ents. And sages have remarked
that worth rests not on riches, but on talents; and the discretion of
age, not in years, but on good sense. His comrades envied his good
fortune, charged him with disaffection, and vainly attempted to have him
put to death:--"but what can the rival effect so long as the charmer is
our friend?"

The king asked, saying, "Why do they show such a disinclination to do
you justice?" He replied: "Under the shadow of his majesty's good
fortune I have pleased everybody, excepting the envious man, who is not
to be satisfied but with a decline of my success; and let the prosperity
and dominion of my lord the king be perpetual!" I can so manage as to
give umbrage to no man's heart; but what can I do with the envious man,
who harbors within himself the cause of his own chagrin? Die, O ye
envious, that ye may get a deliverance; for this is such an evil that
you can get rid of it only by death. Men soured by misfortune anxiously
desire that the state and fortune of the prosperous may decline; if the
eye of the bat is not suited for seeing by day, how can the fountain of
the sun be to blame? Dost thou require the truth? It were better a
thousand such eyes should suffer, rather than that the light of the sun
were obscured.

VI

They tell a story of a Persian king who had stretched forth the arm of
oppression over the subjects' property, and commenced a system of
violence and rapacity to such a degree that the people emigrated to
avoid the vexatiousness of his tyranny, and took the road of exile to
escape the annoyance of his extortions. Now that the population was
diminished and the resources of the state had failed, the treasury
remained empty, and enemies gathered strength on all sides. Whoever may
expect a comforter on the day of adversity, say, let him practise
humanity during the season of prosperity; if not treated cordially, thy
devoted slave will forsake thee; show him kindness and affection, and
the stranger may become the slave of thy devotion.

One day they were reading, in his presence, from the Shah Nameh, of the
tyrant Zohak's declining dominion and the succession of Feridun. The
vizir asked the king, saying: "Can you so far comprehend that Feridun
had no revenue, domain, or army, and how the kingdom came to be
confirmed with him?" He answered: "As you have heard, a body of people
collected about him from attachment, and gave their assistance till he
acquired a kingdom." The vizir said: