23. “It is easy for all men to display learning in instructing others, but it is the part of one endued with a great mind to form himself by the rules of justice.” 24. “As those who have caught cold, take no pleasure in moonshine, or those who have fever, in the heat of the sun, so the mind of a woman delights not a husband where there is great disparity of years.” 25. “It is better to pull up by the roots a loose tooth, and a wicked counsellor.” 26. “He is a friend whom favors have not purchased, and he is a man who is not subdued by his senses.” 27. “The seed of good advice must be cherished with extreme care, it must not be broken ever so little, if it be, it will not grow.” 28. “A hundred good words are lost upon the wicked; a hundred wise words are lost upon a fool; a hundred good precepts are lost upon the obstinate, and a hundred sciences upon those who never reflect.” 29. “A serpent drinking milk only increases his venom, thus a fool being admonished is provoked, but not benefitted. A sensible man may be admonished, but not a fool.” 30. “He who knows not his own weakness must be routed by flatterers and enemies.” 31. “A great man becomes little, and his virtue is diminished by associating with an unprincipled person.” ----- Footnote 225: About A.D. 570. Footnote 226: Canopus was a star which stood at the right in the heavens when the observer was looking from Hirat, and consequently it lay in the direction of Arabia, which the prophet claimed as the home of wisdom, and therefore wisdom was represented by Canopus. Footnote 227: Translated by Almokaffa about A.D. 770. Footnote 228: See preface, Eastwick’s version, p. 10. Footnote 229: The planet Mars. Footnote 230: From Sir Wm. Jones’ revision of the Hitopadesa. Footnote 231: Sometimes called Pilpay. CHAPTER X. PERSIAN POETRY. SEVEN ERAS—THE FIRST PERIOD—THE HOMER OF ĪRĀN—THE SHĀH NĀMAH—HISTORY OF THE PERSIAN EPIC—FIRDUSĪ—INVECTIVE—MŪTESHIM—THE SHĀH’S REPENTANCE— DEATH OF FIRDUSĪ—THE POEM. The history of Persian poetry may be divided into seven distinct periods of from one to two centuries each. The first period reaches from the beginning of the tenth century to the close of the eleventh, and it may be said to represent the national poetry in its original purity. Previous to this time, there had been fragments of verse, which had been composed by Bāhram Gor, a Sassanian king, and a few other authors, but this early literature had perished at the hands of the Moslem invaders. The conquerors not only destroyed, as far as possible, the literature of Īrān, but even discarded the language, using Arabic in all official documents. The vitality of the Persian tongue, however, was so great that the patriotic people finally founded another national literature, under the patronage of the Samanian kings.