n a time in the
market place, and took upon him to divine and to show
what their fortunes and chances should be that came to
him, there came a fellow and told him (as it was indeed)
that thieves had broken into his house, and had borne
away all that he had. These tidings grieved him so sore
that, all heavy and sorrowfully, he rose up and went his
way. When the fellow saw him do so, he said: "O thou
foolish and mad man! goest thou about to divine other
men's matters, and art ignorant of thine own?"

III

ANECDOTES AND APHORISMS FROM THE "GULISTAN," WITH ANALOGUES--CONCLUSION.

Besides the maxims comprised in the concluding chapter of the
_Gulistan_, under the heading of "Rules for the Conduct of Life," many
others, of great pith and moment, are interspersed with the tales and
anecdotes which Saadi recounts in the preceding chapters, a selection of
which can hardly fail to prove both instructive and interesting.

It is related that at the court of Nushirvan, king of Persia, a number
of wise men were discussing a difficult question; and Buzurjmihr (his
famous prime minister), being silent, was asked why he did not take part
in the debate. He answered: "Ministers are like physicians, and the
physician gives medicine to the sick only. Therefore, when I see your
opinions are judicious, it would not be consistent with wisdom for me to
obtrude my sentiments. When a matter can be managed without my
interference it is not proper for me to speak on the subject. But if I
see a blind man in the way of a well, should I keep silence it were a
crime." On another occasion, when some Indian sages were discoursing on
his virtue, they could discover in him only this fault, that he
hesitated in his speech, so that his hearers were kept a long time in
suspense before he delivered his sentiments. Buzurjmihr overheard their
conversation and observed: "It is better to deliberate before I speak
than to repent of what I have said."[11]

[11] The sayings of Buzurjmihr, the sagacious prime minister
of King Nushirvan, are often cited by Persian writers,
and a curious story of his precocity when a mere youth
is told in the _Lata'yif at-Taw'ayif_, a Persian
collection, made by Al-Kashifi, of which a translation
will be found in my "Analogues and Variants" of the
Tales in vol. iii of Sir R. F. Burton's _Supplemental