Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/331

CHAP. XII.] ment of affairs. His history during the war of succession clearly proves that, with all the wealth and influence he had enjoyed for years, he could secure very few devoted followers or efficient lieutenants. Evidently he was no judge of character. Men of ability and self-respect must have kept away from such a vain and injudicious master, while the mercenary self-seekers of the army and Court must have recognised that in following him against the astute and experienced Aurangzib they would be only backing the losing side. Dara was a loving husband, a doting father, and a devoted son; but as a ruler of men in troubled times he must have been a failure. Long continued prosperity had unnerved his character and made him incapable of planning wisely, daring boldly, and achieving strenuously,—or, if need were, of wresting victory from the jaws of defeat by desperate effort or heroic endurance. The darling of the Court was utterly out of his element in the Camp. The centre of a circle of flattering nobles and ministers knew not how to make a number of generals obey one masterly will and act in harmony and concert. Military organisation and tactical combination were beyond his power. And he had never learnt by practice how to guide the varying tides of a battle with the coolness and judgment of a true