Chapter I: On Aiming at Peace while Engaged in War
When you've flourished the sabre of battle on high,On the pathway to peace keep, in secret, your eye!For subduers of hosts, who have helmets destroyed,In secret seek peace, while in fighting employed.In secret, the heart of the warrior entreat,For, perhaps, he may fall like a ball at your feet.When an enemy's general falls in your way,Before you extinguish him, practise delay ;For it may be, that one of your leaders is foundIn the enemy's circle, a prisoner bound.And should you this sore-wounded captive have slain,You never will see your own captive again.The man who on captives gives vent to his hate,Is not frightened that Time will himself captivate.A person to succour poor prisoners strains,Who himself shall have been, once, a captive in chainsIf a leader should tender submission to you,And you treat him politely, another comes, too.If you secretly gather ten hearts to your aid,It is better than hundreds of night-attacks made.
Words in this poem
- sabre n.
- A sword with a broad and heavy blade, thick at the back, and usually more or less curved like a scimiter; a cavalry sword. Saber fish, or Sabre fish (Zoöl.), the cutlass fish.
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- entreat v. t.
- To treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use. [OE. entreten to treat, request, OF. entraiter to treat of; pref. en- (L. in) + traitier to treat. See Treat.]
- captivate v. t.
- To take prisoner; to capture; to subdue. [L. captivatus, p. p. of captivare to capture, fr. captivus captive. See Captive.]
- succour v. t.
- tiono run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve; as, to succor a besieged city. [OE. socouren, OF. sucurre, soucourre, secorre, F. secourir, L. succurrere, succursum, to run under, run to the aid of, help, succor; sub under + currere to run.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- politely adv.
- In a polished manner; so as to be smooth or glossy.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter I: On Aiming at Peace while Engaged in War is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Garden of Fragrance: being a complete translation of the Bostan of Sadi from the original Persian into English verse, by G. S. Davie (London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1882), Internet Archive, the G. S. Davie translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Saadi, Chapter I: On Aiming at Peace while Engaged in War, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/1-51.html, id L29556.
Form and metre
Chapter I: On Aiming at Peace while Engaged in War is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ highA · eyeA · destroyedB · employedB · entreatC · feetC · wayD · delayD · foundE · boundE · slainF · againF · hateG · captivateG · strainsH · chainsH · youI · tooI · aidJ · madeJ
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When you've flourished the sabre of battle on high, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| On the pathway to peace keep, in secret, your eye! | 12 | ··/·····/˘·· |
| For subduers of hosts, who have helmets destroyed, | 12 | ·······/˘˘/˘ |
| In secret seek peace, while in fighting employed. | 12 | ·/˘····/˘˘/˘ |
| In secret, the heart of the warrior entreat, | 12 | ·/˘····/˘˘˘/ |
| For, perhaps, he may fall like a ball at your feet. | 12 | ·˘/········· |
| When an enemy's general falls in your way, | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘˘···· |
| Before you extinguish him, practise delay ; | 11 | ···˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| For it may be, that one of your leaders is found | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| In the enemy's circle, a prisoner bound. | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| And should you this sore-wounded captive have slain, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| You never will see your own captive again. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘˘/ |
| The man who on captives gives vent to his hate, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Is not frightened that Time will himself captivate. | 12 | ··/˘···˘//˘· |
| A person to succour poor prisoners strains, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| Who himself shall have been, once, a captive in chains | 12 | ·˘/·····/˘·· |
| If a leader should tender submission to you, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘˘/˘·· |
| And you treat him politely, another comes, too. | 12 | ····˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| If you secretly gather ten hearts to your aid, | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘····· |
| It is better than hundreds of night-attacks made. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘··˘/· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.