The Persian Literature Volume Ii Part 12

Whoever is making a league with their enemies has it in his mind to do his friends an ill turn:--"O wise man! wash thy hands of that friend who is in confederacy with thy foes."

XIV

When irresolute in the despatch of business, incline to that side which is the least offensive:--Answer not with harshness a mild-spoken man, nor force him into war who knocks at the gate of peace.

XV

So long as money can answer, it were wrong in any business to put the life in danger:--as the Arabs say:--"_let the sword decide after stratagem has failed_":--When the hand is balked in every crafty endeavor, it is lawful to lay it upon the hilt of the sabre.

XVI

Show no mercy to a subdued foe, for if he recover himself he will show you no mercy:--When thou seest thy antagonist in a reduced state, curl not thy whiskers at him in contempt, for in every bone there is marrow, and within every jacket there is a man.

XVII

Whoever puts a wicked man to death delivers mankind from his mischief, and the wretch himself from G.o.d's vengeance:--Beneficence is praiseworthy; yet thou shouldst not administer a balsam to the wound of the wicked. Knew he not who took compa.s.sion on a snake, that it is the pest of the sons of Adam.

XVIII

It is wrong to follow the advice of an adversary; nevertheless it is right to hear it, that you may do the contrary; and this is the essence of good policy:--Sedulously shun whatever thy foe may recommend, otherwise thou may'st wring the hands of repentance on thy knees. Should he show thee to the right a path straight as an arrow, turn aside from that, and take the path to the left.

XX

Two orders of mankind are the enemies of church and state: the king without clemency, and the holy man without learning:--Let not that prince have rule over the state who is not himself obedient to the will of G.o.d.

XXI

It behooves a king so to regulate his anger towards his enemies as not to alarm the confidence of his friends; for the fire of pa.s.sion falls first on the angry man; afterwards its sparks will dart forth towards the foe, and him they may reach, or they may not. It ill becomes the children of Adam, formed of dust, to harbor in their head such pride, arrogance, and pa.s.sion. I cannot fancy all this thy warmth and obstinacy to be created from earth, but from fire. I went to a holy man in the land of Bailcan, and said: "Cleanse me of ignorance by thy instruction?"

He replied: "O fakir, or theologician! go and bear things patiently like the earth; or whatever thou hast read let it all be buried under the earth."

XXII

An evil-disposed man is a captive in the hands of an enemy (namely, himself); for wherever he may go he cannot escape from the grasp of that enemy's vengeance:--Let a wicked man ascend up to heaven, that he may escape from the grasp of calamity; even thither would the hand of his own evil heart follow him with misfortune.

XXIII

When you see discord raging among the troops of your enemy, be on your side quiet; but if you see them united, think of your own dispersed state:--When thou beholdest war among thy foes, go and enjoy peace with thy friends; but if thou findest them of one soul and mind, string thy bow, and range stones around thy battlements.

XXVI

Keep to yourself any intelligence that may prove unpleasant, till some person else has disclosed it:--Bring, O nightingale! the glad tidings of the spring, and leave to the owl to be the harbinger of evil.

XXVIII

Whoever is counselling a self-sufficient man stands himself in need of a counsellor.

XXIX

Swallow not the wheedling of a rival, nor pay for the sycophancy of a parasite; for that has laid the snare of treachery, and this whetted the palate of gluttony. The fool is puffed up with his own praise, like a dead body, which on being stretched upon a bier shows a momentary corpulency:--Take heed and listen not to the sycophant's blandishments, who expects in return some small compensation; for shouldst thou any day disappoint his object he would in like style sum up two hundred of thy defects.

x.x.x

Till some person may show its defects, the speech of the orator will fail of correctness:--Be not vain of the eloquence of thy discourse because it has the fool's good opinion, and thine own approbation.

x.x.xI

Every person thinks his own intellect perfect, and his own child handsome:--A Mussulman and a Jew were warm in argument to such a degree that I smiled at their subject. The Mussulman said in wrath: "If this deed of conveyance be not authentic may I, O G.o.d, die a Jew!" The Jew replied: "On the Pentateuch I swear, if what I say be false, I am a Mussulman like you!" Were intellect to be annihilated from the face of the earth, n.o.body could be brought to say: "I am ignorant."

x.x.xII

Ten people will partake of the same joint of meat, and two dogs will snarl over a whole carcase. The greedy man is incontinent with a whole world set before him; the temperate man is content with his crust of bread:--A loaf of brown bread may fill an empty stomach, but the produce of the whole globe cannot satisfy a greedy eye:--My father, when the sun of his life was going down, gave me this sage advice, and it set for good, saying: "l.u.s.t is a fire; refrain from indulging it, and do not involve thyself in the flames of h.e.l.l. Since thou hast not the strength of burning in those flames (as a punishment in the next world), pour in this world the water of continence upon this fire--namely, l.u.s.t."

x.x.xIII

Whoever does not do good, when he has the means of doing it, will suffer hardship when he has not the means:--None is more unlucky than the misanthrope, for on the day of adversity he has not a single friend.

x.x.xIV

Life stands on the verge of a single breath; and this world is an existence between two nonent.i.ties. Such as truck their deen, or religious practice, for worldly pelf are a.s.ses. They sold Joseph, and what got they by their bargain?--"_Did I not covenant with you, O ye sons of Adam, that you should not serve Satan; for verily he is your avowed enemy_":--By the advice of a foe you broke your faith with a friend; behold from whom you separated, and with whom you united yourselves.

x.x.xVI

Whatever is produced in haste goes hastily to waste:--I have heard that, after a process of forty years, they convert the clay of the East into a China porcelain cup. At Bagdad they can make an hundred cups in a day, and thou may'st of course conceive their respective value. A chicken walks forth from its sh.e.l.l, and goes in quest of its food; the young of man possesses not that instinct of prudence and discrimination. That which was at once something comes to nothing; and this surpa.s.ses all creatures in dignity and wisdom. A piece of crystal or gla.s.s is found everywhere, and held of no value; a ruby is obtained with difficulty, and therefore inestimable.