Noureddin was maintained from his legitimate share of the spoil which he vested in the purchase of a
private estate. His favorite sultana sighed for some female object of expense. "Alas," replied the king, "I
fear God, and am no more than the treasurer of the Moslems. Their property I cannot alienate; but I still
possess three shops in the city of Hems: these you may take; and these alone can I bestow." His chamber
of justice was the terror of the great and the refuge of the poor. Some years after the sultan's death,
an oppressed subject called aloud in the streets of Damascus, "O Noureddin, Noureddin, where art
thou now? Arise, arise, to pity and protect us!" A tumult was apprehended, and a living tyrant blushed
or trembled at the name of a departed monarch.