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بخش ۲۳ / Section 23

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جمعی نشسته بودند و سخن کمال و نقصان رجال در پیوسته، یکی از آن میان گفت: هر که دو چشم بینا ندارد نیم مرد است و هر که در خانه عروسی زیبا ندارد نیم مرد است و هر که وقوف بر سباحت دریا ندارد نیم مرد است.
نابینایی در مجلس حاضر بود که زن نداشت و سباحت نمی دانست بانگ بر وی زد که ای عزیز عجب مقدمه ای پرداختی و مرا از دایره مردی چنان دور انداختی که هنوز نیم مرد در می باید تا نام «هیچ مردی» بر من شاید!

چنان ز پایه مردی فتاد خواجه برون
ز بس فسردگی و خام ریشی و سردی

که گر هزار فضیلت رسد ز مردانش
قدم برون ننهد از حدود نامردی

English translation

A group was sitting together, engaged in discussing the perfections and deficiencies of men. One of them said: Whoever does not have two seeing eyes is half a man; whoever does not have a beautiful bride at home is half a man; and whoever has no command of swimming in the sea is half a man.

A blind man was present in the gathering who had no wife and did not know how to swim. He cried out at him: O dear friend, what a strange premise you have laid down! You have cast me so far outside the circle of manhood that I still fall short of even half a man before the name of 'no man at all' would be fitting for me!

So far did the master fall from the rank of manhood, out of sheer frozenness, raw immaturity, and coldness, that even if a thousand virtues of manliness reached him, he would not set a single step beyond the bounds of unmanliness.

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Updated 2026-07-20

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Humanities

Literature

Persian Literature Prerequisite Course