Chapter VII: On the Impunity of the Ignorant under the Screen of Silence

A good-natured man who in tatters was dressed,For a season in Egypt strict silence professed.Men of wisdom from near and from far, at the sight,Gathered round him like moths seeking after the light.One night he communed with himself in this way :"Beneath the tongue's surface the man hidden lay ;If I carry my head for myself, in this plan,How can people discover in me a wise man?"He spoke, and his friends and his foes all could see,That the greatest of blockheads in Egypt was he !His admirers dispersed, and his trade lost its note;He journeyed, and over a mosque's arch he wrote :" Could I have myself in a looking-glass seen,Not in ignorance would I have riven my screen.So ugly, the veil from my features I drew,For I thought that my face was most charming to view !"The fame of the man talking little is high ;When you talk, and your glory has fled; you, too, fly!Oh sensible person ! in silence sereneYou have honour, and people unworthy, a screen.If you've learning, you should not your dignity lose !If you're ignorant, tear not the curtain you use !The thoughts of your heart do not quickly display !For you're able to show them whenever you may.But when once a man's secret to all is revealed,By exertion it cannot again be concealed.How well did the pen the king's secret maintain !For it said not a word till the knife reached its brain.The beasts are all dumb and man's tongue is released ;A nonsensical talker is worse than a beast !A speaker should talk in a sensible strain ;If he can't; like the brutes, he should silence maintain !By reason of speech Adam's children are known ;Do not grow like the parrot, a prater, alone !