Of Platen's translations from Hāfiḍ we need not speak here. But we must call attention to the attempt which he made to translate from Niḍāmī's Iskandar Nāmah in the original mutaqārib-metre. The first eight couplets of the invocation are thus rendered, and in spite of the great difficulty attending the use of this metre in a European language, the rendering must be pronounced fairly successful. It is also faithful, as a comparison with the original shows. We cite the first two couplets from the Persian:
خدايا جهان پادشاهی تراست
زماخدمت آيدخدايی تراست
"O God, world-sovereignty is Thine! From us comes service, Godhead is Thine. The Protection of high and low Thou art! Everything is nonexistent; whatever is, Thou art."[142]
Of other Oriental poems, not translations, we notice "Parsenlied," dating from the year 1819, when Goethe's Divan appeared, and it is quite possible that the Parsi Nameh of that work suggested to Platen the composition of his poem.[143] His best known ballad, "Harmosan," written in 1830, has a Persian warrior for its hero. The source for the poem is probably Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (chap. li.)[144]
FOOTNOTES:
[132] We might say into European literature. The only previous attempts, as far as we know, to reproduce this form were made by Jones, who translated a ghazal of Jāmī (Works, vol. ii. p. 501) into English, and by a certain Tommaso Chabert, who translated several ghazals of Jāmī into Italian (Fundgruben, vol. i. pp. 16-19).
[133] In Taschenbuch für Damen, which was already published in 1820, thus establishing Rückert's priority over Platen. See C. Beyer, Neue Mittheilungen über Friedrich Rückert, Leipz. 1873, p. 14; also letter to Cotta, ibid. pp. 113, 114.
[134] Published in Lyrische Blätter.
[135] In Vermischte Schriften.
[136] Platens Werke (Cotta), vol. ii. See p. 7, note, where information is given as to place and date of these poems.