CHAPTER V CONCERNING RESIGNATION

Happiness comes from the favour of God, not from the might of the powerful.

If the heavens bestow not fortune, by no valour can it be obtained.

The ant suffers not by reason of its weakness; the tiger eats not by virtue of its strength.

Since the hand reaches not to the skies, accept as inevitable the fortune that it brings.

If thy life is destined to be long, no snake nor sword will harm thee; when the fated day of death arrives, the antidote will kill thee no less than the poison.