17. The eye of one who mocks his father and who despises the childbearing of his mother, let the ravens of the torrent tear it out, and let the sons of the eagles consume it.
18. Three things are difficult for me, and about a fourth, I am nearly ignorant:
19. the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man in adolescence.
20. Such is the way also of an adulterous woman, who eats, and wiping her mouth, says: "I have done no evil."
21. By three things, the earth is moved, and a fourth it is not able to sustain:
22. by a slave when he reigns, by the foolish when he has been filled with food,
23. by a hateful woman when she has been taken in matrimony, and by a handmaid when she has been heir to her mistress.
24. Four things are least upon the earth, and they are wiser than the wise:
25. the ants, an infirm people who provide food for themselves at the harvest,
26. the rabbit, a sickened people who make their bed upon the rock.
27. The locust has no king, but they all depart by their troops.
28. The lizard supports itself on hands and dwells in the buildings of kings.
29. There are three things that advance well, and a fourth that marches happily on:
30. a lion, the strongest of beasts, who fears nothing that he meets,