Every advance of which advantage is not taken, is in reality a retreat.
And remember, too, that though
Sought interviews are sweet, those unsought are sweeter. And
Probably no son of Adam—and for the matter of that, probably no daughter of Eve—ever quite looks back with remorse upon a semi-innocent escapade. Yet
The man who thinks he can at any time extract himself from any feminine entanglement that he may choose to have raveled, is a simpleton.
* * *
The way of man with a maid may have been too wonderful for Agur; now-a-days the way of a man with a married woman would puzzle a wiser than he.
What is the attitude to be maintained towards the too complaisant spouse of an honorable friend? That is a problem will puzzle weak men without end. Of that fatal and fateful dilemma when a wife or a husband falls victim to the wiles of another, there are, for the delinquent, two and only two horns (and it is a moot question upon which it is preferable to be impaled): Flight—either from the victor or the victrix. Yet
To some it is no anomaly to pray God's blessing upon a liaison. But these folk are to be pitied; for
A clandestine love always works havoc—havoc to all three. (4)
(4) Cf. Platus: "Malus clandestinus est amor; damnum 'st merum."