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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
bears spots, the good bear them not. They would be confused and waste away should a blemish befall them. 2. Whether successful or otherwise, the good will be held blameless. Is the dart which glanced from the lion inferior to the arrow that pierced the heart of the jackal? 3. The good, though they be poor and emaciated, will not guiltily ascend and rise over the bounds (of duty); binding their courage, as much as in them lies, with the cords of a mind free from anxiety, they will do the things that ought to be done. 4. The good, though they should meet with a person in the way, only for one day, will cleave to him with affection, as if (there subsisted between them) an ancient friendship. O lord of the goodly hills! a path will be made even upon a rock if one walk upon it for a few days. 5. If an unlearned person in the assembly speak what is destitute of meaning, like unconnected letters, the good will listen kindly, though with pain, even feeling pity that he should be put to shame before a multitude. 6. Though you bite the sugar-cane, or take its juice by beating and bruising it till the joints be broken, it will only be pleasant as far as it is tasted. Though people abuse them injuriously, the highborn will not speak faultily with the mouth. 7. The faultless virtuous steal not, drink not spirits; these things the good reject and leave altogether. Neither do they mock or reproach others; though confused in speech they will not lie with their mouths; and though in declining circumstances, they grieve not about it. 8. If one be deaf to the secrets of others, blind to the wife of his neighbour though well acquainted with her excellencies, and dumb in calumniating others, to him it is not necessary to inculcate virtue. 9. When people go day after day to those who are destitute of good qualities, they will despise them as beggars. The excellent, whenever they see (such), will say (if they want anything), Well, and will do them honour. 10. The base will live in obsequious attendance on the rich. Is it not like falling in a cave full of everything, when thou hast fallen upon a good family?
CHAPTER 17. Against reproaching the great.
1. O lord of the fair hill-land resounding with streams! we should not, thinking they will forgive us, do what is hateful to the guilt
[NOVEMBER, 1873.
less, for none can remove their anger when once they are provoked. 2. What though those who know not good and right feelings obtain the privilege of associating without expense with those who cannot be approached though gold be offered to them, yet they do but vainly waste their time. 3. These two things, the esteeming of any person, or the depreciation of any person, fall within the province of the excellent (alone). Deeply learned sages regard as nothing the contempt or praise of those who know not how to conduct themselves aright. 4. Like as the golden-coloured serpent trembles, though in Patala, if he hear the sound of the fierce anger of the thunder in the heavens, so enemies, though they have shut themselves up in a fort difficult of access, will not be able to escape when the great are angry. 5. The estimation which they form (of others) who say, Ye know us not, there are none like us, is no true estimation. But the esti mation formed by the excellent, who know what virtue is, and consider themselves as not to be at any one's beck and call, is a correct estimation. 6. O lord of the shore of the cool broad ocean! friendship with the mean, like the shadow of the morning, will continually decrease, while friendship with those who have long been famous will increase more and more, like the shadow of the afternoon. 7. Like as the cool budding umbrageous trees afford shelter alike to all who approach them, so the wealth of kings and the excellence of the beauty of women may be enjoyed by all who may venture to approach them, no worthiness being required at their hands. 8. Since separation even from those who possess not the power of investigating what they have, causes great and unceasing pain, O lord of the wide spread, mighty, and exhaustless backwaters the not contracting friendship withi any one is a karor of times the best. 9. When the matter is spoken of, (it will be found) that with the excellent such days as these are not, viz. days which have not been spent in study, days in which the great have not been visited, or days in which alms have not been given according to ability. 10. The glory of the great consists in humility; the acquirements of the learned appear in his self-control. The rich are rich indeed if they remove the afflictions of their dependants when acquainted with them. CHAPTER 18.-Good Society.
1. The habitual sins which they, contrary
