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350
EPISTLES OF MÂNÜSKÎHAR.
the country of Irân', then I shall become its greatest attacker of you. 5. And so I consider that from my opposition it is possible for more harm to happen unto you than from many accusers who are like the leader of those of the good religion, the many who are as it were of like fame with me.
6. And also from my departure, and the nonexistence of one that is a friend of yours, who, like me, is less able to be for your harm than he who is one of the many accusers of whom it is I who am the restrainer, you know this, that my coming is on account of the affection of some and the reverence of others. 7. From the exercise of religion I do not at all fall away, and for the sake of the position of the religion I am maintaining opposition to any one; even when he is a friend who is loved by me, I am then his antagonist. 8. Fate (ziko) is the great truth of the vacant, the form (andâm) which has procured the light of life.
CHAPTER VII. 1. A well-reflecting person, moreover, is able to understand that which is written by me, in private, in writing unto the good people of Sirkân, as perhaps a legitimate copy of a writing of that kind from
Referring to his intended visit to Sirkân (see Chaps. V, 5, VII, 3, Ep. I, xi, 4).
J has 'I am an opposition.' . • Or "living.
• Or 'the time (hangam).' • The MSS. have pino, instead of pakind. This copy of Ep. I is mentioned in Ep. I, xi, 10.
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