ANKÂS.

He was one of the great philosophers, and is said to have been a contemporary of Behmen Bin Esfendiâr. Aristâ­talis preferred the opinion of Ankâs to his own, and to those of Aflatûn. The following are some of his sayings: ‘Do not consider yourself to be a man as long as you can be overcome by your anger, and as long as you obey your passions.—A man is to be tried when he enjoys affluence and dignity; not when he is oppressed by distress and misery.—It is better to be an obstinate scholar than a pliant fool.—It is the duty of a man to purify his heart from deceit and fraud, in the same manner as one cleanses his garments from dirt and filth.—Be not too sweet lest you be swallowed, nor too bitter lest you be spewed out from the mouth.’ When a painter told him to whitewash his house, and that he would draw pictures on it, he replied: ‘First draw your pictures, and then I shall white­wash it.’—‘A learned man who makes no use of his learning, resembles a patient who has medicines, but does not cure himself.’