سندبادنامه 394.2

394.2

"The great have said: 'Kingship is barren, and there are no ties of kinship between kings and anyone.' If
it were the trait of a king to grant pardon and indulgence to child and kin, to favorites and relatives, for vile offenses
and atrocious deeds, 'kingship is barren' would not have been said of him,
and 'there are no ties of kinship between kings' would be superfluous; and the import of these maxims and the substance of these
indications is that sovereignty cannot tolerate corruption, and rule cannot brook mercy and pity;
lineage and womb do not avert or prevent punishment, and kinship and relation do not become an obstacle to justice
or a veil over equity. If the king were to look upon every one of the ministers of state and kingdom with the eye of
clemency and affection, and neglect the welfare of realm and state, the kingdom would suffer disorder
and ruin, and the envious and malevolent would raise their heads from the frontiers of the realms, and stretch forth hands of
encroachment, aggression, and oppression; and that negligence would provoke disorder, and disorder
would become the cause of the decline and transfer of realm and state." These whispers, misgivings, imaginations,
and apprehensions so overcame him that he commanded that his son be subjected to punishment,
and that it be made the date-entry in the chronicle of justice and equity.
The sixth vizier, who possessed the stability of the four pillars across the expanse of the kingdom and the influence of the lord of the stars upon the heaven
of the realm, when he heard this news that the shah had ordered the execution of his son,