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pand, handarz, āzand
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From the Book of the Amusing Stories collected by Bar-Hebræus
“Another of the sages said: The Greeks are the more skillful, but the Persians are the more intelligent.” Here is the second chapter of the book of Bar-Hebræus – Maphrian of the east from A.D. 1264 to 1286 –, the “Amusing Stories”: Profitable sayings of the Persian sages (especially those of Vazurgmihr). All the sayings come from the Arabic and Persian sources. The first saying is thus: “Cyrus wrote to Hormazd the sage, saying: If kings only knew their need of wise men, [and wise men knew] their need of kings, kings would never marvel if they stood continually at the doors of the wise; for the need of kings for wise men is greater than that of wise men for kings;” This reminds us the saying attributed to Aristippus in the book of Diogenes Laertius, the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers: “Once, when Dionysius asked him why the philosophers haunt the doors of the rich, but the rich do not frequent those of the philosophers, he said: Because the first know what they want, but the second do not.” |
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