The Laughable Stories Collected by Mar Gregory John

22 THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBR^US.
"a nation is religion, and that the government is the
"protector thereof. Every building which possesseth
"not a sound foundation is quickly overthrown, and
"every house which possesseth no keeper is speedily
"despoiled."
LXXXIII. It is said that in the days of Khusrau'
the king a certain man went round about crying, "Who
"will buy three wise maxims for a thousand dinars?''
When the king heard [these words] he called him,
and said unto him, "What are the sayings?" And the
man ordered that the dinars of which he had spoken
should be made ready, and when they were ready he
said, "This is the first saying:—There is no good
"in any man whatsoever. And the second is:
"Although all men are thus nothing rational is to be
"obtained from them. And the third is:—It is ne-
"cessary for the king to know the extent of the wicked-
"ness of every man and to expose him according to
"his wickedness so that he may escape from him."
When the king heard these words he praised them
and ordered the man to take the gold; but he would
not do so. And the king said to him, "Why then
"didst thou ask for it?" The man replied, "I wished
"to ascertain if ever any man would be willing to buy
"wisdom with gold, or not."
"one of which can exist without the other. For religion is the found-
"ation of sovereignty^ and sovereignty is the protector of religion.
"Every building which is without foundation falleth down, and
"whatsoever is unprotected perisheth." ^ l^ '^.
^ ^U»* ^;U». d\ ^-yXj, ^ U^ ^5J^j«-«i ^\ ^ ^;^. ^ U_5 d^^j^^ See
Mas^udi (ed. B. de Meynard) torn. ii. p. 162.
^ Probably Khusrau Anosharwan.
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