The Persian Literature Volume I Part 35

None ever went upon that mountain top, But sought for knowledge; and Sikander hoped When he had reached its cloudy eminence, To see the visions of futurity Arise from that departed, holy man!

And soon he heard a voice: "Thy time is nigh!

Yet may I thy career on earth unfold.

It will be thine to conquer many a realm, Win many a crown; thou wilt have many friends And numerous foes, and thy devoted head Will be uplifted to the very heavens.

Renowned and glorious shalt thou be; thy name Immortal; but, alas! thy time is nigh!"

At these prophetic words Sikander wept, And from that ominous mountain hastened down.

After that Sikander journeyed on to the city of Kashan, where he fell sick, and in a few days, according to the oracle and the prophecy, expired. He had scarcely breathed his last, when Aristu, and Bilniyas the physician, and his family, entered Kashan, and found him dead. They beat their faces, and tore their hair, and mourned for him forty days.

FIRDUSI'S INVOCATION

Thee I invoke, the Lord of Life and Light!

Beyond imagination pure and bright!

To thee, sufficing praise no tongue can give, We are thy creatures, and in thee we live!

Thou art the summit, depth, the all in all, Creator, Guardian of this earthly ball; Whatever is, thou art--Protector, King, From thee all goodness, truth, and mercy spring.

O pardon the misdeeds of him who now Bends in thy presence with a suppliant brow.

Teach them to tread the path thy Prophet trod; To wash his heart from sin, to know his G.o.d; And gently lead him to that home of rest, Where filled with holiest rapture dwell the blest.

Saith not that book divine, from Heaven supplied, "Mustafa is the true, the unerring guide, The purest, greatest Prophet!" Next him came Wise Abu Buker, of unblemished name; Then Omer taught the faith, unknown to guile, And made the world with vernal freshness smile; Then Othman brave th' imperial priesthood graced; All, led by him, the Prophet's faith embraced.

The fourth was Ali; he, the spouse adored Of Fatima, then spread the saving word.

Ali, of whom Mahommed spoke elate, "I am the city of knowledge--he my gate."

Ali the blest. Whoever shall recline A supplicant at his all-powerful shrine, Enjoys both this life and the next; in this, All earthly good, in that, eternal bliss!

From records true my legends I rehea.r.s.e, And string the pearls of wisdom in my verse, That in the glimmering days of life's decline, Its fruits, in wealth and honor, may be mine.

My verse, a structure pointing to the skies; Whose solid strength destroying time defies.

All praise the n.o.ble work, save only those Of impious life, or base malignant foes; All blest with learning read, and read again, The sovereign smiles, and thus approves my strain: "Richer by far, Firdusi, than a mine Of precious gems, is this bright lay of thine."

Centuries may pa.s.s away, but still my page Will be the boast of each succeeding age.

Praise, praise to Mahmud, who of like renown, In battle or the banquet, fills the throne; Lord of the realms of Chin and Hindustan, Sovereign and Lord of Persia and Turan, With his loud voice he rends the flintiest ear; On land a tiger fierce, untouched by fear, And on the wave, he seems the crocodile That prowls amidst the waters of the Nile.

Generous and brave, his equal is unknown; In deeds of princely worth he stands alone.

The infant in the cradle lisps his name; The world exults in Mahmud's spotless fame.

In festive hours Heaven smiles upon his truth; In combat deadly as the dragon's tooth; Bounteous in all things, his exhaustless hand Diffuses blessings through the grateful land; And, of the n.o.blest thoughts and actions, lord; The soul of Gabriel breathes in every word, May Heaven with added glory crown his days; Praise, praise to mighty Mahmud--everlasting praise!

FIRDUSI'S SATIRE ON MAHMUD

Know, tyrant as thou art, this earthly state Is not eternal, but of transient date; Fear G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.s my days, Offering to Heaven my grat.i.tude 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 G.o.d 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, G.o.d.

Full many a warrior of ill.u.s.trious worth, Full many of humble, of imperial birth: Tur, Silim, Jemshid, Minuchihr 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, enn.o.bling ancestry is thine; From a vile stock thy bold career began, A Blacksmith was thy sire of Isfahan.

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 Kaus, Tus, and Giw; 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 Husheng, Feridun, and Sam Suwar, Lohurasp, Kai-khosrau, and Isfendiyar; Gushtasp, Arjasp, and him of mighty name, Gudarz, 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 SHaH NaMEH]

[Footnote 1: Love at first sight, and of the most enthusiastic kind, is the pa.s.sion 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 Hafiz also, with all their spirit and richness of expression, abound in conceit and extravagant metaphor. There is, however, something very beautiful in the pa.s.sage which may be paraphrased thus:

Zephyr thro' thy locks is straying, Stealing fragrance, charms displaying; Should it pa.s.s where Hafiz lies, From his conscious dust would rise, Flowrets of a thousand dyes!]

[Footnote 2: Ancient Scythia embraced the whole of Turan and the northern part of Persia. The Turanians are the Scythians of the Greek Historians, who are said, about the year B.C. 639, to have invaded the kingdom of the Medes.

Turan, which is the ancient name of the country of Turkistan, 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. Iran and Turan, 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, Jihun or Amu, and by the Greeks and Romans, Oxus, divided these two great countries from each other.]

[Footnote 3: Sam, Sam Suwar, was the son of Nariman. 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 Soham, 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 s.e.x of this fabulous animal is not clearly made out! It tells Zal 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 Simurgh is probably neither one nor the other, or both! Some have likened the Simurgh to the Ippogrif or Griffin; but the Simurgh 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 Emba.s.sy to Persia:--

"An Istakbal composed of fifty hors.e.m.e.n of our Mehmandar's tribe, met us about three miles from our encampment; they were succeeded as we advanced by an a.s.semblage on foot, who threw a gla.s.s 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 princ.i.p.al 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 Istakbals during the course of the day."]

[Footnote 6: The province of Mazinderan, of which the princ.i.p.al 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.]