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Medieval Sourcebook:
Sa''''di (1184-1292):
The Gulistan, c. 1256 CE
This translation of the Gulistan, from the Sacred Books of the East series,
is by a different translator than the one which has been on the net for some time. This
version was translated originally by James Ross, as The Gulistan of Sadi, London:
1890. Unfortunately, the other etext does not identify the translator.
Chapter I
Of The Customs of Kings
I
I have heard of a king who made the sign to put a captive to death. The poor wretch, in
that state of desperation, began to abuse the king in the dialect which he spoke, and to
revile him with asperity, as has been said; whoever shall wash his hands of life will
utter whatever he may harbor in his heart:
"When a man is desperate he will give a latitude to his tongue, Like as a cat
at bay will fly at a dog"
---- "at the moment of compulsion when it is impossible to fly, the hand will
grasp the sharp edge of a sword." The king asked, saying, "What does he
say?" One of the Viziers (or nobles in attendance), and a well-disposed man, made
answer, "O my lord! he is expressing himself and saying, "Paradise is for
such as are restraining their anger And forgiving their fellow-creatures; and God will
befriend the benevolent."
The king felt compassion for him, and desisted from shedding his blood. Another
nobleman, and the rival of that former, said, "It is indecorous for such peers, as we
are, to use any language but that of truth in the presence of kings; this man abused his
majesty, and spoke what was unworthy of him." The king turned away indignant at this
remark, and replied, "I was better pleased with his falsehood than with this truth
that you have told; for that bore the face of good policy, and this was founded in
malignity; and the intelligent have said, ''''A peace-mingling falsehood is preferable to a
mischief stirring truth'''': Whatever prince may do that which he (his counselor) will
recommend, it must be a subject of regret if he shall advise aught but good."
They had written over the portico of King Feridun''''s palace: "This world, O
brother! abides with none. Set thy heart upon its maker, and let him suffice thee. Rest
not thy pillow and support on a worldly domain which has fostered and slain many such as
thou art. Since the precious soul must resolve on going, what matters it whether it
departs from a throne or the ground?"
II
One of the kings of Khorassan saw, in a dream, Sultan Mahmud, the son of Saboktagin, a
hundred years after his death, when his body was decayed and fallen into dust, all but his
eyes, which as heretofore were moving in their sockets and looking about them. All the
learned were at a stand for its interpretation, excepting one dervish, who made his
obeisance, and said: "He is still looking about him, because his kingdom and wealth
are possessed by others!---Many are the heroes whom they have buried under ground, of
whose existence above it not one vestige is left; and of that old carcass which they
committed to the earth, the earth has so consumed it that not one bone is left. Though
many ages are gone since Nushirowan was in being, yet in the remembrance of his
munificence is his fair renown left. Be generous, O my friend! and avail thyself of life,
before they proclaim it as an event that such a person is not left."
III
I have heard of a king''''s son who was short and mean, and his other brothers were lofty
in stature and handsome. On one occasion the king, his father, looked at him with
disparagement and scorn. The son, in his sagacity, understood him and said, "O
father! a short wise man is preferable to a tall blockhead; it is not everything that is
mightier in stature that is superior in value: "A sheep''''s flesh is wholesome, that
of an elephant carrion. Of the mountains of this earth Sinai is one of the least, Yet is
it most mighty before God in state and dignity. Heard thou not what an intelligent
lean man said one day to a sleek fat dolt? An Arab horse, notwithstanding his slim make,
is more prized thus than a herd of asses."
The father smiled; the pillars of the State, or courtiers nodded their assent, and the
other brothers were mortified to the quick. ''''Till a man has declared his mind, his virtue
and vice may have lain hidden; do not conclude that the thicket is unoccupied,
peradventure the tiger is gone asleep!
I have heard that about that time a formidable antagonist appeared against the king.
Now that an army was levied in each side, the first person that mounted his horse and
sallied upon the plain was that son, and he exclaimed: "I can not be that man whose
back thou mayest see on the day of battle, but am him thou mayest descry amidst the thick
of it, with my head covered with dust and blood; for he that engages in the contest sports
with his own blood, but he who flees from it sports with the blood of an army on the day
of fight." He so spoke, assaulting the enemy''''s cavalry, and overthrew some renowned
warriors. When he came before the king he kissed the earth of obeisance, and said, "O
thou, who didst view my body with scorn, whilst not aware of valor''''s rough exterior, it is
the lean steed that will prove of service, and not the fatted ox, on the day of
battle."
They have reported that the enemy''''s cavalry was immense, and those of the king few in
number; a body of them was inclined to fly, when the youth called aloud, and said,
"Be resolute, my brave men, that you may not have to wear the apparel of women!"
The troops were more courageous on this speech, and attacked altogether. I have heard that
on that day they obtained a complete victory over the enemy. The king kissed his face and
eyes, and folded him in his arms, and became daily more attached to him, ''''till he declared
him heir-apparent to the throne. The brothers bore him a grudge, and put poison into his
food. His sister saw this from a window, and closed the shutter; and the boy understood
the sign, and withdrew his hand from the dish, and said, "It is hard that the
virtuous should perish and that the vicious should occupy their places." Were the
homayi, or phoenix, to be extinct in the world, none would take refuge under the shadow of
an owl. They informed the father of this event; he sent for the brothers and rebuked them,
as they deserved. Then he made a division of his domains, and gave a suitable portion to
each, that discontent might cease; but the ferment was increased, as they have said: Ten
dervishes can sleep on one rug, but two kings can not be accommodated in a whole kingdom.
When a man after God''''s heart can eat the moiety of his loaf, the other moiety he will give
in alms to the poor. A king may acquire the sovereignty of one climate or empire; and he
will in like manner covet the possession of another.
IV
A horde of Arab robbers had possessed themselves of the fastness of a mountain, and
waylaid the track of the caravan. The yeomanry of the villages were frightened at their
stratagems, and the king''''s troops alarmed, inasmuch as they had secured an impregnable
fortress on the summit of the mountain, and made this stronghold their retreat and
dwelling.
The superintendents of the adjacent districts consulted together about obviating their
mischief, saying: If they are in this way left to improve their fortune, any opposition to
them may prove impracticable. The tree that has just taken root, the strength of one man
may be able to extract; but leave it to remain thus for a time, and the machinery of a
purchase may fail to eradicate it: the leak at the dam head might have been stopped with a
plug, which now it has a vent we can not ford its current on an elephant.
Finally it was determined that they should set a spy over them, and watch an
opportunity when they had made a sally upon another tribe, and left their citadel
unguarded. Some companies of able warriors and experienced troops were sent, that they
might conceal themselves in the recesses of the mountain. At night, when the robbers were
returned, jaded with their march and laden with spoil, and had stripped themselves of
their armor, and deposited their plunder, the foremost enemy they had to encounter was
sleep. Now that the first watch of night was gone: "the disk of the sun was withdrawn
into a shade, and Jonas had stepped into the fish''''s mouth"---the bold-hearted
warriors sprang from their ambush and secured the robbers by pinioning them one after
another.
In the morning they presented them at the royal tribunal, and the king gave an order to
put the whole to death. There happened to be among them a stripling, the fruit of whose
early spring was ripening in its bloom, and the flower-garden of his cheek shooting into
blossom. One of the viziers kissed the foot of the imperial throne, and laid the face of
intercession on the ground, and said, "This boy has not yet tasted the fruit of the
garden of life, nor enjoyed the fragrance of the flowers of youth: such is my confidence
in the generous disposition of his Majesty that it will favor a devoted servant by sparing
his blood." The king turned his face away from this speech; as it did not accord with
his lofty way of thinking, he replied: "The rays of the virtuous can not illuminate
such as are radically vicious; to give education to the worthless is like throwing walnuts
upon a dome: it were wiser to eradicate the tree of their wickedness, and annihilate their
tribe; for to put out a fire and leave the embers, and to kill a viper and foster its
young, would not be the acts of rational beings. Though the clouds pour down the water of
vegetation, thou canst never gather fruit from a willow twig. Exalt not the fortune of the
abject, for thou canst never extract sugar from a mat or common cane."
The vizier listened to this speech; willingly or not he approved of it, and applauded
the good sense of the king, and said: "What his majesty, whose dominion is eternal,
is pleased to remark is the mirror of probity and essence of good policy, for had he been
brought up in the society of those vagabonds, and confined to their service, he would have
followed their vicious courses. Your servant, however, trusts that he may be instructed to
associate with the virtuous, and take to the habits of the prudent; for he is still a
child, and the lawless and refractory principles of that gang can not have yet tainted his
mind; and it is in tradition that---- Whatever child is born, he is verily born after
the right way, namely Islam, Afterward his father and his mother bring him up as a Jew,
Christian, or Magi.
The wife of Lot associated with the wicked, and her posterity failed in the gift of
prophecy; the dog of the seven sleepers (at Ephesus) for some time took the path of the
righteous, and became a rational being."
He said this, and a body of the courtiers joined him in intercession, ''''till the king
acceded to the youth''''s pardon, and answered: "I gave him up, though I saw not the
good of it. Know thou what Zal said to the heroic Rustem: ''''Thou must not consider thy foe
as abject and helpless. I have often found a small stream at the fountain-head, which,
when followed up, carried away the camel and its load.''''"
In short, the vizier took the boy home, and educated him with kindness and liberality.
And he appointed him masters and tutors, who taught him the graces of logic and rhetoric,
and all manner of courtier accomplishments, so that he met general approbation. On one
occasion the vizier was detailing some instances of his proficiency and talents in the
royal presence, and saying: "The instruction of the wise has made an impression upon
him, and his former savageness is obliterated from his mind." The king smiled at this
speech, and replied: "The whelp of a wolf must prove a wolf at last, notwithstanding
he may be brought up by a man."
Two years after this a gang of city vagabonds got about him, and joined in league,
''''till on an opportunity he murdered the vizier and his two sons; and, carrying off an
immense booty, he took up the station of his father in the den of thieves, and became a
hardened villain. The king was apprised of this event; and, seizing the hand of amazement
with the teeth of regret, said: "How can any person manufacture a tempered saber from
base iron; nor can a base-born man, O wiseacre, be made a gentleman by any education!
Rain, in the purity of whose nature there is no anomaly, cherishes the tulip in the garden
and common weed in the salt-marsh. Waste not thy labor in scattered seed upon a briny
soil, for it can never be made to yield spikenard; to confer a favor on the wicked is of a
like import, as if thou didst an injury to the good."
V
At the gate of Oghlamish Patan, King of Delhi, I (namely Sadi) saw an officer''''s son,
who, in his wit and learning, wisdom and understanding, surpassed all manner of encomium.
In the prime of youth, he at the same time bore on his forehead the traces of ripe age,
and exhibited on his cheek the features of good fortune: "Above his head, from his
prudent conduct, the star of superiority shone conspicuous."
In short, it was noticed with approbation by the king that he possessed bodily
accomplishments and mental endowments. And sages have remarked that worth rests not on
riches, but on talents; and the discretion of age, not in years, but on good sense. His
comrades envied his good fortune, charged him with disaffection, and vainly attempted to
have him put to death: "but what can the rival effect so long as the charmer is our
friend?"
The king asked, saying, "Why do they show such a disinclination to do you
justice?" He replied: "Under the shadow of his majesty''''s good fortune I have
pleased everybody, excepting the envious man, who is not to be satisfied but with a
decline of my success; and let the prosperity and dominion of my lord the king be
perpetual!" I can so manage as to give umbrage to no man''''s heart; but what can I do
with the envious man, who harbors within himself the cause of his own chagrin? Die, O ye
envious, that ye may get a deliverance; for this is such an evil that you can get rid of
it only by death. Men soured by misfortune anxiously desire that the state and fortune of
the prosperous may decline; if the eye of the bat is not suited for seeing by day, how can
the fountain of the sun be to blame? Dost thou require the truth? It were better a
thousand such eyes should suffer, rather than that the light of the sun were obscured.
VI
They tell a story of a Persian king who had stretched forth the arm of oppression over
the subjects'''' property, and commenced a system of violence and rapacity to such a degree
that the people emigrated to avoid the vexatiousness of his tyranny, and took the road of
exile to escape the annoyance of his extortions. Now that the population was diminished
and the resources of the State had failed, the treasury remained empty, and enemies
gathered strength on all sides. Whoever may expect a comforter on the day of adversity,
say, let him practice humanity during the season of prosperity; if not treated cordially,
thy devoted slave will forsake thee; show him kindness and affection, and the stranger may
become the slave of thy devotion.
One day they were reading, in his presence, from the Shah-Nameh, of the tyrant Zollak''''s
declining dominion and the success of Feridun. The vizier asked the king, saying:
"Can you so far comprehend that Feridun had no revenue, domain, or army, and how the
kingdom came to be confirmed with him?" He answered: "As you have heard, a body
of people collected about him from attachment, and gave their assistance ''''till he acquired
a kingdom." The vizier said: "Since, O sire, a gathering of the people is the
means of forming a kingdom, how come you in fact to cause their dispersion unless it be
that you covet not a sovereignty? So far were good that thou wouldst patronize the army
with all thy heart, for a king with an army constitutes a principality." The king
asked: "What are the best means of collecting an army and yeomanry?" He replied:
"Munificence is the duty of a king, that the people may assemble around him, and
clemency, that they may rest secure under the asylum of his dominion and fortune, neither
of which you have. A tyrant can not govern a kingdom, for the duty
of a shepherd is not expected from the wolf. A king that can anyhow be accessory to
tyranny will undermine the wall of his own sovereignty."
The advice of the prudent minister did not accord with the disposition of the king. He
ordered him to be confined, and immured him in a dungeon. It soon came to pass that the
sons of the king''''s uncle rose in opposition, levied an army in support of their
pretensions, and claimed the sovereignty of their father. A host of the people who had
cruelly suffered under the arm of his extortion and were dispersed, gathered around and
succored them ''''till they dispossessed him of his kingdom and established them in his
stead. That king who can approve of tyrannizing over the weak will find his friend a
bitter foe in the day of hardship. Deal fairly with thy subjects, and rest easy about the
warfare of thine enemies, for with an upright prince his yeomanry is an army.
IX
In his old age an Arab king was grievously sick, and had no hopes of recovery, when lo!
a messenger on horseback presented himself at the palace-gate, and joyfully announced,
saying: "Under his majesty''''s good fortune we have taken such a stronghold, made the
enemy prisoners of war, and reduced all the landholders and vassals of that quarter to
obedience as subjects." On hearing this news the king fetched a cold sigh, and
answered: "These glad tidings are not intended for me but for my rivals, namely, the
heirs of the sovereignty. My precious life has, alas! been wasted in the hope that what my
heart chiefly coveted might enter at my gate. My bounden hope was gratified; yet what do I
benefit by that? There is no hope that my passed life can return. The hand of death beats
the drum of departure. Yes, my two eyes, you must bid adieu to my head. Yes, palm of my
hand, wrist, and arm, all of you say farewell, and each take leave of the other. Death has
overtaken me to the gratification of my foes; and you, O my friends, must at last be
going. My days were blazed away in folly; what I did not do let you take warning and
do."
X
At the metropolitan mosque of Damascus I was one year fervent in prayer over the tomb
of Yahiya, or John the Baptist and prophet, on whom be God''''s blessing, when one of the
Arab princes, who was notorious for his injustice, chanced to arrive on a pilgrimage, and
he put up his supplication, asked a benediction, and craved his wants.---The rich and poor
are equally the devoted slaves of this shrine, and the richer they are the more they stand
in need of succor. Then he spoke to me, saying: "In conformity with the generous
resolution of dervishes and their sincere zeal, you will, I trust, unite with me in
prayer, for I have much to fear from a powerful enemy." I answered him, "Have
compassion on your own weak subjects, that you may not see disquiet from a strong foe.
With a mighty arm and heavy hand it is dastardly to wrench the wrists of poor and
helpless. Is he not afraid who is hard-hearted with the fallen that if he slip his foot
nobody will take him by the hand?--- Whoever sowed the seed of vice and expected a
virtuous produce, pampered a vain brain and encouraged an idle whim. Take the cotton from
thy ear and do mankind justice, for if thou refuse them justice there is a day of
retribution. The sons of Adam are members one of another, for in their creation they have
a common origin. If the vicissitudes of fortune involve one member in pain, all the other
members will feel a sympathy. Thou, who art indifferent to other men''''s affliction, if they
call thee a man art unworthy of the name."
XI
A dervish, whose prayers had a ready acceptance with God, made his appearance at
Baghdad. Hojaj Yusuf (a great tyrant) sent for him and said: "Put up a good prayer
for me." He prayed, "O God! take from him his life!" Hojaj said, "For
God''''s sake, what manner of prayer is this?" He answered: "It is a salutary
prayer for you, and for the whole sect of Muslims.---O mighty sir, thou oppressor of the
feeble, how long can this violence remain marketable? For what purpose came the
sovereignty to thee? Thy death were preferable to thy tyrannizing over mankind."
XII
An unjust king asked a holy man, saying. "What is more excellent than
prayers?" He answered: "For you to remain asleep ''''till mid-day, that for this
one interval you might not afflict mankind."---I saw a tyrant lying dormant at noon,
and said, "This is mischief, and is best lulled to sleep. It were better that such a
reprobate were dead whose state of sleep is preferable to his being awake."
XIV
One of the ancient kings was easy with the yeomanry in collecting his revenue, but hard
on the soldiery in his issue of pay; and when a formidable enemy showed its face, these
all turned their backs. Whenever the king is remiss in paying his troops, the troops will
relax in handling their arms. What bravery can be displayed in the ranks of battle whose
hand is destitute of the means of living?
One of those who had excused themselves was in some sort my intimate. I reproached him
and said, "He is base and ungrateful, mean and disreputable who, on a trifling change
of circumstances, can desert his old master and forget his obligation of many years''''
employment." He replied: "Were I to speak out, I swear by generosity you would
excuse me. Peradventure, my horse was without corn, and the housings of his saddle in
pawn.---And the prince who, through parsimony, withholds his army''''s pay can not expect it
to enter heartily upon his service."---Give money to the gallant soldier that he may
be zealous in thy cause, for if he is stinted of his due he will go abroad for service. So
long as a warrior is replenished with food he will fight valiantly, And when his belly is
empty he will run away sturdily.
XV
One of the viziers was displaced, and withdrew into a fraternity of dervishes, whose
blessed society made its impression upon him and afforded consolation to his mind. The
king was again favorably disposed toward him, and offered his reinstatement in office; but
he consented not, and said, "With the wise it is deemed preferable to be out of
office than to remain in place.---Such as sat within the cell of retirement blunted the
teeth of dogs, and shut the mouths of mankind; they destroyed their writings, and broke
their writing reeds, and escaped the lash and venom of the critics."---The king
answered: "At all events I require a prudent and able man, who is capable of managing
the State affairs of my kingdom." The ex-minister said: "The criterion, O sire,
of a wise and competent man is that he will not meddle with such like matters.---The homayi ,
or phoenix, is honored above all other birds because it feeds on bones, and injures no
living creature."
