Vis and Ramin

124 VISKAMIANI
and joy without him. When thy beloved brother no longer
sits by thy side in the wassail, when thou hast not him to
support thee in the day of battle, thou wilt have no friend
at thy side, and none at thy back to overawe thy foe. God
has given thee no son to rule thy land in days to come.
When God's decree the end of life to every human being
comes upon thee, thy house and throne will fall to thy
140 foes. | Spare him, that he may live and keep thy place
after thee."
" Shegoncla : A man cannot live for ever, but sometimes
he forestalls death.
"It is better to have Kamin alive, that he may be a
conqueror of the earth and a monarch like thee. Slay not
thy brother ; cast off thy wife, and commit the key
of love
to someone else. There are many fair, sun-like ones, whose
breasts are pure silver, and whose hair is amber. 1
Choose
one of these, give her thy heart, and commit to her care the
key of the treasury. Surely from her oyster shell 2 will come
forth a precious gem, for she shall give thee joy, and thy
place will be preserved. What dost thou expect from thy
connection with Vis? What virtue 3 has she save that she
4
is of Djimshed's race? Though in birth she is royal and
worthy, to her beauty a thousand evil ways pertain. Do
not this, monarch ; use reason, and soil not thy soul with
Eamin's blood. Thou canst find a thousand women like
Vis. Why dost thou not chase from thy heart love for this
harlot ? I, too, have heard this story, and methinks I have
heard even worse of her loathsome licence. She loves
also her brother Viro again, day and night he sits carousing
by her side, and he is more drunken with Vis's luck than
with wine. He desired this always ; now that it has come
to pass he sorrows no more. Why art thou enraged against
the unlucky Kamin? It is Viro who has sinned against
thee, not Kamin. He is in Amian, 6 this is because he is like
1 Ambari, 114, 194.
2 Sadap'hi, 153 mother-o'-pearl. R, 836.
3 *
Cargi, 141.
Dj unshed, 130.
5
Hamian, 13, 130. Graf, " Hamadan."