Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/198

168 revenue of the entire empire, for absolutely no return.

The moral loss was even greater than the material. The Emperor of Delhi might dazzle the eyes of foreign ambassadors and travellers by displaying his Peacock Throne and Koh- i-noor, or the superb marble edifices with which he had adorned Agra and Delhi. But henceforth his military prestige was gone throughout the world. The Persian king could rightly boast that the rulers of Delhi knew how to steal a fort by means of gold, but not how to conquer it by strength of arm. Shah Abbas II. had conquered Qandahar in less than two months; but two Mughal princes in three long and costly campaigns could not recover it, though they were opposed by mere generals and not by any member of the royal blood of Persia. Naturally the military fame of Persia rose very high. The