Sol 5.6

  1. Say to the learned one when he aspires to the heights:

    The glory of learning lies in putting it into practice.

  2. The master of knowledge is not one who says, “I am.”

    The master of knowledge is one who has acted.

  3. If you seek its highest exemplar,

    you will find that very exemplar in Paul:

  4. a scholar who swore by his own resolve

    that it would bear the burden, however heavy;

  5. who set himself to his labors and forged ahead,

    spurning rest and banishing weariness;

  6. sending us light from his mind—

    blessed is the light that shone forth from it!

  7. It is the light of truth in our history,

    and the light of justice in the law of the Most High.

  8. Do not say, “Our Assemani is dead.”

    We behold that man;

  9. we behold him in Paul,

    present before us, astounding the minds of all,

  10. with writings at whose wondrous signs

    the radiant Spirit descended upon the apostles—

  11. so deeply rooted that whenever a raging gale assails them,

    it finds itself butting against a mountain.

  12. In Lebanon they are immortal glory,

    before whose face the onslaught of calamity turns aside.

  13. Through their builder, Maron has risen in glory—for

    he renewed what was worn and revived hope.

  14. He shunned the world, never making his way toward

    anything but the face of God along any of its paths.

  15. You see him as a lion in his learning,

    and in his piety you see him as a lamb;

  16. you see him as bitter colocynth to the dissembler,

    and honey to the true-hearted friend.

  17. Many a solitary man, in his deeds,

    like Ibn ʿAbbūd, equals a whole assembly.

Sol 5.6