The Instructor 2.7.60

So Wisdom advises, most usefully for life, “not to chatter in a crowd of elders,” cutting out our babbling from the start, beginning from God, and legislating moderation thus: “Do not repeat a word in your prayer.” Smacking of the lips, whistling, and snapping the fingers to call servants, being irrational signals, are to be avoided by rational human beings. We must also refuse constant spitting and violent clearing of the throat. Nor should one blow his nose at a drinking party; we must have some regard for our fellow guests, lest they be disgusted and turn away from such indecency, which accuses us of incontinence. For we are not like oxen and donkeys, for whom the manger and the dung heap are the same; many people blow their noses and spit at the same time and in the same place where they dine. If anyone sneezes, or belches, he should not deafen those near by the noise, bearing witness to his lack of education; the belch should be let out quietly with the breath, the mouth shaped decorously, not stretched and gaping like tragic masks. The disturbance of a sneeze should be removed by gently holding the breath; in this way the sudden threat of the breath is most decorously quenched, managing its passage, so as to try to hide it, if the forced air brings out any matter with it. Wishing to add to the noises, not to subtract, is a sign of arrogance and disorder. Those who pick their teeth until the gums bleed are unpleasant to themselves and hateful to those near them. Tickling the ears and provoking sneezes are swinish itchings, practice for licentious sexual immorality. Unseemly sights and foul talk about them are to be refused. Let the gaze be steady, and the turning of the neck and the motion, and the movement of the hands in conversation. For in general the Christian is at home with calm, quiet, stillness, and peace.