The Laughable Stories Collected by Mar Gregory John

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THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBRyEUS.
"onness and the drunkenness which is worse than that
"of wine."
jjf CCXXII. Another of the sages said, ''The Greeks
"are the more skilful, but the Persians are the more in-
"telligent."
^ CCXXIII. Another king never permitted any man to
kiss his hand, "For," said he, "the kissing of the hand
"is the proof [of the friendship] of friends and of the
"flattery of foes."
CCXXIV. Another king was besought by a certain
^an who professed to lead an ascetic life to give him
the office of governor in a certain place, and he said
to him, "If the ascetic life wherein thou art occupied
"is of God, it is not meet for us to destroy it by
"giving thee a governorship whereby sin would be
"provoked; and if it be merely hypocrisy it is not meet
"for us to make a hypocrite a governor." Thus he
dismissed him.
A CCXXV. Another of the wise men used to say, "The
"power of being able to [gratify a passion] destroyeth
"lust, even as water quencheth fire."
J- CCXXVI. One of the nobles of a certain king was
about to rebel against him, and although the king
wished to slay him he would not do this thing without
taking counsel of one of his sages. And having called
a certain wise man he asked him concerning it; and
he made answer to him, saying, "There is nothing [left]
"for thee to do but to remove him from the earth; if
"thou doest not this thy kingdom will not stand." When
the king heard this he was mightily angry, and he
said to the sage, "Wouldst thou counsel me to slay
"the man who is my right arm and upon whom I lean?"
and he thrust out the wise man and drove him away.