Wast
thou not aware that every summer has its fall and every road an
end?"[15]
[13] The name of a musical instrument.
[14] The fancied love of the nightingale for the rose is a
favourite theme of Persian poets.
[15] Cf. the fable of Anianus: After laughing all summer at
her toil, the Grasshopper came in winter to borrow part
of the Ant's store of food. "Tell me," said the Ant,
"what you did in the summer?" "I sang," replied the
Grasshopper. "Indeed," rejoined the Ant. "Then you may
dance and keep yourself warm during the winter."
These are a few more of Saadi's aphorisms:
Riches are for the comfort of life, and not life for the accumulation of
riches.[16]
[16] Auvaiyar, the celebrated Indian poetess, in her
_Nalvali_, says:
Hark! ye who vainly toil and wealth
Amass--O sinful men, the soul
Will leave its nest; where then will be
The buried treasure that you lose?
The eye of the avaricious man cannot be satisfied with wealth, any more
than a well can be filled with dew.
A wicked rich man is a clod of earth gilded.
The liberal man who eats and bestows is better than the religious man
who fasts and hoards.
Publish not men's secret faults, for by disgracing them you make
yourself of no repute.
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