Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other Papers | Page 9

the sage replied: "At
first he had never experienced the danger of being drowned, neither had
he known the safety of a ship."
One of our English moralists has remarked that the man who chiefly
prides himself on his ancestry is like a potato-plant, whose best
qualities are under ground. Saádí tells us of an old Arab who said to his
son: "O my child, in the day of resurrection they will ask you what you
have done in the world, and not from whom you are descended."--In
the _Akhlák-i-Jalaly_, a work comprising the practical philosophy of
the Muhammedans, written, in the 15th century, in the Persian
language, by Fakír Jání Muhammed Asaád, and translated into English
by W. F. Thompson, Alí, the Prophet's cousin, is reported to have said:

My soul is my father, my title my worth; A Persian or Arab, there's
little between: Give me him for a comrade, whatever his birth, Who
shows what _he is_--not what others have been.
An Arabian poet says:
Be the son of whom thou wilt, try to acquire literature, The acquisition
of which may make pedigree unnecessary to thee; Since a man of worth
is he who can say, "I am so and so," Not he who can only say, "My
father was so and so."
And again:
Ask not a man who his father was, but make trial Of his qualities, and
then conciliate or reject him accordingly For it is no disgrace to new
wine, if it only be sweet, As to its taste, that it was the juice [or
daughter] of sour grapes.
The often-quoted maxim of La Rochefoucauld, that there is something
in the misfortunes of our friends which affords us a degree of secret
pleasure, is well known to the Persians. Saádí tells us of a merchant
who, having lost a thousand dínars, cautioned his son not to mention
the matter to anyone, "in order," said he, "that we may not suffer two
misfortunes--the loss of our money and the secret satisfaction of our
neighbours."
A generous disposition is thus eloquently recommended: They asked a
wise man, which was preferable, fortitude or liberality, to which he
replied: "He who possesses liberality has no need of fortitude. It is
inscribed on the tomb of Bahram-i-Gúr that a liberal hand is preferable
to a strong arm." "Hátim Taï," remarks Saádí, "no longer exists, but his
exalted name will remain famous for virtue to eternity.[6] Distribute
the tithe of your wealth in alms, for when the husbandman lops off the
exuberant branches from the vine, it produces an increase of grapes."
[6] Hátim was chief of the Arabian tribe of Taï, shortly before
Muhammed began to promulgate Islám, renowned for his extraordinary
liberality.

Prodigality, however, is as much to be condemned as judicious
liberality is to be lauded. Saádí gives the following account of a Persian
prodigal son, who was not so fortunate in the end as his biblical
prototype: The son of a religious man, who succeeded to an immense
fortune by the will of his uncle, became a dissipated and debauched
profligate, in so much that he left no heinous crime unpractised, nor
was there any intoxicating drug which he had not tasted. Once I
admonished him, saying: "O my son, wealth is a running stream, and
pleasure revolves like a millstone; or, in other words, profuse expense
suits him only who has a certain income. When you have no certain
income, be frugal in your expenses, because the sailors have a song,
that if the rain does not fall in the mountains, the Tigris will become a
dry bed of sand in the course of a year. Practise wisdom and virtue, and
relinquish sensuality, for when your money is spent you will suffer
distress and expose yourself to shame."[7] The young man, seduced by
music and wine, would not take my advice, but, in opposition to my
arguments, said: "It is contrary to the wisdom of the sages to disturb
our present enjoyments by the dread of futurity. Why should they who
possess fortune suffer distress by anticipating sorrow? Go and be merry,
O my enchanting friend! We ought not to be uneasy to-day for what
may happen to-morrow. How would it become me, who am placed in
the uppermost seat of liberality, so that the fame of my bounty is wide
spread? When a man has acquired reputation by liberality and
munificence, it does not become him to tie up his money-bags. When
your good name has been spread through the street, you cannot shut
your door against it." I perceived (continues Saádí) that he did not
approve of my admonition, and that my warm breath did not affect his
cold iron. I ceased advising, and, quitting his society, returned into the
corner of safety, in