Ellis Walker, Epictetus in Poetical Paraphrase 40

XL. 

Let modest silence by your greatest care
In human conversation, and beware
Of being over talkative, and shun
That lewd perpetual motion of the tongue,
That itch of speaking much, and be content
That your discourse (though short) be pertinent;
And when occasion serves, then speak your sense,
Without an over-weening confidence.
Nor catch at ev'ry bait, nor open at
The common opportunities of chat:
As, such a fencer play'd his part with skill,
That, like a wrestler, breaks what rib he will:
That such a horse is of the fleetest kind,
And that his dam engender'd with the wind;
That a full cry of deep-mouth'd, long-ear'd hounds
Is the most sweet and ravishing of sounds:
That such a lord with the best wines doth treat,
Has the best cook, is the best read in meat. 
These are the thead-bare themes that please the crowd,
The ignorant, the thoughtless, and the proud.
But chiefly shun discourse concerning men,
Nor fondly this man praise, and that condemn;
For all immod'rate, and too lavish praise,
Too great an expectation's apt to raise;
And by reviling others you express
Your little wisdom, but much bitterness:
Nor with absurd comparisons defame
One man, by adding to another's name:
For thus, by way of foyle, the one's disgrace
Sets off the character you mean to raise;
With hemlock this you crown, and that with bays.