HOW TO DO THINGS WITH FABLES: IBN AL-MUQAFFA''S
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HOW TO DO THINGS WITH FABLES: IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘’S
FRANK SPEECH IN STORIES FROM KAL!"# $# %&'(#1
Jennifer London2
Abstract: The ancient concept of parrh!sia (‘telling all’) represents both an ideal
form of speech that is direct and bold and the conditions in which it can take place.
What happens in situations that lack institutional protection of free speech? Is free
speech a necessary condition for frank political expression? To address these ques-
tions, I turn to a collection of medieval Arabic fables Kal"la wa Dimna. Through these
stories their Persian translator, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, instructs his readers in how to educate
princes through using metaphor. While Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ depicts how to speak frankly
in his own context, he teaches us also about the limits of what frank speech means in
the history of Western political thought. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ reveals that the presumption
that we must be direct when we communicate our views is linked intimately with the
liberal separation of private and public matters and how we define the public sphere
and appropriate forms of political action therein.
In his lectures on parrh!sia in the Roman context, Michel Foucault dismisses
the idea that we can locate forms of ‘frank speech’ in the mirror for princes’
tradition. In this essay, frank speech means telling the truth; it connotes shar-
ing genuine political convictions with others as a means to influence their per-
spectives and the decisions they make. In terms of etymology, the term
‘frank’ means free. It was applied first to the Germanic tribe the Franks, who
were slaves under the Romans but conquered Gaul in the sixth century. The
Franks were the conquering class, who had the status of freemen. ‘Frank’ did
not acquire the meanings of ‘sincere or genuine’ until the fourteenth century
or the senses of ‘candid, outspoken and unreserved’ until the sixteenth cen-
tury.3 These additions to the meaning of the concept reflect that we inflect it
with distinct practices and normative ideals at particular historical moments.
While common parlance suggests that to speak frankly is to convey one’s
views directly, I ask us to adopt a fourteenth-century definition of frankness
in this article that involves being sincere without speaking in a blunt, direct
way. Foucault asks, ‘Who will tell the truth to the Prince? Who will speak
1 Thanks go to Danielle Allen, John Woods, Nancy Luxon, Orit Bashkin, Mathew
Landauer, Leigh Jenco, Nathan Tarcov, Joe Yackley and Patricia Crone for comments on
earlier versions of this paper. Special thanks to Aram Shahin for weeks of discussions on
these texts and for helpful advice on sources. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers at
History of Political Thought.
2 University of Chicago. Email: jlondon@uchicago.edu
3 See the entry for ‘frank’ in the Online Etymological Dictionary (2001): http://
www.etymonline.com. See also the entry for ‘frank’ in the Oxford English Dictionary
(2007): http://dictionary.oed.com
HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT. Vol. XXIX. No. 2. Summer 2008190 J. LONDON
frankly to the Prince? How can one speak truthfully to the Prince?’4 but he
changes the subject abruptly, implying that no one is frank with the Prince.
A crow in a fable from Kal"la wa Dimna responds to an argument like that
of Foucault, describing how advisers can speak frankly with the prince in
roundabout ways. Kal"la wa Dimna is the name of a collection of fables trans-
lated into Arabic from Middle Persian (Pahlavi) in the eighth century by Ibn
al-Muqaffa‘.5 The crow appears in the story of the ‘Owls and Crows’. It is the
end of a long war between the owls and crows where a crow informant lived
among the owls, pretended to befriend them and used the information he
acquired to help the crows defeat the owls. At the end of the story, the crow
adviser tells the king about the only owl whom he considered admirable. The
crow explains that this owl was commendable because ‘he took no pleasure in
words of flattery remote from the truth, as spoken by many who live among
kings, but he counselled with sincerity and spoke with sound intelligence’.
Moreover, he ‘quietly and intelligently counselled his king, while employing
parables’.6 We find in this character’s prose an answer to Foucault’s ques-
tions: advisers can speak frankly by employing parables that represent their
ideals.
Foucault’s rejection of the mirror for princes’ tradition as a place to locate
frank speech reflects a common, scholarly tendency to view ‘direct speech’ as
the vehicle for engaging in frank, political expression. On this standard view,
if we take frank speech to be when we express our genuine, political convic-
tions, then frank speech is speaking directly, which we do when we communi-
cate in the first person and describe our views explicitly. This form of
expression is ‘political’ as it involves sharing our views on political matters
(such as appropriate kingly virtues, etc.) with others who are in positions to
integrate our ideas in political decision-making (such as those who participate
in politics, citizens in a democracy or kings in a monarchy, etc.). However,
this tendency to view frank speech as direct speech, which is part of normal
English usage of the term frank speech, prevents us from observing how peo-
ple can share their genuine views (i.e. speak frankly) in indirect ways.
Someone can share his views without speaking in the first person, and this
indirect speaker need not explain his perspective by describing it plainly.
Instead, he might recite stories that represent his position. In this essay,
4 M. Foucault, The Hermeneutics of the Subject, Lectures at the Collège de France,
1981–2 (New York, 2001), p. 381.
5 The fables were written first in Sanskrit by an unknown author (c.300 AD). In the
sixth century AD, they were translated into Persian for the Sasanian king Khusraw
An!sh"rv#n (c.531–79 AD) by his physician Burzoë, who incorporated other Hindu and
Buddhist stories. The south-Asian Panchatantra, five animal fables on ethics and poli-
tics, are the foundation for the stories in Kal"la wa Dimna. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s version is an
Arabic revision of the text.
6 Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, Kal"la wa Dimna, trans. I.G.N. Keith-Falconer (Cambridge,
1885), p. 157.IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘ 191
‘indirect speech’ means expressing one’s political views through reciting
fables ostensibly written by another author. Indirect speech uses the third per-
son. It is an important vehicle for frank speech in non-democratic and even
democratic settings where it is hard for people to be direct with one another.
I offer a new reading of fables from Kal"la wa Dimna to address this
subject. It is in these stories that the eighth-century Persian translator Ibn
al-Muqaffa‘ instructs his readers in how to educate princes through the use of
metaphor. The Persian translator could have used these fables as media to
introduce ideals (e.g. moral attributes for a prince) that he wished to see devel-
oped at court. The telling of these stories at court thus permits these ideas to
enter political debate indirectly. The questions I seek to answer are: ‘Given
the different forms of frank speech available to Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ in the
eighth-century ‘Abbasid empire — varying from direct forms of political
address to more indirect ones — how does the narrative form of the fable
allow the translator to express his political views in ways that more direct
speech precludes?’ and ‘How does speaking through the voices of imaginary
characters from other cultural traditions enable Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ to challenge
his contemporaries’ views of politics and introduce new ideas?’7
I argue that Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s contribution to a particular genre of frank
speech amplifies accounts of resources available for politics through rhetoric.
While Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ wrote in a non-democratic environment, his writing
can teach us about techniques individuals may have used to speak frankly in a
non-democratic context and also how these techniques might be useful for
individuals in a contemporary, democratic environment. His work further
urges contemporary scholars of democratic theory, interested in a link
between self-expression and public identity performance, to look beyond the
conceptual confines of the public sphere. The term ‘public sphere’ has
become a ‘cue’ that contemporary scholars use to locate critical debate. Yet
the absence of recognizable, Western institutions that characterize the public
sphere should not lead us to overlook the existence of frank speech in
non-democracies.
To evaluate how Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s adaptation of ancient fables can add to
our contemporary understandings of frank speech, I offer a cursory introduc-
tion to the ancient Greek concept of parrh!sia (‘telling all’) and its legacy for
the history of political thought, as one exemplary form of frank political
expression bound to the condition of direct speech. I then turn to the figure of
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ and the world he inhabits to address why I would call him a
parrh!siast!s in his own epoch. I offer a close reading of two stories from
7 Some of the texts Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ wrote offer direct political criticism (e.g. Ris#la
f" al-!a$#%&' ()&% &*+,&%"r). I argue, however, that his literary works (such as his adap-
tation of fables in Kal"la wa Dimna) represent a medium for indirect political expression.192 J. LONDON
Kal"la wa Dimna8 to develop a theory of narrative re-telling and frank politi-
cal expression. The two stories that I interpret in this article, ‘The King and his
Eight Dreams’ and ‘The King’s Son and his Companions’, are stories that his-
torians recognize as being part of the fifteen original fables that were part of
the Arabic version of Kal"la wa Dimna composed by Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ in the
eighth-century.9
But why compare the Greek concept of parrh!sia with frank speech in
medieval Arabic fables? I do not embark upon this analysis to suggest that
direct speech was impossible in Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s lifetime and that it was for
this reason that he retreated to the narrative form of the fable. Instead, I argue
that the fable is just one medium, among other more direct forms of address
that Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ used. I find in his use of fables, however, a safe form of
frank speech that did not put his life in danger in the way that other forms of
his writing may have.10 By comparing this indirect form of political speech
with direct parrh!sia, I can ask if direct speech is a necessary condition for
frank political expression. Moreover, the particular form of frank speech in
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s fables suggests that with indirect speech, speakers can
achieve pedagogical effects that they cannot accomplish directly.
Parrh)sia and Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s Frank Speech
In the case of democratic Athens, free speech was the foundation for direct
political criticism. In the ‘Abbasid dynasty, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ expressed his
political views in various forms of writing (some of which were more direct
than others), such as a book on the behaviour of the ideal prince (kit#b al-adab
al-kab"r) and a treatise on practical political and military advice to the
‘Abbasid caliph (Ris#lah f" al-!a$#bah). Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ is also said to have
translated a political treatise into Arabic from Persian writings of the Sasanian
Period (Kit#b Tansar). My interest in this project, however, is not in Ibn
al-Muqaffa‘’s writing in the first person, but in his translation of fables that, I
argue, enabled him to invoke models for political reform and institutional
change indirectly, through use of the third person. Through translating fables,
8 For the close readings of these chapters I rely on an English version of the Syriac
translation by Keith-Falconer, thought to be almost identical to the Arabic text translated
by Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, which is now lost. See Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s Kal"la wa-Dimna, trans.
I.G.N. Keith-Falconer (Cambridge, 1885). I compared this translation with an Arabic
version composed by Abd $%&'$((#b ‘Azzam and Taha )usayn from later Arabic manu-
scripts. See Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s Kal"la wa-Dimna, ed. Abd $%&'$((#* ‘+,,#- and Taha
Husayn (Beirut, 1973).
9 For information on which fables appear in which manuscripts see François de
Blois’ -./01234 Voyage to India and the Origin of the Book of ,&*"*&5 wa Dimnah (Lon-
don, 1990), p. 12.
10 Below I explain that Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ may have put his life in danger because he
wrote a document of &6#7 (a document to insure the protection of someone) in a particu-
lar way.IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘ 193 Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ contributes to an Arabic rhetorical tradition of scholars who articulate their political perspectives in their re-telling of stories. C.E. Bos- worth writes of Ibn al Muqaffa‘’s Kal"la wa Dimna, . . . The idea of voicing criticism of revealed religion and of human society and morality through the mouths of animals was to be influential in later Islamic literary and philosophical tradition, seen clearly in the tenth century Ras#38* 9:5;#n al-
194 J. LONDON
(parrh!siates) should have avoided embellishment or attempts to flatter his
listeners to convey his position as directly and clearly as possible.17 We can-
not identify an equivalent to the Greek concept of parrh!sia in eighth-century
Iraq. Even if the concept existed in name, medieval Iraq was not an Athenian
democracy. It was home to the ‘Abbasid caliphate which had its own modes
of political expression.
The ‘Abbasid dynasty (750–1258 AD) came to power in the eighth century.
This period marked the greatest development of the institution of the caliph-
ate.18 It was also an era of great cultural exchange at court, where Persian
and Greek political theory permeated ‘Abbasid political institutions. Ibn
al-Muqaffa‘ was a Persian convert to Islam and was part of a class of Persian
secretaries (kutt#b) who worked in the ‘Abbasid administration. It was in his
role as secretary that Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ participated in ‘Abbasid court life. But
the politics of the time and Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s colourful personality contribute
to any story about his influence and its limits.
In the nascent ‘Abbasid dynasty, the first caliph +*01%&/+**#2 (750–4 AD)
worked with his brother Ab! Ja‘far al-Man.!r to ensure political stability.
+*01l-‘Abb#s also worked with his uncles. These uncles were Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s
patrons. When +*01%&/+**#2 died, his uncle ‘Abd +%%#( ibn ‘Al" the governor
of Basra, claimed to be the next caliph with the support of the governor Abu
Muslim. Ibn ‘Ali’s brothers solicited Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ to write a letter of pro-
tection (&6#7) for ibn ‘Ali. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ apparently attached his own
addendums to the traditional format of the letter, that may have angered
al-Man.!r. Al-Man.!r arranged for the murder of the governor Abu Muslim
and appointed a new governor of Basra (Sufy#n ibn al-Mu‘#wiyah). This
new governor hated the secretary Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, and decided to kill him
under the alleged charge that he was practising Manichaeism.19 Al-Man.!r
assumed the role of caliph and paid no attention to his uncles’ complaints
about Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s sentence.20 While we have no historical proof for
what happened, it seems that private vengeance may have contributed to Ibn
al-Muqaffa/’s fate. Apparently the caliph did not object to the scribe’s execu-
tion, as he was unhappy with him for his document of am#n.21
17 A. Saxonhouse, Free Speech and Democracy in Ancient Athens (New York,
2006), p. 88; Foucault, Fearless Speech, p. 373.
18 The caliphate was the government in early Islam. It was governed by the caliph,
who was the religious and political leader, who claimed to be a direct descendent of the
prophet Muhammad.
19 Ibn al-Muqaffa/ had converted to Islam from Manichaeism earlier in life.
20 See F. Gabrieli’s article ‘Ibn al-Mu!affa/’ in the Encyclopaedia of Islam online,
ed. P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs (2007):
http://www.brillonline.nl.proxy.uchicago.edu/subcriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM–3304
21 D. Sourdel, ‘La biographie d’Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ d’après les sources anciennes’,
Arabica, 1 (1954), pp. 307–23.IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘ 195
What we know of the period leads us to ask if Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ was killed
for his various uses of direct speech. Some historians argue that it was Ibn
al-Muqaffa‘’s document of am#n that angered al-Man.!r.22 From this stand-
point, the clause that Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ added independently contributed to
al-Man.!r’s rage. However, one should not separate this incident, or the legend
of it rather, from accounts of Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s boorish personality.
Thirteenth-century historian Dhahab" writes that for all his vast gifts and
great intellect, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ was known to have been thoughtless.23 J.D.
Latham writes:
In company he was witty and entertaining. But, for all his qualities and
attainments, there was an un-endearing side to his character in which we
detect an insensitivity to the feelings of those for whom he cared little. His
wit could be caustic, his tongue sarcastic, his manner arrogant and his air
superior. Prone to belittle and ridicule, he could be offensive with his stric-
tures if an Arab’s command of Arabic did not measure up to his demands.24
Some historians argue that Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ offended the governor by refer-
ring to him as Ibn al-mughtalimah (roughly, ‘son of a prostitute’), thus calling
the governor’s mother promiscuous.25 Perhaps Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s abrasive
personality and bold speech contributed to his fate.26
No historians argue that Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ was killed for his translation of
Persian fables. These fables, however, enabled Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ to engage in
forms of indirect political expression. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ may have used these
fables to introduce virtues for leadership that he hoped his readers would cul-
tivate and use when making political decisions. The translator could also have
treated these stories as vehicles to import ideals from Sasanian Iran to the
‘Abbasid court. I will address these issues through close readings of two
fables from Kal"la wa Dimna.
Frank but Indirect Speech
In addition to the direct forms of political address presented above, there were
also less explicit ways to engage in political expression in this context. While
22 See Gabrieli’s article ‘Ibn al-Mu!affa‘’ or J.D. Latham’s article ‘Ibn al-Muqaffa‘
and Early ‘Abbasid Prose’, in ‘Abbasid Belles-Lettres, ed. J. Ashtiany et al. (Cambridge
History of Arabic Literature), Vol. II (Cambridge, 1989).
23 See Mu3ammad ibn A3mad Dhahab", Siyar a‘l#m al-nubal#3 (2nd edn.), ed. Shu
‘ayb al-Arna’!4 (Beirut, 1982–3), Part 6, p. 209.
24 Latham, ‘Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ and Early ‘Abbasid Prose’, p. 49.
25 Dhahab" alludes to this reference in his entry on Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ in the Siyar,
p. 209.
26 Stories about Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s death are particularly gruesome and suggest that
the governor and the caliph al-Man.!5 ($678 (9-: In the Siyar, Dhahab" reports that the
governor made Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ watch as he cut off each of his limbs and threw them into
an oven. See Dhahab", Siyar, p. 209.196 J. LONDON
recitation of poetry and homilies27 were rhetorical media for social critique,
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ was able to introduce his political views in his translation of
fables. The translator introduces a genre of frank but indirect speech by trans-
lating a Buddhist legend in Kal"la wa Dimna about an adviser who used this
technique effectively.28 Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s retelling of the story ‘The King and
his Eight Dreams’29 is descriptive and performative: it teaches us about the
technique of using fables to influence authorities and it also enacts that
approach in the very telling of the story.30 This act reveals to readers how one
might go about using parables to influence a prince (i.e. contributing to the
Arabic mirror for princes’ tradition as did Ibn al-Muqaffa‘).
While a Buddhist legend, its Arabic translation had particular resonance for
its audience at this time. It is a story about the kingly virtue of patience or
$8*6. This concept is part of a complex tradition of Islamic ethics and Arabic
political thought. Ch. Pellat implies that the concept of $8*6 changed over
time, yet it retained certain attributes that exemplify it. He writes that, for
example, the pre-Islamic sayyid al-A3n#f, was known for his $ilm, character-
ized by self-mastery, leniency toward enemies and controlling his anger.
Pellat argues that the caliph Mu‘#wiyah (c.680 AD) made $ilm a political prin-
ciple as ‘he succeeded through his leniency in disarming certain of his ene-
mies, and through his liberality in securing submission to others’.31 Ignaz
Goldziher argues that $ilm connotes physical and moral integrity that charac-
terizes what it means to be a civilized man (a $al"m). This man is antithetical
to one who is impetuous, whose actions are governed by passions (a j#hil).32
Goldziher argues that the meaning of $ilm changes with the onset of Islam,
27 Merlin Swartz discusses the art of homily as an important vehicle for social com-
mentary in medieval Islam (see M. Swartz, ‘Arabic Rhetoric and the Art of Homily in
Medieval Islam’, in Religion and Culture in Medieval Islam, ed. R. Hovannisian and
G. Sabagh (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 36–66). See also P. Halldén, ‘What is Arab Islamic
Rhetoric? Rethinking the History of Muslim Oratory Art and Homiletics’, International
Journal of Middle East Studies, 37 (2005), pp. 19–38. Most of Halldén’s article, how-
ever, addresses divisions between different types of rhetoric (al-bal#gha and al-khat#ba)
that occur after Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s death.
28 While ,&*"*& wa Dimna was not a collection of Buddhist stories, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘
includes this one in the collection.
29 In Keith-Falconer’s translation this story is called ‘The Story of the Wise ;"%#5’
(the name of the King’s counsellor in the story), though most translators refer to the story
as ‘The King and his Eight Dreams’.
30 This story can be found in Ibn al Muqaffa‘’s ,&*"*& wa Dimna, trans. Keith-
Falconer, pp. 219–47.
31 Pellat elaborates on this concept and its history in his article ‘$ilm’ in the Encyclo-
pedia of Islam online, ed. P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and
W.P. Heinrichs (2007): http://www.brillonline.nl.proxy.uchicago.edu/subscriber/uid=
1378/
32 I. Goldziher, Muslim Studies, Volume I (London, 1967), p. 203.IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘ 197
which associates specific moral attributes with integrity and civility. He
writes:
What Islam attempted to achieve was, after all, nothing but a $ilm of higher
nature than that taught by the code of virtues of pagan days. Many a virtue
of Arab paganism was . . . reduced to the level of vice by Muhammad, and
on the other hand many a social act, considered dishonourable by Arabs,
was now elevated to the status of a virtue. He is fond of calling people $al"m
who practice forgiveness and leniency. With this in mind he often calls
Allah $al"m, a title which he gives with preference to Ibr#h"m amongst the
prophets.33
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ presents $ilm as the key attribute for kingly success in the
story of ‘The King and his Eight Dreams’ in Kal"la wa Dimna. It is what the
king requires to be ‘honored by his subjects, make peace reign in his army and
overcome the malevolence of his generals and prevent his kingdom from
being rent and given to others’.34 In this context, $ilm connotes patience, an
effort to control one’s temper and a search for as much information as possible
before executing anyone. The king’s sage (and narrator of the story) explains
the meaning of $ilm to the Indian King (the story’s protagonist) by telling him
a story about yet another sage (;"%#5< =(> 9?2650@62 A76 $?>6(75 B?89$? C9?D
EFGvaçarman) in its meaning.35 The King’s sage narrates all of the stories in
Kal"la wa Dimna, alluding to the important political voice advisers (such as
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘) can bring to the ‘Abbasid court.
;"%#5 92 6(7 H$*%712 parrh!siates or frank speaker, who dares to indoctrinate
DGvaçarman in the meaning of $ilm until the sage is certain that the king pos-
sesses this attribute. Yet, the sage does so neither by defining the concept
explicitly, nor by repeating its importance. Instead, he teaches the king how to
be patient, by making him listen to a long-winded speech without providing
the information he wants. After DGvaçarman commands B"l#r to kill the
mother of GIbar (the king’s favourite wife), B"l#r disobeys the king. He hides
the woman with two eunuchs and waits for the king to regret his decree. When
the king mourns her loss and asks B"l#r if he has in fact beheaded her, B"l#r
refuses to answer the king directly. In this instance, DGvaçarman and B"l#r
have reversed power roles. The king desires information that B"l#r possesses;
and for that reason, B"l#r controls the conversation. Instead of answering
DGvaçarman’s question about his wife, the sage forces the king to listen to a
series of platitudes about the human condition, offering him no answer to his
question and no relief from his guilt. Even when the king asks ‘do you dare
33 Ibid., p. 207.
34 Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, ,&*"*& wa Dimna, trans. Keith-Falconer, p. 219.
35 I use the Sanskrit names for these characters that Keith-Falconer adopts in his
translation from the Syriac version of ,&*"*& wa Dimna, the closest version we have to
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s original as his version has been lost.198 J. LONDON speak in my presence again, now that I am angry?’36 B"l#r continues. It is only after the king endures many pages of his sage’s prose and submits as if defeated, saying that the sage has ‘wearied (him) sorely’37 that B"l#r tells DGvaçarman the truth: the mother of GIbar is alive, and the entire conversa- tion was a test to evaluate whether DGvaçarman had learned and come to pos- sess $8*6. B"l#r tells the king: O King, live for ever! Among kings there is none equal to you, either among those who have passed away or those who reign now; because that anger has not overcome you, nor has the severity of clumsy words moved the tower of your endurance. You, in spite of your royalty, have not been wroth with me, as might befit your Excellency; because your soul is full of peace and over- flowing with tranquility, versed in gentleness and adorned with intelli- gence, girt about with integrity and far from oppression . . . You have endured my words . . . You were reviled and did not become angry; you were abused and took no offense . . . Now let your soul rejoice and your mind exult; let you emotions subside and your perturbation cease; let your eye be bright and your heart glad; for the mother of GIbar has been kept alive.38 B"l#r then reunites the king with his wife. The sage expresses that he will understand if the king chooses to kill him. However, DGvaçarman is so grate- ful to B"l#r for saving the mother of GIbar and for teaching him this lesson, that he lets his sage live. Much like the speaker in the Athenian assembly, B"l#r uses language coura- geously to express his position on the meaning and importance of $ilm. He pours ‘heavy lead’39 into the king’s ears and refuses to answer the king’s ques- tion, to ensure that DGvaçarman grasps and internalizes the concept. B"l#r’s speech is nonetheless indirect. He never even mentions the word $ilm until he is certain that the king understands and possesses it. The sage does not employ the direct meaning of words to instruct DGvaçarman in the concept of $ilm. Rather, B"l#r uses language as a medium to construct a dialogue with the king that enables him to experience what it means to possess $ilm. Certainly B"l#r’s method of instructing the king is circuitous, but it ensures that the king has learned his lesson, perhaps more so than if B"l#r simply stated the mean- ing and importance of this trait. How does B"l#r’s speech resemble that of a parrh!siates or frank speaker in democratic Athens? His use of speech is certainly bold and risky. B"l#r does not, however, speak to DGvaçarman directly. Does this mean that B"l#r is not frank with DGvaçarman? It certainly does not. The sage wishes to convey the meaning and importance of $ilm in the genuine hope that it will help the king 36 Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, Kal"la wa Dimna, trans. Keith-Falconer, p. 244. 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid., p. 245. 39 Ibid.
IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘ 199
become a better ruler. In fact, B"l#r’s indirect use of speech leads the king to
internalize the meaning of $ilm in a way that he would not have done if the
speaker had been direct. The experience of being a king with $ilm is more
powerful than that of hearing an adviser define it explicitly. B"l#r’s use of
speech challenges the ways we think of frank speech. It is frank, indirect and
effective.
One might ask if B"l#r’s speech can be frank if it is not truthful, in terms of
it being honest about events that have transpired. How can a sage who dis-
obeys the king, who acts as though he knows better than he, and who with-
holds information about his wife, be a parrh!stiates? B"l#r’s speech is frank,
not because it includes accurate information about the mother of GIbar, but
because it represents the speaker’s genuine conviction that the king must be
patient. The sage withholds information from the king about his wife to make
the king feel remorseful, which is what enables DGvaçarman to understand
why $ilm (what B"l#r values) is so important. B"l#r is thus a frank speaker as
he shares what he takes to be a key attribute for political rule.
In his translation of this story, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ offers a model for how to
speak frankly but indirectly. Perhaps even more importantly, he shows how
indirect speech can be performed in ways that can help listeners experience
the political ideals speakers wish to convey.40 This trope of speaking frankly
but indirectly appears important in the history of Arabic political thought later
in this period. For example, the historian and philosopher Ibn Miskawayh41
reproduces a part of this story in his book the Eternal Wisdom (al-$8:6&
&*+:5#*8)&)42 in a way that stresses the connection between the performance of
speech for the speaker and the experience of $ilm on the part of the listener.
Ibn Miskawayh omits the story about the king, his adviser and wife and
simply reproduces several of the boring expressions about human nature. The
author never even mentions $ilm. But after nine pages of reproducing these
tedious truisms, Ibn Miskawayh closes with a passage on the shortcomings of
the eager person or the $&/"< (the conceptual antinomy of the man who possesses
$ilm or the $&*"6). He writes that ‘the eager one’ is he who is never satisfied.
40 Lisa Disch presents story-telling as a vehicle for frank but indirect speech implic-
itly. Reflecting on Arendt’s understanding of storytelling and on her use of it in writing
On Totalitarianism, Disch writes that ‘Storytelling is “more truth” than fact because it
communicates one’s own critical understanding in a way that invites discussion from
rival perspectives’. See L. Disch, ‘ “More truth than fact”: Storytelling as Critical Under-
standing in the Writings of Hannah Arendt’, Political Theory, 21(4) (1993), p. 689.
Disch alludes to truth as sharing a critical perspective with others, while fact is an explicit
description of events; alluding to the possibility of frank but indirect speech.
41 Ibn Miskawayh was a tenth-century philosopher and historian devoted to studies
of ethics and politics.
42 François de Blois mentions Ibn Miskawayh’s reproduction of ‘The King and his
Eight Dreams’ (see the introduction to de Blois, Burz1y’s Voyage to India).200 J. LONDON ‘Laziness and greed and cheapness are united in his nature.’43 As in Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s translation of ‘The King and his Eight Dreams’, the experience of listening to the platitudes Ibn Miskawayh translates is to teach us to avoid being hasty. One might wonder why the eager reader would continue reading the story. Ibn Miskawayh’s authority as a prominent philosopher and the title of the book (Eternal Wisdom) suggest to the reader that it will be worth his while. As in the case with B"l#r, Ibn Miskawayh possesses knowledge that the reader hopes to learn.44 Perhaps an important difference between the stories B"l#r and Ibn Miskawayh tell is that Ibn Miskawayh’s story instructs us in the meaning of teaching $ilm through speech alone. B"l#r, however, teaches the king with his actions as well as his words. By saving the king’s wife, hiding her and refusing to tell the king if she is alive, the sage performs a real-life demonstration that teaches the king the importance of suppressing an impulsive action. The king orders the execution of his wife impetuously but realizes later that this decision was a bad one. The fact that B"l#r does not kill the mother of GIbar and speaks with the king without revealing that she is alive, gives the king an opportunity to think through the conse- quences of his decisions fully. Could the sage have taught the king the same lesson if he had used the same indirect speech and had killed DGvaçarman’s wife? If the fable had played out that way it would have been just like a Greek tragedy. As it stands, however, the fable is the oppo- site of such a tragedy. B"l#r builds an element of surprise into the conversa- tion that influences the king’s ascent to knowledge about $ilm. The king stumbles upon the meaning for $ilm when he was actually trying to find out what happened to his wife. There is no inverse relation between the onset of the king’s knowledge and his ability to implement social reform. Instead, the king decides to kill his wife and just as he realizes he made a bad decision, he learns the meaning of patience and is able to use this knowledge in governing his kingdom. This element of surprise and the non-inverse relation between knowledge and power is significant for the function of telling these stories as vehicles for social reform. This message is different from the bleak relation between knowledge and power Aris- totle delineates for the tragic hero in On Poetics. In Aristotle’s schema, a tragic hero realizes the mistakes he has made only when it is too late for him to fix them. In Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s story, however, B"l#r’s actions coupled with his use of indirect speech present a model for the performance of 43 See Ibn Miskawayh, al-=8:6&5 &*+,5#*8)&5, ed. Abd al-Ra3-#? ;$8$=" (Beirut, 1952), p. 99. 44 As in the previous story, Ibn Miskawayh builds an element of surprise into the text. The reader does not know that he will be learning about patience, but is tricked into learn- ing about it (just as the King did not know that he was learning about the meaning of $ilm from his sage B"%#r).
IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘ 201 speech and social learning that is both sanguine and productive for politi- cal reform. In these cases, the indirect use of speech instructs us in a way that direct speech cannot: it helps us experience what a speakers wishes us to learn. In his translation of the fable ‘The King and his Eight Dreams’, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ offers a model for how to use speech indirectly to influence elites, in ways that helps them experience things the speaker holds dear. It is interesting that while Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ offers this model for frank, indi- rect speech in this story, he was unusually bold, direct and offensive in his personal life. Can we even call his translation of a story about frank, indirect speech, an act of frank political expression? If we think of the translation of these fables as one mode of indirect political expression, we could see this story as a comment on the translator’s views on how to communicate politi- cally. He expresses a metaphorical way to communicate political views. In addition, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ teaches us about effective ways to use the narrative form (as opposed to the descriptive content) of speeches as a vehicle to express one’s political views. Like B"l#r in the story of ‘The King and his Eight Dreams’, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ cultivates a relationship with his readers that enables them to identify with the story’s protagonist. The translator engenders empathy for the protagonist by making it so that elites reading the fable learn things alongside the protago- nist, producing shared imagined experiences between them. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ builds an element of surprise into the dialogue that influences the King’s ascent to knowledge about $8*6 as well as the readers understanding of it. These moments of surprise that accompany learning about $ilm, occur simultaneously. Because he writes the narrative in a way that allows the king in the story and those reading about him to learn things side by side, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ evokes compassion for the protagonist and thus makes it more likely that elites will import DGvaçarman’s lessons into their own lives. Moreover, the role of translator enables Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ (and Ibn Miskawayh in his transla- tion of Eternal Wisdom) to transform social power dynamics that character- ize his traditional relationship with elites reading his story. As a translator of this Buddhist story, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ exposes important truths about politics from another context. If he spoke in the first person, however, he might be viewed as just another bureaucrat at court. An ordinary person can elevate his social status with elites if he is a translator; he can communicate political wis- dom from another context. In this case, elites can learn more from Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ telling them stories than if he speaks to them directly. The trans- lator can also use fables as media to introduce ancient Sasanian ideals he deems important.
202 J. LONDON
‘The King’s Son and His Companions’:
The Fable as a Vehicle for Bringing Sasanian Political Ideals to the
‘Abbasid Court
One can read the story of ‘The King and his Companions’45 as a retelling of
the popular Sasanian foundation myth, replete with political ideas that are
associated with the Sasanian era (226–651 AD).46 While the text is of Indian
origin, it embodies ideals that scholars associate with Sasanian models of
kingship. Perhaps Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ may have wished to bring these ideas out
by adding this text to his Arabic edition. The congruence of Indian and
Sasanian political ideals in this context makes sense given the geographical
location of the Persian empire that led to the influx of Indian political ideals.47
Scholars who discuss the Sasanian period often speak of ‘Indo-Persian’ ideals
that animate this epoch.
Much like the legend in which Ardash"r I (226–41 AD) (a man of humble
birth, from the noble line of a king D#r#b who leaves home to escape a noble
(Ardav#n) and is made king by the people of Pars),48 the King in this story in
Kal"la wa Dimna is intended to rule by his noble lineage after experiencing
hardship in exile. Perhaps an allegory for the Persians themselves, this story
could be read as a vehicle to restore Persian ideals to court. This theme, of the
prince of modest beginnings, who reveals his noble line at an opportune time,
is an important feature in the Epic of Kings (Sh#hn#ma) by the Persian poet
F"rdaws" (c.935–1026 AD). In this story, Far"d!n, a young man of royal
descent, battles and defeats the evil king Da33#C: Far"d!n, who is raised by a
poor blacksmith, defeats the tyrant and becomes king. As I suggest might be
the case with respect to Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s retelling of ‘The King and his Com-
panions’, many scholars consider the Sh#hn#ma (which narrates the mythical
and real history of the Sasanian empire) to represent F"rdaws"’s attempt to
restore the Persian past.
As a bureaucrat, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ hopes to do his job well, introducing
ideas that he considers promising for the ‘Abbasid regime. His introduction to
these ideas is a form of frank speech. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, part of a class of
predominantly Persian secretaries in an Arab court, has incentives to make
the ‘Abbasids believe that his knowledge of the Persian past can contribute
45 This story can be found in Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s Kal"la wa Dimna, trans. Keith-
Falconer, pp. 208–13.
46 This story is not found in the Middle Persian version of the text Ibn al-Muqaffa‘
translates. Scholars (including De Blois) argue that this story is of Indian origin and was
not part of the >&7?5&@&7@/& or the Mahabarta (an epic poem from ancient India) but was
part of another unknown text that was available in Middle Persian.
47 See A. Bausani, The Persians: From the Earliest Days to the Twentieth Century
(London, 1971), p. 11.
48 See R.N. Frye, ‘The Charisma of Kingship in Ancient Iran’, Iranica Antiqua, 4
(1964), pp. 47–8.IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘ 203
to their success. Furthermore, inscribing Persian ideals into the ‘Abbasid
political system was a way Persians could acquire greater political power in
the Arab ‘Abbasid system.49 As one of the most prolific translators of works
from Middle Persian into Arabic, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ makes works of Persian
political theory accessible to ‘Abbasids in Iraq. For example, he translates the
Letter of Tansar, one of the earliest surviving documents on Sasanian political
theory, into Arabic. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s retelling of the story ‘The King and his
Companions’ enables the author to introduce ideals that scholars associate
with Sasanian political theory in an indirect manner. These ideals consist of:
the notions of sacral kingship, the institutionalization of social hierarchy as
integral to the proper functioning of the realm and the importance of the role
of the scribe in assisting the king with his duties.
The Zoroastrian idea of sacral kingship is the notion that God chooses
someone to rule, who guides the people toward economic prosperity.50 Zoro-
astrianism was the state religion in Sasanian Iran and the ways that Zoroas-
trian texts depict sacral kingship (texts such as the Denkard, an encyclopedia
of Zoroastrian knowledge) are generally used to help us imagine what the
ideal concept of sacral kingship meant in this context. Jamsheed Choksky
writes:
The close association and political interdependence of state and (Zoroastrian)
church which developed in the Sasanian Empire thus enabled the kings to
seek legitimacy for their rule in Zoroastrian doctrines. This resulted in the
crystallization of a Zoroastrian doctrine of sacral kingship and the develop-
ment of a royal ideology and practice of sacral kingship under Sasanian
rule.51
Unlike divine kinship, where the king is a God in his own right, the sacral king
is much like other people. The king is a ‘sacral’ king in that he is chosen by
God, but he is himself human.52 The king is set apart from other people in that
he is marked with royal glory (or farr). He is chosen by God and then
endowed with his wisdom to rule.
49 While there were many Persians present in this system of government, perhaps
even more Persians than Arabs at this time (though historically it is impossible to know
the constitution of the ‘Abbasid caliphate), they worked within an Arab government, in
which Arabs maintained the seats of political power.
50 Producing evidence for the fact that sacral kingship existed in the Sasanian period
is another matter. Scholars rely on coins, seals, rock relief and inscriptions from the
period to show the historic existence of sacral kingship in the Sasanian period. See
J. Choksky, ‘Sacral Kingship in Sasanian Iran’ (1988): www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/
History/Sasanian/sacral_kingship.htm, pp. 1–29.
51 Choksky, ‘Sacral Kingship in Sasanian Iran’, p. 3.
52 See ibid. Choksky makes this argument based on a reading of the Zoroastrian text
the Denkard.204 J. LONDON
Historians argue that Sasanian rulers claimed to be sacral rulers, descended
from earlier divinely chosen royal Iranian families,53 linking themselves with
a noble line fit for rule.54 Perhaps the narrator Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ teaches his
king about the meaning and significance of sacral kingship by telling him a
fictional story, like the popular one that circulated about the founder of the
Sasanian dynasty Ardash"r I (224–42 CE).
Fathers and Sons
In this story, four men (sons of a king, a merchant, an aristocrat and a farmer)
are hungry while travelling together in a particular city. Whereas the son of a
king (who is from another town originally) asserts that all wealth is decreed
by God, the merchant’s son argues that it comes from intelligence, the aristo-
crat’s son says that it arises from beauty and the farmer’s son claims that it
comes from hard work.55 Each of these statements represents the positions
that these figures hold in a hierarchical society, reminiscent of how scholars
depict Sasanian Iran.56 Sasanian society is often characterized as consisting of
the king and three social strata (the traders, nobles and peasants). The son of
the king becomes a leader, who is divinely chosen for rule. The other sons in
this story represent three inferior social classes. Each son espouses the trait
that characterizes his respective class.57 One by one the companions go out to
procure money for their group, acting according to their respective positions
in society.
The farmer’s son obtains firewood, brings it to the marketplace and sells it
for a small sum that he returns to his companions. The aristocrat’s son meets a
rich woman who is taken with his appearance. He spends the night eating and
drinking with her and then finally mentions his companions. She gives him a
decent sum and he brings it back to the group. The shrewd merchant’s son
buys all of the contents of a ship and then he sells them for a high mark-up,
making a large sum that he takes to the others. Finally, the son of a king from
another town is sent out to procure money for his companions.
On this day, the king of this city dies leaving behind no one to claim this
kingdom.58 A man carrying the king’s bier notices that the prince, the son of a
53 See ibid., p. 5.
54 Choksky argues that the Sasanian rulers linked themselves with Gods in images
they placed on imperial coinage. See ibid.
55 Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, ,&*"*& wa Dimna, trans. Keith-Falconer, p. 208.
56 See Bausani, The Persians; L. Marlow, Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic
Thought (Cambridge, 1997).
57 In general, contemporary scholars present four classes (priests, warriors, adminis-
trators and common people). See Bausani, The Persians, pp. 50–67. There is apparently,
however, a tripartite social organization espoused in the Zoroastrian text the Avesta. See
Marlow, Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought, p. 70, n. 20.
58 Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, ,&*"*& wa Dimna, trans. Keith-Falconer, p. 210.IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘ 205 king from another kingdom, is unshaken by the news of the death of the king of this kingdom. The man carrying the bier is upset that this man is unmoved by the king’s death and he has the prince imprisoned. Later, however, this man who had carried the bier wonders if the one he imprisoned might make an appropriate king. He tells those searching for a king that he met someone who might be ‘fit to reign over us’.59 It is as if the prince had something that marked him for rule. So, this man sends for the prince, who explains: ‘I am the son of such and such a king, from such and such a city. When my father died my younger brother robbed me of my kingdom and took it for himself, and I fearing lest I should lose my life, left him everything and came here.’60 With- out any evidence, or even the name of his town or father, the people make him their king. Much like the popular founding myth about Ardash"r I (224–42 CE), God chooses the king’s son to rule. The new king does not seek this position. He even explains that he believed that he would ‘pass all (his) life in misfortune and distress’.61 The new King expresses his view that he is just an ordinary man who God has picked to rule. He explains: ‘But God in his mercy did not neglect me, but in his goodness decreed for me this kingdom; because I know that there are men in this place who are better instructed and more intelligent than I, and more fitting for this thing. However things are not gained by strength, or by beauty, or by intelligence.’62 A traveller then rises and expresses that God has rightly rewarded this man in making him their king. He says: ‘Lo, God has fulfilled to us through you all our desire, and we render thanks to him who made you king over us.’63 Based on the Zoroastrian concept of sacral kingship, material growth is bestowed upon the people by the Zoroastrian God Ahura Mazda through the figure of the king.64 Here we see that the king in this story is a sacral king. He is not himself divine, but a vehicle through which the divine brings abundance to the people. The translator’s articulation of this vision of kingship to the current administration connotes his support and alludes to the great benefit of his counsel, that can link the ‘Abbasid’s predicament with ancient Iranian glory. This technique is familiar to students of Machiavelli’s Prince, in which Machiavelli compares the young Lorenzo de Medici with Moses. Machiavelli implies that with his sage advice the prince will attain great heights, and perhaps even restore the Roman Empire. In addition, the 59 Ibid. 60 Ibid. 61 Ibid., p. 211. 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid., p. 212. 64 See Choksky, ‘Sacral Kingship in Sasanian Iran’, relevant section entitled ‘The Role of Kingship’.
206 J. LONDON
translator’s attention to the distinct social groups (farmers, merchants,
aristocrats and kings) based on heredity is reminiscent of a hierarchical
model for organization associated with Sasanian Iran. We might consider
how this hierarchical model of organization posed in the story, stands in
contrast to an ideal Islamic vision of society, where all individuals are equal
under God.65 Finally, this story emphasizes the importance of a written his-
tory as the foundation for the stable polity, a point that leads us to consider Ibn
al-Muqaffa‘’s own project in writing this work.
In the story, each son records his experience on the gates of the city. For
example, after toiling to obtain money for his companions, the farmer’s son
writes: ‘The work of a whole day has profited half a zAz.’66 The new king,
however, instructs others to write his message on the gates. He dictates, ‘La-
bour and beauty . . . and intelligence have not profited so much as that which
God the Merciful has given, He who has brought me to this exalted position,
and lifted up my horn, and raised my seat, and clothed me with the robe of roy-
alty’.67
The order of these inscriptions (the farmer’s, aristocrat’s, merchant’s and
king’s) represents ascending ranks within the hierarchical system. In addi-
tion, the king’s record, written by others, reflects the importance of docu-
menting these experiences. Perhaps this written message is merely descriptive
in a historical sense: it alludes to the role of scribes, who held important posi-
tions in the Sasanian system. The scribe (dip"r in Persian) not only recorded
important events, but also had familiarity with other languages and cultures.
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s class of secretaries (kutt#b in Arabic) resembles this earlier
class of scribes, in that they knew several languages and were able to intro-
duce cultural ideas from other times and places. Or perhaps the messages on
the gates are places in the text where the translator, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, alludes to
his own project of inscription; the translator can re-tell this story as a way to
import the ideals of sacral kingship, hierarchy and cultural dissemination into
his own context. From this standpoint, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ suggests the impor-
tance of writing and documenting these values to signal his own significance
to ‘Abbasid elites, as a multi-lingual Persian who is versed in Sasanian lore.
While it is impossible to know why Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ translates this story, his
rendition of the story ‘The King and his Companions’ makes these scenarios
possible. This story elucidates three political ideas often associated with the
65 Louise Marlow analyses such distinctions (between a society that idealizes a
Sasanian vision of hierarchy and one that values an egalitarian community founded upon
the J05’#?) explicitly in Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought. She analyses
how Sasanian and Islamic influences co-exist and come into conflict in the history of
Islamic political thought.
66 Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, Kal"la wa Dimna, trans. Keith-Falconer, p. 209. (/K!,1 means
local currency.)
67 Ibid., p. 211.IBN AL-MUQAFFA‘ 207
Sasanian era. Perhaps Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ values these ideas and wishes to
import them into the ‘Abbasid context.
Crows, Narrators, Translators and Parrh)siast)s:
The Difference the Fable Makes in Frank Speech
If we review the Greek concept of parrh!sia, we see that Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s
version of indirect speech can resolve questions about parrh!sia that arise
from the ancient Athenian context. Parrh!sia is a form of frank speech that is
bold and risky. Scholars, such as Foucault and Saxonhouse, suggest that in its
ideal form parrh!sia ought to be communicated in a direct way. Direct speech
is the foundation for dialectic and hence the study of philosophy. The Socratic
dialogue is a form of parrh!sia deemed the basis of philosophy, which ‘en-
tails the open-ended search for knowledge, wisdom and justice’.68
In this interpretation, politics and philosophy are antagonistic, as a society
founded upon philosophy connotes equality, while one of politics is a realm of
contestation between un-equals. Furthermore, while philosophic discussions
are direct and characterized by equality for the participants, discussions that
use indirect rhetoric, or speech that is not direct and explicit, involve inequal-
ity between individuals in a discussion. However, Christopher Rocco reads
Plato’s Gorgias to say that the distinction between direct, dialectical speech
and indirect rhetoric (where a speaker does not express his views explicitly)
can never be resolved. Rocco implies that the meaning of what constitutes
truth for a society can be deciphered in agonistic disputes between indirect
rhetoricians and direct philosophers only. He finds in debates between
Callicles and Socrates in Gorgias the tension between indirect rhetoric, poli-
tics and power on the one hand and frank speech, philosophy and truth on the
other. Rocco argues that the debate between these figures suggests that
‘Gorgias cannot, or does not, wholly disentangle truth from power, but rather
implicates each in the construction of the other’.69 His analysis suggests that
in this context, politics and power disparities are endemic, and contribute to
any understanding of what the truth might be.
From this standpoint, we may question the very definition of frank speech.
Why must frank speech be direct if power dynamics are endemic? Can we
recover the social importance of parrh!sia (that individuals share their genu-
ine political views with one another) in situations characterized by power dis-
parities between actors? Moreover, why must we presume that someone is
frank only when he is direct?
In his translations of these fables in Kal"la wa Dimna, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘
answers these questions for individuals in the ‘Abbasid caliphate. Through
68 Christopher Rocco, The Tragedy of Enlightenment: Athenian Political Thought
and the Dilemmas of Modernity (Berkeley, 1997), p. 84.
69 Ibid., p. 98.You can also read
