How Cæsar withdrew through an Expedient of Khusrau Parwíz and how the Chiefs released Shírwí from Bonds

The king, on hearing, took this grave case lightly.
He recognised the practice of Guráz

In prompting warlike Cæsar and recalled him,
But he excused himself and disregarded
The royal letter, for the villain feared
Khusrau Parwíz, the court, and all the chiefs.
The king of kings sat with the Great and all
That were the men of leading in Írán.
He plunged his heart in thought and sought at large
Among all manner of expedients,
And when a bright thought came to him he wrote
Thus to Guráz: “I quite approve thy conduct,
And have commended thee before the lords.
This artifice surpasseth all, for thou
Hast caused the fall of Cæsar. When they bring thee
This letter set thy sharpest wits to work,
Wait till I make a move, then move thyself
That Cæsar being placed between our hosts
May have his purpose foiled. We will convey him,
And all his Rúmans, captives to Írán.”
Then from his court he chose one of resource,
Informed and eloquent, as there was need,
And said: “Convey this letter secretly,
As if thou wert a spy, but so contrive
That Rúmans may observe thee on the road,
Interrogate and carry thee to Cæsar,
Or else before the captain of the host.
He will inquire: ‘Whence art thou? Speak.’ Reply:—
‘A subject and in straits. I have been facing
Toil and the longsome road to bear Guráz
A letter.’ Have this bound to thy right hand,
And if he take it from thee it is well.”
The courier went forth from Khusrau Parwíz,
And made the letter fast to his right arm.
A scout descried him as he drew anear,
And carried him to Cæsar with his head
All dust, with wan cheeks, and with livid lips.
Then Cæsar asked: “Where is Khusrau Parwíz?
Thou must declare the truth.”

The embarrassed liege,

O'erwhelmed with fear, replied with favour changed.
Said Cæsar: “Search this wretch malevolent,
Ill-purposed and ill-faced.”

Shrewd, skilful men

Searched him and took the letter from his arm,
Then sought a learned chieftain of that march,
One who could read aright the ancient tongue.
Now when that scribe had read the letter over
The monarch's countenance became like pitch,
And thus he said in private to his troops:—
“Guráz intended to destroy us all!

The king of kings with countless elephants
And treasure, and three hundred thousand men,
Was minded to involve me in his net:
God grant his heart and policy be darkened!”
He dropped his purpose and withdrew his host.
Guráz, informed that Cæsar had returned
To Rúm, grew pale and sorrowful. He chose
A horseman from his troops and wrote this letter
With sighs and loud complainings: “Why is Cæsar
Displeased with me? Say wherefore hast thou quitted
Írán and made me shift thus for myself?
The king of kings, informed of what I did,
In pain and vengeance is estranged from me.”
When Cæsar was aware of this and saw
That letter he selected from his host
A noble and dispatched him to Guráz
In haste to say: “Hath God so furnished thee
That thou shouldst desolate my crown and throne,
And burn my troops with fire? Thy former letter,
Thou miscreant! came but to consign to wind
My treasure, and the purpose was to give me
Up to Khusrau Parwíz. May good estate
And greatness ne'er be thine! Thou shouldst have known
That while they see a Sháh of royal race
The Íránians will desire no alien,
None born of Cæsar, none however wise.”
Guráz protested unto Cæsar much,
But failed to gain an acccess to his ear.
Khusrau Parwíz then chose as messenger
A Persian who was learned and eloquent,
And sent him with this letter to Guráz:—
“Thou worthless villain, worker for the Dív!
These many times I summon thee to Court,
But thou art far from loyalty and right.
Now all the army that thou hast with thee,
For many years thy fortune's fosterers,
Are backing Cæsar both in heart and will,
And privily are not as they appear.
Dispatch to me the disaffected rebels.”
When this arrived the wary chieftain mused.
He chose twelve thousand valiant cavaliers,
And thus addressed them: “Be ye one in heart,
And heed ye not what any one may say.
Abide awhile on this side of the stream,
And hurry not at all upon the march.
If ye are one in tongue and confidence
Ye may uproot a mountain.”

Young and old

Advanced as far as Khurra-i-Ardshír,
*

Advanced until they reached the river-bank,
Expectant of the bidding of the king,
Who, hearing, was not anxious to behold them,
But ordered Farrukhzád to go and say:—
“Till now ye have been loyal; wherefore then
Allowed ye Cæsar to invade us thus?
Who hath transgressed the way of God and quitted
The path of duty and of loyalty?”
The faces of the soldiers at that message,
Sent by Khusrau Parwíz, grew dark with fear.
None dared to speak but tarried pained and pale.
The messenger was with Guráz at heart,
But kept his secret both from wind and dust.
He then approached the leaders privily,
And threw some light upon their darkened minds.
“Fear not,” he said, “ye chieftains! for the Sháh
Hath not detected you in open fault.
Be of one heart and tongue, and say to him:—
‘What disaffected person is with us?
And if there be one cloak is over all;
We stand by one another lustily.’”
The chiefs all heard him, understood, rose up,
And framed their answer on the lines proposed.
Then Farrukhzád returned like flying dust,
And told the Sháh their words, who said: “Go back,
And say: ‘Which of you seeketh his own hurt?
The man that hath been duped by luckless Cæsar
With gifts of treasures, weapons, crowns, and thrones,
That man is guilty in respect to us—
A traitor to this crown and majesty.
Dispatch ye to my court without delay
All that are disaffected in this wise,
Else all of you that have transgressed shall see
The gibbet and the dungeon.’”

Farrukhzád

Went with these words, and in the soldiers' hearts
Old grievances revived. None dared to speak,
But kept a mournful silence. Thereupon
Spake Farrukhzád and in unseemly words:—
“In all this young and valiant host I see
None inefficient; why then fear the Sháh,
Whose troops are scattered through the world? I note
At court no great man to illuminate
His star and moon. Despise my words and fear not

My threats, but curse me and the exalted Sháh.”
The hearers knew: “The fortune of the king
Hath aged,” and framed their lips for malisons,
While Farrukhzád went to Khusrau Parwíz,
And said: “The troops all stand by one another,
And if thou sendest me again I fear
For mine own life.”

Khusrau Parwíz perceived:—

“This knave will cause both blood and tears to flow,”
But fearful of his brother* answered not,
And hid the truth; for Rustam had revolted
Where he was stationed with ten thousand swordsmen,
And holding Farrukhzád disloyal too
Caused his own soldiers to revolt withal,
While Farrukhzád was ware too that the Sháh
Knew him as author of the host's default;
So when that malcontent had left the presence
He dared not to return but kept without,
And tampered there with all the folk, for ever
Attempting to pervert them, man by man,
From their obedience to the Sháh. He told
Them all and they agreed: “Another Sháh
Should sit upon the throne for this hath lost
The Grace, the royal usages, and fortune.”
There was with Farrukhzád an ancient man,
Skilled in affairs, who said: “The Sháh imputeth
The army's fault to thee. Thou must produce
A new king soon because our fertile land
Is growing waste, its tumult as destructive
As was Pírán. We needs must ascertain
Which of the Sháh's sons hath most modesty,
And will cause least dispute. He must be seated
Upon the throne as Sháh and o'er his crown
Dínárs be showered. Then we shall fare anew;
We have drunk bitter and we shall drink sweet,
For since Shírwí,* the shrewd and eldest-born,
Is now in prison we shall need no other.”
They all agreed thereto. But few elapsed
Of days and nights before Tukhár's host raised
The dust and slighted all the Sháh's affairs.
Then Farrukhzád went out to meet Tukhár
With many troops. They met and much talk passed
In public and in private. Farrukhzád,
Moreover, loosed his tongue and told the ills

Wrought by Khusrau Parwíz. He said: “The host
By valour and by counsel will restore
The sovereignty.”

The general replied:—

“I am not one for words but when I come
To battle with my troops I make things strait
For this world's warriors. This king when young
Was loved by chief and paladin, and since
The days of such an one as he grow dark
I would that none should look on crown and throne.
The fatal time was when he grew unjust,
And joyed in the injustice of his slaves.”
When Farrukhzád heard this* he chose Tukhár,
And said to him: “Now go we to the prison,
To those unfortunates, and boldly bear
Shírwí, the brave, the atheling, away.
The captain of the host, whose brain and skin
Thou wilt take sooner, watcheth o'er his prison,
And with six thousand proven cavaliers
Is keeper of those wretched prisoners.”
Tukhár thus answered: “We have overlooked
This matter of the captain of the host,
For if the fortune of Khusrau Parwíz
Revive there will not be a paladin
Left in Írán, and what with gibbet, bonds,
And dungeon, none will 'scape calamity.”
He spake and urged his charger, speeding like
Ázargashasp, and led his powers to battle.
The captain of the host encountered him
Forthwith. Those famous troops were overthrown,
The captain of the host himself was slain
In fight, the forces of the king were scattered,
The day was one of gloom and all was lost.
By that expedient and in war-array
Tukhár made entry of that narrow prison,
And called exalt Shírwí. The prince replied
Forthwith, well knowing why that chief had come.
His heart throbbed, laughing after care, when he
Beheld that cheerful face, but still he wept,
And asked: “Where is Khusrau Parwíz? Is't thine
To free me?”

Said Tukhár: “As thou'rt a man

Be not perverse, for if thou wilt consent not,
And lettest go this opportunity,
One in sixteen may fail us, but thou hast
Still fifteen brothers left and each deserving
To be the king of kings: the throne of greatness
Would joy in them.”

Shírwí remained in tears

And consternation. Should he quit the prison?

Now Farrukhzád meanwhile was at the gates,
And suffered none to pass to tell the Sháh,
But acted as sole chamberlain. When Sol
Grew wan of face, and all the lords had gone
To seek repose, he bade the watch or them
That were its officers to fare to court—
That place of happiness and royal ease—
And said: “Your cry to-night must not be that
Of yesternight: all watchmen every watch
Must in their cries employ the name ‘Kubád.’”
They made reply: “We will; we will forget
Khusrau Parwíz.”

So when the night resumed

Its pitch-like robe from city and bázár
Arose the cry: “For ever live Kubád,
The scion of the great, and may his name
Be promulgate in all the provinces.”
The night was dark; the monarch of the world
Slept but Shírín beside him was perturbed,
On hearing what the watchman said, and grieved.
Her heart beat fast with care. Roused by her voice
The Sháh took dudgeon, but she cried: “O sire!
What shall we do? How shall we act herein?”
He said: “O moon-face! why dost chatter so
When I am sleeping?”

She replied: “Give ear,

And listen to the watch.”

He heard; his cheeks

Became like flowers of fenugreek; he said:—
“What time three watches of the night have passed
Consult the astrologers for when this knave
Was born I named him privily Kubád,
But I have spoken of him as Shírwí,
And kept his other name concealed. In public
Shírwí hath always been his name, so why
Is this vile fellow calling him Kubád?
We must depart while it is night toward Chín,
Máchín or else Makrán, and I will ask
Faghfúr for troops, and make our way to them
By some device.”

But as his star was dark

In heaven so on earth his words were wild:
His scheme of night-departure came to naught.
He took a hard case easily and told
Shírín: “The time hath come; our foes prevent
Our schemes.”

She answered him: “For ever live:

Far from thee ever be the evil eye.
Plan in thy wisdom something for thyself:
Ne'er may the foeman have of thee his will.

As soon as it is light that ruseful one
Will turn toward the palace past all doubt.”
He called for armour from the treasury—
Two Indian scimitars and Rúman casque,
A quiver, arrows, and a golden shield—
And for a valiant slave who loved the fight.
He went forth to the garden in the dark,
What time the crow awakeneth, hung up
His golden buckler on a bough where none
Was like to pass and with a heavy sword
Beneath his knee sat on the flowery sward.