Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/81



matters of religion the Emperor was obstinate to the point of fanaticism. In other matters he displayed the wisdom and judgment of a clear and thoughtful mind. As he had his ideal of faith, which he fought for à outrance, so had he his standard of kingly duty and his theory of the education of princes for the responsibilities of government.

'No man,' says Bernier, 'can be more alive than Aurangzíb to the necessity of storing the minds of princes, destined to rule nations, with useful knowledge. As they surpass others in power and elevation, so ought they, he says, to be pre-eminent in wisdom and virtue. He is very sensible that the cause of the misery which afflicts the empires of Asia, of their misrule, and consequent decay, should be sought, and will be found, in the deficient and pernicious mode of instructing the children of their kings. Entrusted from their infancy to the care of women and eunuchs, slaves from Russia, Circassia, Mingrelia, Georgia, or Ethiopia, whose minds are debased by the very nature of their occupation; servile and mean to superiors, proud and oppressive to dependents;—these princes, when called to the throne, leave the walls of the seraglio quite ignorant of the duties imposed upon them by their new situation. They appear on the stage of life as