Now when Máhwí had taken thought he knew:—
“'Tis none but Yazdagird!” and bade the miller:—
“Haste and cut off his head forthwith or I

Will cut thine own off presently and leave
None of thy stock alive.”

The chiefs, the nobles,

And mighty men heard this and all the assembly
Were filled with wrath at him; their tongues were
charged
With words, their eyes with tears. An archimage,
By name Rádwí, whose mind wore wisdom's bridle,
Said to Máhwí: “O thou malignant one!
Why hath the Dív confused thine eyes? This know:
The royal and prophetic offices
Are two gems set within one finger-ring.
To break one is to trample life and wisdom
Beneath thy feet. Reflect upon thy words,
And then forbear. Be not the Maker's foe.
First will disaster come on thee herefrom,
Then thou wilt leave a seed-plot for thy child,
With fruit of colocynth and leafage blood.
Ere long thou wilt behold thy head abased;
Thy villainy will be exposed; thy sons
Will reap what thou hast sown. This deed of thine
Will wreck the Faith of God, and crown and throne
Will curse thee.”

Then a devotee devout,

Who never put his hand forth to injustice,
By name Hurmuzd, son of Kharrád, a man
Who rested in the Faith, said to Máhwí:—
“O thou oppressor! quit not thus the way
Of holy God. I see thy heart and sense
Bedimmed. We see thy breast a tomb. Though
strong
Thou hast no brain; thy mind is weak; thou seekest
The smoke and not the fire. I see that thou
Wouldst have the malediction of the world,
And, when thou quit'st it, travail, smart, and anguish.
Now will thy lifetime prove a wretched one,
And fire thy dwelling-place when thou departest.”
He sat. Shahrán rose and addressed Máhwí:—
“Why this audacity? Thou hast opposed
The king of kings and cottoned with the Khán
And the Faghfúr. Full many of this race
Have proved of no account yet men ne'er hasted
To slay them. Shed not, as thou art a slave,
The blood of Sháhs because thou wilt be cursed
Till Doomsday.”

This he said, and sat down weeping

In anguish with heart full and eyes all gall.
Then Mihr-i-Núsh stood forth in deep distress,
With lamentation, and addressed Máhwí:—
“O evil man of evil race, who art
Not well advised or just! a crocodile
Respecteth royal blood, a leopard finding
A slain king doth not rend him. O thou worse
In love and instinct than the beasts of prey!
Thou covetest the Sháh's crown! When Jamshíd

Was slaughtered by Zahhák did that affect
Heaven's will? Nay, when Zahhák had won the earth
Abtín appeared, the glorious Farídún
Was born, the fashion of the world was changed,
And thou hast heard what tyrannous Zahhák
Brought on himself as sequel of his crimes,
For though he lived above a thousand years
Still in the end the avenger came to him.
Then, secondly, when Túr, the exalted one,
Afflicted by his longing for Írán,
Slew in his folly virtuous Íraj,
On whom the very dust looked pityingly,
Dispatched him*

to the hero Farídún,
And gave the world to sorrow, Minúchihr,
One of the race, appeared and undid all
Those bonds. When, thirdly, princely Siyáwush
Went forth to war, albeit reluctantly,
Afrásiyáb, inspired by Garsíwaz,
Washed shame and honour from his mind and wits,
And slew the youthful and right royal prince,
So that the world became his enemy.
Sprung from that prince the world-lord Kai Khusrau
Came and filled all the world with hubbub, clave
Asunder with his scimitar his grandsire,*

And frayed all those that else had sought revenge.
The fourth count is the feud against Arjásp,
The slayer of Lúhrásp. Asfandiyár
Went forth to fight with him and took swift wreak.
Fifth, is the vengeance ta'en for Sháh Hurmuzd.
Khusrau Parwíz, whenas he felt confirmed
In heart and power, dealt in the way we know
Both with Bandwí and Gustaham. The sky,
Which then revolved, revolveth still.*

Forgetting
What they had done for him, when his sire's blood
And love and family appealed to him,
He in his day of strength abated theirs.*

One may not scorn the occasion of revenge,
For such a time will quickly come to thee,
And thou wilt suffer for thine evil thoughts,
Thy son will reap what thou hast sown, and fate
Will not rest long from vengeance; so refrain
From all this treasure-hoard, this heritage
Of crown and precious things. Thou art revolting
Because the Dív enjoineth, and abjuring
The way of God. The Dív, as thou wilt learn,
Is tempting thee with things not for thine honour.
Burn not thy soul and body in Hell-fire;
Dim not this world-illuming crown but gather
Thy scattered troops; recant what thou hast said;
Go ask the Sháh to pardon thee and when
Thou seest him renew thy fealty.

From there prepare to battle with the foe;
Be instant both in counsel and excuse,
For not to hearken to the words of sages
Will mark thee out as evil in both worlds.
Men bring to naught things done a day too late.
Wilt thou treat Yazdagird, the king of kings,
Worse than malignant Turks, for in the fray
He is a lion, on the throne a Sháh
As bright as sun and moon, a memory
Of the Sásánians? None is girdle-girt
Like him. From sire to sire his ancestors
Were mighty men and compassers of wisdom
From Núshírwán, the Sháh, back to Ardshír,
While, seventh backward from Ardshír, Sásán,
The world-lord, had the crown,*

for God entrusted
To him the Kaian crown, and all the kings
Were of that glorious race. Now many a man
Hath been thy better, but they ne'er conceived
Designs like these. As for Bahrám Chúbína,
Three hundred thousand skilful cavaliers
On barded steeds fled at one shaft of his,*

And left the field of fight to him; but when
His heart grew weary of the race of Sháhs
The head of his resplendent fortune fell.
So Faráyín, who sought the throne of kings
Unworthily and bathed his hands in blood,
Was in like manner miserably slain:
This age endureth not such mockeries.
Fear Him, the Lord, the Maker of the world,
For He created throne and crown and signet.
Defame not thine own person wantonly
Because ere long such things will rise against thee.
Know that whoever speaketh not the truth
To thee is thy soul's foe. Now thou art sick
While I am as the leech, a leech that waileth,
And sheddeth drops of blood. Thou art thyself
Less than the slave of slaves. Be not ambitious
In thy heart's thoughts. Leave strife to holy God,
And seek in honour's way the throne of greatness.”
The shepherd-born*

had set his heart upon
The throne: the archimages' rede was hard.
So hath it ever been; 'tis no new thing:
The flouts of fortune are past reckoning,
Exalting to the sky above this one,
And making that vile, wretched, and undone,
Not leagued with that, on war with this not bent,
But void of wit, shame, Faith, and precedent.
The archmages all, till the world gloomed and moon
Succeeded sun, warned that vindictive man,
Who was not one hair better for their talk,
And said when night came: “Ye must leave me now

O sages! I will ponder this to-night,
And take all kinds of wisdom to my breast.
We will call twenty wise men from the host
That we may need not to deplore this ill.”
The prudent archimages went their ways,
The men of war arrived. Máhwí held session
With his confederates*

and said: “What think ye
Herein? If Yazdagird remain alive
Troops will collect to him from every side;
My secret purposes have been exposed,
And all, both great and small, have heard thereof!
My life will end through his hostility,
And neither folk nor field and fell be left.”
A wise man said: “Thou shouldest not have acted
At first so. If the monarch of Írán
Be ill-disposed toward thee then past doubt
Ill will befall thee from him, yet 'tis ill
To shed his blood for then God will avenge him.
To left and right are cares and pains of all kinds:
Consider how thou need'st must act herein.”
Máhwí's son said to him: “Well counselled sire!
Since thou hast made the Sháh thine enemy
Be rid of him; troops from Máchin and Chín
Will come to him and earth grow strait for us.
Hold this no trifle. Since thou hast prevailed
Tempt not the maws of lions. Thou and all
Thy host will be uprooted from the world
If standard-wise the Sháh's skirt be unfurl'd.”