 all the necessary outlay out of your own means, how- 

 ever long this probation may last, unless you should 

 sometime be invited by the king's order to his tables. 

 And let it not be true in your case as is true in the case 

 of many an unwise man, that the more often you find 

 yourself invited, the more you begin to long for an- 

 other's fare, lest upright men come to regard you as 

 selfish and impertinent, and those become hostile who 

 were formerly your friends and comrades. Walk up- 

 rightly, therefore, and be heedful in all such matters, 

 lest evil befall you through lack of foresight. 



XXXI 



WHY ONE SHOULD NOT WEAR A MANTLE 

 IN THE ROYAL PRESENCE 



Son. If you permit, I will ask to be allowed a few 

 words in this discussion. On what do you base your 

 statement that it is considered good deportment among 

 princes for a man to come bareheaded and without a 

 mantle when he comes to seek audience with them. If 

 anyone did thus in the country, the mob would say that 

 the man was a fool to run about in that way without a 

 cloak like a ninny. 



Father. I told you a little earlier in our conversation 

 that many a man goes about in ignorance as to what is 



