"He tells his secrets to you, your secret ne'er betrays,
Speaks ever well of all you do, your wisdom loves to praise.

"He joys to hear your welfare, not in your evil fame:
Should he receive some dainty, he straight thinks on your name,
And pities you, and cries aloud-O had my friend the same!

"These are the sixteen tokens in friends established well,
Which if a wise man sees or hears he can a true friend tell."

[199] The king, delighted at the speech of the Great Being, gave him the highest honour.

The Master, having ended this discourse, said, "Thus, great king, this question arose in days of yore, even as now, and wise men said their say; by these two-and-thirty signs may friend or foe be known." With those words, he identified the Birth: "At that time, Ananda was the king, and I myself was the wise courtier."

Footnotes

^122:1 This couplet has occurred already in vol. ii. p. 92, of the translation.

^122:2 This also occurs above, vol. ii. p. 92, of this translation (two words differ).

BOOK XIII. TERASA-NIPATA.