As to Abú-Bakr and his followers, through his penetrating judgment, his high rank, his overflow­ing credit with all classes of the people, and his obstinacy towards the chiefs of the State, he passed the line of rectitude, and tongues uttered his conduct to the Sultán’s Court, and a cry arose from men on account of that which they endured from his sectaries. The Sultán for some time severed himself from these sayings, and abstained from the cognizance of this vain course of proceeding, and from destroying its grounds, not wishing to render ineffective the respect which he had arranged for him, from estimation of his merits, or that the fabric which had been founded upon the good pleasure of God should be demolished, until when the matter exceeded all bounds, and the wicked­ness of that party came to its height, then he committed the dictatorship of Nisapúr to Abú-Alí-Al-Hasan-’bn-Muhammad-’bn-Abbás. He was a man nobly born, whose ancestors, during the time of the family of Sámán, had been remarkable for abundant wealth and esteem. His father, at the outset of the Sultán’s history, whilst he was Com­mander of the Forces, entered into his service, and was particularly intimate with him, and, on account of the suitableness of his youth, was enrolled in the troop of his comrades and friends; but his life attained not maturity, and he departed young; and with respect to his son, inasmuch as he had possessed so confidential an intimacy with the Amír Abú-Nasr, and had been modelled by his character, and had found the utmost profit from the natural lights of his glorious disposition, and had imitated the deep intellect, generous feelings, and noble nature (of that Prince) they, when Abú-Nasr deceased, represented to the Sultán’s consideration his eloquence, dignity, ele­gance, and agreeable manners, the Sultán sum­moned him before the throne and placed him on the seat of private friends. He came to be the first object of the Sultán’s eyes, and was selected by him remarkably for friendship and honour. He arrived at high posts and attained to the place of the category of vizirs, amidst the nobles, the generals, and the high officers. The Sultán’s view, in investing him with the collar of this dictator­ship, was, that with reference to these people, who, by reason of their devotional and monastic way of living, had acquired such authority, and who had made the grandeur of their position vie with the grandeur of religion, and had imagined that the moon could not support her claim compared with their place, and that the stars would be unable to inflame their high devotion, he should put them all to their proper labour and extirpate their errors, and tie their hands from coveting high positions or from ambitiously craving for the world. And when he came to Nisapúr he began to break them in, so that if you obtained the testimony of the majority they would declare themselves satisfied with his government and benefited by his exact efficiency. Thus, through dread of him, Nisapúr became calm, and the hissing of these scorpions and noise of these locusts of self-will was appeased, and no one possessed the power of disputing about their ways (of religion) or of quarrelling about their party standards. Thus these people of con­fusion and chiefs of innovation drew their heads into their collars, and folded up their skirts from the quest of eminent things (Verse)

And although, in appeasing this uproar and extinguishing this outcry, he displayed commend­able marks of industry, all bore the impress of the blessed resolution, and all was the effect of the awe felt for the Sultán, by whose power a mountain would quake, and from dread of whose scimitar the dust would arise from the depth of the sea. And although the tears of the clouds be the cause of the beauteous sheen of vegetation, and the stones of the brave the proximate reason of the flight of devils, the intelligent know that the first cause of all is that Providence who fans the stars of his gift by the breathings of his mercy, and that Almighty one who lights the lanterns of Heaven by the flame of the sparks of His bounty. He is the adorable necessitator of the produce of the clouds, not the clouds, and He is the causation of the periods (times) of the stars, not the stars. Thus this governor made this mob follow their bread-winning, and whatever, during the time of confusion, they had seized in their impurity, he seized from them again, and confined them all in prison. He wished to give a rubbing, also, to Abú-Bakr, but he withdrew, and sat down in the corner of secrecy. And, because the Sultán did not wish to molest him further, or issue a writ demanding money from him, he turned away his eyes from him, that he might occupy himself in devotion at home, and change his disposition from its custom of exciting tumults and deceiving the people. And as to the party of Sayyadites, who had withdrawn their foot from the circle of uprightness and the direct object, he settled them in the right path, by various punishments and fines, and assured them that the ample veneration and supremacy of their body was founded upon their obedience to the Sultán, upon pursuing the path of rectitude, and upon withdrawing from all measures of falsehood and malice. And all expressed submission to him, and took the road of sincerity and modesty; and then appointing as his deputy, with the confirmation of the Sultán, Abú-Mansúr-Nasr-’bn-Rámus, who was his other self, he returned to the presence. The Sultán entertained great regard for him, on account of his expedition in that affair, and for having managed the preservation of his honour.

Moreover he issued rigid orders to the great, eminent, and noble men of his Court, respecting assiduous obedience and steady service, obliging them all to attach themselves to the Diván, for two parts of the day, and to render an indication (or evidence) of their labour, and if any one twisted his head from his commands and reproofs, he gave them a noble rubbing, so that all placed their necks beneath his authority, and became submissive and attentive to his orders. In a short time his affairs reached the Pleiades, and his government went on in such a manner that, in the land of Khurásán, no one had ever conducted it in such order and beauty. However he passed a long life,* with abundant wealth, with numerous servants and troops, in liberality and plenty. During his administration the affairs of Nisapúr were brought to thorough order. His displayed the face of level equity between the widow and the wealthy, and the door of boasting and oppression was closed. And he charged a faithful Muhtisab (examiner of weights and measures, and censor) to go amongst the market people and workmen, in order to guard the standard of weights and measures. He made each street a clear road for asses, crowds, and stalls, so that the people, in the mutual transaction of business, were enabled to refrain from extremities of impatience. Formerly the streets of the bazars had not been covered, and from the marks of dust and the annoyances of rain the market people and men of business had been vexed; but, during his government, he ordered that the roofs of the bazars should be connected together, and in the space of two months the city was entirely covered, roof by roof, with clean roofs and light-affording interwoven (leaves) so that all might everywhere be gladdened by the penetration of the rays of the sun. He expended nearly one hundred thousand dinars, through his goodness of soul, in promoting justice and gladness for the people, in honourable and pious liberalities, and in building bazars; and the city was so finished that the eye was never satisfied with contemplating its paintings and pleasant objects, so that, in the midst of Nisapúr, there appeared another Arcturus and an eighth heaven. His conduct, both regard­ing the city and its administration, was fully recog­nised by the Sultán, and rewarded with corre­sponding praise and satisfaction.