The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

PROFITABLE SAYINGS OF THE PERSIAN SAGES. I
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"humble himself that he may overcome than to conquer
"that he may humble himself," that is to say, we must
not be deceived by the man who humbleth himself to
us for a time and afterwards ruleth over us tyrannically.
LXX. This same Bazarjamhir was asked, "What is
"the wealth which is not destroyed when cast away?"
He replied, "Humility."
LXXI. This same Bazarjamhir said, "How beautiful
"the judges and to control the accounts of the taxgatherers ; to
"reward faithful service and to punish dishonest service. 6. To
"visit often those in prison so as to learn their condition^ in order
"to be able to double the Vi^atch over the guilty and to set free
"the innocent. 7. To safeguard roads and places of dealing, and
"to facilitate trade and the business of the merchant. 8. To punish
"the guilty according to their deserts, and to keep the people
"loyal. 9. To keep up a supply of arms and the munitions of
"war, 10. To honour his family, and children, and neighbours,
"and to watch over their interests. 11. To watch keenly over
"the frontier defence so as to perceive when danger is about to
"come and to take steps to ward it off. 12. To keep a watch
"upon the ministers and officials, and to recall those who are
"notoriously disloyal or incapable." Several other wise sayings
are attributed to him, and this distinguished Persian seems, as
Noldeke says {Geschichte der Perser und Araber, p. 251) to have
been the ideal of an Oriental Minister; the above twelve maxims were
thought so highly of that the king ordered them to be written in
letters of gold. A full account of Buzurjumihr and of his interpretation
of the King's dream may be found in Mohl, Le Livre
des Rois par AbouU-kasim Firdousi, tom. vi. p. 192 £f. A copy of
his moral teachings in the shape of question and answer, the
interlocutors being the sage and his master, exists in Brit. Mus.
MS. Add. 8994, fol. 84^-99^; see Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian
MSS. in the British Museum, p. 52, col. 2. The work is stated
to have been written at the request of his master.
and it was called Zafar-Ndmah.
King Anosharwan,