سندبادنامه 124
English (machine translation) 124
- Language
- English
124.1
Beware of breach if you are generous with a promise, / so that you may be safe from people's abandonment and be spared;
For if the willow bore fruit after its blossoming and foliage, / they would not have called it a breach (khilāf).
Sindbād paid homage and said: "When the gaze of kind regard, the honoring of gentle favors, and the king's
124.5
Sindbād builds a cubic house for the instruction of the prince
bounties are continuous, successive, and uninterrupted, no objective remains missing, and no
hope remains unfulfilled. The sages have said thus: that in a city where five things
are present, it is a dwelling-place for the wise man: first, a just king and a capable, governing ruler;
second, flowing waters and fruitful fields; third, a scholar who acts [upon his knowledge], free of greed and pious;
fourth, a skilled and compassionate physician; fifth, a generous, noble, and merciful benefactor. Praise be to God that all five blessings
are attained and present in this realm through the glory of the just king's fortune. The likeness of a king is like
fire: whoever is closer to it, the danger of his burning is greater; and whoever is further from it,
is more deprived of its utilities and benefits."
Then he came forth and commanded that a cubic, flat-surfaced house be built, and its surfaces
they polished with plaster and burnishing stone. Upon one surface, he painted the forms of the zodiacal constellations and the fixed and wandering stars,
delineating them with depiction and shaping; and he wrote the signs of the degrees, minutes, seconds,
thirds, fourths, and fifths, the fall, detriment, apogee, exaltation, altitude, and dejection,
conjunction, opposition, aspect, projection of rays, trine, quartile, and sextile;
and he depicted the forms and figures of each one. Upon another surface, kinds of ongoing interactions
124.21
Sindbād builds a cubic house for the instruction of the prince
and social intercourse, along with morals, etiquette, ascetic disciplines, acts of obedience, and devotions, he depicted. Upon another
surface, he inscribed the forms of illnesses, the names of medicaments, their properties and benefits, the varieties of diseases,
and the classes of temperaments, compounds, and the like. Upon another surface, kinds of melodies,
classes of sounds, the rhythm of beats, disparate and proportionate intervals of time, proximate and distant
movements, the gradations of strings, and the degrees and combinations of musical meters and airs, he marked out. Upon
another surface, he drew geometric figures such as triangles, squares, polygons, circles,
arcs, curves, and straight lines. Upon another surface, the management of rule, the ordering of
punishment, the canons of justice, and the principles of equity and redress, he wrote down. Then he instructed
the prince to study [them] constantly over a period of six months; and the prince, in enduring
that, suffered toils, showed perseverance, and bore hardships. By the power of sight he observed the figures
and forms, and through the sense of hearing he heard the subtleties of the sciences and the fine points of wisdom, until within this
period, all the benefits, advantages, wonders, curiosities, rare novelties, pleasantries, pearls,
and gems were memorized and mastered by him. When the period expired and the allotted time reached completion
124.36
Sindbād examines the horoscope of the prince after the instruction
and conclusion, Sindbād said: "Tomorrow I will take you into your father's service so that you may present your accomplishments,
display what you have memorized, and make clear and established your worthiness for the offices
of state and the ranks of the realm:
Linked texts (1)
- سندبادنامه — Ẓahīrī Samarqandī, Persian