“And I delivered the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor; and after proof of the oppression, whether on the property or the person, the decision which I passed between them was agreeable to the sacred law.  And I did not cause any one person to suffer for the guilt of another.

“Those who had done me injuries, who had attacked my person in battle, and had counteracted my schemes and enterprises, when they threw themselves on my mercy, I received them with kindness, I conferred on them additional honors, and I drew the pen of oblivion over their evil actions; and I treated them in such sort, that, if suspicion remained in their hearts, it was plucked out entirely.

“Seventhly, I selected out, and treated with esteem and veneration, the posterity of the Prophet, and the theologians, and the teachers of the true faith, and the philosophers, and the historians.  And I loved men of courage and valor; for God Almighty loveth the brave.  And I associated with good and learned men; and I gained their affections, and I entreated their support, and I sought success from their holy prayers.  And I loved the dervishes and the poor; and I oppressed them not, neither did I exclude them from my favor.  And I permitted not the evil and the malevolent to enter into my council; and I acted not by their advice; and I listened not to their insinuations to the prejudice of others.

“Eighthly.  I acted with resolution; and on whatever undertaking I resolved, I made that undertaking the only object of my attention; and I withdrew not my hand from that enterprise, until I had brought it to a conclusion.  And I acted according to that which I said.  And I dealt not with severity towards any one, and I was not oppressive in any of my actions; that God Almighty might not deal severely towards me, nor render my own actions oppressive unto me.

“And I inquired of learned men into the laws and regulations of ancient princes, from the days of Adam to those of the Prophet, and from the days of the Prophet down to this time.  And I weighed their institutions and their actions and their opinions, one by one.  And from their approved manners and their good qualities I selected models.  And I inquired into the causes of the subversion of their power, and I shunned those actions which tend to the destruction and overthrow of regal authority.  And from cruelty and from oppression, which are the destroyers of posterity and the bringers of famine and of plagues, I found it was good to abstain.

“Ninthly.  The situation of my people was known unto me.  And those who were great among them I considered as my brethren; and I regarded the poor as my children.  And I made myself acquainted with the tempers and the dispositions of the people of every country and of every city.  And I contracted intimacies with the citizens and the chiefs and the nobles; and I appointed over them governors adapted to their manners and their dispositions and their