Follow not the seeming wisdom of a woman's discourse; for as a man is more powerful and better informed than a woman, it is fitter that he should stand on his own ground.
A man who knows not the customs of the country (yúdya Nagára), is like a man who would bind an elephant with cords made from the tánjung flower. It is not necessary for the elephant to be enraged: with the least motion he breaks the cords asunder.
Deprive not another of the credit which is due to him, nor lower him in the opinion of the world: for the sun, when he approaches near to the moon, in depriving her of her light adds nothing to his own lustre.
There is nothing better in the world than a man who keeps his word; and there is nothing worse than a man who swerves from his word, for he is a liar. There are five witnesses, which may be seen by every one: Yang-anála or Bráma (fire), Súria (the sun), Chándra (the moon), Kála (time), Báyu (life). And they are the great witnesses always present throughout the three worlds; therefore let men recollect never to lie.
There are three things which destroy a man's character, and they are as three poisons: the first, to disgrace his family or lower himself; the second, to take delight in bringing misfortunes and unhappiness upon others; the third, to be a hypocrite, and assume the character of a Pandíta.
Several works have been recently discovered in Báli, called Agáma, Adigáma, Púrwa Digáma, Súrcha, Muscháyagáma, Kantára or Sástra Menáwa, Dewagáma, Maiswári, Tatwa, Wiya Wasáha, Dásta Kalabáya, Slákan Taragáma, Satmagáma, Gamíga Gamána. Of many of these, copies have been procured, and the Sástra Menáwa, or institutions of Menu, have been partially translated into English. This is a book of law comprised in about one hundred and sixty sections, evidently written on the spot, and with reference to the peculiar habits and dispositions of the people for whom it was framed. As a code of civil law, it is remarkable for the proof it affords of the existence of actual property in the land; and as a criminal code, for the frequency of capital punishment, and the almost total absence of all degrading or minor corporeal punishment.
Of the more modern compositions, and which may be considered as more strictly Javan, the following are the principal:
Angréné is an historical work, which commences with the reign of Sri Jáya Langkára sovereign of Médang Kamúlan, the grandfather of the celebrated Pánji, and concludes with the death of Pánji. This is the longest work to be found in the modern literature of Java, and contains the most interesting and important part of Javan history immediately antecedent to the establishment of Mahomedanism. It is composed in several measures of the Sékar Gángsal, and is usually divided into several smaller works, to each of which the name of Pánji is prefixed, as:
Pánji Mordaningkung. The history of that part of the Pánji's life, when his consort, Sékar-táji, is carried off by a deity. This is replete with relations of his adventures in war, and partly written in the Sékar Sépoh and partly in the Sékar Gángsal.
Pánji Magát-kung relates to that period when the object of Pánji's love was not yet attained.