سندبادنامه 124.5

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