Meaning & Analysis
Do not entrust a friend with secrets, information, or power that could be used to harm you if that friend were ever to become your enemy.
Insights
Prudence in Intimacy
The proverb advocates for cautious self-protection even in close relationships, reminding us that circumstances and loyalties can change, and that what is revealed in confidence today might become a weapon tomorrow.
Unpredictability of Human Nature
It metaphorically warns against total vulnerability, acknowledging that trust in friendship, while valuable, is never immune to betrayal or the shifting tides of fortune.
Historical Symbolism
The proverb echoes the wisdom of early moralists and statesmen who advised circumspection, recognizing the dangers of absolute trust in a world where alliances often shifted and confidants could become adversaries.
Psychological Dimensions
It acknowledges a core human anxiety: the fear of betrayal by those closest to us. The saying reveals the tension between the desire for intimacy and the instinct for self-preservation.
Cultural Resonance
Related sayings appear across many cultures (such as 'Love as if you might one day hate'), reflecting a broad recognition of the risk inherent in trust and the impermanence of social bonds.
Rhetorical Devices
Conditional Structure
The proverb’s use of a hypothetical ('if he were your enemy') dramatizes the latent risk in every act of trust.
Antithesis
Contrasts the roles of friend and enemy, sharpening the warning and highlighting the fragility of human relationships.
Imperative Mood
The direct command ('Trust no friend') gives the advice an urgent, cautionary tone.
Transcription
Quotations
Truste and so vse thy frende, that if he chaunce to be thyne enemy, it lye nat in his myght greatly for to hurte the.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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