While thou strikest together the eye-lashes, Time
Is the teacher of good and of bad to a hundred persons.
It makes one foot-bound to the earth;
Causes another to reach the lofty sphere:
Brings down one from the stage (of sublimity) to the pit
(of profundity);
Brings forth another from the fish (beneath the earth) to
the moon:
Makes ready some such sport;
Its sport, in the end, is nothing and nothing (for neither
loftiness nor lowness remains to anyone).
In place of this obstinacy (acting contrary to the teaching
of Time), best if we be submissive;
For the steed rein-impatient suffers blows.
When the Arab steed displays impatience of the rein,
He makes the ass (patient of rein, easy of stride) of the
Egyptians a (precious) slave.
“Táz” signifies—táj; tájík.
The restive Arab steed is worse than the patient wild ass; and people part with him to bestride the gentle Egyptian ass,
The world (Time) saw (cherished) many people in the
world;
It ran from all; remained with none.
The world is for that one, who in the world
Becomes acquainted with the work (of God-worshipping)
of those work-knowing (the experienced).
In this workshop the narrative became of this kind
That—when the king pitched the court in that cave (of
the mountain of Zulmát),
He spent much treasure in the matter of (going to and
coming from) that cave;
In that cave he planted a city like Bulghár:
From Bulghár he came to Russia;
Adorned that land like the bride,
And came thence to the sea of Rúm;
Took out the bark from the prosperous soil (of Rúm).
The chiefs of Rúm obtained news;
Hastened towards the king's standard:
Drew forth their soul in thanks,
When they beheld the face of their own lord.
From the king's curiosities, all the dust of Rúm
Shone, like the night with the shining moon.
Every jeweller's face became like the ruby,
At (purchasing) the ruby of the Zulmát entered by
Sikandar.
The first line may be:—
10(The goods of) the world proved many people in the world (Time).
See canto xiii. couplet 48.
All the land and the city came into decoration (through the
building of palaces);
Earth obtained a share (of freshness) from the hidden
treasure.
They (Sikandar's army) evoked a paradise out of every
palace;
Scattered much pearl and gold (in building palaces) on the
earth:
Shattered the lock of the door of the treasury (of taxes
collected from the landholders of the world);
The world fixed a lock on the door of sorrow.
The moon, the illuminator (Sikandar), came to her own
mansion (Rúm);
A cap of Chín on the head like the sun.
From Rúm, went the king,—near was he to the earth (in
lowness);
To Rúm, back he came,—more was he than the sky (in
loftiness).
As the (little drop of) water—which the cloud takes to
sublimity,—
Takes in returning the (great) pearl to the sea.
He sate in pomp on the throne of Greece;
Rested from the toil of the long road:
From the heart, he let go the skirt of seven territories;
In every territory appointed a vice-regent.
At his order, the kings of the tribes
Loin-girt to his faith and covenant.
The hidden treasure may be—the buried money of the wealthy ones given to Sikandar's army for the purchasing of the rubies of the ulmát.
25See canto lvii. couplet 75.
For his honouring, head-exalting they came;
Toward their own country returned they,—
Separately, each one, in pride (at the king's exaltation)
and happiness (of heart),
Neck-exalted in arrogance.
None (of the kings) gave his own neck (in obedience) to
any (other king);
Everyone displayed haughtiness on his own part.
They took the cup (of pleasure) in memory of Sikandar;
Took the name of none save him.
When the king again arrived in the country of Greece,
To him, the treasure of happiness (of religion) gave the
key (country-subduing).
With knowledge (of religion), he prepared much wealth
(books of precepts);
(And) opened the door of Divine philosophy.
When the order as to prophesying reached him,
He turned not the neck from order-bearing:
Took up again road-provisions;
Took up anew the reckoning of world-travelling.
Twice he became world-keeper of the world (by spreading
justice and religion),
The first time,—the city and territory; the second time,—
the mountain and plain.
Of that time,—that was when the prosperous soil (the city
and territory)
He saw all together and came to Rúm.
God has called—'ilm-i-shari'yat, philosophy (hikmat).
Of this time,—that was when roadless (the mountain and
plain)
He moved the standard like the sun and the moon.
When I became disengaged from this banquet-place (the
Sikandar Náma,e bara),
I prepared another banquet (the Sikandar Náma,e bahrí),
sugar-scattering.
In this half of the casket (the Sikandar Náma,e bara),—
sweet words,
Many, I expended from virgin thought.
If those pearls,—which I have one by one fastened to it
(the Sikandar Náma,e bara);
Which I have bound to every poem-opening (canto)—
They (the sages) should bring upon the thread in one
place,
The thread of the jewel-preparer would be full of pearls.
Separately,—the abridgement of every canto
Would be a book of the rules of philosophy (the mysteries
of governing and world-seizing).
Verily, the cup-bearers of the narrators,
Whom at the end (of one canto) to the end (of another
canto) I have placed,
The thought is virgin because it is of youthful vigour and unexpended in the writing of this book.
40In couplets 39, 40, the pearls signify—words of counsel and precept scattered throughout this work.
41“Fahrist-i-har paikar” signifies—mala'-i-har dastán; khuláșa,e har ḳișșa.
42Niámí has said—“guzarish kun” at the beginning of each canto, and—“biyá sáḳí” at the end.
The couplets in which these phrases occur are as guards over the treasure.
This fashion of writing was formerly rare.
In the way of imagination, each one a sitter,
Like the watch-keeper over the treasure of jewels.
Who knows—how to raise such a picture (of lustrous
verse);
To mix it with a colour in a way heart-ravishing like this?
I so bound the silk (cord) of its instrument (this work),
That its voice (of melody) became more pleasant than
(the sound of the harp of) Zuhra (the mistress of
minstrels).
In the place where I found untruth (discord as regards
melody or of meaning),
For it (at the time of revision), I prepared the jewel of
truth (or of concord).
The speech (the couplet) that finds no path to truth
(concord),
Is contemptible (in the opinion of the wise), though it
take its rank to the moon (in the opinion of the
people).
Wherever the old man (Firdausí), the former decorator (of
speech),
Had urged mistakenly from the truth of the matter,
I bound again the decoration (of verse) to the uttered
error;
That uttered word, I uttered again with this excuse.
When a half (the Sikandar Náma,e bara) of this edifice
(the Sikandar Náma,e bara va bahrí) became finished,
A half of the world (the populous part) came to my hand.
If Time (my life) were,—the other half,
I would utter,—through my ability the teacher (of skill
in verse),—in such a way
“Muhr bastan” signifies—tamám gashtan,
See couplet 34.
That it would bring forth the head of the sleeper (restless
and desirous of hearing my melodious verse) from
sleep;
Would bring to dancing the fishes in the water.
If Time will give me respite,—
Of reflection, in thought so it is,
That in the garden of this picture of Rúmish fold (the
Sikandar Náma,e bahrí)
I will cause the red rose (fresh speech, joy-exciting) to
spring from the yellow dust (my withered yellow
body):
Will make a treasure full of versified speech,
Its turquoise (the subtle image), like the turquoise; its
pearl (the verse), like the pearl:
Will bring a rose of sweet perfume (the essence of the
forms of speech) from every garden (of the forms of
speech);
Will bring rose-water to the rivulet (the Sikandar Náma,e
bahrí) from every side.
If the goodwill of the king (Nasratu-'d-Dín) be my hand-
Speech (the composing of the Sikandar Náma,e bahrí)
may quickly become represented (in writing).
Come, cup-bearer! the cup (of senselessness), luminous
(pure) like the moon,
Give me, in memory (worthy) of the ground-kiss (of
adoration) of the king.
The second line befits mention of the Sikandar Náma,e bahrí.
Until I draw the cradle (of praise of the king) to the
summit of the Pleiades,
I will drink that golden cup in memory of the king.