XI

In a battle with the Tartars, a gallant young man was grievously
wounded. Somebody said to him, "A certain merchant has a stock of the
mummy antidote; if you would ask him, he might perhaps accommodate you
with a portion of it." They say that merchant was so notorious for his
stinginess, that--"If, in the place of his loaf of bread, the orb of the
sun had been in his wallet, nobody would have seen daylight in the world
till the day of judgment."

The spirited youth replied: "Were I to ask him for this antidote, he
might give it, or he might not; and if he did it might cure me, or it
might not; at any rate, to ask such a man were itself a deadly poison!"
Whatever thou wouldst ask of the mean, in obligation, might add to the
body, but would take from the soul.--And philosophers have observed,
that were the water of immortality, for example, to be sold at the
price of the reputation, a wise man would not buy it, for an honorable
death is preferable to a life of infamy.--Wert thou to eat colocynth
from the hand of the kind-hearted, it would relish better than a
sweetmeat from that of the crabbed.


XII

One of the learned had a large family and small means. He stated his
case to a great man, who entertained a favorable opinion of his
character. This one turned away from his solicitation, and viewed this
prostitution of begging as discreditable with a gentleman of education.