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all their mighty victories? Was any country made to
flourish, did any happiness result, did any throne
stand? Or was it rather that those reigning houses lost
their power? Except that Asia went up in the flame of
many battles and fell away to ashes, Changíz's's Hulagü,
the warlord, gathered no fruit from all his conquests.
And Tamerlane, out of all his triumphs, reaped only
the peoples blown to the winds, and universal ruin.
And Alexander had nothing to show for his vast victories,
except that his son toppled from the throne and
Philip and Ptolemy took over the dominions he once
had ruled. And what did the first Napoleon gain from
subjugating the kings of Europe, except the destruction
of flourishing countries, the downfall of their inhabitants,
the spreading of terror and anguish across
Europe and, at the end of his days, his own captivity?
So much for the conquerors and the monuments they
leave behind them.
Contrast with this the praiseworthy qualities and the
greatness and nobility of Anúshírván the Generous and
the Just. (39) That fair-minded monarch came to power at
a time when the once solidly established throne of Persia
was about to crumble away. With his Divine gift
of intellect, he laid the foundations of justice, uprooting
oppression and tyranny and gathering the scattered
peoples of Persia under the wings of his dominion.
Thanks to the restoring influence of his continual care,
Persia that had lain withered and desolate was quickened
39. Sásáníyán king who reigned 531-578 A.D.
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