(91) 'A secret known to more than two is known to every one.' As I live in the midst of these Arabs, Yet, had the mighty grace of God led the way, How could this fear have vied with God's attraction? O Granter of aid, lend us aid This flux and reflux of resolves came to me from Thee, Else these tides of will had rested still, O God! By the same fiat whereby Thou madest me thus irresolute, Of Thy mercy deliver me from this irresolution! Thou triest me; O give me aid!

(1) This sad Faqir too put up his cries for aid, But at times he distrusted the efficacy of his prayers, Again, hope of the mercy of the Lord When he was hopeless and ceasing to pray in weariness He heard from God the word "Ascend!" God is an Abaser and an Exalter Behold the abasement of earth and uplifting of heaven; Without these two heaven would not revolve, O man! The abasement and exaltation of earth is otherwise, Half the year is barren, half green and verdant.

(8) When this torch of kings left Gazna to make war on the Hindus and encountered their mighty army, he was cast down, and he made a vow to the King of Justice that if he were victorious he would give all the booty that fell into his hands to the dervdshes. He gained the victory, and his army collected an enormous amount of treasure. When the black-faces had retreated leaving the plunder, Mahmud said:

' Send this to the dervishes, for I have promised God to do so, and I must keep my vow.' Then his officers protested and said: 'Why give so much silver and gold to a handful of men who do not fight! Why not give it to the army which has borne the brunt of the battle, or, at least, put it in the treasury?'

The Sultan hesitated between his vow and the protests of his army. Meanwhile, Bu Hassein, an idiot of God, who was intelligent but uneducated, passed along that way. Mahmud seeing him in the distance said: 'Call that idiot; tell him to come here and say what ought to be done, and I will act accordingly; since he fears neither the Sultan nor the army he will give an impartial opinion.' When the Sultan had put the case to Bu Hassein, the latter said: 'Sire, it is a question of two obols, but if you wish to act becomingly towards God, think no more, O my dear, about these two obols; and if you win another victory by his grace, be ashamed to hold back two obols. Since God has given you the victory, can that which belongs to God belong to you?'

Mahmud thereupon gave the treasure to the dervishes, and became a great monarch.

(12) (To whom? The answer lieth near.) Such shall be the Saviours of the Provinces, and they who, through Thy Good Mind's grace, shall go on hand in hand with mental keenness (as it spreads among Thy saints) by the doing every deed of Thy commandment, O Ahura! through the help of, and in accordance with, Thy Holy Order; for such as these are set (for us), as steadfast foes of hate! 153:1 The Pahlavi has also pavan zak dahisnŏ; but a false gloss gives an erroneous concrete [pavan tanû î pasînŏ]. Recall âdâi paitî. 153:2 See ashaônô, ashâunê (sic) (Y. XLVII, 4, 5). 153:3 Read 'as âshûtâ'—has been pushed on, enacted. I correct here as seems so evidently necessary; but the Pahlavi anticipates with its amat zak yâmtûnêd. 153:4 Pavan friftârîh. 153:5 See Y. XXIX, 4. 153:6 See Y. XXX, 11, savakâ ashavabyô. 154:1 Meng = mãm or man; -eng is the nasalised vowel. Man is suspiciously significant here; 'mental battles' is rather advanced for the circumstances. It is, however, not impossible. The Pahlavi favours mãm (?) here; it has avŏ li. We might even read menâ on its evidence. The Pahlavi indicates the meaning 'crises' under the figure of the 'Bridge,' which was the last great crisis to every man in the eye of the earlier, as well as of the later, Faith; so also in Y. LI, 12. The 'straits of life' would be an admirable meaning; I differ with hesitation. 154:2 Pahlavi kardârîh. 154:3 See Y. XLIII, 14. 154:4 Yaêkît gûzrâ-senghaunghô. Or, 'knowing also those who are the teachers of secret doctrines.' 154:5 We may, with some effort, connect thwâvãs with vaêdemnâi. Spentô vîdvau, however, must refer to the immediately foregoing Ahurô, especially in view of the tvem vîdvau, Ahurâ, of verse 2. 'The one like Thee' might even, as in other cases, be only an oblique way of rendering 'Thyself;' but the expression 'with the understanding of Vohu Manah' induces me to refer the word Thwâvãs to the servant of Ahura; in this case, however, this last line must of course be drawn to verse 4, although not mechanically separated from verse 3. 155:1 See verse 2. 155:2 Present for imperative, as sometimes in modern languages in giving directions. 155:3 The words are anticipated from the third line. 155:4 I follow the Indian sense here with great reluctance. Nanâ may well be, in Iranian, equivalent to 'each several one,' and in fact may not impossibly teach us the origin of the word ('man, man.' comp. narem,* narem*). The Pahl. trlr. is so decided for a personal sense, that he renders gabrâ nêsman = man and woman. Did he suppose 'woman' to be literally (!) expressed in the text? 155:5 Âramaiti is addressed, unless indeed an instrumental is read without MSS. An instrumental is of course preferable. 155:6 The Pahlavi has, with admirable freedom, zakatŏ hû-khûdâî pâdakhshâyînisn, va al lanman zak î dûs-khûdâî salîtâ yehavûnâdŏ. I read hukhshathrâ khshayeñtãm, mâ ne dûs-khshathrâ, to bring the metre somewhat into order, as some gross irregularity is present; the caesura only, not the sense, is affected by the change. 155:7 Or, 'from the birth-hour on;' so the Pahlavi. Its gloss reads [akhar min zerkhûnisnŏ avinâsîh pâhlûm]. 156:1 So Bartholomae, who now holds to a third singular here, leaving the text undisturbed, and explaining as an optative. 156:2 The Pahlavi seems to render 'comfort' here, using khvârîh in that sense. 156:3 So the Pahlavi correctly indicates by its arzûk; Ner. priyataram. 156:4 Compare Y. LI, 7. Are the plants here mentioned as in connection with Âramaiti in her figurative association with the earth? 156:5 See verses 1, 2. 156:6 Or, 'against the blow,' Y. XXIX, 1. The Pahlavi translator here renders padîrak î arêshak, while in Y. XXIX, 1 he renders î rêshkûn. The variations are probably not real; the renderings referring to some forgotten differences of text; or, as often, he may have anticipated modern freedom, and 'changed his text;' that is, rendered it as if changed to a seemingly more intelligible form; so in a throng of similar cases. This is the only rational explanation of some of his errors. (He was able to render, and has rendered, most grammatical forms in different places.) 156:7 The Pahlavi has, however, navîdîh. Did he read vidhyãm, in itself a very possible text? 157:1 Compare emavantem aêshem, also peresâ nau yâ tôi ehmâ parstâ. Observe that the Pahlavi translator distinguishes the two senses of îsti. In Y. XLVI, 2 he transcribes the Gâthic word, the Persian rendering ‘hezânah; Ner. punyalakshmîm; here, however, he has: Kadâr lak, Aûharmazd, zak î sapîr khvahîsn î khûdâyîh. 157:2 Compare verse 5. 157:3 Ashâ might certainly equal ákhâ here (so Bartholomae) if the constant and intentional repetition of the name and idea of Asha, = the personified Order, would not have caused confusion. 157:4 The Pahlavi translator renders a word which occupied the place of gavarô by yakhsenunîdârîh; Ner. following as to root (freely as to form). As he, however, renders related forms elsewhere by 'living,' 'live,' our only safe conclusion is that he had a different word from gavarô (givarô) before him in his MS. 157:5 Compare Y. XXVIII, 6. 157:6 I am very far from certain that we do not seriously blunder in not following the indication of the Pahlavi here. See remarks Y. XXXII, 16. 157:7 Or, 'let me enjoy as my own;' but môi is difficult. Ûkãm might otherwise be a first personal form in the sense of the Vedic uk. p. 158 Bartholomae's third sing. imper. is also of course well possible; but were not the originally abnormal third singulars in -âm, duhâ´m sayâm, vidâm, taken over from third pl. subj. '-âm' really equalling the nasal vowel merely*? Comp. also Indian ádrisram, ábudhram, ásrigram, Zend vavazirem, -am = an. 'Tradition' has, Pahl. zîvisnîh; Ner. gîvitam; Pers. zîstan, for ûkãm, as if rendering 'enjoyment,' 'experience of life.' *(âm = tâm is more difficult.) 158:1 Comparing vápus; otherwise, with the Pahlavi, 'knowing the destruction (of the evil) which Vohûman works;' see Y. XXIX, 6, where the rendering of the Pahlavi is supported by the previous verse. 158:2 Comp. Y. XLVI, 3. Kadâ Mazda; frârentê*—saoshyantãm khratavô? 158:3 Compare Y. XXXII, 15. 158:4 Is Soma-intoxication here referred to? And was the Haoma-worship in abeyance at the time? The Pahlavi seems to have understood 'magic' here, and in the evil sense, that is, judging from the perhaps later gloss. Aside from the gloss, however, the Pahlavi may well have been, nay, more probably was, intended to be read madîh as = madahyâ. 158:5 As to this word, we cannot do better than follow Justi (although his work is now a score of years old). The Indian várpas, in the sense of deceit, has also been compared. The last Pahlavi translator was probably confused by finding this word, as so often, divided in his MS. He rendered as best he could, or rather he handed down the shattered documents, or oral teachings, of his predecessors with his own too often lame additions, the whole mass being rich in the relics of the truth. 158:6 See verse 5. 159:1 Mat following Ashâ shows that we may also have the preposition in pôi mat. 159:2 As Âramaiti is here spoken of as 'having pasture,' that is, as inspiring the thrifty husbandmen who cultivate the meadows by irrigation, or drainage, she became associated herself with those meadows, and so later with the earth; see Y. XLVII, 2. 159:3 The Pahlavi sees in râmãm enforced quiet not 'from' but 'to' the wicked; 'who shall deal the finishing blow to the wicked?' 159:4 So also the Pahlavi, shnâsinîdârîh. Next: Yasna XLIX Sacred Texts | Zoroastrianism « Previous: The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31): The Gâthas: Yasn... Index Next: The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31): The Gâthas: Yasn... » Sacred Texts | Zoroastrianism

(1) Do not, like fools, crave mercy from the spear, Wherefore do you cry to spear and sword, Seeing they are captives in the hand of that Noble One? He is as Azar, maker of idols; I am only the idol; Whatever instrument He makes me, that I am. If He makes of me a cup, a cup am I; If He makes of me a dagger, a dagger am I. If He makes me a fountain, I pour forth water; If He makes me fire, I give forth heat. If He makes me rain, I produce rich crops;

(1) Over his friend, Enkidu, Gilgamesh cried bitterly, roaming the wilderness. "I am going to die!--am I not like Enkidu?! Deep sadness penetrates my core, I fear death, and now roam the wilderness-- I will set out to the region of Utanapishtim, son of Ubartutu, and will go with utmost dispatch! When I arrived at mountain passes at nightfall,' I saw lions, and I was terrified! I raised my head in prayer to Sin, to... the Great Lady of the gods my supplications poured forth, 'Save me from...!"' He was sleeping in the night, but awoke with a start with a dream: A warrior(!) enjoyed his life-- he raised his axe in his hand, drew the dagger from his sheath, and fell into their midst like an arrow. He struck... and he scattered them, The name of the former... The name of the second...

(368) Sons of an illustrious father, that was not a bad beginning of the Elegiac verses which the admirer of Glaucon made in honour of you after you had distinguished yourselves at the battle of MegaANSWER: — ‘Sons of Ariston,’ he sang, ‘divine offspring of an illustrious hero.’ The epithet is very appropriate, for there is something truly divine in being able to argue as you have done for the superiority of injustice, and remaining unconvinced by your own arguments. And I do believe that you are not convinced—this I infer from your general character, for had I judged only from your speeches I should have mistrusted you. But now, the greater my confidence in you, the greater is my difficulty in knowing what to say. For I am in a strait between two; on the one hand I feel that I am unequal to the task; and my inability is brought home to me by the fact that you were not satisfied with the answer which I made to Thrasymachus, proving, as I thought, the superiority which justice has over injustice. And yet I cannot refuse to help, while breath and speech remain to me; I am afraid that there would be an impiety in being present when justice is evil spoken of and not lifting up a hand in her defence. And therefore I had best give such help as I can. Glaucon and the rest entreated me by all means not to let the question drop, but to proceed in the investigation. They wanted to arrive at the truth, first, about the nature of justice and injustice, and secondly, about their relative advantages. I told them, what I really thought, that the enquiry would be of a serious nature, and would require very good eyes.

(34) And he slew them in the pastures of Shechem, and pursued those who fled, and he slew them with the edge of the sword, and he slew fAresaj and Taphu and Saregan and Seld and f'Amanisakirf and Ga[ga]'as, and he recovered his herds.

(23) Also when the Heathens should hear, that God would send this People, which he had brought out of Egypt with great Wonders [or Miracles,] among them to destroy them, that they should turn to God and depart from Covetousness, and enter into The Stars order their Government, Brotherly Love, therefore he gave them a long Time of Respite; as also to Israel (whom he fed from Heaven) for an Example, that one People should be an Example to the other, that there is and only evil, and seeing they did live in the Father' fierce Anger, therefore the Anger and Severity of God lusted also to devour them, because they continually kindled P it.

(21) Every man takes refuge in some form of service, And chooses for himself some asylum; Do thou seek refuge in the shadow of the wise man, Of all forms of service this is fittest for thee; Having chosen thy Director, be submissive to him, Even as Moses submitted to the commands of Khizr; Have patience with Khizr's actions, O sincere one! Lest he say, 'There is a partition between us.' Though he stave in thy boat, yet hold thy peace; Though he slay a young man, heave not a sigh.

(2) A pious man who was on the true path saw Sultan Mahmud in a dream and said to him: 'O auspicious King, how are things in the Kingdom of Eternity?' The Sultan replied:

' Strike my body if you wish but leave my soul alone. Say nothing, and depart, for here one does not speak of royalty. My power was only vanity and self-pride, conceit and error. Can sovereignty exalt a handful of earth? Sovereignty belongs to God, the Master of the Universe. Now that I have seen my weaknesses and my impotence, I am ashamed of my royalty. If you wish to give me a title, give me that of "the afflicted one". God is the King of Nature, so do not call me king. Empire belongs to him; and I would be happy now to be a simple dervish on earth. Would to God he had a hundred weUs to put me in so that I had not been a ruler. Rather would I have been a gleaner in the cornfields. Call Mahmud a slave. Give my blessings to my son Masud, and say to him: " If you would have understanding take warning from your father's state. May the wings and the feathers wither of that Humay which cast its shadow upon me!"'

(4) One day, Mahmud called his favourite to him and gave him his crown and made him sit on his throne, and said to him: 'Ayaz, I give you my kingdom and my army. Reign, for this country is yours; and I now wish you to take my place and throw your ear-ring of slavery to the Moon and the Fish.'

When the officers and courtiers heard about it their eves went black from jealousy and they said: 'Never in the world has a king given so much honour to a slave/ But Ay' wept, and they said to him: 'Have you lost your senses? You are no longer a slave but of the royalty. Why do you weep? Be contented!' Ay' replied: 'You do not see things as they are, you do not understand that the Sultan of this great countty has exiled me from his presence. He wishes me to rule his kingdom, but I do not wish to be separated from him. I wish to obey him but not to leave him. What have I to do with government and royalty? My happiness is in seeing his face.'

Learn from Ayaz how to sere God, you who remain idle day and night, occupied with cheap and 'ulgar pleasures. Ay' descends from the summit of power, but you do not stir from where you are, neither have you any wish to change yourself. To whom will you at last be able to tell your sorrows? So long as you depend on paradise and hell, how will you be able to understand the secret which I wish to reveal to you; but when you no longer depend on those to the dawn of the mystety will lift itself from the night. The garden of paradise moreover is not for the indifferent; and the empyrean is only for the men of heart.

(3) I come to you, O Circle of gods in Restau, and I bring to you N . Grant to him Bread, Water, Air and an allotment in the Sechit-hotepu like Horus

(2) Gargya said. 'The Person who is here in wind — him, indeed, I worship as Brahma! ' Ajatasatru said: ' Talk not to me about him! Verily, I worship him as Indra, the terrible (vaikuntha), and the uncon- quered army. He who worships him as such becomes indeed triumphant, unconquerable, and a conqueror of adversaries/

(5) All assembled, they assembled in great numbers and deliberated among themselves. And they said, asking each other: "What shall we do to overcome the Quiché of Cavec by whose hands our sons and vassals are being killed? it is not known how our people are being destroyed. If we must perish, because of these abductions, so let it be; and if the power of Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz is so great then let our god be this Tohil, and God grant that you take him captive. It is not possible that they shall overcome us. Are there not, perchance, enough men among us? And the Cavec are not many," they said, when all were assembled.

(2) Wherefore it stands to reason, that the ideas entertained of God by wicked men must be bad, and those by good men most excellent. And therefore he who is in soul truly kingly and gnostic, being likewise pious and free from superstition, is persuaded that He who alone is God is honourable, venerable, august, beneficent, the doer of good, the author of all good things, but not the cause of evil. And respecting the Hellenic superstition we have, as I think, shown enough in the book entitled by us The Exhortation, availing ourselves abundantly of the history bearing on the point. There is no need, then, again to make a long story of what has already been clearly stated. But in as far as necessity requires to be pointed out on coming to the topic, suffice it to adduce a few out of many considerations in proof of the impiety of those who make the Divinity resemble the worst men. For either those Gods of theirs are injured by men, and are shown to be inferior to men on being injured by us; or, if not so, how is it that they are incensed at those by whom they are not injured, like a testy old wife roused to wrath?

(11) The averting of evils is a species of prayer; but such prayer is never to be used for the injury of men, except that the Gnostic, in devoting attention to righteousness, may make use of this petition in the case of those who are past feeling.

(3) ( Yajfiavalkya,' said he, ' since this atmosphere does not afford a [foot]hold, as it were, by what means of ascent does a sacrificer ascend to the heavenly world? ' the mind. is the Brahman of the sacrifice. That which is this mind is yonder moon, is the Brahman. This is release, this is complete release,' — Thus [concerning] liberation. Now the acquirements. —

(69) And the gods, his helpers, who marched by his side

As an instance of false and insincere repentance, a story is next told, which is also found in the fifth chapter of the Anwar i Suhaili. A lion had been wounded in fight with a male elephant, and was unable to hunt game for himself. In this strait he called a fox who was wont to attend upon him, and to live on the meat that was left from his repasts, just as disciples attending on a saint subsist on the heavenly food dropping from his lips. He called this fox, and bade him go and entice some animal to come near his lair, so that he might kill it and make a meal of it. The fox went and searched the neighborhood, and at last found a lean and hungry ass who was grazing in a stony place where there was little or no grass. The fox, after making due salutations, condoled with the ass on his unfortunate condition; but the ass replied that it was his divinely appointed lot, and that it would be impious to complain of the dispensations of Providence. He also instanced the case of the ass of a water-carrier, which, after having starved and worked hard in its master's service, by chance found admittance to the king's stables, where it was struck by the sleek appearance of the horses. But one day the horses were taken out to battle, and returned in a most miserable plight, some grievously wounded, and others dying. After seeing this sight it determined that its own hard life was preferable, and returned to its master. The fox replied that the ass was wrong in carrying passive resignation to such an extent as to refuse to try to better his condition when the opportunity of doing so presented itself, because God says, "Go in quest of the bounties of God." He added, if the ass would come with him, he would take him to a delightful meadow, where he would never lack plenty of grass all the year round. The ass rejoined that the command to strive for sustenance was only issued on account of the weakness of man's faith. The fox replied that this exalted faith was only vouchsafed to a few great saints, because the Prophet describes contentment as a treasure, and treasure is not found by everyone. The ass rejoined that the fox was perverting the Scripture, as no pious man who trusted in God was ever forsaken. In illustration of this he told an anecdote of a devotee who determined to put the matter to the test, and went out into the desert, trusting only to God to supply his wants, and resolved to seek no aid of man, and not to exert himself in any way to gain food. He lay down on a stone and went to sleep; and God sent a caravan of travelers that way, who found him, and forced him to take food in spite of himself. The fox again pressed the ass to try to better his condition, saying that God had given men hands to use and not to do anything with. The ass answered that he knew of no occupation and exertion better than trust in God, as worldly occupations often lead to ruin, according to the text, "Throw not yourselves with your own hands into ruin." But though the ass repeated all these excellent precepts, yet it was only so much cant on his part, because he was not firmly rooted in. the faith. He had all the time a carnal hankering after the pleasant grazing-ground the fox told him of, and the objections he made were only a parrot-like repetition of precepts heard, but not thoroughly understood and taken to heart. To illustrate the worthless nature of mere imitated religion and profession divorced from practice, a story is told of an infamous fellow who used to carry a dagger to protect as he said, his honor, though his every action showed that he had neither honor to protect nor manliness to protect it. The ass, though like Abraham, he had broken his idols, had not a sufficiently rooted faith to leap, like Abraham, into the fire, and thus prove his faith. [Here the poet apologizes for the trivial illustrations he uses by citing the text, "Verily God is not ashamed to set forth as well the instance of a gnat as of any nobler object" 3.] Finally the ass yielded to the fox's enticement, and accompanied him to the lion's lair. The lion, being famished with hunger, sprang upon him the moment he appeared. Being, however, weak with sickness and fasting, he missed his aim, and the ass escaped with a slight wound. Then the fox blamed the lion for his precipitation, and the lion, after excusing himself as best he could, persuaded the fox to try to allure the ass a second time into his lair. The fox consented to try, observing that experience would probably have been thrown away on an ass, and his vows of repentance forgotten. Those who lapse from repentance, in forgetfulness of their former experience, may be compared to the Jews changed into apes and swine by 'Isa. The fox was received by the ass with many reproaches for having deceived him; but he at last managed to persuade the ass that what he had seen was not a real lion, but only a harmless talisman; and the silly ass allowed himself to be again deluded, and forgot his vows of repentance, and again followed the fox to the lion's lair, where he speedily met his doom. Men who make professions of holiness merely from blind imitation of others are detected and confuted by the opposition between their words and their deeds.