Page:Niti literature (Gray J, 1886).pdf/51



beauty of the cuckoo is its voice; of a woman, her devotedness (to her husband); the beauty of the uncomely is knowledge; that of hermits, forbearance.

Women's wealth is beauty, learning that of men; the wealth of priests is virtue, strength that of kings.

Hermits, if lean, are becoming; becoming are quadrupeds if corpulent; men, being learned, are becoming; becoming are women having husbands.

A good musician is ruined in five days, an archer in seven, a good wife in a month, a pupil in half a month.

A buffalo delights in mud, a duck in a pond; a woman delights in a husband, a priest in the law.

One should praise food after digestion, a wife when she has passed her prime, a warrior on his return from battle, and corn when it is brought home.

A woman who has had two or three husbands, a priest