FIRDUSI'S SATIRE ON MAHMUD
Know, tyrant as thou art, this earthly state
Is not eternal, but of transient date;
Fear God, then, and afflict not human-kind;
To merit Heaven, be thou to Heaven resigned.
Afflict not even the Ant; though weak and small,
It breathes and lives, and life is sweet to all.
Knowing my temper, firm, and stern, and bold,
Didst thou not, tyrant, tremble to behold
My sword blood-dropping? Hadst thou not the sense
To shrink from giving man like me offence?
What could impel thee to an act so base?
What, but to earn and prove thy own disgrace?
Why was I sentenced to be trod upon,
And crushed to death by elephants? By one
Whose power I scorn! Couldst thou presume that I
Would be appalled by thee, whom I defy?
I am the lion, I, inured to blood,
And make the impious and the base my food;
And I could grind thy limbs, and spread them far
As Nile's dark waters their rich treasures bear.
Fear thee! I fear not man, but God alone,
I only bow to his Almighty throne.
Inspired by Him my ready numbers flow;
Guarded by Him I dread no earthly foe.
Thus in the pride of song I pass my days,
Offering to Heaven my gratitude and praise.
From every trace of sense and feeling free,
When thou art dead, what will become of thee?
If thou shouldst tear me limb from limb, and cast
My dust and ashes to the angry blast,
Firdusi still would live, since on thy name,
Mahmud, I did not rest my hopes of fame
In the bright page of my heroic song,
But on the God of Heaven, to whom belong
Boundless thanksgivings, and on Him whose love
Supports the Faithful in the realms above,
The mighty Prophet! none who e'er reposed
On Him, existence without hope has closed.
And thou wouldst hurl me underneath the tread
Of the wild elephant, till I were dead!
Dead! by that insult roused, I should become
An elephant in power, and seal thy doom—
Mahmud! if fear of man hath never awed
Thy heart, at least fear thy Creator, God.
Full many a warrior of illustrious worth,
Full many of humble, of imperial birth:
Túr, Sílim, Jemshíd, Minúchihr the brave,
Have died; for nothing had the power to save
These mighty monarchs from the common doom;
They died, but blest in memory still they bloom.
Thus kings too perish—none on earth remain,
Since all things human seek the dust again.
O, had thy father graced a kingly throne,
Thy mother been for royal virtues known,
A different fate the poet then had shared,
Honors and wealth had been his just reward;
But how remote from thee a glorious line!
No high, ennobling ancestry is thine;
From a vile stock thy bold career began,
A Blacksmith was thy sire of Isfahán.
Alas! from vice can goodness ever spring?
Is mercy hoped for in a tyrant king?
Can water wash the Ethiopian white?
Can we remove the darkness from the night?
The tree to which a bitter fruit is given,
Would still be bitter in the bowers of Heaven;
And a bad heart keeps on its vicious course;
Or if it changes, changes for the worse;
Whilst streams of milk, where Eden's flowrets blow,
Acquire more honied sweetness as they flow.
The reckless king who grinds the poor like thee,
Must ever be consigned to infamy!
Now mark Firdusi's strain, his Book of Kings
Will ever soar upon triumphant wings.
All who have listened to its various lore
Rejoice, the wise grow wiser than before;
Heroes of other times, of ancient days,
Forever flourish in my sounding lays;
Have I not sung of Káús, Tús, and Gíw;
Of matchless Rustem, faithful, still, and true.
Of the great Demon-binder, who could throw
His kamund to the Heavens, and seize his foe!
Of Húsheng, Feridún, and Sám Suwár,
Lohurásp, Kai-khosráu, and Isfendiyár;
Gushtásp, Arjásp, and him of mighty name,
Gúdarz, with eighty sons of martial fame!
The toil of thirty years is now complete,
Record sublime of many a warlike feat,
Written midst toil and trouble, but the strain
Awakens every heart, and will remain
A lasting stimulus to glorious deeds;
For even the bashful maid, who kindling reads,
Becomes a warrior. Thirty years of care,
Urged on by royal promise, did I bear,
And now, deceived and scorned, the aged bard
Is basely cheated of his pledged reward!
[FOOTNOTES to the SHÁH NÁMEH]
[Footnote 1: Love at first sight, and of the most enthusiastic kind, is the passion described in all Persian poems, as if a whole life of love were condensed into one moment. It is all wild and rapturous. It has nothing of a rational cast. A casual glance from an unknown beauty often affords the subject of a poem. The poets whom Dr. Johnson has denominated metaphysical, such as Donne, Jonson, and Cowley, bear a strong resemblance to the Persians on the subject of love.
Now, sure, within this twelvemonth past,
I've loved at least some twenty years or more;
Th' account of love runs much more fast,
Than that with which our life does score:
So, though my life be short, yet I may prove,
The Great Methusalem of love!!!
"Love and Life."—Cowley.
The odes of Háfiz also, with all their spirit and richness of expression, abound in conceit and extravagant metaphor. There is, however, something very beautiful in the passage which may be paraphrased thus:
Zephyr thro' thy locks is straying,
Stealing fragrance, charms displaying;
Should it pass where Háfiz lies,
From his conscious dust would rise,
Flowrets of a thousand dyes!]
[Footnote 2: Ancient Scythia embraced the whole of Túrán and the northern part of Persia. The Túránians are the Scythians of the Greek Historians, who are said, about the year B.C. 639, to have invaded the kingdom of the Medes.
Túrán, which is the ancient name of the country of Turkistán, appears from Des Guignes, to be the source and fountain of all the celebrated Scythian nations, which, under the name of Goths and Vandals, subsequently overran the Roman empire. Irán and Túrán, according to the Oriental historians, comprehended all that is comprised in upper Asia, with the exception of India and China. Every country beyond the pale of the Persian empire was considered barbarous. The great river called by the Arabs and Persians, Jihún or Amú, and by the Greeks and Romans, Oxus, divided these two great countries from each other.]
[Footnote 3: Sám, Sám Suwár, was the son of Narímán. He is said to have vanquished or tamed a great number of animals and terrible monsters, amongst which was one remarkable for its ferocity. This furious animal was called Sohám, on account of its being of the color and nature of fire. According to fabulous history, he made it his war-horse, in all his engagements against the Demons.]
[Footnote 4: The sex of this fabulous animal is not clearly made out! It tells Zál that it had nursed him like a father, and therefore I have, in this place, adopted the masculine gender, though the preserver of young ones might authorize its being considered a female. The Símúrgh is probably neither one nor the other, or both! Some have likened the Símúrgh to the Ippogrif or Griffin; but the Símúrgh is plainly a biped; others again have supposed that the fable simply meant a holy recluse of the mountains, who nourished and educated the poor child which had been abandoned by its father.]
[Footnote 5: This custom is derived from the earliest ages of Persia, and has been continued down to the present times with no abatement of its pomp or splendor Mr. Morier thus speaks of the progress of the Embassy to Persia:—
"An Istakbál composed of fifty horsemen of our Mehmandar's tribe, met us about three miles from our encampment; they were succeeded as we advanced by an assemblage on foot, who threw a glass vessel filled with sweetmeats beneath the Envoy's horse, a ceremony which we had before witnessed at Kauzeroon, and which we again understood to be an honor shared with the King and his sons alone. Then came two of the principal merchants of Shiraz, accompanied by a boy, the son of Mahomed Nebee Khan, the new Governor of Bushere. They, however, incurred the Envoy's displeasure by not dismounting from their horses, a form always observed in Persia by those of lower rank, when they met a superior. We were thus met by three Istakbáls during the course of the day.">[
[Footnote 6: The province of Mázinderán, of which the principal city is Amol, comprehends the whole of the southern coast of the Caspian sea. It was known to the ancients by the name of Hyrcania. At the period to which the text refers, the country was in the possession of demons.]
[Footnote 7: The fort called Killah Suffeed, lies about seventy-six miles northwest of the city of Shiraz. It is of an oblong form, and encloses a level space at the top of the mountain, which is covered with delightful verdure, and watered by numerous springs. The ascent is near three miles, and for the last five or six hundred yards, the summit is so difficult of approach, that the slightest opposition, if well directed, must render it impregnable.]
[Footnote 8: The numerical strength of the Persian and Túránian forces appears prodigious on all occasions, but nothing when compared with the army under Xerxes at Thermopylae, which, with the numerous retinue of servants, eunuchs, and women that attended it, is said to have amounted to no less than 5,283,220 souls.]
[Footnote 9: Herodotus speaks of a people confederated with the army of Xerxes, who employed the noose. "Their principal dependence in action is upon cords made of twisted leather, which they use in this manner: when they engage an enemy, they throw out these cords, having a noose at the extremity; if they entangle in them either horse or man, they without difficulty put them to death."—Beloe's transl. Polymnia, Sec. 85.]
[Footnote 10: Istakhar, also called Persepolis, and Chehel-minar, or the
Forty Pillars. This city was said to have been laid in ruins by
Alexander after the conquest of Darius.]
[Footnote 11: Kai-káús, the second King of Persia of the dynasty called Kaiánides. He succeeded Kai-kobád, about six hundred years B.C. According to Firdusi he was a foolish tyrannical prince. He appointed Rustem captain-general of the armies, to which the lieutenant-generalship and the administration of the state was annexed, under the title of "the champion of the world." He also gave him a taj, or crown of gold, which kings only were accustomed to wear, and granted him the privilege of giving audience seated on a throne of gold. It is said that Kai-káús applied himself much to the study of astronomy, and that he founded two great observatories, the one at Babel, and the other on the Tigris.]
[Footnote 12: The armor called Burgustuwán almost covered the horse, and as usually made of leather and felt-cloth.]
[Footnote 13: In this hunting excursion he is completely armed, being supplied with spear, sword, shield, mace, bow and arrows. Like the knight-errants of after times, he seldom even slept unarmed. Single combat and the romantic enterprises of European Chivalry may indeed be traced to the East. Rustem was a most illustrious example of all that is pious, disinterested, and heroic. The adventure now describing is highly characteristic of a chivalrous age. In the Dissertation prefixed to Richardson's Dictionary, mention is made of a famous Arabian Knight-errant called Abu Mahommud Albatal, "who wandered everywhere in quest of adventures, and redressing grievances. He was killed in the year 738.">[
[Footnote 14: As a proof of her innocence Tahmíneh declares to Rustem, "No person has ever seen me out of my private chamber, or even heard the sound of my voice." It is but just to remark, that the seclusion in which women of rank continue in Persia, and other parts of the East, is not, by them, considered intolerable, or even a hardship. Custom has not only rendered it familiar, but happy. It has nothing of the unprofitable severity of the cloister. The Zenanas are supplied with everything that can please and gratify a reasonable wish, and it is well known that the women of the East have influence and power, more flattering and solid, than the free unsecluded beauties of the Western world.]
[Footnote 15: In Percy's Collection, there is an old song which contains a similar idea.
You meaner beauties of the night,
That poorly satisfie our eies,
More by your number, than your light;
You common people of the skies,
What are you when the Moon shall rise?
SIR HENRY WOTTON.]
[Footnote 16: Kus is a tymbal, or large brass drum, which is beat in the palaces or camps of Eastern Princes.]
[Footnote 17: It appears throughout the Sháh Námeh that whenever any army was put in motion, the inhabitants and the country, whether hostile or friendly, were equally given up to plunder and devastation, and "Everything in their progress was burnt and destroyed.">[
[Footnote 18: Literally, Húmán was not at first aware that Sohráb was wounded in the LIVER. In this organ, Oriental as well as the Greek and Roman poets, place the residence of love.]
[Footnote 19: The paper upon which the letters of royal and distinguished personages in the East are written is usually perfumed, and covered with curious devices in gold. This was scented with amber. The degree of embellishment is generally regulated according to the rank of the party.]
[Footnote 20: Four days were consumed in uninterrupted feasting. This seems to have been an ancient practice previous to the commencement of any important undertaking, or at setting out on a journey.]
[Footnote 21: Zúára, it will be remembered, was the brother of Rustem, and had the immediate superintendence of the Zábul troops.]
[Footnote 22: The original is, "Seize and inflict upon him the punishment of the dar." According to Burháni-katia, dar is a tree upon which felons are hanged. But the general acceptation of the term is breaking or tearing the body upon a stake.]
[Footnote 23: In this speech Rustem recounts the services which he had performed for Káús. He speaks of his conquests in Egypt, China, Hámáverán, Rúm, Súk-sar, and Mázinderán. Thus Achilles boasts of his unrequited achievements in the cause of Greece.
The warriors now, with sad forebodings wrung,
I sacked twelve ample cities on the main,
And twelve lay smoking on the Trojan plain.
POPE.—Iliad ix. 328.]
[Footnote 24: Literally, "Kings ought to be endowed with judgment and discretion; no advantage can arise from impetuosity and rage." Gúdarz was one of the greatest generals of Persia, he conquered Judea, and took Jerusalem under the reign of Lohurásp, of the first dynasty of Persia, and sustained many wars against Afrásiyáb under the Kings of the second dynasty. He was the father of Gíw, who is also celebrated for his valor in the following reigns. The opinion of this venerable and distinguished warrior appears to have had considerable weight and influence with Káús.]
[Footnote 25: Káús, in acknowledging the violence Of his disposition, uses a singular phrase: "When you departed in anger, Champion! I repented; ashes fell into my mouth." A similar metaphor is used in Hindústaní: If a person falls under the displeasure of his friend, he says, "Ashes have fallen into my meat": meaning, that his happiness is gone.]
[Footnote 26: This is one of Firdusi's favorite similes.
"My heart became as slender as the new moon.">[
[Footnote 27: The beautiful arbors referred to in the text are often included within the walls of Eastern palaces. They are fancifully fitted up, and supplied with reservoirs, fountains, and flower-trees. These romantic garden-pavilions are called Kiosks in Turkey, and are generally situated upon an eminence near a running stream.]
[Footnote 28: Milton alludes to this custom in Paradise Lost:
Where the gorgeous east with richest hand
Showers on her Kings barbaric pearl and gold.
In the note on this passage by Warburton, it is said to have been an eastern ceremony, at the coronation of their Kings, to powder them with gold-dust and seed-pearl. The expression in Firdusi is, "he showered or scattered gems." It was usual at festivals, and the custom still exists, to throw money amongst the people. In Háfiz, the term used is nisar, which is of the same import. Clarke, in the second volume of his Travels, speaks of the four principal Sultanas of the Seraglio at Constantinople being powdered with diamonds:
"Long spangled robes, open in front, with pantaloons embroidered in gold and silver, and covered by a profusion of pearls and precious stones, displayed their persons to great advantage. Their hair hung in loose and very thick tresses on each side of their cheeks, falling quite down to the waist, and covering their shoulders behind. Those tresses were quite powdered with diamonds, not displayed according to any studied arrangement, but as if carelessly scattered, by handfuls, among their flowing locks."
—Vol. ii. p. 14.]
[Footnote 29: In his descriptions of battle-array, Firdusi seldom omits "golden slippers," which, however, I have not preserved in this place.]
[Footnote 30: The original is Sandur[=u]s, sandaraca; for which I have substituted amber, Sandur[=u]s is the Arabic name for Gum Juniper.]
[Footnote 31: The banners were adorned with the figure of an elephant, to denote his royal descent.]
[Footnote 32: The text says that he was also the son-in-law of Rustem.]
[Footnote 33: The word Guráz signifies a wild boar, but this acceptation is not very accordant to Mussulman notions, and consequently it is not supposed, by the orthodox, to have that meaning in the text. It is curious that the name of the warrior, Guráz, should correspond with the bearings on the standard. This frequently obtains in the heraldry of Europe. Family bearings seem to be used in every country of any degree of civilization. Krusenstern, the Russian circumnavigator, speaking of the Japanese, says, "Everyone has his family arms worked into his clothes, in different places, about the size of a half dollar, a practice usual to both sexes; and in this manner any person may be recognized, and the family to which he belongs easily ascertained. A young lady wears her father's arms until after her marriage, when she assumes those of her husband. The greatest mark of honor which a Prince or a Governor can confer upon any one, is to give him a cloak with his arms upon it, the person having such a one wearing his own arms upon his under dress.">[
[Footnote 34: Firdusi considers this to be destiny! It would have been natural in Sohráb to have gloried in the fame of his father, but from an inevitable dispensation, his lips are here sealed on that subject; and he inquires of Rustem as if he only wanted to single him out for the purpose of destroying him. The people of Persia are all fatalists.]
[Footnote 35: This passage will remind the classical reader of the speech of Themistocles, in Plutarch, addressed to Xerxes. The Persian King had assured him of his protection, and ordered him to declare freely whatever he had to propose concerning Greece. Themistocles replied, that a man's discourse was like a piece of tapestry which, when spread open, displays its figures; but when it is folded up, they are hidden and lost; therefore he begged time. The King, delighted with the comparison, bade him take what time he pleased; and he desired a year; in which space he learned the Persian language, so as to be able to converse with the King without an interpreter.]
[Footnote 36: Hujír was the son of Gúdarz. A family of the extent mentioned in the text is not of rare occurrence amongst the Princes of the East. The King of Persia had, in 1809, according to Mr. Morier, "sixty-five sons!" As the Persians make no account of females, it is not known how many daughters he had.]
[Footnote 37: The Kulub-gah is the centre or heart of the army, where the Sovereign or Chief of the troops usually remains.]
[Footnote 38: Ahirmun, a demon, the principle of evil.]
[Footnote 39: This girdle was the gift of the king, as a token of affection and gratitude. Jonathan gives to David, among other things, his girdle: "Because he loved him as his own soul."—I Samuel, xviii. 3. 4.]
[Footnote 40: A crocodile in war, with Firdusi, is a figure of great power and strength.]
[Footnote 41: It is difficult to account for this denial of his name, as there appears to be no equivalent cause. But all the famous heroes, described in the Sháh Námeh, are as much distinguished for their address and cunning, as their bravery.]
[Footnote 42: The original is Um[=u]d, which appears to have been a weapon made of iron. Um[=u]d also signifies a column, a beam.]
[Footnote 43: Thus also Sa'di "Knowest thou What Zál said to Rustem the Champion? Never calculate upon the weakness or insignificance of an enemy.">[
[Footnote 44: Rustem is as much distinguished for piety as bravery. Every success is attributed by him to the favor of Heaven. In the achievement of his labors in the Heft-Khan, his devotion is constant and he everywhere justly acknowledges that power and victory are derived from God alone.]
[Footnote 45: The expression in the original is remarkable. "Assuredly, as thou hast thirsted for blood, Destiny will also thirst for thine, and the very hairs upon thy body will become daggers to destroy thee." This passage is quoted in the preface to the Sháh Námeh, collated by order of Bayisunghur Khan, as the production of the poet Unsarí. Unsarí was one of the seven poets whom Mahmud appointed to give specimens of their powers in versifying the History of the Kings of Persia. The story of Rustem and Sohráb fell to Unsarí, and his arrangement of it contained the above verses, which so delighted the Sultan that he directed the poet to undertake the whole work. This occurred before Firdusi was introduced at Court and eclipsed every competitor. In compliment to Mahmud, perhaps he ingrafted them on his own poem, or more probably they have been interpolated since.]
[Footnote 46: Jemshíd's glory and misfortunes, as said before, are the constant theme of admiration and reflection amongst the poets of Persia.]
[Footnote 47: These medicated draughts are often mentioned in Romances. The reader will recollect the banter upon them in Don Quixote, where the Knight of La enumerates to Sancho the cures which had been performed upon many valorous champions, covered with wounds. The Hindús, in their books on medicine, talk of drugs for the recovery of the dead!]
[Footnote 48: Zúára conducted the troops of Afrásiyáb across the Jihún.
Rustem remained on the field of battle till his return.]
[Footnote 49: Maníjeh was the daughter of Afrásiyáb.]
[Footnote 50: Theocritus introduces a Greek singing-girl in Idyllium xv, at the festival of Adonis. In the Arabian Nights, the Caliph is represented at his feasts surrounded by troops of the most beautiful females playing on various instruments.]
[Footnote 51: Kashán is here made to be the deathplace of Alexander, whilst, according to the Greek historians, he died suddenly at Babylon, as foretold by the magicians, on the 21st of April, B.C. 323, in the thirty-second year of his age.]