rhetorician made a show of arms over his gate, but has not a soldier within his fort":—­At length, having no syllogism left, I made him crouch in mental submission.  He stretched forth the arm of violence, and began with vain abuse.  As is the case with the ignorant, when beaten by their antagonist in fair argument, they shake the chain of rancor; like Azor, the idol-maker, when he could no longer contend with his son Abraham in words he fell upon him with blows, as God has said in the Koran—­“If thou wilt not yield this point, I will overwhelm thee with stones:”—­He gave me abuse, and I retorted upon him with asperity; he tore my collar, and I plucked his beard:—­He had fallen upon me and I upon him, and a crowd had gathered round us enjoying the sport.  A whole world gnawed the finger of astonishment when it heard and understood what had taken place between us.

In short, we referred our dispute to the cazi, and agreed to abide by his equitable decree:  That the judge of the Mussulmans, or faithful, might bring about a peace, and discriminate for us between the poor and rich.  After having noted our physiognomies, and listened to our statements, the cazi rested his chin on the breast of deliberation; and, after due consideration, raised it, and said:  “Be it known to you, who were lavish in your praise of the rich, and spoke disparagingly of the poor, that there is no rose without its thorn; intoxication from wine is followed by a qualm; hidden treasure has its guardian dragon; where the imperial pearl is found, there swims the man-devouring shark; the honey of worldly enjoyment has the sting of death in its rear; and between us and the felicity of Paradise stands a frightful demon, namely, Satan.  So long as the charmer slew not her admirer, what could the rival’s malice avail him?  The rose and thorn, the treasure and dragon, joy and sorrow, all mingle into one.—­Do you not observe that in the garden there are the sweet-scented willows and the withered trunks; so among the classes of the rich some are grateful and some thankless; and among the orders of the poor some are resigned and some impatient:—­Were every drop of dew to turn into a pearl, in the market pearls would be as common as shells.  Near by the throne of a great and glorious Judge are the rich meek in spirit, and the poor rich in resolution.  And the chief of the opulent is he who sympathizes with the sorrows of the indigent; and the most virtuous of the indigent is he who covets not the society of the opulent:—­God is all-sufficient for him who trusts in God.”

Then the cazi turned the face of animadversion from me towards the dervish, and said:  “O you who have charged the rich with being active in sin, and intoxicated with things forbidden, verily there is such a tribe as you have described them, illiberal in their bigotry, and stingy of God’s bounty; who are collecting and hoarding money, but will neither use nor bestow it.  If, for example, there was