te them who are noble and
worthy of honour, and suffer not the high-minded to be at the mercy of the
contemptible and worthless, for this is what We observed upon Our arrival
in the City, and to it We bear witness. We found among its inhabitants
some who were possessed of an affluent fortune and lived in the midst of
excessive riches, while others were in dire want and abject poverty. This
ill beseemeth thy sovereignty, and is unworthy of thy rank.

68 Let My counsel be acceptable to thee, and strive thou to rule with
equity among men, that God may exalt thy name and spread abroad the fame
of thy justice in all the world. Beware lest thou aggrandize thy ministers
at the expense of thy subjects. Fear the sighs of the poor and of the
upright in heart who, at every break of day, bewail their plight, and be
unto them a benignant sovereign. They, verily, are thy treasures on earth.
It behoveth thee, therefore, to safeguard thy treasures from the assaults
of them who wish to rob thee. Inquire into their affairs, and ascertain,
every year, nay every month, their condition, and be not of them that are
careless of their duty.

69 Set before thine eyes God's unerring Balance and, as one standing in
His Presence, weigh in that Balance thine actions every day, every moment
of thy life. Bring thyself to account ere thou art summoned to a
reckoning, on the Day when no man shall have strength to stand for fear of
God, the Day when the hearts of the heedless ones shall be made to
tremble.

70 It behoveth every king to be as bountiful as the sun, which fostereth
the growth of all beings, and giveth to each its due, whose benefits are
not inherent in itself, but are ordained by Him Who is the Most Powerful,
the Almighty. The King should be as generous, as liberal in his mercy as
the clouds, the outpourings of whose bounty are showered upon every land,
by the behest of Him Who is the Supreme Ordainer, the All-Knowing.

71 Have a care not to entrust thine affairs of state entirely into
another's hands. None can discharge thy functions better than thine own
self. Thus do We make clear unto thee Our words of wisdom, and send down
upon thee that which can enable thee to pass over from the left hand of
oppression to the right hand of justice, and approach the resplendent
ocean of His favours. Such is the path which the kings that were before
thee have trodden, they that acted equitably towards their subjects, and
walked in the ways of undev