200 Translations from the Tarihh i FiruzshaM. [No. 3, 
court. They will never let you draw back a moment from satisfy¬ 
ing your soul’s lust, or suffer you to devote yourself to the care of 
your kingdom and country, of your lords and vassals, and of the 
regulation of your finance, though all your happiness henceforth 
depends on your attention to these things. But the feelings of a 
father have prompted me to speak in your ear a few words of ad¬ 
vice which may abide in your mind, and to take you in my embrace, 
and print a kiss on your eyes and cheek, and bid you a last fare¬ 
well and go my way. 
u And the first maxim of your father is, Hold your kingdom dear, 
but your life dearer still. A little while, though you fear not your 
God or your people, yet for your own life’s sake withdraw from 
pleasure and dissipation, and study to preserve your life, and aban¬ 
don wholly and entirely a practice, of which I cannot speak for 
shame, but the excess of which has brought you to your present 
condition. Spare your own life, for the great men before my time 
have said, 1 First life, then empire; and where life is out of joint, 
where is the use of empire ?’ And of a truth, my son, your life is 
out of joint, though you know it not. 
“ And the second maxim is this, Befrainfrom slaying the maliks, 
and again, Destroy no malik who is a prop of the realm. If you 
annihilate your ministers, there will remain no one in the king¬ 
dom, who will place any confidence in you, and when the confi¬ 
dence of the subjects is withdrawn from the king, the stability of 
the kingdom is gone. Bather with courtesy and kindliness and 
condescension and intelligence and wisdom turn your enemies into 
friends and well-wishers, and do not relax your watchfulness what¬ 
ever may arrive. 
“ And these two persons who are sitting before you, I mean Nizam- 
uddin and Qiyam-uddin, are good members of your court, who 
know their work and do it. Choose out two others like them from 
your court and city, and make them four pillars to your kingdom, 
and with these four pillars make the fort of your sovereignty 
strong and stable, and work out your policy through their agency. 
To one of the four, give the office of vizier, and make his rank 
greater than that of the rest; and to the second, give the office of 
envoy, and place reliance on what he may say or report; and to 
