206 Translations from the Tarihh i Firuz Shahi. [No. 4, 



fully equipped and arrayed, and will (doubtless) achieve the greatest 

 feats of conquest. I do not therefore object to the execution of this de- 

 sign, and I am well aware that your Majesty possesses sufficient wealth 

 to enable you to enlist two or three lakhs of horsemen, and conquer the 

 whole world. It would be right, however, for your Majesty to reflect as 

 to whom you could consign the charge of Dehli and its empire, which 

 you have gained at the cost of such vast sums of money, and so much 

 bloodshed, and what force you would give him ; while you yourself 

 departed in pursuit of territorial aggrandizement, and proceeded like 

 Alexander to conquer the habitable globe. For, no matter whom 

 your Majesty might appoint in Dehli or in any other country ; by the 

 time you thought of returning to your own capital again, how could 

 those officers, or those countries have secured peace and safety in 

 these times of sedition and rebellion. The age of Alexander was a 

 totally different era from the present one ; for it was the established 

 usage, and settled habit of the men of that period to adhere strictly 

 and conscientiously to the engagements they entered into, even after 

 the lapse of many years ; and consequently excuses and frauds, false- 

 hood and deceit, and the violation of contracts and agreements were 

 much less frequent in those days. If the nobles and plebeians of any 

 clime or country therefore entered into any contract or agreement with 

 Alexander or any other sovereign, they neither, during 'his presence 

 nor in his absence, ever swerved from their promise or engagement. 

 Where too, could you find a prime minister like Aristotle ? for all 

 the Greeks, both high and low, notwithstanding their vast amount 

 of population, immense extent of cavalry, and great wealth and 

 affluence, were so attached, faithful, and obedient to Aristotle, placed 

 such confidence in his spoken or written promise, and his strict virtue 

 and probity, and were so well pleased and contented with his 

 administration and rule, unaided and unsupported by considerable 

 forces, that during Alexander's absence not a soul swerved a needle's 

 point from his express order and mandate, nor joined in any revolt or 

 rebellion. When Alexander therefore ceased from his conquest after 

 an interval of two and thirty years, and returned again to his pristine 

 capital, he found the land of Greece tranquil, obedient, and secure ; 

 nor in the course of a generation (qaranj moreover, had any dis- 

 turbance occurred within his ancient kingdom. Very different are 



