Page:A history of Sanskrit literature (1900), Macdonell, Arthur Anthony.djvu/393

 :Men of high rank win no esteem
 * If lacking in good qualities;
 * A Çūdra even deserves respect
 * Who knows and does his duty well (xiii. 2610).

The following stanza shows how cosmopolitan Bhartṛihari was in his views:—


 * "This man's our own, a stranger that":
 * Thus narrow-minded people think.
 * However, noble-minded men
 * Regard the whole world as their kin.

But these poets go even beyond the limits of humanity and inculcate sympathy with the joys and sorrows of all creatures:—


 * To harm no living thing in deed,
 * In thought or word, to exercise
 * Benevolence and charity:
 * Virtue's eternal law is this (Mahābh. xii. 5997).

Gentleness and forbearance towards good and bad alike are thus recommended in the Hitopadeça:—


 * Even to beings destitute,
 * Of virtue good men pity show:
 * The moon does not her light withdraw
 * Even from the pariah's abode (i. 63).

The Panchatantra, again, dissuades thus from thoughts of revenge:—


 * Devise no ill at any time
 * To injure those that do thee harm:
 * They of themselves will some day fall,
 * Like trees that grow on river banks.

The good qualities of the virtuous are often described and contrasted with the characteristics of evil-doers.