Chapter LX

Pahlavi Texts, Part III (SBE24), E.W. West, tr. [1885], at sacred-texts.com

CHAPTER LX.

1. The sage asked the spirit of wisdom (2) thus: 'Of mankind which are more conversant with good and evil?'

3. The spirit of wisdom answered (4) thus: 'Of mankind he whose sojourn ³ and business are with the bad ⁴, and they provide him a name for good repute and goodness, is the man more conversant with good. 5. And he whose sojourn and business are with the good ⁵, and they provide him a name for disrepute, is the man more conversant with evil.

6. 'Because it is said, (7, 8) that whoever joins with the good brings good with him, and whoever

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joins with the bad brings ¹ evil—(9) just like the wind which, when it impinges on stench, is ² stench, (10) and when it impinges on perfume, is perfume,—(11) it is, therefore, notorious ³, (12) that he whose business is with the good receives good, (13) and he whose business is with the bad receives ⁴ evil; (14) but, even then, both are to be considered as an experiment (aûzmâyisnŏ) ⁵.'

Footnotes

106:3 Reading nisastŏ. L19 has 'whose business is most (vês-ast),' both here and in § 5.

106:4 L19 has 'the good.'

106:5 L19 has 'the bad.'

107:1 L19 has 'will bring with him' in both clauses, but the repetition is unnecessary in Pahlavi.

107:2 L19 has 'will bring with it,' both here and in § 10.

107:3 L19 has 'proper to know.'

107:4 K43 does not repeat this verb.

107:5 L19 has 'by the result (anzâmesn).' The meaning is that, though a man's character is generally in accordance with the company he keeps, this must not be assumed without proof; and when the contrary is the case, as stated in §§ 4, 5, his own disposition must be of a very decided nature. Nêryôsang seems to have misunderstood the author's argument, and, supposing §§ 6-13 to contain a mere illustration of §§ 4, 5, he considered it necessary to transpose 'the bad' and 'the good' in §§ 4, 5, so as to make the illustration applicable.