The Institutes of Akbar 6.2.4

6.2.4

Some princes consider the office of the Vizier as a part of that of the Vakil, and are anxious to find in their realm a man who possesses the excellent qualities of these two pillars of the edifice of the State. But as they are not always able to find a person qualified for the office of a Vakil, they make choice of a man who has some of his qualities, and appoint him as Mushrif i Diwán, which office is higher in rank than that of the Diwán, but lower than that of the Vakil. 3. The companions of the king, who are the ornaments of the court by the light of their wisdom, the ray of their sharpsightedness, their knowledge of the times, their intimate acquaintance with human nature, their frankness and polite address. Through the excellence of their religious faith and good will, thousands open in the market place of the world the stores of virtue. Wisely fettering ambition on the battle-field of the world, they extinguish the sparks of wrath by the rain of their wisdom; whence they resemble water in the affairs of the body political. When they are of a mild temperament, they remove the dust of affliction from the hearts of men, and bestow freshness upon the meadow of the nation; but if they depart from moderation, they inundate the world with a deluge of calamity, so that numbers are driven by the flood of misfortunes into the current of utter extinction.