194 Translations from the Tarikh i Firiizshdhi. [No. 3, 
in any emergency, men of grave temperament and widely respect¬ 
ed, and when he mounted the throne these were the men whose 
character gave its complexion to his court. By such a selection of 
courtiers, prosperity was secured, and that signal success which 
attended the administration of both these emperors. The memory 
of the events of their reigns will last while the world lasts, and the 
pen of the annalist will record their glories. 5 ’ 
After the above had passed, the kotwal said to Nizam-uddin. 
“ Go, my boy, and mind your own business, and rid you of these 
wild notions. Empire is not for us or the like of us.” Nizam- 
uddin replied—“ It is even as you say, and yet at a conjuncture 
like this, when I have made the people my enemies, and they all 
know what I am after, if I abandon my design on the throne, I 
shall certainly lose my life.” “Yes,” said the Malik-ul Umara. 
“ But the design is not within your compass, and if you cannot give 
it up, you may indeed bid farewell to life and set about building 
your tomb. God protect us, that your pride and your ambition 
may not be the death of us all! ” 
The warnings and lectures which the Malik-ul Umara addressed 
to his son, and his good advice, spoken as it were under divine 
inspiration, came to the ears of the great and the worthy and leaders 
and chiefs of the city, and they all praised the Malik-ul Umara, and 
acknowledged his wisdom; and their belief in his foresight, and 
provident wisdom was a hundred-fold increased. But Nizam-uddin 
was not the man to profit by advice, and the lust of dominion made 
his eyes blind, and his ears deaf. Every day he pushed forward a 
fresh pawn on the chess-board of empire, while fickle fortune in 
the interest of the sovereignty of the Khiljis kept pushing out of 
his reach the means of disturbing the dynasty of Balban, and the 
heavens laughed mockingly in his face, and summoned the Khiljis 
with felicitations to the throne. Also it became known to the 
emperor Mu’izz-uddin that Nizam-uddin was plotting his destruction, 
and all the Court knew it; and even while Mu’izz-uddin yet filled 
the throne at Dihli, his father Bagharra Khan at Lak’hnauti as¬ 
sumed the title of Sultan Nagir-uddin and had prayers recited and 
coins struck in his own name. Letters were exchanged between 
father and son. Envoys and messengers went and came with 
