And Abu-Alfazb, a man who was astrologer to Muwayyad-Addoulat, had made a calculation (and advised him) that at that conjuncture he ought to delay, until the planet Mars began to decline from the zenith, and then resolve upon battle, and use his utmost endeavours upon the field, and that if victory ensued, in accordance with his wishes, well, but if not that he should sally forth with his troops, from that confined place, unto the open plain, and commit the event to destiny. And Muwayyad kept this a concealed secret and made arrangements for the affair, until the time appointed and the period defined (namely) on the fourth day of the week of the month Ramadhan, in the year 371, when he went forth with the whole body of his army. And the army of Khurasán thought that they were attacking them, in the same manner as they had done on former days, and that they were coming out of the fortress with a portion of their troops. And the soldiers commonly said that Muwayyad-Addoulat had secretly beguiled Fáík and had carried him out of the (right) way by many gifts and great presents. For this reason, at the appointed fortu­nate time, he displayed inactivity, and when the army of Dilám made a charge, at the usual time, Fáík turned his back, Hisám-Addoulat and Fakhr-Addoulat kept their ground in the centre, and dis­played great firmness, until the greater part of their army was broken and night approached, and a powerful and spirited enemy came up. Then Fakhr-Addoulat said, “It is not expedient that we should remain longer, since the enemy hath gained the superiority and have obtained rein­forcements, and no one remains with us, since the elephants, which were the protection of our centre, and some troops who were not engulphed in the torrent, have now turned their back and given up with all the others. And (since those who are striving for the safety of their lives do not regard advantage,) they left all their elephants and chanted (that verse of the Koran) “He who hath saved his head surely he had gained.” They therefore deserted their camp, with its immense treasures, and many valuables, and innumerable jewels and slaves, and abundance of embroidered cloths, and different kinds of fruits and grains; and, until they arrived at Nishapúr, they halted and delayed at no place. And they informed His Highness of Bukhárá of the state of affairs, and gave intelligence of this untoward and incredible news. And at Bukhárá they first comforted them and gave them, according to their promise (the) assistance (of troops). And Sahile-Kafy-Ismáíl-Ibn-Abád dispatched the messengers of good news to the extremities and capital cities of the provinces, and transmitted letters of victory unto all parts and meridians of the world. And the poets of that age and the learned of that time originated elegant verses and pure compositions, in the description of this event. And the poet Bajalay thus speaks upon the affair of Muwayyad-Addoulat (Verse)

And Abul-Husain-Utbi called the troops from Khurasán and Mawaralnahr, and appointed them to assemble together at Marú*, for that that place should be the place appointed for the rendezvous of all the army, until that he himself should be able to move, and by his own means should be able to rectify his own injuries, and should place upon a firm foundation the dignity of the kingdom and the freshness of the State. Núh-Mansúr gave him a khilaat of great value, and provisions and necessaries for the soldiers, and the rank of General, with the designation to the office of Vízér and of Generalissimo were annexed to the khilaat. But, as some have said (Verse)

When his affairs had arrived at the highest dignity, and the deepest authority, and the most perfect prosperity, and the utmost fruition of hope, he began to set his face downward, and that khilaat was the cause of the unfastening of the rope of his life. And the cause of this event was as follows: Abul-Husain-Simjúr always attributed his removal from the government of Khurasán unto Utbí, and was continually preparing together with Fáík, for attacking and obstructing his dig­nity, and was constantly exerting himself to injure his condition, by means of underhand aspersions, until Faik kept in a citadel for that object all his well-disposed youths, and for that purpose placed them close to one-another, and associated them together. And they jealously watched an oppor­tunity of assisting him, until they prepared a fit time for accomplishing the matter. But Abul-Husain became aware of this state of things and became alarmed, and signified the state of the matter to Núh-Mansúr, who entrusted a body of his chosen troops with the care of him, in order that they might be continuously attached to him, in the way of protection. And they did keep him preserved and guarded from the snares of the enemy, until a certain night, when he was going towards the palace, when a troop of these young soldiers followed behind him, and they gave him wounds at every step, and blows without respect, and gave to the winds his life, which was the fodder of generosity, and spilt upon the ground the virtues of his unrivalled disposition. And the troop who were his guards left him the captive of misfortune and the victim of distress, as some poets have said (Verse)

And they left him upon the road, bathed in his blood; afterwards they removed him to a garden, in order that they might bring assistance to him, in the manner in which His Highness should command. At the dawn, when the morning breeze blew upon him, he groaned: the gardener, when he heard his groan, ran to His Highness’s palace and announced that his master was at the point of death. They sent several persons and conveyed him to the building called Hahandaz. A multitude of physicians were appointed for him, in order that they might cure him; but the arrangement of that affair had passed away from the hand of the physician, for at that very time his soul was released, and the field of the world of the exalted and the wise became empty. The office of Vizír in him received its last seal and the kingdom of Khurásán never saw another Vizír, and never did a nobleman like him sit upon the cushion of justice, and in no history is it mentioned that any of those vizérs who have been distinguished and commended possessed such perfect excellence and beneficence, or such abundant skill in guiding and governing, as were united in him. And Ibn-Jafar-Jami says thus, in his panegyric (Verse)

Some of the ingenious had written on the door of his visiting chamber as follows (Verse)

And Hisám-Addoulat-Tásh and Shams-Al-Mualy-Kabús, and Fakhr-Addoulat (had) detained their army on the road at Nishapúr, in order to receive intelligence respecting his, i. e., the Vizér’s joining them, and Abu-Nasr-Utbi, who was deputy-governor of Níshapúr, relates, as fol­lows:—

“One day Hisám-Addoulat-Tash called for me, and when I went to His Excellency I saw the gen­tlemen of the privy chamber assemble together, and a private audience was being given: all were giving their opinion, and they thought it conve­nient that they should by some means obtain some assistance in this war, and some means of repulsing the enemy. And when they saw me they wel­comed me eagerly and confided to me the subject of their consultation, and requested that I would intimate to His Excellency the Vizír the recent state of their affairs, in order that he might not lay down the path of delay and procrastination in their business, but should hasten to provide for troops and to cause them to enjoy tranquillity of mind. And Shams-Al-Muálí-Kabús lifted up his head from among them and said, according to that mystical writing (of the Korán) “War is a water-bucket,”* the affairs of the kingdom are entirely distracted by war, and there is no stability either in the front or in the rear of the State, and at the present our affairs are bound in the knot of diffi­culty, and our wishes are withdrawn under the veil of disappointment, and our desires beneath the curtain of error, but another time Heaven may untie this knot, and this desire may be joined to accomplishment, and this hope may be crowned by prosperity. For a prudent man seeks for the means of entering into victory and success, by his efforts and exertions, and arrives at the desired effect by means of patience and resolution, whilst the weak-minded man remains depressed, amidst weakness and vexation, and his wishes and desires are ruined, through confusion and delay, and you may regard the maxim contained in this writing as a quotation almost prophetic (Verse)

Abu-Nasr-Utbi said, “I have good proof of the purity of his elegance and of the excellence of his disposition, which in depth and abundance sur­passes the sea, and as to the greatness of his thoughts and the expansiveness of his intellect I have known the perfection of their acuteness and vivacity.”