Section: On Rights

Section

(On Rights)

The two vizierates then have in common, after the distinction drawn between them, certain rights and compacts (ʻuhūd). As for the rights, they are eight. The first: that he rise to the burdens of the vizierate and run in the interests of the realm, setting the king's portion before his own portion and knowing that his own soundness is coupled with the king's; for the vizier's circumstances will never stand straight while the king's circumstances are disordered, since branches draw their supply from their roots, and even were they to stand straight their tilting would be close at hand. And it is said in the published maxims (manshūr al-ḥikam): do not encamp in the quarter of a vengeful man. The second: that he be capable of exertion and weariness, and patient in displeasure and in favour, not shying off when he is left forsaken, for his shying off is his undoing; and let him come to his ease by way of weariness and to his repose by way of labour. Hence it is said: the cause of ease is the scantness of resting. And ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd said: weary your foot, for how often has your foot been wearied. For if he busies himself with his ease and inclines to his pleasure, he will be stripped of it by estrangement and lose it by a change of face, and so is ruined and ruins others, and stands in danger from his own affair. And it is said in the published maxims: in peril is he who does not venture — how much more the deluded venturer. And it is said in one of the books of the Children of Israel: he who loves the appetites hates his own soul. The third: that he be thankful for the king's benefaction and find excuse for his ill-usage, giving thanks for a slight benefaction and excusing much ill-usage, so as to draw his benefaction on by thanks and to fend off his ill-usage by excusing it. If he turns aside from these two, he will get from him the contrary of them. And it has been said: the most deserving of men of being refused is the ungrateful, and of being done a favour the thankful. The fourth: that he bring his merits to light if they lie hidden, and veil his faults if they come to light; for by his merits he is known and marked, and by his faults he is charged and branded, the vizier sharing with him in the praise of his merits and being held to account in the blame of his faults. The king may well let himself go, out of his trust in his intimates, and commit out of passion what ought to be guarded from being noised abroad; and the vizier has the better claim to draw a veil over it for him, since he is the door by which men come to him — speaking with him in private, not in the open. For it has been said: admonition before the assembly is a rebuke. The fifth: that he make his intention pure in his obedience, and that his hidden self be as his open self; for hearts draw, and hold the reins of bodies, so that if the two agree, well; and otherwise the heart prevails, and is the stronger in pulling toward its object, as the poet has said:

I did not visit you of set purpose; but as for the man of passion — his foot bears him off to wherever the heart inclines

So make your heart pure, that your body may obey you, and make your inward part good, that your outward part may be good; for hearts tell tales upon what is hidden within, and so rend its veils and noise abroad its secrets. Mujāhid related from al-Nuʻmān ibn Bashīr, who said: the Messenger of God, God bless him and grant him peace, said: "In the son of Adam there is a morsel of flesh: when it is sound the body is sound, and when it is corrupt the body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart." And it is said in one of the scriptures of the Children of Israel: a man's heart alters his face, be it toward good or toward evil. The sixth: that he not oppose the king concerning one whom he has brought near and made an intimate, nor wrangle with him concerning one whom he has cast down or raised up; for he rules by his power and disdains being opposed, and he may well turn upon him with his violence when he is opposed, and incline to vengeance when he is crossed. The sudden outbursts of kings outrun their own warning and send their captive slipping; and if he comes off safe from the danger he will not come off safe from the vexation, and even if he comes off safe from both — which is rare — the loathing of one who opposes is embedded in men's natures, and loathing is outcome enough. Buzurjmihr said: the man of intellect ought not to be distressed at the harshness of those in authority, nor at their preferring the ignorant above him, since the allotted portions have not been laid down according to men's weight; for it is the rule of this world that it gives no one what he deserves, but gives him more or gives him less. The seventh: that he hold himself short of resembling the king in his rank and draw himself back from the like of his bearing, so that he does not wear the like of his garments, nor ride the like of his mounts, nor employ the like of his servants; for the king disdains it if he is duplicated and takes vengeance if he is matched, and he sees these things as belonging to his own estate laid waste and his own dignity made free to all. Let him take in exchange for them cleanliness of dress and of body, without affectation; for cleanliness is part of manly virtue, and affectation is for women. Let him be kept in safety and regarded with deference. The eighth: that he exact the full due for the king and not have it exacted against him, and that he construe in the king's favour and not construe against him; for the king, when