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To both the matters we have mentioned above many poets have borne witness in verse; to the law on evil association as follows1:“ The man who takes delight in converse with
The base, I never ask his kind, aware
He's just like those with whom he likes to be;
”to the law he proclaimed on a stepmother as follows2:“ Charondas, giver of laws, so men relate,
In legal code says many things, but this
Above all else: Let him who on his offspring
A second mother foists be held without
Esteem nor count among his countrymen
For aught, since it's a bane that he hath brought
From alien source upon his own affairs.
For if, he says to him, you fortunate were
When wedded first, forbear when you're well off,
And if your luck was bad, a madman's act
It surely is to try a second wife.
”For in truth the man who errs twice in the same matter may justly be considered a fool.

1 Eur. Phoenix fr. 812 (Nauck). The passage in fuller form is quoted by Aeschin. 1.152. These lines are also attributed to Menander, who, Kock thinks (Menander fr. 414), may have quoted them from Euripides.

2 From an unknown comic poet (anon. fr. 110 (Kock)).

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