The advantages of education are thus set forth by a philosopher who was exhorting his children:  “Acquire knowledge, for in worldly riches and possessions no reliance can be placed.[8] Rank will be of no use out of your own country; and on a journey money is in danger of being lost, for either the thief may carry it off all at once, or the possessor may consume it by degrees.  But knowledge is a perennial spring of wealth, and if a man of education cease to be opulent, yet he need not be sorrowful, for knowledge of itself is riches.[9] A man of learning, wheresoever he goes, is treated with respect, and sits in the uppermost seat, whilst the ignorant man gets only scanty fare and encounters distress.”  There once happened (adds Saadi) an insurrection in Damascus, where every one deserted his habitation.  The wise sons of a peasant became the king’s ministers, and the stupid sons of the vazir were reduced to ask charity in the villages.  If you want a paternal inheritance, acquire from your father knowledge, for wealth may be spent in ten days.

    [8] “All perishes except learning.”—­Auvaiyar.

    [9] “Learning is really the most valuable treasure.—­A wise
        man will never cease to learn.—­He who has attained
        learning by free self-application excels other
        philosophers.—­Let thy learning be thy best
        friend.—­What we have learned in youth is like writing
        cut in stone.—­If all else should be lost, what we have
        learned will never be lost.—­Learn one thing after
        another, but not hastily.—­Though one is of low birth,
        learning will make him respected.”—­Auvaiyar.

In the following charming little tale Saadi recounts an interesting incident in his own life:  I remember that in my youth, as I was passing through a street, I cast my eyes on a beautiful girl.  It was in the autumn, when the heat dried up all moisture from the mouth, and the sultry wind made the marrow boil in the bones, so that, being unable to support the sun’s powerful rays, I was obliged to take shelter under the shade of a wall, in hopes that some one would relieve me from the distressing heat, and quench my thirst with a draught of water.  Suddenly from the portico of a house I beheld a female form whose beauty it is impossible for the tongue of eloquence to describe, insomuch that it seemed as if the dawn was rising in the obscurity of night, or as if the Water of Immortality was issuing from the Land of Darkness.  She held in her hand a cup of snow-water, into which she had sprinkled sugar and mixed with it the juice of the grape.  I know not whether what I perceived was the fragrance of rose-water, or that she had infused into it a few drops from the blossom of her cheek.  In short, I received the cup from her beauteous hand, and, drinking the contents, found myself restored to new life.  The thirst of my soul is not such that it can be allayed with a drop of pure water—­the streams of whole rivers would not satisfy it.  How happy is that fortunate one whose eyes every morning may behold such a countenance!  He who is intoxicated with wine will be sober again in the course of the night; but he who is intoxicated by the cup-bearer will never recover his senses till the day of judgment.