169.

They pretend that there exists a Paradise where there are houris, where the _Koocer_ flows, where there is limpid wine, honey and sugar. Oh! fill quickly a cup of wine and put it in my hand, for one present joy is worth more than a thousand promised for the future.

170.

Even a mountain would dance for joy if you soaked it in wine. Poor is the fool who scorns the cup. You dare order me to renounce the juice of the vine! Know then that wine is a soul which helps to bring man to perfection.

171.

From time to time my heart finds itself much straitened in its cage. Shameful is it to be mixed with water and clay. I have often thought of destroying this prison, but my foot would come in contact with a stone and slip on the stirrup of the Koran's law.

172.

They say that the moon of Ramazan [month of fasting]

is about to appear and that wine must no longer be thought of. It is well; but let me during the remainder of Cheeban [the month preceding] drink such a quant.i.ty of it that I may remain drunk up to the day of the fast.

173.

Cease, if ye are my friends, all vain discourse, and, to relieve my mental pains pour out the wine. And when to dust my frame returns, the self-same dust collect and make it brick to stop some crevice in the tavern wall.

174.

The beverage of our existence is sometimes limpid, sometimes muddy. Our garments are at one time of coa.r.s.e wool, at another of finest fabric. All this is insignificant to a clear mind; but is it insignificant to die?

175.

No one has penetrated the secrets of the Principle [First Cause]. No one has taken a step outside himself.

I look about and see only insufficiency from pupil to master, insufficiency in all that the mother brings forth.

176.

Restrain thy envy of the things of this world if thou wishest to be happy; break the bonds which enchain thee to the good and the bad here below; live contented, for the periodic movement of the heavens takes its course, and this life will not be of long duration.

177.

No one has had access behind the curtain of destiny; no one has knowledge of the secrets of Providence. For seventy-two years I have reflected day and night, I have learned nothing anywhere, and the enigma remains unexplained.

178.

They say that at the last day there will be judgments, and that our dear Friend [G.o.d] will be in anger. But from pure goodness only goodness emanates. Be then without fear, for finally you will see that He is full of gentleness.

179.

Drink wine, since it is that which will put an end to the disquiet of thy heart; it will deliver thee from thy meditations upon the seventy-two sects of the globe. Do not abstain from this alchemy for, if thou drinkest but a _men_ [a measure] of it, it will destroy for thee a thousand infirmities.

180.

Wine has been prohibited, perhaps, but it is only prohibited according to the person who drinks it, according to the quant.i.ty drunk, and according to the individual with whom we drink it. These points once observed, who would drink it if not the wise?

181.

For myself, I should pour some wine into a cup that would contain a pint. I should be content with two cups; but first I should divorce myself thrice from religion and reason, and then espouse the daughter of the vine.

182.

Yes, I drink wine, and whoever like me is far-seeing will find that this act is insignificant in the eyes of the Divinity. From all eternity G.o.d has known that I would drink wine. If I did not drink it, His prescience would be pure ignorance.

183.

The drinker, if he is rich, ruins himself. The disorder of his drunkenness provokes scandal in the world. For this I should put an emerald in the bowl of my ruby pipe, effectually to blind the serpent of my grief.

184.

There are some ignorant beings who have never pa.s.sed a night in quest of truth, who have never taken a step outside themselves, who show themselves clothed in the garments of great lords and who are pleased to slander those whose conduct is irreproachable.

185.

When the azure of dawn shows itself, have the sparkling cup in thine hand. They say that truth is bitter in the mouth of mortals. That is a plausible reason for wine being truth itself.

186.

This is the moment when the verdure begins to ornament the world, when, like the hand of Moses, the buds begin to show themselves upon the branches; when, revivified, as if by the breath of Jesus, the plants spring forth from the earth; when finally the clouds begin to ope their eyes and weep.

187.

Keep from the trouble and vexation of aiming to acquire white silver or yellow gold. Eat with thy friend, ere thy warm breath be cooled, for after thee come enemies who will eat thee.

188.