سندبادنامه 137
English (machine translation) 137
- Language
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137.1
The ignorant one does what the wise one does / only when he has thoroughly brought down disaster.
Every bad son who becomes good one day / becomes so only after he has thoroughly distressed his father.
And I have exposed my honor, which I kept beneath the garment of chastity and the dress of rectitude,
to public disgrace, turning myself into a target for the arrow of retribution and the dart of punishment, and I have contaminated and stained it with the filth
of inner corruption and the defilement of treacherous lust. If this matter
137.7
The slave-girl contemplates a plan for the killing of the prince
reaches the supreme hearing of the shah, and my prestige turns to contempt and veneration to humiliation, and the reliance
and trust that he had in my good faith, perfect affection, excessive piety, abundant religious devotion, sincerity,
and devotion in goodwill and love come to naught—especially since I shall have provoked
the king's wrath! For the sages have said: 'Three things offer no safety:
the sea, fire, and the sovereign.' There can be no safety with three things: with the sea when it surges in waves, with fire
when it flares up, and with the king when anger overpowers him. Guarding against the sea and fire
and keeping away from them is possible, but escaping the king's wrath is impossible and insurmountable. Muʿāwiya said:
137.15
'We are Time: whomever we elevate is raised high, and whomever we abase is brought low.' We kings are the trace of time
and the effect of the Creator's power: whomever we raise up becomes exalted, and whomever we bring
down becomes low. All men of intellect have deemed the preservation of oneself from committing such things
obligatory; and when a mishap has descended and a calamity has occurred that does not fall
within the bounds of ability, capacity, and strength, they have overcome that trouble by piercing counsel and accurate judgment,
and through subtle ruses and extraordinary laments have brought themselves into the shelter of protection
and the refuge of safety, having said to the assassin of life and the envious one who burns them:
Linked texts (1)
- سندبادنامه — Ẓahīrī Samarqandī, Persian