ss that he no more thought of the
condition he was in and that he must devise some contrivance of escape.
He became oblivious of the fact that his feet rested against four
serpents and that he did not know which would attack him first, forgot
that the two mice were without cessation nibbling at the boughs by which
he was hanging, and that as soon as they had gnawed them through he
would drop into the jaws of the dragon. And so in his heedlessness he
yielded to the enjoyment of the meed till he perished.

I compared the well with the world which is brimful of all manner of
harm and terrible perils, the four snakes with the four humours which
constitute the physical basis of man, but which, should they be excited,
prove mortal poison; the branches to life, the black and white mice to
night and day which in perpetual alternation consume our lifetime; the
dragon with death inevitable; the honey to the particle of joy which man
derives from his senses of smell, taste, sight, hearing and feeling, but
which makes him oblivious of himself and all his circumstances and decoy
away from the path to emancipation. So circumstanced I found myself, and
endeavoured to conduct myself with as much rectitude as possible in the
hope once again to experience a time when I should acquire a guide for
myself and help for my cause. I remained in this stage till I returned
from India to my homeland after I had made a copy of this book and a
few more.

APPENDIX IV

_THE TRIAL OF AFSHIN._.

_A DISGUISED ZOROASTRIAN GENERAL_.

[Afshin was a Zoroastrian at heart. His trial and condemnation are
referred to by Browne, _Literary History of Persia._ I take the account
direct from Tabari. It is to be found also in Ibn Athir and Ibn Khaldun.
The legal procedure reveals prominently the condition under which
professed non-Moslems lived--religious liberty was granted to them. Note
that it was possible to chastise ecclesiastical officers like Imams and
Muezzins because of their interference with the religious practices of
non-Moslems. Observe the part played by a Mobed at a criminal trial
conducted according to Muhammadan usages. The Zoroastrian priest, who
subsequently embraced Islam, comes forward to give evidence against the
most puissant but covert co-religionist of his times.]

It has been related by Harun son of Isa, son of Mansur as follows:--I
was present in the house of Muatisim and there were there Ahmad bin Ali
Dawud and Ishaq bin Ib