Simhasanadvatrimshika 21.p8

21.p8

ity āśiṣaṃ prayuktavān; tato rājñā pṛṣṭaḥ: bho brāhmaṇa, kutaḥ samāgamyate? tena brāhmaṇeno 'ktam: ahaṃ campāpuranivāsī brāhmaṇo bahukuṭumbī param atyantadaridro bhāryayā nirbhartsito deśāntaram āgataḥ. bho rājan, lokoktau nītiś ca, yato nirdhanaṃ naraṃ bhāryādayo parityajantī 'ti. uktaṃ ca:

Then he was askt by the king: "O brahman, whence do you come?" The brahman replied: "I am a brahman dwelling in Campā-town, with a large family, but hopelessly poor. I left home on account of the scoldings of my wife. O king, there is an observation on conduct implied in a popular saying, that when a man becomes poor, his wife and family all desert him. And it is said: 6. When men have lost their money, even tho power might properly be attributed to them, their lord hates them, however well he may have been served on various occasions; good kinsmen desert them; their virtues cease to shine; their sons forsake them, and misfortunes multiply; their wives, even if virtuous and sprung from good lineage, no longer love them; and their friends disappear. And so: 7. A mortal here in the world of men never possesses completely all the arts unless he be rich; not even were he brave, handsome, and well-favored, eloquent, and exceptionally well verst in the military arts and in the sciences. Furthermore: 8. What a marvel is this? When a man is deprived of the glowing warmth of wealth, he suddenly becomes another, tho he has the same faculties unimpaired, the same name, the same mind uninjured, the same voice."