Vis and Ramin

401 |
402
CHAPTER
LXXIX
RAMIN said :
" I shall never love a human being again, nor shall I see
again my dishonour, nor pursue this despicable behaviour.
Why should a free 1 man become a slave or be melancholy
in the time of joy ? Many a time have I seen myself so
cast down to the joy of my foes, and thus has it even now
and it will never be that I shall
happened to me from thee ;
forget the present pain of my heart. Excepting hell itself,
there is no abiding-place for me, if thou again try me, the
tried one. Though the sun receive light from thy face, I
have no longer hope from it. If one litra 2 of stone were
worth three litras of gems, I would even part with a
hundred litras of stone in its scarcity in order to calm my
heart, so that I might be delivered from this
in which I am.
shamefulness
" If on the road to seek thee a thousand treasures |
lay,
not even that would be worth this pain ; I will cut my heart
from my body if henceforth it seeks thee or any other
lover ! Though I should remain heartless, it is much better,
since it is so that it (my heart) loves every man, and it hates
me, and afflicts me. Will not happiness be mine? This
thy sulkiness to me to-night is a very serious matter, so
that in the beginning it seems very difficult, but in the end
it may prove to be easy. God sometimes sends such a thing
to a man without damage, so that he may pray 3 to Him.
" Now, thus has it happened to me, I am freed from such
grief.
I hitherto was a bondman, and now am I become a
king ; I was earth, and am become sky. I am so merry
that there is not even a hair of grief in my heart. I was
i
Azati, 395.
2 Litra -pound. Cf. B., 998.
352
3
Adji, 231