“Again:—Live well with thy younger brother. Elders must bear the burden![2359] I have the hope that thou, for thy part, wilt keep on good terms with him; he, who has grown up an active and excellent youth, should not fail, for his part, in loyal duty to thee.”[2360]
“Again:—Words from thee are somewhat few; no person has Fol. 349b.come from thee for two or three years past; the man I sent to thee (Beg Muḥammad ta‘alluqchī) came back in something over a year; is this not so?”
“Again:—As for the “retirement”, “retirement”, spoken of in thy letters,—retirement is a fault for sovereignty; as the honoured (Sa‘dī) says:—[2361]
| (Persian) | If thy foot be fettered, choose to be resigned; If thou ride alone, take thou thine own head. |
No bondage equals that of sovereignty; retirement matches not with rule.”
“Again:—Thou hast written me a letter, as I ordered thee to do; but why not have read it over? If thou hadst thought of reading it, thou couldst not have done it, and, unable thyself to read it, wouldst certainly have made alteration in it. Though by taking trouble it can be read, it is very puzzling, and who ever saw an enigma in prose?[2362] Thy spelling, though not bad, is not quite correct; thou writest iltafāt with t̤ā (iltafāt̤) and qūlinj with yā (qīlinj?).[2363] Although thy letter can be read if every sort of pains be taken, yet it cannot be quite understood because of that obscure wording of thine. Thy remissness in letter-writing seems to be due to the thing which makes thee obscure, that is to say, to elaboration. In future write without elaboration; use plain, clear words. So will thy trouble and thy reader’s be less.”
“Again:—Thou art now to go on a great business;[2364] take counsel with prudent and experienced begs, and act as they say. If thou seek to pleasure me, give up sitting alone and avoiding society. Summon thy younger brother and the begs twice daily to thy presence, not leaving their coming to choice; be the business what it may, take counsel and settle every word and act in agreement with those well-wishers.”
“Again:—Khwāja Kalān has long had with me the house-friend’s intimacy; have thou as much and even more with him.Fol. 350. If, God willing, the work becomes less in those parts, so that thou wilt not need Kāmrān, let him leave disciplined men in Balkh and come to my presence.”
“Again:—Seeing that there have been such victories, and such conquests, since Kābul has been held, I take it to be well-omened; I have made it a crown-domain; let no one of you covet it.”
“Again:—Thou hast done well (yakhshī qīlīb sīn); thou hast won the heart of Sl. Wais;[2365] get him to thy presence; act by his counsel, for he knows business.”