Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) — Chapter 37

Every friend will say: I also am his friend; but there is a friend that is only a friend in name. The gap between claimed friendship and real friendship. Lapide develops an extended taxonomy of false friendships—those based on pleasure, profit, or flattery—contrasted with true friendship based on virtue and mutual good will.

Beware of one that counselleth thee; and know before what need he hath; for he will devise to his own mind. The counselor who has personal interests in the advice he gives is compromised. Lapide provides a systematic catalogue of unreliable counselors: the irreligious in matters of holiness, the unjust in matters of justice, the coward in matters of war, and so on.

But above all these things pray to the Most High, that He may direct thy way in truth. Above all human counsel, seek God's guidance directly in prayer. Lapide treats this as the theological capstone of the section: all human prudence must be subordinate to and founded upon divine guidance sought in prayer.

A man of no address is void of wisdom; yet the wisest of men shall sin through the mouth. Wisdom manifests in speech; yet even the wisest may sin by misusing it. Lapide applies this to teachers and preachers who instruct others yet fail to govern themselves.

A man wise in words shall make himself beloved; but the graces of fools shall be poured out to waste. The wise man's speech creates bonds of love and social harmony; the fool's words, however charming, ultimately destroy trust and community.

In thy life give no over-indulgence to thy appetite, and go not after thy concupiscences, but turn away from thy own will. The closing section on temperance: self-governance is the master virtue that makes all others possible. Lapide treats the governance of appetite as the foundation of the entire moral life.