Muntakhab al-tawarikh 1.7

1.7

“When the crow becomes leader of a tribe, he will surely lead them along the path of destruction.” And if the eye of a man be instilled with the collyrium of the Divine guidance, and illuminated by the light of truth, and guarded from every calamity which happens in the world of existence and evil, he passes to the Unity of the Creator, the Ancient of days, the Glorious, freed from the stain of innovation, and purified from the blemish of change and alteration. And when I look carefully, I see that the world is itself an ancient archetype which has neither head nor root; its pages are a confused record, and in each page there is a list of the affairs of a section of mankind who have had the reins of the management of affairs entrusted to their hands. This ancient Shahnama relates the affairs of the kings of the world: Do thou always look and read therein with circumspection. The spoil of this narrative brings sweet sleep to him Who is in delirium, and has become distracted with madness of the brain. But it also wakens him who on account of pride, has fallen into the slumber of carelessness and whom the devil has deceived.