Ad felicem inflectere parietem

When a vessel, in sailing, inclines too much to one side, the passengers usually crowd to the other, where seems to be the greatest safety, and when fortune ceases to smile on anyone, or he is found to be sinking, it is then that his friends usually leave him, and fly to others who are more successful. Though such conduct cannot but be condemned by all ingenuous persons, yet on the other hand, we should not so connect ourselves with the fortunes of those who are falling, as to make our own ruin inevitable with theirs. «Juvare amicos rebus afflictis decet». We should indeed assist our friends in their misfortunes, but not at the hazard of the destruction of ourselves and families, otherwise we should subject ourselves to the censure implied in the following, «Alienos agros, irrigas tuis sitientibus», while watering the fields of our neighbour, we leave our own to be parched with drought. Harto es necio y loco, quien vacia su cuerpo, por inchir el de otro, he is foolish and mad enough, who empties his own purse to fill that of another.