Why should I blush that Fortune's frown
Dooms me life's humble paths to tread?
To live unheeded, and unknown?
To sink forgotten to the dead?
'Tis not the good, the wise, the brave,
That surest shine, or highest rise;
The feather sports upon the wave,
The pearl in ocean's cavern lies.
Each lesser star that studs the sphere
Sparkles with undiminish'd light:
Dark and eclips'd alone appear
The lord of day, the queen of night.
_Shems Almaali Cabus_.
[26] History can show few princes so amiable and few so unfortunate
as Shems Almaali Cabus. He is described as possessed of almost every
virtue and every accomplishment: his piety, justice, generosity, and
humanity, are universally celebrated; nor was he less conspicuous
for intellectual powers; his genius was at once penetrating, solid,
and brilliant, and he distinguished himself equally as an orator, a
philosopher, and a poet.