رو بایشان کرد و گفت ای مشفقان ** از کجا آمد بگویید این عوان
He turned his face to them and said, “O kindly men, tell (me), whence came this myrmidon (ruffian)?
چیست نام این وزیر جامه‌کن ** قوم گفتندش که نامش هم حسن1235
What is the name of this vizier who tears off the clothes (of the poor)?” The company (of courtiers) said to him, “His name too is Hasan.”
گفت یا رب نام آن و نام این ** چون یکی آمد دریغ ای رب دین
He (the poet) cried, “O Lord, how are the names of that one and this one the same? Alas, O Lord of the Judgement!
آن حسن نامی که از یک کلک او ** صد وزیر و صاحب آید جودخو
That Hasan by name (was such) that by a single pen of his a hundred viziers and ministers are disposed to liberality.
این حسن کز ریش زشت این حسن ** می‌توان بافید ای جان صد رسن
This Hasan (is such) that from the ugly beard of this Hasan thou canst weave, O (dear) soul, a hundred ropes.”
بر چنین صاحب چو شه اصغا کند ** شاه و ملکش را ابد رسوا کند
When a king listens to such a minister, he (the minister) disgraces the king and his kingdom unto everlasting.
مانستن بدرایی این وزیر دون در افساد مروت شاه به وزیر فرعون یعنی هامان در افساد قابلیت فرعون
The resemblance of the bad judgement of this base vizier in corrupting the king's generosity to (that of) the vizier of Pharaoh, namely, Hámán, in corrupting the readiness of Pharaoh to receive (the true Faith).
چند آن فرعون می‌شد نرم و رام ** چون شنیدی او ز موسی آن کلام1240
How many a time did Pharaoh soften and become submissive when he was hearing that Word from Moses!—
آن کلامی که بدادی سنگ شیر ** از خوشی آن کلام بی‌نظیر
That Word (which was such) that from the sweetness of that incomparable Word the rock would have yielded milk.
چون بهامان که وزیرش بود او ** مشورت کردی که کینش بود خو
Whenever he took counsel with Hámán, who was his vizier and whose nature it was to hate,
پس بگفتی تا کنون بودی خدیو ** بنده گردی ژنده‌پوشی را بریو
Then he (Hámán) would say, “Until now thou hast been the Khedive: wilt thou become, through deception, the slave to a wearer of rags?”
هم‌چو سنگ منجنیقی آمدی ** آن سخن بر شیشه خانه‌ی او زدی
Those words would come like a stone shot by a mangonel (ballista) and strike upon his glass house.
هر چه صد روز آن کلیم خوش‌خطاب ** ساختی در یک‌دم او کردی خراب1245
All that the Kalím of sweet address built up in a hundred days he (Hámán) would destroy in one moment.
عقل تو دستور و مغلوب هواست ** در وجودت ره‌زن راه خداست
Thy intellect is the vizier and is overcome by sensuality: in (the realm of) thy being it is a brigand (that attacks thee) on the Way to God.
ناصحی ربانیی پندت دهد ** آن سخن را او به فن طرحی نهد
(If) a godly monitor give thee good advice, it will artfully put those words (of his) aside,
کین نه بر جایست هین از جا مشو ** نیست چندان با خود آ شیدا مشو
Saying, “These (words) are not well-founded: take heed, don't be carried away (by them); they are not (worth) so much: come to thyself (be sensible), don't be crazed.”
وای آن شه که وزیرش این بود ** جای هر دو دوزخ پر کین بود
Alas for the king whose vizier is this (carnal intellect): the place (abode) of them both is vengeful Hell.
شاد آن شاهی که او را دست‌گیر ** باشد اندر کار چون آصف وزیر1250
Happy is the king whose helper in affairs is a vizier like Ásaf.
شاه عادل چون قرین او شود ** نام آن نور علی نور این بود
When the just king is associated with him, his (the king's) name is light upon light.
چون سلیمان شاه و چون آصف وزیر ** نور بر نورست و عنبر بر عبیر
A king like Solomon and a vizier like Ásaf are light upon light and ambergris upon ‘abír.
شاه فرعون و چو هامانش وزیر ** هر دو را نبود ز بدبختی گزیر
(When) the king (is like) Pharaoh and his vizier like Hámán, ill-fortune is inevitable for both.
پس بود ظلمات بعضی فوق بعض ** نه خرد یار و نه دولت روز عرض
Then it is (a case of) darkness, one part over another: neither intellect nor fortune shall be their friend on the Day of Judgement.
من ندیدم جز شقاوت در لام ** گر تو دیدستی رسان از من سلام1255
I have not seen aught but misery in the vile: if thou hast seen (aught else), convey (to them) the salaam (of felicitation) from me.
هم‌چو جان باشد شه و صاحب چو عقل ** عقل فاسد روح را آرد بنقل
The king is as the spirit, and the vizier as the intellect: the corrupt intellect brings the spirit into movement (towards corruption).
آن فرشته‌ی عقل چون هاروت شد ** سحرآموز دو صد طاغوت شد
When the angelical intellect became a Hárút, it became the teacher in magic to two hundred devils.
عقل جزوی را وزیر خود مگیر ** عقل کل را ساز ای سلطان وزیر
Do not take the particular (individual) intellect as thy vizier: make the Universal Intellect thy vizier, O king.