Storia do Mogor 111.1

111.1

During Aurangzeb's journey from Kashmir, before he had reached Dihli, there arrived ambassadors from Ethiopia, from Mecca, and from Basrah, to congratulate him on his accession. Of all of these embassies I will say something, but as a preliminary I am obliged to warn the reader that I write for love of truth, and thus, although Monsieur Bernier was my great friend, and we carried on a pleasant correspondence, I cannot approve what he has written. For the Armenian Morad, one of the two men who came as ambassadors from the King of Ethiopia to the Mogul, confided to me one day, when he was a little elevated, what was the truth about the embassy. If there is any truth in the saying In vino Veritas, we must believe more in a confidence made from friend to friend than in the pomposities recited to Danishmand Khan. It is not uncommon that one who poses as an ambassador should, in the company of the great, give himself importance, and having to speak of kingdoms and lands afar off, and of unknown kings, should say the thing that will the most profit him. But when his talk is with a friend, who can do him no harm, such a person may allow himself more scope in letting out the truth. What was recounted by him who gave himself out as an Ethiopian ambassador is not simply a story told me by a man who had been drinking, but he has since confirmed it at a time when he was quite sober. The matter runs as follows :