The Gulistan of Sa'di

One of the most important of the medieval Persian poets SADI (1194-1292) is still read widely today with an influence that extends to Western writers such as La Fontaine Diderot Voltaire Hugo Balzac Goethe and Emerson. He spent much of his life traveling through Asia North Africa and the Middle East returning to his native Shiraz (in what is now Iran) as an elderly man to compose works based on his experiences and wisdom gained. The Gulistan (garden of roses) part prose and part poetry is divided into four gateways (The Manners of Kings Concerning Darweeshes The Excellency of Moderation and The Benefits of Taciturnity) teeming with humorous anecdotes and insight. More than 700 years after his death Sadis ruminations on leadership materialism and the virtues of silence-here translated by Edwin Arnold at the turn of the 20th century-live on in this classic work. British journalist translator and poet SIR EDWIN ARNOLD (1832-1904) often about Asia. His works include The Light of Asia (1879) The Light of the World (1901) and The Song Celestial or Bhagavad-Gita (from the Mahabharata) (1885).