Virtue

Poem : 211

Duty demands no recompense; to clouds of heaven,
By men on earth, what answering gift is given?

Explanation :
Benevolence seeks not a return. What does the world give back to the clouds ?

Poem : 212

The worthy say, when wealth rewards their toil-spent hours,
For uses of beneficence alone 'tis ours.

Explanation :
All the wealth acquired with perseverance by the worthy is for the exercise of benevolence.

Poem : 213

To 'due beneficence' no equal good we know,
Amid the happy gods, or in this world below.

Explanation :
It is difficult to obtain another good equal to benevolence either in this world or in that of the gods.

Poem : 214

Who knows what's human life's befitting grace,
He lives; the rest 'mongst dead men have their place.

Explanation :
He truly lives who knows (and discharges) the proper duties (of benevolence). He who knows the m not will be reckoned among the dead.

Poem : 215

The wealth of men who love the 'fitting way,' the truly wise,
Is as when water fills the lake that village needs supplies.

Explanation :
The wealth of that man of eminent knowledge who desires to exercise the benevolence approved of by the world, is like the full waters of a city-tank.

Poem : 216

A tree that fruits in th' hamlet's central mart,
Is wealth that falls to men of liberal heart.

Explanation :
The wealth of a man (possessed of the virtue) of benevolence is like the ripening of a fruitful tree in the midst of a town.

Poem : 217

Unfailing tree that healing balm distils from every part,
Is ample wealth that falls to him of large and noble heart.

Explanation :
If wealth be in the possession of a man who has the great excellence (of benevolence), it is like a tree which as a medicine is an infallible cure for disease.

Poem : 218

E'en when resources fall, they weary not of 'kindness due,'-
They to whom Duty's self appears in vision true.

Explanation :
The wise who know what is duty will not scant their benevolence even when they are without wealth.

Poem : 219

The kindly-hearted man is poor in this alone,
When power of doing deeds of goodness he finds none.

Explanation :
The poverty of a benevolent man, is nothing but his inability to exercise the same.

Poem : 220

Though by 'beneficence,' the loss of all should come,
'Twere meet man sold himself, and bought it with the sum.

Explanation :
If it be said that loss will result from benevolence, such loss is worth being procured even by the sale of one's self.