Thus seven days passed away. Upon the eighth,
Whenas the world-illuming sun blazed forth,
Put off its robe of lapis-lazuli,
And decked the world with golden-hued brocade,
The king of kings sat with the archimages,
The veterans, and officers of state—
Ardshír, the high priest and the chief of nobles,
Shápúr and Yazdagird, the scribe, the men
Of science and the readers of the stars,
The wise, the enlightened, and the eloquent.
The youthful Búzurjmihr, the orator,
Came to the presence of Sháh Núshírwán,
And did obeisance to his sovereign,
Who joyed at him and thus addressed the sages:—
“Who wotteth aught whereby the Faith of God
May be confirmed, the royal throne kept scathless?”
Thereat the high priest loosed his tongue amid
The chiefs and said: “The justice of the Sháh
Will cause his Grace, his crown, and throne to shine,
And when it openeth his treasury-door
His high renown will last when he is dead.
Moreover he should purge his tongue of lies,
And seek not lustre in the world by guile.
Next he will be both just and merciful,
And make his throne the glory of the age.
Then too the head of the illustrious Sháh
Should be not wrathful with an erring liege,
And, fifthly, he will speak so that his fame
In this world never will grow obsolete;
He will speak truth in all things small and great,
And never derogate in any thing.
He will esteem withal as his own fortune
The servant of his throne. If wise in words
His speech will be convincing, and his heart
Ne'er satiate of learning and consuming
His brains with thought. All men are set at large
By wisdom and have little cause to wail
At fortune. Wisdom nourisheth the souls
Of sages, wisdom pointeth out the way
To those that seek. Tear not thy heart, O Sháh!
From wisdom's path, for wisdom fostereth
Fame and a noble end. Base and a fool
Is he that ever said: ‘I am the man,
Because there is no peer to me in knowledge.’”

Then Yazdagird, the scribe, spake thus and said:—
“O wise and wisdom-loving Sháh! in Sháhs
It is a thing unseemly to shed blood,
Or suffer trifles to disturb the heart.
Moreover when the king is light of wit
He putteth hand to matters thoughtlessly,
While, further, he is hasty with the wise,
And all the more so through his ignorance.
When lust for vengeance hath possessed his heart
The Dív is the associate of his soul;
So too a judge's words, if he be hasty,
Lead not to fair results. The warrior,
Moreover, that is fearful of his life
In battle-time, not of disgrace, and he
Whose heart, though he be rich, is mean and narrow,
Were better hidden underneath the ground.
Authority becometh not a beggar,
Since he himself becometh not high rank.
A guileful elder is a hateful thing,
And after death his soul will be in fire.
When any youth is slack in business
The heart of fortune will grow sick of him,
Disease will make him prematurely old,
And may his vigour and his spirit cease.”
When Búzurjmihr had heard these goodly words,
And had adorned his brain with wisdom's lore,
He said: “O Sháh whose face is like the sun's!
May shining heaven be at thy dispose.
Know this: that men of wisdom will sustain
Their souls with knowledge since the hearts of stones
And mountains sorrow o'er the ignorant,
For none respecteth him. He knoweth not
End from beginning, fame from infamy.
The common folk, still more the wisdom-seekers,
Despise the doings of such men as these—
The lying judge unhonoured by the sage;
The general who guardeth well his treasure,
And is abandoned by his toil-worn troops;
The sage that feareth not to do amiss
If he can have enjoyment therewithal:
The leech that aileth; how can he cure others?
The mendicant that braggeth of his wealth
While that whereof he talketh is but naught;
A Sháh who letteth not his people rest,
Or sleep at night, disquieting their hearts,
And yet when favouring breezes blow on thee
Assumeth all the merit for himself;
A choleric sage who eyeth others' goods,
And lastly he that counselleth a fool,
Or giveth the indolent authority.
They that lack wisdom and acquire it not
Will have occasion to repent their words.
The heart of any man, my gracious lord!
That hath not wisdom wrestleth with desire
In such wise as a flame devoureth brimstone,
Or maketh provand of a bed of reeds.
Long live the heart of Núshírwán, may he
Have this world's chiefs his servitors to be.”