could see you all strung by the gills, like sardines on a twig! - Miguel de Cervantes

Many go out for wool, and come home shorn themselves.

To win the good-will of the people thou governest there are two things, among others, that thou must do; one is to be civil to all (this, however, I told thee before), and the other to take care that food be abundant, for there is nothing that vexes the heart of the poor more than hunger and high prices. Make not many proclamations; but those thou makest take care that they be good ones, and above all that they be observed and carried out; for proclamations that are not observed are the same as if they did not exist; nay, they encourage the idea that the prince who had the wisdom and authority to make them had not the power to enforce them; and laws that threaten and are not enforced come to be like the log, the king of the frogs, that frightened them at first, but that in time they despised and mounted upon. Be a father to virtue and a stepfather to vice. Be not always strict, nor yet always lenient, but observe a mean between these two extremes, for in that is the aim of wisdom. Visit the gaols, the slaughter-houses, and the market-places; for the presence of the governor is of great importance in such places; it comforts the prisoners who are in hopes of a speedy release, it is the bugbear of the butchers who have then to give just weight, and it is the terror of the market-women for the same reason. Let it not be seen that thou art (even if perchance thou art, which I do not believe) covetous, a follower of women, or a glutton; for when the people and those that have dealings with thee become aware of thy special weakness they will bring their batteries to bear upon thee in that quarter, till they have brought thee down to the depths of perdition.

Yoksul ve onurlu kişinin (yoksulların onurlu olması mümkünse, tabii) güzel bir karısı varsa elinde çok değerli bir cevher bulundurmuş olur. Karısı elinden alındığında ise onuru elinden alınıp katledilmiş sayılır. Şerefli ve güzel bir kadının kocası yoksul olduğunda ise kadın galibiyet ve zafer nişanı olarak defne ve palmiye yapraklarıyla taçlandırılmayı hak eder. Güzellik, bakan herkeste kendiliğinden bir istek uyandırır. Asil kartallar ve yüksekten uçan kuşlar bu güzel tuzağa kanarlar. Ancak güzelliğe ihtiyaç ve kıtlık da eklenirse bu sefer kuzgunlar, çaylaklar ve daha başka avcı kuşlar da saldırır. İşte bütün bu saldırılar karşısında güçlü durabilen kadın, kocasının baş tacı olarak adlandırılmayı hak ediyor demektir.