[233]. Koran iv. 175, “Whereas if there be two sisters, they inherit only two-thirds between them.”
[234]. The secondary meaning is “Fá’il” = the active sodomite and Mafa’úl = the passive, a catamite: the former is not an insulting word, the latter is a most injurious expression. “Novimus et qui te!”
[235]. It is an unpleasant fact that almost all the poetry of Háfiz is addressed to youths, as we see by the occasional introduction of Arabic (e.g., Afáka’lláh). Persian has no genders properly so called, hence the effect is less striking. Sa’di, the “Persian Moralist” begins one of the tales, “A certain learned man fell in love with a beautiful son of a blacksmith,” which Gladwin, translating for the general, necessarily changed to “daughter.”
[236]. The famous author of the Anthology called Al-Hamásah.
[237]. i.e., teeth under the young mustachio.
[238]. The “Silk-man” and the celebrated author of the Makámát, assemblies or seances, translated (or attempted) into all the languages of Europe. We have two in English, the first by Theodore Preston, M.A. (London, Madden, 1850); but it contains only twenty of the fifty pieces. The second by the late Mr. Chenery (before alluded to) ends with the twenty-sixth assembly: one volume in fact, the other never having been finished. English readers, therefore, are driven to the grand edition of the Makámát in folio by Baron Silvestre de Sacy.
[239]. The sword of the eye has a Hamáil (baldrick worn over right shoulder, Pilgrimage i. 352) to support the “Ghimd” (vulg. Ghamad) or scabbard (of wood or leather): and this baldrick is the young whisker.
[240]. The conceit of “Suláfat” (ptisane, grape juice allowed to drain on the slabs) and “Sawálif” (tresses, locks) has been explained. The newest wine is the most inebriating, a fact not much known in England, but familiar to the drinker of “Vino novo.”
[241]. Koran xii. 51, this said by the nobleman’s (Potiphar’s) wife who adds, “I selected him to lie with me; and he (Joseph) is one of those who speak truth.”
[242]. Here we have a specimen of the strained Saj’a or balanced prose: slave-girls (jawárí) are massed with flowing tears (dam’u jári) on account of the Káfiyah or rhyme.