He marched upon this wise until he reached
A busy city which was named Shúráb,
Wherein Gushtásp dwelt when he went to Rúm.*

The Sháh beheld it rising in the air,
Fulfilled with men and goods, with harp and song,
With stone-foundations springing from the deep,
And battlements up-builded to the clouds.
The troops beleaguered it but saw no means
Of access to the gate. The Sháh set up
The catapults on all four sides, and then
The ramparts of the Christian crumbled down.
From every quarter came the breath of doom;
Men saw no place of refuge or escape,
And when the shining sun set in the sky
The castle-walls were level with the plain.
The shouts of cavaliers, the dust of troops,
And fume of fire ascended to the moon.
The strong-hold was all trunkless heads and feet,
Elsewhere were headless trunks. The cries for quarter,
And women's shrieks, rose o'er the drummers' din.
The magnates eminent for wealth or valour
They bound and laid upon the elephants,
While wails of woe and cries for quarter rose.
The Sháh spared none in battle-tide, he spared not
His treasures and dínárs in banquet-time.
He marched thence till another hold appeared,
Wherein were Cæsar's treasures, and it had
A mighty man for castellan. 'Twas called
Áráyish-i-Rúm till that Núshírwán

Ill-ended it. The watchful Sháh surveyed
That hold, unentered yet by hostile troops,
And bade shoot showers of arrows till the air
Was thick with them as 'tis with hail in spring.
The chieftains bravely stormed the walls and flung
Fire on the city and the citadel,
Wherein no living thing remained alive
Or, in the country round, a thorn or briar.
The Sháh gave Cæsar's treasures up to spoil,
And all the crowns and purses to his troops.
He brought the Day of Doom upon that city,
And all folk fled. Men, women, children, wailed
Till old and young assembling came before
The noble Sháh and cried aloud for succour:—
“The ministers, the treasurers, and treasure,
Are thine, and thine the gain and toil in Rúm;
We only beg of thee to spare our lives,
We bondslaves of the Glory of thy crown.”
The Sháh bade cease the slaughtering, and he
Provided for these people bounteously.