TIMUR BEG. 
128 
but pray for him ; said he had hopes God would par- 
don his sins,, though numberless ; and had this consola- 
tion, that he had never suffered the strong to injure the 
weak. He exhorted them to procure ease and safety to 
the people, as an account would be required of all in 
power at the day of judgment.” How is man frequently 
blinded by fanaticism to the atrocity of his own actions, 
when these have far exceeded the measure of ordinary 
guilt ! The last sickness and death of this extraordinary 
man are differently detailed in the Moghul Chronicle. 
“ Timur,” says that record, “had forbidden, upon 
pain of death, those sanguinary combats of squadron 
against squadron, an exercise to which his bravest 
soldiers had been accustomed. It was a point of dis- 
cipline which he had so much the more at heart, as 
his army suffered greater loss by this kind of mock en- 
gagements than they did through disease or in con- 
flicts with the enemy. In spite of this prohibition, 
the Mirza Miran Shah, his third son, disobeyed the 
injunction of his father. He put himself at the head 
of a troop of Tartars, and engaged another troop 
with so much fury that a small number only on both 
sides survived the combat. This act of disobedience 
irritated Timur to such a degree that he became in- 
capable of consolation. Twice he gave orders that his 
son should be put to death, but as often repented and 
retracted the order. Distracted between his zeal for 
discipline and his paternal affection for Miran Shah, 
these two passions so preyed upon his mind that he fell 
sick. His great age, mortification, and anxiety of mind, 
all contributed to render his case desperate. It was 
then that he excluded every one from his presence 
