There are two things which are the foundation of wisdom and which ought to be put among the number of the most important unproclaimed revelations. Not to eat of anything which eats of other things, and to keep oneself unsullied by all that lives. 425. How is it that at the commencement of springtime the verjuice of the vine is sharp? And afterwards, how does it become so sweet? And then how do we find the wine so bitter? If one makes viols of a piece of wood by means of a curvèd knife, who would say on seeing it that a flute could be fashioned by the same means? 426. Know you why, at the break of day, the early-rising cock makes its voice heard each moment? It is to tell you, through the mirror of the morning, that one more night has slipped away from your existence, and that you are still in ignorance. 427. Give me some of this ruby wine, tinted like the tulip. Pour from the neck of the flask the pure blood it contains, for, to-day I can see, outside this cup of wine, no friend whose inner man is pure. 428. Pour me, O cupbearer! some wine colored like the flowers of the Judas-tree, pour, O cupbearer! for grief comes to oppress my soul; pour for me the nectar, for it is possible that in making me a stranger to myself, it will free me one instant from the vicissitudes of this world. 429. Thy cup, O my cupbearer! contains liquid rubies; give some to my soul, O cupbearer! Let it reflect that precious stone; put in my hand, O cupbearer, this incomparable cup, for through this I will give new life unto my soul. 430. In philosophy, if you are an Aristotle or a Bouzourdj-mehr; in power, if you are some Roman emperor or some potentate of China, drink ever, drink wine from the cup of Djem, for the end of all is the tomb. Oh! though you are Bahram himself, the coffin is your last sojourn. 431. I entered the studio of a potter. I watched him work at his wheel, actively occupied in moulding the necks and handles of pitchers, forming some of them like the heads of kings, others like the feet of beggars. 432. Go, choose bliss, if you are wise, and finally you may be able to drink wine from the hand of the drinkers of eternity, but you are one of the ignorant and joy is not in you, it is not given to every ignorant one to taste the sweets that ignorance gives. 433. O idol, while you are on your journey through this world, draw from the fountain-head into the pitcher, draw this salutary wine and, ere the potter makes another pitcher of my dust and thine, fill out a cup, drink it and pass me one. 434. Be attentive, friend, and while thou still art able, lighten the grief of a loving heart, for this kingdom of grace that now thou hast will not last always, but, like so many others thou shalt unexpectedly be called.