Basatin al-uns 69

69

فصل

O you who seek high rank through evil treachery, / how can you hunt the Simurgh with a womb?
The traitor never attains his hopes in triumph, / nor does the ungrateful denier of favors succeed in his desire.

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And like Solomon, he set foot upon the enduring throne of the kingdom, which for years had been cast to the wind and beyond the reach of his control;
and in the banquet of felicity, having drained to the brim the delightful goblet of gladness, he embraced with fidelity the bride
of fortune, who for a time had drawn the veil of opposition over her face. And he opened the doors of
bounty to the people of the world in gratitude for this tremendous blessing, so that it was verified to all that ingratitude
for blessings has an unpraiseworthy end, and the treacherous devourer of the unlawful is ever accompanied by an ill-omened destiny:

If you turn against your benefactor, / even if you were the celestial sphere, you shall be overthrown.
Betraying the debt of bread and salt / breaks the neck of the fierce lion.
Whoever sows good reaps that which is not evil, / and the sower of evil finds it overturned upon the sower.
When the boon companion finished the tale, the king smiled. The boon companion asked the king the reason for his smile.
The king said: “From this delightful tale with its elaborate phrasing, cheerfulness has come over my mind, the army of sorrow
has turned to flight, and I have complete confidence in your clarity of mind and your foresight; the effects of these have continually been witnessed in your words
and deeds, and their outcomes in ordering difficult matters have become certain truth. But tell me: what relevance does
this tale have to the present circumstance?” The boon companion remained silent for a moment. When he saw that the excuse of feigned ignorance had little room
and its acceptance was leagues away, he said: “The relevance of this is not hidden from the luminous royal conscience, from whose light the sun
must seek illumination. The king pondered and reflected for a while in order to find the thread of this
affair and clarify the reality of this situation. After a moment, he turned to the boon companion and said:

“By the promptings of physiognomy and the dictates of analogy, it appears that you harbor a suspicion of rebellion concerning this minister and the army commander,
and an inkling of their straying from the highway of obedience and the path of sincerity is conceived; for it is possible that
they have conquered the city of Sarandīp, brought under their control treasuries, wealth, jewels, elephants, and other rarities of land and
sea that have accumulated there for several thousand years and have never been dispersed by the hand of any king,
and by virtue of ‘Indeed, man transgresses when he sees himself self-sufficient,’ the demon of sedition and mischief
has made a dwelling and abode in their hearts, the wind of arrogance and pride has found a way into their brains, and they have
withdrawn their heads from the halter of obedience and their feet from the circle of servitude, and raised the banner of abandonment, opposition, and rebellion, whose inscription bears the verse:

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‘The penalty for those who wage war against God and His Messenger and strive upon earth to cause corruption is only that they be killed or crucified,’
pitched the tent of obedience to passion and desire in the wilderness of rebellion and defiance, and, having acquired the accoutrements and
splendor of kingship, become inflated with pride like the lion on a royal banner.” The boon companion said: “This very thought has settled in my heart,
and this very reflection has taken hold of my mind. It may be that this inference has no foundation, and this suspicion
may not lead to certainty; yet it is incumbent upon sincere servants and well-wishers of the kingdom not to conceal by any means whatever
benefit or harm can be conceived regarding the interests of the realm, so that they may properly free themselves from the obligation of their debts of gratitude.”
The king said: “The likeness of such events can be imagined in the mirror of possibility, and
by the requirement of far-sighted intellect cannot be denied in every respect; but that minister and army commander are distinguished and
peerless among their peers and equals in the perfection of wisdom, correctness of judgment, abundance of sincerity, wealth of experience, and foresight;
and never has the dust of such an accusation settled upon the skirt of their days, nor has anything been observed from them
save the display of all kinds of commendable services and the demonstration of diverse kinds of distinguished duties of servitude. And every time
the gold of their fidelity has been weighed on the balance of testing and rubbed on the touchstone of discrimination, from the other courtiers, deficiency
and, by weight and fineness, has proved superior, complete, preponderant, and surpassing, this sort of treachery appears remote and strange from them, and
in this matter it is also not fitting to make a definitive judgment. 'However, the walls have ears.' It is incumbent upon you not to allow the occurrence of this affair
to pass from the hiding place of your heart even to the door of your mouth, and, like musk in the pod and like a pearl
in the oyster shell, and fire in the flint, and the kernel in the almond, to keep it hidden and concealed; and just as you have constantly,
in guarding and concealing our secrets, brought the jewel of your nobility and the perfection of your intellect to the surface,
this time as well you must deem adherence to that same praiseworthy conduct and pleasing character necessary; for the disclosure of this matter will not be devoid
of inciting aversion and stirring up the dust of apprehension." The sovereign's deliberation and conversation with the boon-companion had reached this point
when a chamberlain entered hastily through the door and announced that the vizier, coming from Sarandīp in the garb of ascetics,
had entered upon the pilgrim-state of [visiting] the presence and had arrived at the gate. The sovereign became exceedingly anxious and distracted in mind, and in
this state remained perturbed and astonished, and said to the boon-companion: "The vizier is a wise man of sound counsel and an army commander
who marshals the host:

He joined to sound deliberation the virtue of courage; / and none is honored except the brave man who exercises sound deliberation.
And never has his speech or deed been devoid of wisdom, empty of benefit, or far from a purpose;
and his arriving in this garb can, God willing, contain good and require improvement."

The boon-companion said: "To leave the vizier outside in this unaccustomed attire seems far from prudence, for
most creatures look only to the external appearance of conditions, and if they witness something contrary to custom, in accordance with their own shallow
judgment they stir up corrupt conjectures, so that by this cause false rumors are spread in all quarters and directions,
and often it becomes the cause of the emergence of strife and the occurrence of calamities. But the class who are characterized by a sound method, firm deliberation,
perfect prudence, and comprehensive cunning, and whose fiery intellect, through correct deductions, makes known and reveals
the events and reports of tomorrow today, and in the foundations of whose reasoning no flaw finds a way in any manner,
are, like the moon and the sun, few in number and count; and corruption and the ruin of affairs can no more be expected from that class than the right arrangement of
interests can be expected from the common populace. Therefore, in every state, sovereigns must establish foundations for affairs
that encompass the order of the conditions of the common people, whose abundance—like the scarcity of the elite—is established and known by the decree of observation."
The sovereign ordered the vizier to be summoned. When he saw him, observing the side of respect and
honor toward him, he asked about the manner of discharging the affairs. The vizier said:

"Rejoice in what you desire, for your fortune is obedient / and time is submissive to your command and humble.
The world, from the splendor and fortune of the commander of the world, / resembles the expanse of Iram and the garden of Paradise.
To whichever side you look, there is the display of victory; / to whichever side you lend an ear, there are tidings of security.
By the effect of the sovereign's ever-increasing prosperity and favorable fortune, the crescent-tipped finial of the victory-portending banners rubs its head
against the sky, and the sun-dagger of the army, numerous as the wandering planets, opens a new expanse and realm every day. At times,
from the hooves of steeds of swift wind, it raises dust from the encircling ocean, and at times from the bodies of enemies a watery sea of blood
it causes to flow upon the soil of the battlefield. The boundless ocean, from the heat of the sun of the water-like swords, like
the lips of adversaries, has become dry; and the surface of the revolving heaven, from the moisture of the wave of blood, has become wet like the eyes of the vile. And
from the day of our departure to this day, the kingdoms of Rūm and China and India, and great cities, and firm fortresses and strongholds

have come under possession, and have been subdued and acquired; the friends of the realm, like the cloud, have seized the skirt of the highest sphere,
and the enemies of the kingdom, like drops of rain, are hidden beneath the dust of annihilation; the various flowers of victories
smile from the radiant thorn-field of the champions of vast pomp, and the nightingale of victory sings in the meadow of the coats of mail of the rank-breaking warriors of
perfect awe. And after the opening of the gates of great victories, the sea-surging army and thunder-roaring host encamped
on the shore of the sea that surrounds the kingdom of Sarandīp. And by virtue of what is written in the reliable books
of the sages—which are the mine of useful teachings and the treasury of counsels, and which past sultans and former rulers, in laying
the foundations of the realm and strengthening the pillars of sovereignty, made their guide and leader, and deemed the following of its ordinances
among obligatory duties, and whose effects in elevating the degrees of sovereignty, expanding the territories of the kingdom,
governing the realms, and uprooting and extirpating enemies of vast pomp and abundant equipment have been manifested with all facility, swiftness,
and goodness—a sovereign must be adorned and embellished with the resolution of sound judgment, an illuminated conscience,
the virtue of enemy-[crushing] bravery, and army-shattering courage; and as long as attracting benefits
and repelling harms is made easy by the help of knot-resolving judgment, he should not draw the blood-drinking sword from the scabbard; and as long as the desire
of hearts, in whole or in part, is set right by the aid of the tongue's blade, he should not put the blade's tongue to work, so that the renown of his perfect
sagacity and excess of acumen may, like a tongue, fall into mouths, and the tongues of the people of the world may become eloquent in the mouth with the mention of his fine discernment,
and so that the servants of abundant sincere devotion may also make this principle their guide and leader in discharging the important affairs of state,
and conduct the affairs of sovereignty in this very manner; and the masters of experience have ever
placed sound judgment before the sword and accounted excellence of deliberation higher in rank than abundance of bravery:
"Deliberation comes before the bravery of the brave; / it is the first, and that is the second quality.
When the two are united in a resolute soul, / it attains every station of high renown."
Upon this basis, the agreement so occurred that at first the path of sending messages was pursued, and envoys of eloquent
discourse and ambassadors of sound deliberation were sent to the king of Sarandīp, so that if, before accepting warfare and
combat, he should draw the collar of servitude around his neck, remove the cap of recalcitrance, rebelliousness, and pride from his head, and like
an arrow bind the belt of obedience about his waist, and sheathe the dagger of opposition and malice, then that is the desired aim; and if not, then from that

[he must be] brought out from that mountain-like fortress by the blow of the lustrous sword just as fire is brought out from stone, and by the impact of the mountain-crushing mace,
the gem of his existence will be shattered like glass upon stone."

The king of Sarandīp received the envoys with utmost honor and respect, and to provide an answer he requested an opportunity and delay of a few days,
and sent the envoys back. An inquiry was made of the envoys regarding the news of that city, and an investigation into
the temperament of the inhabitants of that land, the nature of army arrangements, and the management of state affairs by the king of Sarandīp.
They reported what they had witnessed, along with another piece of news that is extremely rare and exceedingly wondrous.
they did.

The king asked: "What is it?" The minister said: "In the house of the king of Sarandīp there is a daughter whom
he acquired at the time of the subjection of the king of China, who in beauty is a plague to the soul and in delicacy an intoxication to the world.
Her night-colored, trailing tresses give aid in length to the night of Resurrection; her soul-reviving face in the perfection of
beauty exacts compensation from the full moon of the fourteenth night; the ruby rose gains color from envy of her spring-like cheek;
the hundred-petaled rose turns yellow like jasmine from shame before the freshness of her cheek, under her signet-ring.

"In his face is an intercessor that effaces its misdeeds from hearts, / comely wherever he is present."
All is freshness and beauty, coquetry and grace;