Classic Poem

If but once thou receive kindness from any one,
For that once put twenty injuries of his behind thy back.
A traitor yet deserves no pardon,
Though forgiveness is becoming towards the true.
The fault of a brother is no fault at all,
Mercy is befitting to the mistakes of one's friends.
If from thy friend thou receivest bitter words,
Do thou give him smiling a sweet and pleasant answer.
Make no acquaintance or friendship with a mean man,
From such wilt thou never obtain real friendship.
From the disturber of thy country do thou never stay thy hand,
However much the priests may entreat in his favour.
A true man will keep his faith as long as he is alive,
The word of the unmanly to-day is, to-morrow is not.
They are counted as beasts, no men are they,
The herdsmen and shepherds, who lead flocks and herds.
He who tells thee thy faults, a true friend is he,
And talks not to others of the faults that are thine.
What though men and fiends would slay thee? Thou wilt not die
Until the day of thy fate has arrived.
There is not one that is dependent on my will,
With words of friendship in their mouths all do their own wish.
They who desired my death have all died themselves;
I, behold! am yet alive and remain in this world.
The warrior thinks not of his own deeds of valour,
Yet the blind man is convinced of his own beauty.
Discernment, respect, and modesty become a man—
It is these three qualities that distinguish him from a beast.
He who is born of noble nature from his father and his mother,
In him will no real baseness be seen.
If one bring up a kid on the milk of a dog,
Like a dog in the end will his bleat become a bark.
Tell thou every one this saying of mine,
However sweet the grass, sweet soup it will not make.
However much one may counsel and advise him, it is no use,
Who is born so from his parents, ill-advised will he remain.
The wise man conceals many faults by his wisdom,
The fool by his folly shows his few to the world.
He that lays not his own burden on others, but bears theirs,
Such is the man that is deserving of praise.
He in whose heart the torch of wisdom is lighted,
To him day and night are both alike bright.