1. “What is the greatest wisdom of man?” “To be able to do evil and not to do it,” answered St Tedio.
2. “What is the highest goodness of man?” “Justice,” answered Tahaiarn.
3. “What is the worst principle of man?” “Falsehood,” answered Taliesin, chief of Bards.
4. “What is the noblest action of man?” “Correctness,” answered Cynan, son of Clydno Eddin.
5. “What is the greatest folly of man?” “To desire a common evil, which he cannot do,” answered Ystyvan, the Bard of Teilo.
6. “Who is the poorest man?” “He who is not contented with his own property,” answered Arawn, son of Cynvarch.
7. “Who is the richest man?” “He who does not covet anything belonging to others,” answered Gildas of Coed Awr.
“The Ode to the Months” is given in the translation of William Probert (1820), according to whom the Ode contains moral maxims and observations which were known and repeated long before Aneurin lived, and were put into verse by him as an aid to the memory: “valuable, because they show the modes of thinking and expression which the primitive inhabitants of Britain used nearly 2000 years ago.”
DAFYDD AP GWILYM.
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