One day the world-lord, as he sat rejoicing,
Gave audience to the mighty men of wisdom.
He spake with smiles and open countenance,
And seated Búzurjmihr upon the throne,
Who offered to the king such praise as made
His heart like jocund spring, and thus he said:—
“O righteous judge so fresh of visage! may
Fault-finders never find a fault in thee.
Blest king of kings, whose fortune prospereth,
The wise, triumphant master of the world!
I erst recorded in the olden tongue
Some thoughts upon a roll of royal paper,
Which I entrusted to thy treasurer
Till there might come a season when the Sháh
Would read it, but I see the mystery
Is one that laggard heaven will disclose not.
What though a man shall quit his seat at feasts,
And take his life within his hands in fight,
Shall sweep the earth of enemies and be
Secure against the toils of Áhrimans,
Shall be the great king over all the world,
And consummate his wishes one by one,
Shall win the wide world by his bravery,
Make rosary and pleasance, park and palace,
Shall lay up wealth, have sons surrounding him,
And reckon many days of happiness,
Shall bring together warriors and wealth,
Shall decorate his palaces and halls,
And, while the poor are toiling for his sake,
Amass on all sides treasure and renown,
He answered:—
“The innocent, the man whom Áhriman
Hath caused not to transgress.”
The Sháh then asked him
Concerning guile, the Dív's way, and the way
Of God, the world's Lord. Búzurjmihr replied:—
“To do God's will is best, for in both worlds
The Grace is His. The door of evil leadeth
To Áhriman who is the enemy
Of those that worship God. The high-souled man
Is blesséd in the world, for his adornments
Are holiness and modesty. Since knowledge
Safe-guardeth him his life is one of ease,
He hath nobility and righteousness,
And knocketh not upon the door of guile,
And loss. When he is dead his soul will be
A foe to what pertaineth to the body.
He is not negligent about them both,
But is concerned for either sword or scabbard.”*
The rest are Anger, Envy, Strife, Revenge,
Backbiting, Treachery, and Faith Impure.
The tenth dív is Ingratitude to men
For benefits and Ignorance of God.”
The Sháh said: “Of these ten dívs, ruinous
And black, which Áhriman is lustiest?”
He answered Núshírwán thus, saying: “Greed
Is a tyrannic dív, the last to go.
Him never wilt thou see content in aught,
But ever labouring for something more.
All those that look on Need behold him blind,
And sallow with anxiety and pain.
The dív of Envy is the next, O king!
And is an ailment that no leech can cure.
His soul is pained to see one prosperous.
Strife is another dív and passionate,
For ever quick to put his hand to ill;
Revenge, another, wrathful, turbulent,
And instant to arouse the battle-cry
In men, unloving and ungenerous—
A dív malignant and with frowning face;
Another, Slander, knowing naught but lies,
And doing all his traffic in the dark;
Another, Treachery, with double face,
Who feareth not the Master of the world,
But flingeth strife and vengeance 'twixt two men,
And toileth to break up alliances:
The last, Ingratitude and Ignorance—
A witless dív unconscious of all good,
Contemptuous of rede and modesty,
And in whose sight both good and ill are one.”
The king then asked the sage: “How doth the
Dív.
Make war against the heart, and what hath God
Bestowed upon His servants so that they
May counteract the Dív?”
That man of Faith
Replied: “Wise, glorious Sháh! against the sword
Of dívs the coat of mail is wisdom; that
Illumineth the sage's heart and mind,
In all will turn not from His ordinance
For toil or treasure or the fear of man;
He hath no strain of evil in his nature,
And by that token he is virtuous too
Because he will sell not God's way for aught.”
Said Núshírwán: “Which is the royal way
Conducting us to good?”
He answered thus:—
“The way of wisdom doubtlessly surpasseth
All knowledge. Likewise being well disposed
Will keep a man in honour all his days;
While of the qualities the mightiest
Is in my view contentment with one's lot;
The most agreeable, which refresheth most
In travail, and the seemliest, is hope.
In greed I see the weariest of all,
For that is never satiate of wealth.”
The Sháh said: “Which accomplishment is best,
The one whereby aspirants win to greatness?”
He answered: “Knowledge, for the sage is greatest
Among the great as clutching not at treasure,
And holding of himself aloof from travail.”
The Sháh then asked him: “How shall we proceed
To overcome the might of enemies?”
“Ill-doing is the enemy,” he answered,
“Alike of wisdom and the soul serene.”
The righteous judge then asked the sage and said:—
“Is talent or is application better?”
The sage made answer, saying: “Application
Is more than natural ability,
For application furnisheth the mind,
While talent only maketh talking easy,
And, when untrained, is wretched, vile, and weak,
But application strengtheneth the soul.”
“How can the mind be polished,” said the Sháh,
“And what accomplishments commend the body?”
He replied:—
“The fortune and accomplishment of men
Are mates allied and joined like soul and body,
The body visible, the soul concealed.
The body is man's instrument for toil,
When wakeful fortune shall bestir itself,
But by his travail ne'er will he attain
To greatness if good fortune guide him not.
Again, the world is all deceit and wind,
Or memory of a dream that vanisheth
When one awaketh, whether he beheld
A pleasant vision or a painful one.”
A question then occurred to Núshírwán;
He asked the sage: “Who should be praised?”
He answered:—
“A king that doth adorn the throne and hath
His strength from fortune will, if he doth justly,
And is of fair repute, attain his end
In word and deed.”
“What man is sorrowful,”
The Sháh said, “luckless, and unprofitable?”
The sage replied: “The wicked mendicant,
Who loseth both this world and Paradise.”
“Who is the luckless one,” rejoined the Sháh,
“For whom we must weep always bitterly?”
And Búzurjmihr replied: “The man of know-
ledge,
Whose face is sallow through his evil deeds.”
The Sháh asked further: “Who is the contented,
And who is anxious to increase his store?”
He made response: “He that regardeth not
The revolutions of the turning sky.”
Then Núshírwán: “What man best suiteth us?”
And Búzurjmihr replied: “The gentlest man.”
“But who is gentle,” asked the Sháh, “for why
The hasty give us cause to weep?”
He answered:—
“Mark him that shunneth converse with fault-
finders;
That man hath modesty and gentleness,
With wisdom, counsel, and propriety.”
The famed king asked him: “Who is hopefullest
Of men?”
“Whose ears are open unto knowledge most.”
The monarch of the world inquired of him
Of privy rumour as to good and ill.
He thus returned reply: “It is the cause
Of ample chatter but an empty brain.
Say what they will the earth is still in place;
I know not how the other world doth fare.”
Then Núshírwán: “What land most prospereth,
And how have we contributed therein?”
“The justice of the world-lord,” he replied,
“Establisheth a land's prosperity.”
Then Núshírwán inquired: “Inform me this:
What man is shrewdest, most approved, and prudent
Within the world because the adept increaseth
One's lustre?”
He replied: “An ancient sage
That hath been mindful of experience.”
Said Núshírwán: “Who is the happy man
That liveth upright and right glad?”
He answered:—
“One free from apprehension and possessed
Of gold and silver?”
Núshírwán inquired:—
“Which of us best deserveth praise, and who
Is most approved by all?”
He answered thus:—
“He that can hide his need and can suppress
Strife, envy, greed, revenge, and jealousy:
That man will find approval in the world.”
The Sháh inquired of the long-suffering,
Whose crown is patience.
Búzurjmihr replied:—
“That is the man grown hopeless, with heart dark,
And yet his counsel is sun-bright, or else
The man that hath but little time to live,
And yet hath entered on some vast employ.”
The Sháh said: “Who hath grief so much at heart
That he is weary of his life through care?”
And Búzurjmihr made answer thus: “The man
Fall'n from a throne and desperate of fortune.”
The exalted king inquired of him and said:—
“Who of us hath his heart in sorry plight?”
The sage replied: “The man that is not wise,
And rich man childless.”
“Whose heart,” asked the Sháh,
“Is sad through trouble and calamity?”
He answered thus: “The upright man of know-
ledge
O'er whom besottedness is sovereign.”
The Sháh said: “Who is fullest of despair
Although possessing power and reputation?”
“The man that falleth from a lofty throne,”
He said, “retaining still his pride of birth.”
Sháh Núshírwán inquired of him and said:—
“O man of foresight and of ardent soul!
Whom knowest thou unfamed and lustreless,
And yet deserving both of love and pardon?”
He answered thus: “The man of many faults,
The culpable, the mendicant, and needy.”
Repenteth with a heart all terror-stricken
Of all his life's ingratitude to God,
And he moreover who hath undergone
Abundant travail for ungrateful men.”
The Sháh inquired: “O sage that dost combine
All excellence! know'st thou of aught that maketh
The body profitable and is dear
To all men's hearts withal?”
He made reply:—
“In health the heart will seek but happiness,
But when through suffering the life is failing
The body's one desire is then for health.”
The Sháh rejoined: “Good man! expound to me
Which is the strongest of the appetites?”
Said Búzurjmihr: “The great are not exposed
To such solicitings and, since their bodies,
Which have no wish unsatisfied, fare well,
Have only need to seek their heart's desire.”
The Sháh then asked his guide: “What is the
heart's
Chief care?”
“The sage,” he answered, “would inform
His questioner that there are three chief cares—
First, apprehension of the evil day,
Lest ill then should befall the innocent;
Next, of the practice of a treacherous friend,
Who fain would have brain, life and blood and skin;
And thirdly, of a great but unjust king,
Who knoweth not the worthless from the good.
How happy is the course of time with him
That hath a prudent friend and counsellor!
A bright world and a great king who is just—
Thou'lt get from heaven no greater excellence.”
The Sháh next asked of Faith and right—the means
Of banning frand and falsehood. He replied:—
“Incline, O Sháh! to one of Faith whose mind
Is filled with thoughts of God—the man averse
From guile and from the Dív's way through his awe
Of holy God, the Master of the world,
And hearkening to His law. None such will barter
The Faith.”
The Sháh then asked concerning kings,
Whose rule is o'er the holy: “Which of them
Is of victorious fortune and throne-worthy?”
He answered thus: “The just possessed of
wisdom,
Of counsel,*
modesty, and excellence.”
The Sháh then questioned him about old friends,
Such as are one with us in ear and speech.
He made this answer: “Magnanimity
And generosity are good in them;
They will wish thee no ill to please another,
But aid and succour thee in thy distress.”
Búzurjmihr
Returned him this reply: “The insolent,
For he incurreth many a malison,
And also any one that speaketh harshly,
Is ever frowning, and is close of fist.”
Then said the Sháh: “Who is the constant
friend,
One who will weep for pain of severance?”
He answered: “'Tis the friend that faileth not,
Is never vexed, and feareth not to suffer.”
“What lasteth,” said the Sháh, “and doth not
waste?”
He made reply: “A benefit conferred
Is ever present to a worthy friend.”
“What hath the chiefest lustre,” said the Sháh,
“And is a crown upon the head of all?”
He said: “The sage's mind which mastereth
His passions.”
Said the Sháh: “O lord of love!
What is there wider than the turning sky?”
He answered: “First, a king with open hand,
And next, the heart of one devote to God.”
The Sháh inquired: “What is the goodliest way
Wherein a wise man may exalt his head?”
“O great king! ne'er bestow,” he made reply,
“Thy treasure on unholy men. For thee
To deal with the unthankful is to fling
Bricks unbaked into water.”
Said the Sháh:—
“What toil diminisheth man's greed for treasure?”
Then Búzurjmihr replied: “O king! for ever
Be thy heart like young spring. For very travail
The servant of a king of evil nature
Will cease to care for person, life, and wealth.”
The Sháh inquired: “What wonder hast thou seen
Than which a greater cannot be conceived?”
And Búzurjmihr made answer to the Sháh:—
“The turning sky is always wonderful.
Thou seest one possessed of mastery,
With crown exalted to the darksome clouds,
Who cannot tell his left hand from his right,
Or fortune's gain from loss discriminate;
Another man will read the lofty sky,
And tell the why and the wherefore of the stars,
Yet heaven still will lead him into straits,
And evil fortune be his only lot!”
“What thing know'st thou, as heaviest,” asked the
Sháh?
He thus returned reply: “The weight of sin.”
The Sháh inquired: “Of matters most unseemly,
Including in the question words and deeds,