Who has the power should give unto the needy,
Regarding well the course of life hereafter:
Fortune, like two chariot wheels revolving,
Now to one man comes nigh, now to another.
Ploughing the soil, the share produces nurture;
He who bestirs his feet performs his journey;
A priest who speaks earns more than one who’s silent;
A friend who gives is better than the niggard.
The fourth of these poems (x. 71) is composed in praise of wise speech. Here are four of its eleven stanzas:—
Where clever men their words with wisdom utter,