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Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

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106 HISTORY OF PERSIA CHAP.<br />

The power and<br />

influence or the Great Vizier seemed to remain unimpaired,<br />

and when an old man he wrote his celebrated Sidsat Ndma,<br />

or "Treatise on the Art <strong>of</strong> Government," which won high<br />

praise from his<br />

royal master. But nevertheless he<br />

and Malik fell, Shah, who resembled Haroun-al-Rashid<br />

in his good fortune, has also come down to us with a<br />

tarnished name for his dismissal <strong>of</strong> the Great Vizier, even<br />

although there was no such tragedy as accompanied the<br />

downfall <strong>of</strong> the Barmecides.<br />

It appears that complaint was made against a Jand-<br />

^son^<strong>of</strong> the Nizam-ul-Mulk, and the aged Vizier, who ha3<br />

doubtless grown overbearing with years, returned an<br />

angry reply to his master's reproaches. The incident<br />

might have passed unnoticed but for the fact that XuckaJL<br />

Khatun, 1 the favourite wife <strong>of</strong> Malik Shah, was hostile to<br />

the Vizier, and consequently<br />

~Ke was dismissed. He was<br />

not put to death or imprisoned, but shortly<br />

after his<br />

downfall was assassinated by a fdaL or devoir who was<br />

believed to have been sent by the famous Hasan Sabbah.<br />

There is an old legend to the effect that the islizam-ul-<br />

Mulk was at school at Nishapur with Omar Khayyam and<br />

Hasan^ Sabbah, and the three boys swore eternal friencTship,<br />

agreeing that whichever <strong>of</strong> them succeeded in life<br />

should help the other two. The Nizam-ul-Mulk fulfilled<br />

'.<br />

his obligation in the case <strong>of</strong> Omar Khayyam, who refused<br />

the governorship <strong>of</strong> Nishapur but asked for a pension,<br />

which was granted. He also found a suitable post for<br />

Hasan Sabbah, but the latter intrigued to supplant his<br />

benefactor, and on the failure <strong>of</strong> his designs became the<br />

Nizam-ul-Mulk's enemy. This legend<br />

is too well known<br />

to be passed by, but disparities <strong>of</strong> age make its truth<br />

impossible.<br />

As in the case <strong>of</strong> the Barmecides, pr<strong>of</strong>ound sympathy<br />

was felt for the fallen minister, and it was deepened by<br />

his tragic end. The exquisite<br />

lines <strong>of</strong> which the following<br />

is a translation are among the elegies<br />

in which his fate<br />

is commemorated :<br />

1<br />

I.e. " The Turkish lady,"<br />

a title, not a name.

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