thousand fully equipped troops. His vizier exclaimed, “This is surely one of the greatest armies ever assembled!” Marwān replied, “Silence! When a man’s appointed span is over, no amount of preparation will avail him. Once the heavenly decree descends, even a vast host is exposed as small and contemptible. Were we to possess the entire world, it would still be torn from our hands—for to whom has this world ever kept faith that it should keep faith with us?”

Maxim: Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ahwāzī writes in al-Farāʾid wa-l-Qalāʾid, “This world never offers a clear draught to the one who sips it, nor does it endure for its owner. Take provisions from your today for your tomorrow, lest neither today nor tomorrow remain for you.”

It is said that the following verses were inscribed upon the tomb of Yaʿqūb ibn Layth. He composed them before his death and ordered that they be written on his grave:

Peace upon the vanished dwellers of these graves—
As though they had never sat in councils,
Had never taken a single draught of cool water,
Had never eaten, whether fresh or dry.
The awesome stupor of death has overtaken me;
My legions—thousands upon thousands of horsemen—could not save me.
O visitor to the grave, take heed and learn from us;
Guided aright, do not grow attached to this world.
Khurasan lay beneath my sway, and the borders of Fars—
Nor did I despair of seizing the throne of Iraq.
Peace upon the world and the sweetness of its delights—
It is as though Yaʿqūb had never sat within it at all.

Question and Answer: A king who had lost his throne was asked, “Why did the realm pass from you to another and was stripped away from your hands?” He replied, “Because I was beguiled by sovereignty and power, content with my own judgment and knowledge, heedless of counsel; because I placed petty officials over great affairs; because I failed to devise stratagems at the proper time, seldom reflected on them, and did not apply them when need arose; because I hesitated and stood still where haste and opportunity were required, and busied myself with distractions instead of fulfilling people’s needs.”

And it was asked, “Which of the wicked are the most wicked?” The answer came: “Envoys who betray their missions for the sake of their own greed; every ruin that befalls a kingdom comes from them.” Azdashir said of such men: “How much blood have they spilled? How many armies have they routed? How many veils of honor belonging to free, upright people have they torn away? How many oaths have they perjured through their treachery? How many covenants have they broken through their lack of fidelity? How much wealth have they swept away?”