Sol 5.6

  1. By earnest effort and good fortune, seek the summit of honor.

    For no star but yours remains uneclipsed.

  2. Rise to break the seal of excellence, drawing deeply

    from an all-encompassing sea of virtue, now grown clear—and describe it.

  3. Veil your lofty virtues, yet slake those who come to drink; for whatever

    proves true shines like a star hidden in darkness.

  4. And with it turn fools away from whatever you wish;

    for how often a gleaming lightning-flash appears, then dies away.

  5. When another man relates a virtue through his shaykhs,

    you relate it through fathers and forebears.

  6. O you who ask me of him, listen to all you can about him;

    but if you seek to compass the full measure of his praise, stop.

  7. Branches of excellence, by virtue of good planting, hang low;

    their boughs—gather them, if you wish, and pluck.

  8. And a treasure of glory: whenever its seeker persists,

    his high resolve says, “Advance, and do not fear.”

  9. And a necklace’s strand: when its peerless gems gleam,

    their splendor frees you from need of the pearls within the shells.

  10. And a lineage whose finest scion’s deeds I have praised:

    the mold brought forth a likeness, perfect and true.

Sol 5.6