It is related that at the court of Núshírván, king of Persia, a number
of wise men were discussing a difficult question; and Buzurjmihr (his
famous prime minister), being silent, was asked why he did not take part
in the debate. He answered: "Ministers are like physicians, and the
physician gives medicine to the sick only. Therefore, when I see your
opinions are judicious, it would not be consistent with wisdom for me to
obtrude my sentiments. When a matter can be managed without my
interference it is not proper for me to speak on the subject. But if I
see a blind man in the way of a well, should I keep silence it were a
crime." On another occasion, when some Indian sages were discoursing on
his virtue, they could discover in him only this fault, that he
hesitated in his speech, so that his hearers were kept a long time in
suspense before he delivered his sentiments. Buzurjmihr overheard their
conversation and observed: "It is better to deliberate before I speak
than to repent of what I have said."[11]

[11] The sayings of Buzurjmihr, the sagacious prime minister
of King Núshírván, are often cited by Persian writers,
and a curious story of his precocity when a mere youth
is told in the _Latá'yif at-Taw'áyif_, a Persian
collection, made by Al-Káshifí, of which a translation
will be found in my "Analogues and Variants" of the
Tales in vol. iii of Sir R. F. Burton's _Supplemental
Arabian Nights_, pp. 567-9--too long for reproduction
here.

A parallel to this last saying of the Persian vazír is found in a
"notable sentence" of a wise Greek, in this passage from the _Dictes, or
Sayings of Philosophers_, printed by Caxton (I have modernised the
spelling):