Beware of the fool with the talk of ten men!
Like a wise man speak once and effectively, then!
You have shot five-score arrows and errant they flew ;
Shoot one if you're wary and let it be true!
Why mentions a man as a secret, the tale
Which if publicly uttered would make his cheeks pale?
Do not slander too freely in front of a wall!
For it may be that some one behind it hears all!
Your mind's a town wall, all your secrets around,
Take care that the door, opened wide, is not found!
The sage sewed his mouth up because he assumed,
That the candle by means of its tongue1 is consumed.
Tăgăsh told his attendants a secret and said:
"Do not mention a word to a soul on this head!"
It reached not the mouth from the heart for a year;
Through the world in a day it became very clear.
Tagash, pitiless, ordered the headsman to go,
And sever their heads with the sword, at a blow.
Of the number, one said and protection desired:
"Do not murder your slaves! for their fault you inspired.
You stopped it not, first, as a fountain concealed,
Why uselessly stem, now, the torrent revealed ?"
Do not show to a man what lies hid in your mind!
For he, surely, will tell it to all he can find.
Trust your gems to the keepers of treasure and pelf!
But, take very good care of a secret yourself!
While the word is not spoken you have it in hand;
When spoken, it brings you within its command.
Is not speech a fiend, chained in the well of the mind?
On the palate and tongue, do not leave it entwined!
For the nude, filthy fiend you can open the way,
But again, cannot seize him with hocussing play.
You know when a fiend from his cage gets away,
He will never return, though "la-houl you should say.
A child may a roan-coloured charger unloose;
Not for Rustams, five-score, will it come to the noose.
Do not mention that, which, if revealed unto all,
Into bitter misfortune a person would fall!
How well said a wife to her ignorant swain:
"With knowledge discourse! or else, silence maintain !"
On the Impunity of the Ignorant under the Screen of Silence.
A good-natured man who in tatters was dressed,
For a season in Egypt strict silence professed.
Men of wisdom from near and from far, at the sight,
Gathered round him like moths seeking after the light.
One night he communed with himself in this way :
"Beneath the tongue's surface the man hidden lay;
If I carry my head for myself, in this plan,
How can people discover in me a wise man?"
He spoke, and his friends and his foes all could see,
That the greatest of blockheads in Egypt was he !
His admirers dispersed, and his trade lost its note;
He journeyed, and over a mosque's arch he wrote:
"Could I have myself in a looking-glass seen,
Not in ignorance would I have riven my screen.
1 La houl wa la kuwata illa billah, "There is no strength nor power but in God." An expression used in case of sudden misfortune and to exorcise evil spirits, etc.
So ugly, the veil from my features I drew,
For I thought that my face was most charming to view!" The fame of the man talking little is high;
When you talk, and your glory has fled; you, too, fly!
Oh sensible person! in silence serene
You have honour, and people unworthy, a screen.
If you've learning, you should not your dignity lose!
If you're ignorant, tear not the curtain you use !
The thoughts of your heart do not quickly display!
For you're able to show them whenever you may.
But when once a man's secret to all is revealed,
By exertion it cannot again be concealed.
How well did the pen the king's secret maintain !
For it said not a word till the knife reached its brain.
The beasts are all dumb and man's tongue is released;
A nonsensical talker is worse than a beast!
A speaker should talk in a sensible strain;
If he can't; like the brutes, he should silence maintain !
By reason of speech Adam's children are known;
Do not grow like the parrot, a prater, alone!
(ON THE EFFECTS OF IMPERTINENCE).
A man spoke impertinent words in a fray;
They tore with their fingers his collar away.
Well-beaten and naked he, weeping, sat down;
Said a man of experience, "Oh self-loving clown!
If your mouth like a rose-bud unopened had been,
Your shirt, rose-like, riven you would not have seen.'
The madman speaks words that in boasting abound ;
Like the drum that is empty, he makes a great sound.
A burning is only a flame, don't you see!
That at once with some water extinguished can be.
If a person be blessed, through the merit he bears,
Not the man but the merit its presence declares.
If the musk you possess be not real, do not tell!
If it is, it will make itself known by the smell.
What need to swear gold is the purest of gold?
For the touch-stone will, surely, its nature unfold!
There are critics a thousand who, after this plan,
Say that Sádi's a worthless and reticent man.
It is meet that to tear my poshteen they should strain!
But I cannot endure them to harry my brain.
(OF KING AZD AND HIS SICK SON).
The son of King Azd lay afflicted in bed;
From the mind of the father all patience had fled.
A pious man giving advice said, that he
Should all the wild birds from their cages set free.
He released all the warblers of sweet, morning strain;
When the prison is ope'd who would captive remain?
He preserved in the arch of the garden retreat,
A wonderful Bulbul, that piped very sweet.
In the morning, the son to the summer-house hied,
And that bird, all alone, in the cupola spied.
He smiled, saying, “Bulbul! your notes are so choice,
In the cage you remain on account of your voice."
With your words while unspoken no man has to do;
When spoken, be ready to prove they are true!
1 Poshteen, a coat of dressed sheepskin. 2 Azd, a king of Shiraz. 3 Bulbul, a nightingale.
As Sádi for some time in silence remained,
From the taunts of his critics he freedom obtained.
That man to his bosom takes comfort of heart,
Who lives from communion with people apart.
Exposing men's failings, oh wise man! avoid!
Be with faults of your own, not of others, employed!
When they sing out of harmony, do not give ear!
Shut your eyes when you see an unveiled one appear!
(OF THE SCHOLAR AND THE MINSTREL'S HARP).
I have heard that, in comp'ny with tipsy young folk,
A scholar a minstrel's small drum and harp broke.
Like a harp, he was dragged by the hair through the place
By the slaves, and was tambour-like thumped on the face.
He was sleepless all night, from the pain of the blows;
His tutor rebuked him next day when he rose :
you wish not to be, tambourine-like, face sore, Oh brother; hold, harp-like, your face down before!"
Two people saw dust and confusion and strife ;
Shoes ev'rywhere scattered and stones flying rife.
One viewed the disturbance and broke from the way;
One joined and his head became smashed in the fray.
Than the abstinent, none can more happiness share, For one's good or one's evil is not his affair!
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