[263]. See Al-Siyuti (p. 305) and Dr. Jonathan Scott’s “Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters,” (p. 296).
[264]. I have given (vol. i. [188]) the vulgar derivation of the name; and D’Herbelot (s.v. Barmakian) quotes some Persian lines alluding to the “supping up.” Al-Mas’udi’s account of the family’s early history is unfortunately lost. This Khálid succeeded Abu Salámah, first entitled Wazir under Al-Saffah (Ibn Khallikan i. 468).
[265]. For his poetry see Ibn Khallikan iv. 103.
[266]. Their flatterers compared them with the four elements.
[267]. Al-Mas’udi, chapt. cxii.
[268]. Ibn Khallikan (i. 310) says the eunuch Abú Háshim Masrúr, the Sworder of Vengeance, who is so pleasantly associated with Ja’afar in many nightly disguises; but the Eunuch survived the Caliph. Fakhr al-Din (p. 27) adds that Masrur was an enemy of Ja’afar; and gives further details concerning the execution.
[269]. Bresl. Edit., Night dlxvii. vol. vii. pp. 258–260; translated in the Mr. Payne’s “Tales from the Arabic,” vol. i. 189 and headed “Al-Rashid and the Barmecides.” It is far less lively and dramatic than the account of the same event given by Al-Mas’udi, chapt. cxii., by Ibn Khallikan and by Fakhr al-Din.
[270]. Al-Mas’udi, chapt. cxi.
[271]. See Dr. Jonathan Scott’s extracts from Major Ouseley’s “Tarikh-i-Barmaki.”
[272]. Al-Mas’udi, chapt. cxii. For the liberties Ja’afar took see Ibn Khallikan, i. 303.