{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-cynics-bequest",
 "title": "The Cynic’s Bequest",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Shapes of Clay",
 "book_slug": "shapes-of-clay",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Shapes of Clay (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "shapes-of-clay.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 210,
  "n_stanzas": 9,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 42,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "In that fair city, Ispahan,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There dwelt a problematic man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose angel never was released,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who never once let out his beast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But kept, through all the seasons’ round,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Silence unbroken and profound.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No Prophecy, with ear applied",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To key-hole of the future, tried",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Successfully to catch a hint",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of what he’d do nor when begin’t;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As sternly did his past defy",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mild Retrospection’s backward eye.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though all admired his silent ways,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The women loudest were in praise:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For ladies love those men the most",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who never, never, never boast⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who ne’er disclose their aims and ends",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To naughty, naughty, naughty friends.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yet, sooth to say, the fame outran",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The merit of this doubtful man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For taciturnity in him,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though not a mere caprice or whim,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was not a virtue, such as truth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "High birth, or beauty, wealth or youth.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas known, indeed, throughout the span",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Ispahan, of Gulistan⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These utmost limits of the earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Knew that the man was dumb from birth.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Unto the Sun with deep salaams",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Parsee spreads his morning palms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(A beacon blazing on a height",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Warms o’er his piety by night.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Moslem deprecates the deed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cuts off the head that holds the creed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then reverently goes to grass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Muttering thanks to Balaam’s Ass",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For faith and learning to refute",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Idolatry so dissolute!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But should a maniac dash past,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With straws in beard and hands upcast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To him (through whom, whene’er inclined",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To preach a bit to Madmankind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Holy Prophet speaks his mind)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Our True Believer lifts his eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Devoutly and his prayer applies;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But next to Solyman the Great",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Reveres the idiot’s sacred state.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Small wonder then, our worthy mute",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was held in popular repute.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had he been blind as well as mum,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Been lame as well as blind and dumb,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No bard that ever sang or soared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Could say how he had been adored.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More meagerly endowed, he drew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An homage less prodigious. True,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No soul his praises but did utter⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All plied him with devotion’s butter,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But none had out⁠—’twas to their credit⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The proselyting sword to spread it.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I state these truths, exactly why",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The reader knows as well as I;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They’ve nothing in the world to do",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With what I hope we’re coming to",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If Pegasus be good enough",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To move when he has stood enough.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Egad! his ribs I would examine",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had I a sharper spur than famine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or even with that if ’twould incline",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To examine his instead of mine.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where was I? Ah, that silent man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who dwelt one time in Ispahan.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He had a name⁠—was known to all",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As Meerza Solyman Zingall.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There lived afar in Astrabad,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A man the world agreed was mad,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So wickedly he broke his joke",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the heads of duller folk,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So miserly, from day to day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He gathered up and hid away",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In vaults obscure and cellars haunted",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What many worthy people wanted.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A stingy man!⁠—the tradesmen’s palms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were spread in vain: “I give no alms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Without inquiry”⁠—so he’d say,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And beat the needy duns away.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The bastinado did, ’tis true,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Persuade him, now and then, a few",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Odd tens of thousands to disburse",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To glut the taxman’s hungry purse,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But still, so rich he grew, his fear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was constant that the Shah might hear.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(The Shah had heard it long ago,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And asked the taxman if ’twere so,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who promptly answered, rather airish,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The man had long been on the parish.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The more he feared, the more he grew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A cynic and a miser, too,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Until his bitterness and pelf",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Made him a terror to himself;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then, with a razor’s neckwise stroke,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He tartly cut his final joke.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So perished, not an hour too soon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The wicked Muley Ben Maroon.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "From Astrabad to Ispahan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At camel speed the rumor ran",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That, breaking through tradition hoar,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And throwing all his kinsmen o’er,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The miser’d left his mighty store",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of gold⁠—his palaces and lands⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To needy and deserving hands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Except a penny here and there",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To pay the dervishes for prayer.)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas known indeed throughout the span",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of earth, and into Hindustan,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That our beloved mute was the",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Residuary legatee.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The people said ’twas very well,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And each man had a tale to tell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of how he’d had a finger in’t",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By dropping many a friendly hint",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At Astrabad, you see. But ah,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They feared the news might reach the Shah!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To prove the will the lawyers bore’t",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before the Kadi’s awful court,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who nodded, when he heard it read,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Confirmingly, his drowsy head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor thought, his sleepiness so great,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Himself to gobble the estate.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I give,” the dead had writ, “my all",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To Meerza Solyman Zingall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Ispahan. With this estate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I might quite easily create",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ten thousand ingrates, but I shun",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Temptation and create but one,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In whom the whole unthankful crew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The rich man’s air that ever drew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To fat their pauper lungs I fire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With vain vicarious desire!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From foul Ingratitude’s base rout",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I pick this hapless devil out,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bestowing on him all my lands,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My treasures, camels, slaves and bands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of wives⁠—I give him all this loot,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And throw my blessing in to boot.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Behold, all men, in this bequest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Philanthropy’s long wrongs redressed:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To speak me ill that man I dower",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With fiercest will who lacks the power.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Allah il Allah! now let him bloat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With rancor till his heart’s afloat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unable to discharge the wave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon his benefactor’s grave!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Forth in their wrath the people came",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And swore it was a sin and shame",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To trick their blessed mute; and each",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Protested, serious of speech,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That though he’d long foreseen the worst",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He’d been against it from the first.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By many means they vainly tried",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The testament to set aside,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each ready with his empty purse",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To take upon himself the curse;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For they had powers of invective",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Enough to make it ineffective.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The ingrates mustered, every man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And marched in force to Ispahan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Which had not quite accommodation)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And held a camp of indignation.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The man, this while, who never spoke⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On whom had fallen this thunder-stroke",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of fortune, gave no feeling vent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor dropped a hint of his intent.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whereas no power to him came",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His benefactor to defame,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some (such a length had slander gone to)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Even whispered that he didn’t want to!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But none his secret could divine;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If suffering he made no sign",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Until one night as winter neared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From all his haunts he disappeared⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Evanished in a doubtful blank",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like little crayfish in a bank,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their heads retracting when you find ’em,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And pulling in their holes behind ’em.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All through the land of Gul, the stout",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Young Spring is kicking Winter out.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The grass sneaks in upon the scene,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Defacing it with bottle-green.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The stumbling lamb arrives to ply",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His restless tail in every eye,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Eats nasty mint to spoil his meat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And make himself unfit to eat.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Madly his throat the bulbul tears⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In every grove blasphemes and swears",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As the immodest rose displays",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her shameless charms a dozen ways.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lo! now, throughout the utmost span",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Ispahan⁠—of Gulistan⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A big new book’s displayed in all",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The shops and cumbers every stall.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The price is low⁠—the dealers say ’tis⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the rich are treated to it gratis.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Engraven on its foremost page",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These title-words the eye engage:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The Life of Muley Ben Maroon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Astrabad⁠—Rogue, Thief, Buffoon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Miser⁠—Liver by the Sweat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Better Men: A Lamponette",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Composed in Rhyme and Written All",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By Meerza Solyman Zingall!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}