"Thou wast day and night occupied in idle talk, and I in attending to the needful: one moment thou wast taken up with the fresh blandishment of the Rose, and the next busy in admiring the blossoming spring. 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. He who gives advice to a self-conceited man stands himself in need of counsel from another. The vicious cannot endure the sight of the virtuous, in the same manner as the curs of the market howl at a hunting-dog, but dare not approach him. When a mean wretch cannot vie with any man in virtue, out of his wickedness he begins to slander him. The abject, envious wretch will slander the virtuous man when absent, but when brought face to face his loquacious tongue becomes dumb. O thou, who hast satisfied thy hunger, to thee a barley loaf is beneath notice;--that seems loveliness to me which in thy sight appears deformity. The ringlets of fair maids are chains for the feet of reason, and snares for the bird of wisdom. When you have anything to communicate that will distress the heart of the person whom it concerns, be silent, in order that he may hear it from some one else. O nightingale, bring thou the glad tidings of the spring, and leave bad news to the owl! It often happens that the imprudent is honoured and the wise despised. The alchemist died of poverty and distress, while the blockhead found a treasure under a ruin. Covetousness sews up the eyes of cunning, and brings both bird and fish into the net. Although, in the estimation of the wise, silence is commendable, yet at a proper season speech is preferable.[17]