Story No. 8

They said to Hormoz: 'What fault did you find in your father's ministers that you had them imprisoned?' He said: 'I found no clear fault, but I saw that they feared me beyond all measure and did not fully trust my promises. I was afraid that, out of fear for their own safety, they would move to destroy me. So I acted on the words of the wise, who have said: Fear the one who fears you, wise man, even if you could defeat a hundred like him in war. The snake strikes at the shepherd's foot precisely because it fears he will crush its head with a stone. Haven't you seen how, when a cat is cornered, it claws out the very eyes of a leopard?'