Hate no man, and oppress none; for oppression is base. The poet saith,—
Oppress not if thou hast the power to do so; for oppression will eventually bring thee repentance: Thine eye will sleep while the oppressed, wakeful, will call for vengeance upon thee; and the eye of God sleepeth not.
Despise thy wealth, but not thyself: yet bestow not wealth save upon him who deserveth it. If thou keep it, it will keep thee; but if thou squander it, it will ruin thee; and then wilt thou need the assistance of the least of mankind. It hath been said by the poet,—
When my wealth faileth, no friend assisteth me; but when it aboundeth, all men are my friends. How many enemies for the sake of wealth have consorted with me! And my companion, in the time of want, hath abandoned me!
In this manner he continued to admonish his son Ḥasan Bedr-ed-Deen until his spirit departed. The house became a scene of mourning, and the Sulṭán and all the Emeers grieved for him; and they buried him. They continued their mourning during a period of two months, and the son of Noor-ed-Deen rode not out nor went to the court nor presented himself before the Sulṭán; and the King instated one of the Chamberlains in his place, and appointed a new Wezeer in the place of his father, and ordered this Wezeer to put seals upon all the houses of Noor-ed-Deen, and upon his wealth and all his buildings and other possessions.[33] So the new Wezeer went with the Chamberlains to the house of the Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen, to seal its door and to arrest his son Ḥasan Bedr-ed-Deen, and bring him before the Sulṭán, that he might do to him what his judgment required. But there was among the troops one of the memlooks of the deceased Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen; and he could not endure that the son of his master should be thus treated: he therefore repaired to Ḥasan Bedr-ed-Deen, whom he found with downcast head and mourning heart, on account of the death of his father, and acquainted him with what had passed. Ḥasan asked him, Will the execution of the order be delayed long enough for me to enter my house,[34] and take somewhat of my worldly possessions by which to obtain support during my exile? But the memlook answered, Save thyself:—and when Ḥasan heard these words, he covered his head with the skirt of his robe, and, going forth on foot, fled of the city: and he heard the people saying, The Sulṭán hath sent the new Wezeer to the house of the deceased Wezeer, to seal his wealth and other possessions, and to arrest his son Ḥasan Bedr-ed-Deen, and bring him before him that he may put him to death:—and the people were mourning for him on account of his beauty and loveliness. So when he heard what they said, he took a course that he had not intended, and, not knowing whither to go, walked on until destiny urged him to the tomb of his father.
Entering the burial-ground, he bent his way among the tombs until he seated himself at that of his father, where he removed his skirt from over his head. And as he was sitting there, a Jew of El-Baṣrah approached, and said to him, Wherefore, O my master, do I see thee thus changed? He answered, I was just now sleeping, and I beheld my father reproaching me for having failed to visit his tomb: wherefore I rose in alarm, fearing that the day would pass without my visiting it, and so the occurrence would distress me. The Jew then said to him, O my master, thy father despatched some vessels with merchandise, and some of them have returned; and it is my wish to purchase of thee the cargo of every vessel that hath arrived for a thousand pieces of gold;—and so saying, he took out a purse filled with gold, and counted out from it a thousand pieces, which he paid to Ḥasan the son of the Wezeer, and said to him, Write me a paper, and seal it. So Ḥasan took a paper, and wrote upon it, The writer of this paper, Ḥasan Bedr-ed-Deen, the son of the Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen, hath sold to the Jew such a one the whole cargo of every one of his father's vessels that hath returned from her voyage, for a thousand pieces of gold, and hath received the price in advance. And after he had taken a copy[35] of it, the Jew went away with the paper; and Ḥasan wept, reflecting upon his former state of dignity and favour. At length the night closed in upon him, and sleep overtook him, and he remained asleep at his father's tomb until the moon rose when his head rolled from the tomb, and he lay and slept on his back, his face shining in the moonlight.
