—one that is already thriving—for if you were to tour my entire dominion in search of so much as a single shoot of the caper bush, you would not find it. And were I ever to learn that in any part of my realm a single root of that plant had taken hold, I would have the governor of that district crucified.
It behooves a king to tread the path of the monarchs who preceded him, to follow their ways, and to read the books that record their exhortations and judgements. They lived longer lives, accumulated greater experience, and drew deeper lessons: they distinguished the good from the bad and recognised what is obvious from what is hidden. Anushirwan himself, exemplary though his conduct was, would read their books of admonition, seek out their stories, and model himself on their methods and practices—and the rulers of our own age are even more in need of doing the same.
Anecdote: One day the just Anushirwan asked his vizier Yunan, “I wish you to inform me of the conduct of the earlier kings.” Yunan replied, “Shall I praise them in three matters, in two, or in one?” Anushirwan said, “Praise them in three.” Yunan said, “In all the tasks they undertook I never found them lying, I never saw them ignorant of anything, and I never witnessed them lose their temper in any circumstance.”
Anushirwan said, “Then praise them in two.” Yunan answered, “They were always quick to heed good counsel and to act upon it, and they were ever wary of evil deeds.”
Anushirwan said, “Praise them in a single thing.” Yunan responded, “Their sovereignty and their bold mastery over themselves were greater than over anyone else.”
Anushirwan then called for a cup and said, “This is the joy felt by the noble who will come after us, inherit our crown and throne, and remember us as we remember those who came before us. The most wretched of people is he who is deluded by his kingship: he builds up the world without knowing how he ought to live in it, passes through it in toil, and secures for his hereafter eternal regret and everlasting torment. Those former kings strove to cultivate the world only so that a fragrant memory would remain for them throughout the days and ages, as the story relates.”
Another anecdote: Anushirwan owned a vineyard called Hazar-Kām. One day Caesar, king of the Romans, and Ya‘furjīn, king of Hindustan, gathered there as his guests, and each of them uttered a maxim of wisdom. Caesar of the Romans said, “There is nothing in this world finer than the doing of—