Page:The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 05.djvu/53



"And indeed you said, 'if we bring about peace perfectly by the spending of money and the conferring of benefits, and by good words, we shall be safe from the danger of the two tribes, destroying each other.'

"You occupied by reason of this the best of positions, and became far from the reproach of being undutiful and sinful.

"And you became great in the high nobility of Ma'add; may you be guided in the right way; and he who spends his treasure of glory will become great.

"The memory of the wounds is obliterated by the hundreds of camels, and he, who commenced paying off the blood money by instalments, was not guilty of it (i.e., of making war).

"One tribe pays it to another tribe as an indemnity, while they who gave the indemnity did not shed blood sufficient for the filling of a cupping glass.

"Then there was being driven to them from the property you inherited, a booty of various sorts from young camels with slit ears.

"Now, convey from me to the tribe of Zubyán and their allies a message,—'verily you have sworn by every sort of oath to keep the peace.'

"Do not conceal from God what is in your breast that it may be hidden; whatever is concealed, God knows all about it.

"Either it will be put off and placed recorded in a book, and preserved there until the judgment day; or the punishment be hastened and so he will take revenge.

"And war is not but what you have learnt it to be, and what you have experienced, and what is said concerning it, is not a story based on suppositions.

"When you stir it up, you will stir it up as an accursed thing, and it will become greedy when you excite its greed and it will rage fiercely.

"Then it will grind you as