Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/184

178 victims to the indolence which was the besetting sin of Mughal commanders in the Deccan. Mu'azzam was a mild and dutiful son, whose gentle docility laid him perpetually open to the suspicion of designing subtlety. His father had suspected him of ambitions which were wholly foreign to his placid nature, and few princes have won credit for so much devilry as Mu'azzam acquired by the consistent practice of all the innocent virtues. Aurangzíb had not forgotten that his own blameloss youth had veiled the fiercest ambition, and his other son, Prince A'zam, was not slow to point the precedent to the case of Mu'azzam. He was 'too good to be true,' evidently. He was certainly too just and humane to be sent to wage a pitiless war. Instead of attacking Haidarábád and Golkonda with the energy which his father expected, the Prince strove in every way to avert hostilities, and then, after some futile skirmishing, for four or five months he remained motionless. It is not surprising to hear that Aurangzíb administered a trenchant reprimand, which 'incensed' the blameless Prince, but induced him at length to fight. Even when he had beaten the enemy and pursued them into their camp, he gave them a truce for the alleged purpose of removing their women to safety, and was rewarded by renewed resistance. He then throw out an imbecile proposal that the dispute should be settled by a combat between two or three heroes on either side, the Horatii and Curiatii of Delhi and Golkonda! This does not seem to have been taken up, and at last