The Amours of Zeokinizul, King of the Kofirans | Page 5

they were not wanting to alarm the People with Reports, that his Victuals had been several Times poisoned. The great Men of the Kingdom, whose Abilities the Regent never consulted, as being himself equal to all the Difficulties of Government, enter'd into a League against him, under Pretence of Concern for Zeokinizul, whose Life they declar'd was in Danger. But the Kam of Anserol, who was too vigilant to be surprized, soon discovered the Plot, and having secur'd the Leaders, he quench'd the Rebellion in the Blood of its Contrivers.
He did not give himself the Trouble of verbally refuting the Calumnies, and Invectives, with which he was daily loaded, but took Care to disprove them by his Conduct. The publick Finances had been quite exhausted, during the last Years of the great Zokitarezoul, and he took upon himself to restore them. It is true, that his Scheme ruined some Families; but besides that their Number was but small, and their Ruin rather owing to their inconsiderate Greediness, such a desperate Distemper could not have been well removed by a softer Remedy.
No sooner was Zeokinizul of Age, but the Kam delivered up to him the Government of the Kingdom, which by his Care and Munificence, was the Abode of the polite Arts, of which he had declared himself the Protector. Nay more, he induced the young King to chuse himself a Consort; and thus he refuted the base Views which his Enemies had fathered on him.
Scarce was this important Affair finished, when the Kam of Anserol, as if this World could afford no Addition to his Glory, died suddenly, as he had always desired. His Enemies laid hold of this Circumstance, to revile him, even in his Grave. They spread a Report, that his Intention was to poison the King, by a Liquor which he was to drink along with him, but that by a fortunate Mistake of the Cups, he had fallen the Victim of his own Contrivance. The young King could not hear such atrocious Insults without Horror. He threatened the severest Punishments to any one who should dare to blacken the Character of this great Prince, and he himself never mentioned his Name but with Words of the highest Esteem, and the warmest Acknowledgment.
The joyful Kofirans promised themselves, from the hopeful Inclinations of Zeokinizul, a Reign no less happy than the preceding; but by a Fatality, not uncommon amongst them, the young Monarch was so fond of an old Mollak, formerly his Tutor, of a very insinuating but hypocritical Humility, that he entirely remitted to him the whole Management of his Kingdom. This old Wretch, whose predominate Passion was Avarice, loaded the People with Taxes. And as a War would not allow him to embezzle at will the public Treasures, he never would enter into one unless utterly impossible to be avoided. And then, with so much Niggardliness, and so little Conduct, that he became the Scorn both of the Generals and the Officers of State. Happy if he could have saved those vast Sums, or have expended them in a manner suitable to the Honour of the Prince, and the unbounded Zeal of his Subjects. But they were all in a short Time squandered away, among Foreigners, who made him their constant Dupe. Indeed, the best Schemes miscarried thro' his Sordidness, and yet with all these Faults, he maintain'd his Ascendency over the Prince, so that no Courtier dared utter any Complaint against him.
Zeokinizul, whose whole Life was devoted to his Consort and his Hunting, of both which he was equally fond, had only the Title and Pomp of a King, for the Mollak Jeflur had engrossed all the Authority, by which Means he aggrandized his Family, promoted and enriched his Creatures, and supplied the enormous Profusion of his Mistress the Princess of Ginarkan, Spouse to a Prince of the Blood of Vosa?e.
His selfish Love of Peace, could not, however, hinder his being involved in an unavoidable War.
Sicidem, grand Kam of Katenos, among the Provinces of the Neitilanes, dying without Issue, the Emperor of the Maregins laid Claim to his Succession. This Prince was already too powerful for the King of the Kofirans not to oppose this Addition to his Greatness. And thus this ecclesiastical Statesman Jeflur, was brought under a Necessity of employing his Master's Troops, in order to deprive him of so rich an Inheritance. About this Time also, the Throne of Goplone, of which his Father-in-Law had been dispossess'd, became vacant, and Zeokinizul's Honour required, that he should lay hold of this Opportunity to restore him. After a fruitless Trial of all the peaceable Ways of Bribery and Negotiation to compass his End, the Mollak was at last oblig'd to order the Kofiran Troops to march. The first Body marched towards the Nhir, to