Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 42.19.1

42.19.1

The Prince himself underwent a similar treatment, and it became daily more rigorous. After a length of time he received a message, advising him to confess his crimes and to shew his repentance, that his numberless sins and misdemeanors might receive the Imperial pardon. The Prince, shocked to hear the word, crime, denied his having been guilty of any ; and he answered, "That although it was true that he must be guilty of a variety of transgressions in the sight of an all-perfect God, and of course in the sight of his father, who was His shadow, and His representative on earth, yet that he was so fortunate, as not to perceive in himself any such crime as should excite so important a confession ; and the more so, as in fact he was not conscious of having committed any." This answer produced nothing but an addition of severity in the Emperor, and an addition of ill usage to the Prince. He was denied the privilege of having his head shaved, his beard trimmed, his nails paired ; he was debarred from drinking cool water, eating warm bread, and wearing good clothes. A principal eunuch of Nûr-en-nessa's was also confined, and his property confiscated ; and to make him confess the charges brought against the Prince and Princess, he was put to the rack, and for some time was tormented in a variety of manners, but without it being possible to bring any thing out of his mouth but encomiums on his mistress and master, and complaints of the Emperor's unmerited severity.