His hoary parent stings with taunting rage;
On him shall Jove in anger look from high,
And deep requite the dark iniquity:
But wholly thou from these refrain thy mind,
Weak as it is, and wavering as the wind.

With thy best means perform the ritual part,
Outwardly pure, and spotless at the heart;
Now burn choice portions to the gods; dispense
Wine-offerings now, and smoke of frankincense;
When on the nightly couch thy limbs repose,
Or sacred light from far its coming shows:
So shall they yearn to thee with soul benign,
And thou buy others' land, not others thine.

Bid to thy feast a friend; thy foe forbear;
Let a next neighbour chief thy welcome share ;
In household calls th' ungirded neighbours run,
But kinsmen gird them when thy work is done.
As the good neighbour is our prop and stay,
So is the bad a pitfall in our way:

Thus bless'd or curs'd, we this or that obtain,
The first a blessing, and the last a bane.
How should thine ox by chance untimely die?
The evil neighbour looks and passes by.

Measure thy neighbour's loan, and strict repay;
Give more, if more thou canst; some future day
His ready hand thy needy call supplies;

But shun bad gains, those losses in disguise.
Love him who loves thee; to the kind draw nigh;
Give to the giver, but the churl pass by.

Men fill the giving, not th' ungiving hand ;
The gift is good, but Rapine walks the land,

Squand'ring the seeds of death; though much he give,

The willing donor shall rejoice and live:

Th' extortioner of bold unblushing sin,

Though small the plunder, feels a thorn within.

If with a little thou a little blend Continual, mighty shall the heap ascend. Who bids his gather'd substance gradual grow Shall see not livid hunger's face of woe. No bosom pang attends the home-laid store, But fraught with loss the food without thy door. 'Tis good to take from hoards, and pain to need What is far from thee: give the precept heed. Spare the mid-cask; when broach'd or low, drink free; Bad is the thrift that spares it on the lee. Let thy friend's service guerdon fit receive; Not e'en thy brother on his word believe, But, as in laughter, set a witness by; Mistrust destroys us, and credulity.

THE SEVEN WISE MEN OF GREECE

(Seventh and sixth centuries before Christ.)

THEIR NAMES AND PRINCIPAL SAYINGS.

(From a Greek epigram, translated by Lord Neaves, in "The Greek Anthology" ["Ancient Classics for English Readers "].)

I'LL tell the names and sayings and the places of their

birth,

Of the Seven great ancient Sages, so renowned on Grecian earth:

The Lindian Cleobulus said "The mean was still the best: "

The Spartan Chilo, "know thyself," a heav'n-born phrase confessed:

Corinthian Periander taught, "Our anger to command: " "Too much of nothing," Pittacus, from Mitylene's strand : Athenian Solon this advised, "Look to the end of life: " And Bias from Prienè showed, "Bad men are the most rife: "

Milesian Thales urged that "None should e'er a surety be:

Few were their words, but, if you look, you'll much in little see.

BUDDHISM

(Sixth century before Christ.)

THE founder of the religion known as Buddhism was Gautama, son of the Rajah of the Sakyas, an Aryan tribe, whose capital town was called Kapilavastu (identified with the modern village of Nagara), about one hundred miles northeast of Benares, in India. The date of his birth has not been determined with certainty, but it was probably not far from the middle of the sixth century before Christ. Early in life Gautama became profoundly impressed with the misery and suffering in the world, and in his twenty-ninth year he suddenly abandoned his home, his princely station, his wife and child, and devoted himself, in a life of mendicancy, to the search for knowledge that might cure the sorrows of mankind. One teacher after another disappointed his hopes, but light reached him at last, and he became Buddha that is, the Enlightened. The secret of human misery that he believed to have been revealed to him is substantially this: that suffering and sorrow are inseparable from the consciousness of individuality; that the world, acting on that consciousness, through the senses, produces in men cravings and affections which torment them, and a lust of life that life cannot satisfy. To overcome this lust of life is to win emancipation from individual consciousness, and so escape from sorrow. The means by which such a conquest is attained are right views, right feelings, right words, right behavior, right mode of livelihood, right exertion, right memory, right meditation and tranquillity; and the ten evil states of mind to be conquered are delusion of self, doubt, dependence on rites, sensuality, hatred, love of life on earth, desire for life in heaven, pride, self-righteousness, ignorance. Buddhism, therefore, is not so much a religion as an ethical system, or system of moral culture.

THE EIGHT PRECEPTS AND TEN COMMANDMENTS OF BUDDHISM.

(From "Buddhism," by T. W. Rhys Davids.)

1. One should not destroy life.

2. One should not take that which is not given.

3. One should not tell lies.

4. One should not become a drinker of intoxicating liquors.

5. One should refrain from unlawful sexual intercourse - an ignoble thing.

6. One should not eat unseasonable food at night. 7. One should not wear garlands or use perfumes. 8. One should sleep on a mat spread on the ground. Such, they say, is the eight-fold sacred formula declared by Buddha, who came amongst us to put an end to sorrows. ... With regard to these commandments, the first five, placed above in the mouth of Gautama himself, called the five commandments, par excellence,

are

and

are binding on every Buddhist. . . . These eight precepts, together with two others viz. 9, to abstain from dancing, music, singing and stage plays; and, 10, to abstain from the use of gold and silver are the Ten Commandments binding on the mendicants. .

Besides the above division of moral duties into the five obligatory and three permissive precepts, there is another division into ten sins, which are:

Three of the body:

Taking life.

Theft (taking what has not been given).

Unlawful sexual intercourse.

Four of speech :

Lying.