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for thee and another against thee, and its goods are but a loan to be repaid. As I have heard a poet say:
Be slow to move and hasten not to snatch thy heart’s desire; Be merciful to all, as thou on mercy reckonest;
For no hand is there but the hand of God is over it, And no oppressor but shall be with worse than he oppress.
Thirdly, preserve silence and let thy faults distract thee from those of other men; for it is said that in silence is safety; and thereon I have heard the following verses:
Silence is fair and safety lies in taciturnity. So, when thou speak’st, I counsel thee, give not thy tongue the rein.
Since, for one time that thou repent the having held thy tongue, Thou shalt of having spoke repent again and yet again.
Fourthly, O my son, beware of drinking wine, for wine is the root of all evils and the thief of wit. Guard thyself from it, for the poet says:
Wine and the drinkers of wine I have put away, And am become of those that of it mis-say.
For wine indeed diverts from the road of right, And to all kinds of evil opens the way.
Lastly, O my son, keep thy wealth, that it may keep thee, and watch over it, that it may watch over thee. Squander not thy substance, or thou wilt come to need the meanest of folk. Guard well thy money, for it is a sovereign salve for the wounds of life, even as says the poet:
If wealth should fail, there is no friend will bear thee company, But whilst thy substance still abounds, all men are friends to thee.
How many a foe for money’s sake hath companied with me! But when wealth failed beneath my hand, my dearest friend did flee.”
And Noureddin ceased not to exhort his son till his spirit departed and his house became the abode of mourning. The King and all the Amirs grieved for him and buried him; but Bedreddin ceased not to bewail his father for two whole months, during which time he never left the house, nor did he attend the Divan or present himself
