The Book of Chess

...[wa]nt good teaching The beginning of the sentence is lost due to a page break or damaged manuscript.
That he does it for worldly honor
And acts for worldly fame;
They attribute this to him as vanity and folly.
Thus they judge him as entirely sinful.
If they become aware of someone
Who has favor and support behind him,
Then they accuse him on the spot,
Claiming he has lost that favor
Through sickness or through false arts valscher kunst original: "valscher kunst"; referring to deceit, trickery, or even sorcery..
And nothing seems good to them
That anyone does in their presence.

These are the words of Saint John
Chrysostom John Chrysostom (c. 347–407 AD), an influential Early Church Father known for his eloquent preaching; his name means "golden-mouthed.", just as he heard them.
The one who previously spoke so much,
The envious man, never dares
To take a good heart.
To speak well of others is entirely unknown to him.
But good people should not mind this,
For the same thing happens to them
As when Daniel sat before the lions A reference to the biblical story of Daniel in the lions' den, where Daniel's faith protected him from those who envied his position.,
When he himself overcame the envy,
And God heard him with tenderness.
Because of this, they [the enviers] must have
Great pain in all their limbs.
It also often happens to them as it does to a man
Who shoots original: "schiffet"; likely a dialect variant of "schießet" (shoots). at a stone;
The shot often points back
And flies toward the one who shot it,
Inflicting a great wound upon him,
While it harms the stone
And the shooting very little.

So it also happens to the good:
They stand firm like a rook roch original: "roch"; referring to the rook or castle piece in chess, continuing the book's metaphor of life as a chess game.
Despite the envy the wicked create.
And though they [the wicked] labor at their business
Both late and early,
And whatever the evil ones say about it—
Let it hit them like a blow
[Recorded] in a book where one can see.
It is impossible to please everyone.
Each person should do right as they ought,
And let the others be, let them talk nonsense dalken reden.
I should linger longer and [write more],
And shorten this scope,
For I fear it may become too long.
Yet it seems I cannot do without it;
I must still teach one parable bischaft.

No one has true steadfastness stetheit
As long as they listen to what everyone says
And wants to live according to all their talk.
There was a donkey and two who drove him,
Just as I have written here.
A father and his son [had the donkey],
And they set out to behave quite courtly.
When the very first person they met
Spoke to them in a mocking way, saying:
"I see that folly is happening here,
That neither of them is riding;
They let the donkey go idle.
Either of them might like to ride it."
The father took these words to heart,
And when the [stranger] passed them,
He spoke then to the child...