THE CENTURY OF LIFE
THE MAN OF KNOWLEDGE
Scorn not the man of knowledge to whose eycs The secrets of the world have been revealed! Thou canst not hold his spirit from the skies By fortune light nor all that earth can yield. The furious tusker with new dark rut stained Were sooner by a lotus-thread detained.
FATE ANID WISDOM
What can the extreme wrath of hostile Fate? The swan that floats in the cool lotus-wood She from his pleasant mansion can exclude.
His fame remains, in food adulterate*
Who could the better choose, the worse discern.
Fate cannot touch glory that mind can earn.
THE REAL ORNAMENT
It is not armlets that adorn a man, Nor necklaces all crammed with moonbright pearls, Nor baths, nor ointments, nor arrangéd curls.
Tis art of excellent speech that only can
Adorn him: jewels perish, garlands fade;
This only abides and glitters undecayed.
- The swan was supposed to have the power of separating milk from water
when the two were mixed.
[ 8 ]
[8]
