They record that in the time of Ardeshír, the son of Azád, the son of Babegán, the son of Nushirván, there was a Jaiyanian champion by name Farhád, the son of Alád, who were both ranked among the distinguished leaders: Alád, when in a state of intoxication, having slain a sheep with his sword, his son Farhád, on ascertaining this, made him pass under the sharp-edged scimitar; the people held him in detestation, and said: “Thou shouldst have sent thy father to the king.” He replied, “My father had committed two criminal actions; the first, in taking so much wine as to lose his senses; the second in destroying a sheep. Although it would have been proper to send him to the king, I could not suffer any delay to intervene in punishing his crimes: at present I confess myself guilty of transgressing the Abadián code, for not submitting the details of this affair to the king.” He then ordered himself to be put in chains, and brought in that state before the king: but his majesty drew the pen of forgiveness over his crime, and elevated the apex of his dignity.
Moreover it was necessary to drink wine in a secret place, as they inflicted due punishment on whoever was found intoxicated in the public bazar. In truth, permission to drink wine was only given in cases of malady, as from the time of the very ancient sovereigns of the Mahabad dynasty, until that of Yássán Ajam, no person partook of wine or strong drinks, except the invalids who were ordered by the physicians to have recourse to them; and even they partook of them according to the established rules: but among the ancient kings, i. e. from Kaiomars’ to Yezdagird, they at first indulged secretly in wine for the purpose of sensual enjoyment, under color of conforming to medical ordinances. At last matters terminated in this, that wine was openly produced at the banquets, and the champions in attendance on the king partook of it; but it was not permitted to be drunk openly in the bazars or streets.
The king gave audience every day, being seated on an elevation, that is a Tábsár, or elevated window: in the same manner he took his seat in the Roz-Gáh, which is a place where, on his rising from the Tábsár, he seated himself on a throne: on which occasion the nobles in attendance were drawn out in their proper gradations: note, that by giving audience is meant, turning his attention to the concerns of mankind. Every decree issued by the king from the rozistán or shabistán of the interior or exterior, was transcribed by the Shudahband and again submitted to the royal presence, and when its promulgation was ratified, it was laid before his majesty a second time.
Whenever a traveller entered a caravanserai or city, the secretaries of the place, in the presence of witnesses and notaries, made out a statement of his wealth and effects, which they gave him; and the same at the time of sale; so that if he should afterwards declare that his stock had been diminished or some part had been abstracted, they could ascertain its value and quantity: there was also a fixed price assigned to every commodity and article, and also a certain rate of profit prescribed to each vendor.
The following was their mode of hunting: the army being drawn out in array, in right, centre, and left columns, the nobles and eminent warriors took their several posts according to rank, and during a period of forty or fifty days formed a circle around both mountains and plains. If the country abounded in wood, they formed the whole of it into well secured piles: the king then directed his steps towards that quarter, and his train by degrees drove in the game, keeping up a strict watch that no beast of prey should escape out of the circle: on this the king, his sons, and relations dispatched with arrows as many as they could; after this the king, surrounded by the most distinguished courtiers, sat on a throne placed on an eminence, formed of strong timbers so fastened together that no animal could get up there: the generals, and then the whole of the soldiery charged into the centre, so that not a trace remained of ferocious animals, that is, of lions and such noxious creatures: they next counted the numbers of the slain, and having piled them in one place, formed a hillock of their carcases. If they discovered a harmless animal amongst the slain, they ordered vengeance to be inflicted on its destroyer, and cast his body among those of the ferocious animals.
They record that in the reign of Yássán, the son of Sháh Mahbúl, an elk had been slain by some tyrannically-inclined person, on beholding which the father of the insane criminal, with the ruthless sword, immediately dissevered his son’s head from his shoulders. Also in the reign of Núshirvan, the fortunate descendant from the Sháíyán dynasty, at one time whilst in the pursuit of game, an arrow shot intentionally from the bow of a noble champion named Fartúsh, wounded a deer so that it fell dead: his son, Ayín Túsh, was perfectly horror-struck, and in retaliation with an arrow pinned his father’s body to that of the slaughtered deer; so that, in future, there should be no infringement of the Farhang law.
As soon as a lofty mound had been formed of slaughtered noxious creatures, which either walk, fly, or graze, then by the king’s command a Mobid ascended the eminence and said: “Such is the recompense of all who slay harmless creatures; such the retribution which awaits the destroyers of animals free from crimes.” He then said to the harmless creatures: “The equitable king of kings, in order to destroy the noxious animals which cause you so many calamities, has come forward in his own precious person, and taken vengeance for the misdeeds of these wicked creatures: now depart in peace; behold the vengeance inflicted on your sanguinary foes; and commit no sin before the protector of your species.” They then left a road open for the innoxious animals to escape and hasten to their mountains and deserts. This kind of hunting they called Shikár-i-dád or Dád-shikár; i. e.: “the hunt of equity,” or “the equity-hunt.” The royal governors also in their respective provinces adopted a chase of the like description. Whenever the sovereign was of such a character as not to deviate from the Farhang code, if any person declined rendering allegiance to the prince chosen by him for his successor, that person was immediately destroyed by the people.
In the reign of Sháh Gilív, a champion having beheld in a vision, that the king had raised to the throne one of the princes who met not his approbation, immediately on awaking put himself to death. Sháh Gilív, on hearing this, said to the son of the deceased: “When a person is awake, rebellion is to be abhorred; but not in a state of sleep, as it is then involuntary.”
Also in the reign of Bahman, the son of Isfendiar, the son of Ardashír, the son of Azad Shai,[366] one of the generals, Bahram by name, governor of Khorasan, having made arrangements for revolt and rebellion, the soldiers on learning his designs put him to death, and offering up his flesh after the manner of the Moslem sacrifice, divided it and ate of it, saying, “He is a noxious animal.”
In the same reign, a champion, by name Gilshásp, saw in a trance that he had rebelled against Bahman: on relating the dream to his soldiers, they for answer drew forth their swords and shed his blood, saying: “Although there is no blame to be attached to the vision, yet he is the genius of evil for publishing it abroad.”