It is related in the Târikh Moa’jum that when Eskandar subjugated the countries of Persia he captured and imprisoned many Persian princes, and said to Aristo on that occasion: ‘I have conquered Persia, not by my own prowess, but I have attained that happiness by the aid and favour of God. I incited good people to walk in the straight path, and pointed out to the ignorant the lights of guidance. In governing my subjects I have followed the directions of reason and have never overstepped its landmarks. But I entertain misgivings concerning the royal scions whom I have imprisoned, for if I liberate them they may possibly excite troubles, which I would be unable to quell; but if I slay them I shall be blamed in this, and punished in the next, world.’ Aristo replied: ‘The surmises of your majesty are quite true; therefore it will be expedient to appoint each of them over a separate portion of the kingdom, and to make them independent of each other, in order to forestall any coalition among them.’ Eskandar fully approved of the opinion of the philosopher, and installed each prince over a division of the realm. Historians call these princes Mulûk-ut-touâif [i.e., kings of the nations], whose history will be inserted in this work after the record of the philosophers, in conformity with the exalted mind [of A’li Shir, the Amir of Hirat], if it pleaseth Allah the Most High.
At the end of the Tarjumâi Hukmâ it is related that during his marches Eskandar happened to arrive in a village the houses whereof were all of the same height, and each of which contained a ready-made sepulchre, and the inhabitants had neither a governor nor a Qâzi. When Eskandar examined them on these subjects, they replied: ‘Men are always vying with each other, who will be greater; but no such rivalry exists among us, therefore all the houses are equal, and we require no magistrate. We keep the graves before our eyes to remind us of death, and of the transitoriness of this life.’* Eskandar continued: ‘If I were to give you a more agreeable place than this, would you emigrate to it?’ They replied: ‘We request your majesty to ward off death from us.’ Eskandar said: ‘If such a thing were in the power of any man, it would be in mine.’ They continued: ‘As so powerful a king is unable to aid us in this matter, we would pray that we be allowed to remain in the position we are, for there is some pleasure to live in the place where we were born and educated.’
It is also related that during his conquests Eskandar arrived in a city which had been governed by seven kings, the sons succeeding their fathers. When Eskandar asked whether any one of that dynasty was yet alive, he obtained the information that a young man, who had abdicated the kingdom, was dwelling in the cemetery. Eskandar then paid him a visit with some of his courtiers, asked him why he had abandoned the royal power, dwelt in the burying-ground, and had no desire to engage in government affairs. The royal prince observed: ‘O king! I am occupied with a business which entirely absorbs my attention, so that I can spare none for the affairs of government.’ Zulqarneen said: ‘If you are engaged in anything besides the contemplation of rotten bones let me know it.’ The royal prince said: ‘When I considered the world and its transitoriness I kept aloof from mankind, and selected a cemetery for my abode. It is a long time since I am trying to separate the bones of kings from those of slaves and mean persons, but I am unable to do so.’ Zulqarneen replied: ‘Such a distinction no one can make except God the Most High. If, however, you promise allegiance to me I shall restore you to the rank of your ancestors.’ The youth said: ‘My aim is higher! I seek life without death, youth without old age, riches without poverty, joy without grief, a lover without fraud, and society without ennui.’ Eskandar rejoined: ‘How can you ask these things from me?’ The prince said: ‘I seek them from Him with whom I can find them.’
On a certain occasion his grandees said to Eskandar: ‘Your majesty’s realm is very extensive, and you ought, for the sake of begetting a copious progeny, to court the society of women, that your dominions may not fall into the possession of strangers.’ Zulqarneen replied: ‘It is not proper that one who had always been accustomed to vanquish men should be conquered by women.’ One day a man dressed in rags arrived at his court, who began to deliver a very fluent and highly eloquent speech; Eskandar, however, gave him an unfavourable answer, and said: ‘If thou hadst dressed thy body in garments as elegant as the expressions of thy address, it would have been better.’ The man replied: ‘Your servant has a great command of words, but not of clothes.’ This sally pleased Eskandar highly, and he presented him with a rich dress.
In one of his battles a multitude of women attacked him, but he refrained from hurting them, and said: ‘Verily this is an army, of the victory over which we would not be allowed to boast if we happened to gain it, and if we should be conquered by it—which God forbid—we would reap nothing but the deepest shame, and our defeat would survive as a proverb till the end of all time.’
Zaitûn the poet asked one day ten thousand dinars from Eskandar, who replied: ‘This sum exceeds somewhat thy deserts.’ The poet rejoined: ‘But it falls much below the resources of your majesty.’ Then Eskandar granted him the money.
Eskandar asked a sage what the constant occupation of a king ought to be. The philosopher replied: ‘He ought to meditate all night on the means for procuring happiness to his subjects, and ought to be engaged all day in carrying those means into practice.’ When Eskandar was asked in what cases he took most pleasure to exert his power, he replied: ‘In cases which enable me to augment the resources and power of individuals who have acted well towards me.’ On being expostulated with for exposing his person to danger in battle, he answered: ‘It is not right that others should jeopardize their lives for my sake whilst I keep aloof from danger.’ On a certain occasion two of his courtiers quarrelled with each other, and requested him to settle the dispute. He replied: ‘If I give judgment it will certainly be in favour of one of you, and to the disadvantage of the other; but a sense of duty will keep both of you thankful and at peace with each other.’ When a battle was impending with Dârâ, some of Eskandar’s advisers tried to dissuade him from engaging in the combat, and stated that the army of the enemy amounted to more than three hundred thousand men, but he replied: ‘A quick and dexterous butcher is never afraid of a multitude of sheep.’ Being asked why he loved his teacher more than his father, he said: ‘The former is the cause of my eternal, and the latter of my present life; one has pulled me down from heaven to earth, and the other is guiding me from earth to heaven.’ When some of his generals requested Eskandar to attack the Persian army in the night, by way of surprise, he replied: ‘I do not mean to conquer the enemy by stratagem and unawares.’
The following are some of the maxims attributed to Eskandar: ‘A man of noble disposition is honoured even in his poverty, and a mean fellow is despised even if he be rich.’ Being asked what is bad, he replied: ‘To speak about a thing and not to do it’; and being asked what is good, he said: ‘To do a thing before speaking about it.’ He also said: ‘A man stands more in need of sense than of wealth.’