Gushtásp, according to Jámásp's advice,
When morning breathed and starlight disappeared,
Led down his chosen warriors to the field,
And, at the season when the scent of roses
Is wafted houseward by the breath of dawn,
Dispatched according to the Íránian custom
His scouts on every side. A cavalier
Approached and said: “O monarch of the world!
The enemy is nigh. So great a host
Ne'er came before from Turkistán or Chín.
They have encamped hard by and pitched their tents
On mountains, dales, and plains. Their general
Hath sent out scouts, and his and thine have met.”
Thereat high-born Gushtásp, the valiant Sháh,
Called for his general—glorious Zarír—
And gave to him the standard, saying: “Haste:
Array the elephants and arm the troops.”
The general went forth and ranged his host,
All fain to battle with the king of Chín.
Gushtásp gave one wing to Asfandiyár,
With fifty thousand chosen cavaliers,
Because he had an elephantine breast
And lion's heart. Upon the other wing
He stationed a select and goodly band,

And gave it to the cherished warrior,
Who was the son and equal of the Sháh,
The high, exalted, and exultant prince,
To whom the Sháh had given the name Shídasp;
While fifty thousand valiant cavaliers
He gave to glorious Zarír, the leader,
Assigning him the centre, for he was
A savage Lion and the Sháh's own equal.
The rearguard he entrusted to Nastúr,
Of glorious race, the Lustre of Zarír.
The army thus arrayed, the Sháh, o'ercome
With grief and spent with labour, sought the height,
Sat down upon his fair, resplendent throne,
And thence surveyed the army.

Then Arjásp,

The monarch of the cavaliers of Chín,
In like wise ranged his forces and dispatched
A hundred thousand horsemen of Khallukh,
All brave and tried, to Bídirafsh, who had,
As general, the drums and golden standard,
Entrusting one wing of the host to him,
Whom not a lion loose would face. He gave
The other to Gurgsár, and gave withal
A hundred thousand chosen cavaliers.
In like wise in the centre of the host
He posted a select and goodly band,
And gave them to that stubborn sorcerer,
Námkhást by name, the son of Hazárán.*

With chosen horsemen five score thousand strong,
Whose prowess was renowned throughout the world,
He took his own post rearward in reserve,
O'erlooking every portion of his powers.
He had one son, a man of high repute,
A veteran and pre-eminent in war,
A noble cavalier by name Kuhram
Above whose head much heat and cold had passed;
This son of his he set to oversee
The army and direct the strategy.