Gulistan of Saadi
The Manners of Kings
Story 18
A royal prince, having inherited abundant treasures from his father, opened the hand of liberality and
satisfied his impulse of generosity by lavishing without stint benefits upon the army and the
population.
A tray of lignum aloes will emit no odour.
Place it on fire, it will smell like ambergris.
If thou wishest to be accounted great, be liberal
Because grain will not grow unless it be sown.
One of his courtiers began heedlessly to admonish him, saying: ‘Former kings have by their exertions
accumulated this wealth and deposited it for a useful purpose. Cease this movement because
calamities may arise in front and enemies in the rear. It is not meet for thee to be helpless at a time of
necessity.’
If thou distributest a treasure to the multitude
Each householder will receive a grain of rice.
Why takest thou not from each a barley-corn of silver
That thou mayest accumulate every day a treasure?
The royal prince turned away his face at these words and said: ‘God the most high has made me the
possessor of this country, to enjoy and to bestow, not to guard and to retain.’
Qarun, who possessed forty treasure houses, perished.
Nushirvan has not died because he obtained a good reputation.
READ MORE:
Gulistan of Saadi | The Manners of Kings | Story 17
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