Note 51 — HISTORY OF NASSAR, THE SON OF KHOJA HUMAYUN, THE MERCHANT OF BAGHDAD. (continued 2)
Edward Rehatsek translation
The wise and witty author of Hudibras partly expresses the same sentiment in these lines:
Man is supreme lord and master Of his own ruin and disaster, Controls his fate, but nothing less In ordering his own happiness: For all his care and providence Is too feeble a defence To render it secure and certain Against the injuries of fortune; And oft, in spite of all his wit, Is lost with one unlucky hit, And ruined with a circumstance And mere punctilio of a chance. Butler’s Remains.
But the Hindú sages give forth no uncertain sound on this subject, as may be seen from these verses, which are cited in the Hitopadesa, a Sanskrit version of the celebrated Fables of Bidpaï:
“As from a lump of clay a workman makes whatever he pleases, in like manner a man obtains the destiny prepared by himself.”
“Fortune waits upon that lion of a man who exerts himself. Abject fellows say: ‘It is to be given by destiny.’ Put forth manliness with all your strength. If when effort has been made it succeed not, what blame is there in such a case?”