“At the period when I was in the service of that martyred
prince, the King of the Mountains (may God illuminate his tomb
and exalt his station in Paradise!), that august personage had
a high opinion of me, and showed himself towards me a most
generous patron. Now on the Festival of the breaking of the
Fast, one of the nobles of the city of Balkh (may God maintain
its prosperity!), the Amír 'Amíd Ṣafiyyu'd-Dín Abú Bakr Mu-
“Now at a reception the King chanced to say, ‘Call Nidhámí.’
‘Is Nidhámí here?’ inquired the Amír 'Amíd Ṣafiyyu'd-Dín. They
replied that he was. But he supposed that it was Nidhámí-i-
“When the messenger came to summon me, I put on my shoes, and, as I entered, did obeisance, and sat down in my place. When the wine had gone round several times, Amír 'Amíd said, ‘Nidhámí has not yet come.’ ‘Nay,’ replied the King, ‘he is come; see, there he is, seated in such-and-such a place.’ ‘I am not speaking of this Nidhámí,’ said Amír 'Amíd; ‘the Nidhámí of whom I speak is another, and as for this one, I am not even acquainted with him.’ Thereat I saw that the King was vexed; and, turning to me, he straightway asked, ‘Is there another Nidhámí besides thee?’ ‘Yes, sire,’ I replied, ‘two others, one of Samarqand, whom they call Nidhámí-i-Munírí, and another of Níshápúr, whom they call Nidhámí-i-Athírí; while me they call Nidhámí-i-'Arúḍí.’ ‘Art thou better, or they?’ demanded he.
“Then Amír 'Amíd, perceiving that he had made an unfortunate remark, and that the King was vexed, said, ‘Sire, those two Nidhámís are quarrelsome fellows, apt to break up social gatherings by their brawls, and to cause trouble and do mischief.’ ‘Wait a while,’ said the King jestingly, ‘till you see this one drain a bumper and break up the meeting. But tell me, of these three Nidhámís, which is the best poet?’ ‘Of those two,’ answered the Amír 'Amíd, ‘I have personal knowledge, having seen them; but this one I have not previously seen, nor have I heard his poetry. If he will compose a couple of verses on this topic which we have been discussing, so that I may see his talents and hear his verse, I will tell you which of the three is the best.’ Then the King turned to me, saying, ‘Now, O Nidhámí, do not put us to shame, and say what the 'Amíd desires.’
“Now at the time when I was in the service of this prince I possessed copious talents and a brilliant wit, while the favours and gifts of my patron had so stimulated me that my improvisations came fluent as running water. So I took up a pen, and, ere the wine-cup had gone twice round, composed these five couplets, which I then submitted to the King:—
‘O Sire, there be Nidhámís three, and the world with their fame
doth ring;
Two are in Merv at the Sultan's Court, one here before the
King.
All are the pride of Khurásán wide in song, and I tell you true
That as water fluent, as wisdom wise, is the verse of the other
two.
But I am the wine, the headstrong wine, and so, when I them
o'ertake,
Their song they cease, they rest in peace, and the making of
verse forsake.’
“When I submitted these verses, the Amír 'Amíd Ṣafiyyu'd-Dín bowed and said, ‘O King, I know of no poet, let alone the Nidhámís, in all Transoxiana, ‘Iráq, and Khurásán, able to improvise five such verses, particularly having regard to their strength, energy, and sweetness, combined with such grace of diction and containing ideas so original. Be of good cheer, O Nidhámí, for thou hast no rival on the face of the earth! O Sire, he hath a pretty wit, a mind swift to conceive, and a finished art. By the good fortune of the King of the age, he hath developed into a unique genius, and will even improve upon this, seeing that he is young and hath many days before him.’
“Thereat the countenance of my lord the King brightened
mightily, and a great cheerfulness showed itself in his gracious
temperament, and he applauded me, saying, ‘I give thee the lead-
Our poet, it will be seen, was not modest as to his attainments; but the frank delight in his cleverness here and elsewhere revealed is such as to disarm hostile criticism. Modesty, indeed, has seldom characterised the Persian poets.
Before we proceed to speak of Anwarí, the most celebrated of the poets associated with the Court of Sanjar, a few words must be said about two or three of his fellow-craftsmen, who, though less illustrious than he, or than those already mentioned in this chapter, are sufficiently conspicuous amidst the almost innumerable writers of elegant verse who flourished at this epoch to deserve at least a passing notice.
'Abdu'l-Wási' al-Jabalí was, as his nisba “al-Jabalí” (“the Highlander”) implies, originally from the mountainous district 'Abdu'l-Wási' alJabalí. of Gharjistán. Thence he came to Herát and Ghazna, where he was for a while attached to the Court of Sulṭán Bahrámsháh b. Mas'úd. When Sanjar marched against this ruler in A.D. 1135, * the poet, according to Dawlatsháh (p. 74 of my edition), won the victor's favour by a rather graceful and original qaṣída, in which the following eight couplets occur:—
“Through the King's unswerving justice, through the Sultan's
catholic care,
Is the pheasant, the ant, the partridge, and the wild ass in
its lair,
The first the falcon's neighbour, the next to the serpent dear,
The third the hawk's bed-fellow, and the last the lion's fere.
The Lord of the World King Sanjar, with whom for evermore
In standard, policy, forehead and face are signals four;
In the first the pride of empire, in the second the people's
weal,
In the third all worldly splendour, in the fourth all godly zeal.
His fingers are in bounty, his lance where foes cry ‘Yield!’
His presence in festal banquet, his flag on the hard-fought
field,
The first a giver of guerdons, the next a seizer of souls,
The third joy's source, while the last-named attesteth Victory's
scrolls.
Null in his glorious epoch, void in his golden prime,
Found in his days of splendour, dimmed in his lustrous time,
Is, first, Kay-Khusraw's glory; second, Sikandar's fame;
Third, the renown of Ferídún; and, last, Núshirwán's name.”
Dawlatsháh repudiates, on grounds that do not in themselves appear very adequate, the well known, though possibly fictitious, anecdote * (given by Sir Gore Ouseley in his Biographies of Persian Poets, p. 108) that 'Abdu'l-Wási' Jabalí, then a humble peasant lad, first attracted the attention of a rich and powerful patron by the following extemporised verses, wherein, unconscious of a human audience, he was apostrophising some camels which were trespassing on a cotton-field entrusted to his care:
“Flasked-necked camels, hence! Get out!
Well I know what you're about!
Those long necks which forward crane
Shall not touch my cotton-grain!”
Súzaní of Nasaf (or Samarqand, according to Dawlatsháh),
whose proper name was Muḥammad b. 'Alí, is chiefly famous
Súzaní.
for the ribald and satirical verses to which in
earlier life he mainly devoted his talent. These
verses must have been exceptionally vitriolic,
*
even for the
time and place in which he lived, since Dawlatsháh, who is
not, as his notices of Abu'l-'Alá of Ganja and Kháqání
abundantly show, particularly squeamish, excuses himself from
giving specimens; while 'Awfí, though regarding his facetiœ
as full of talent, considers it best “to draw in the reins of
utterance from putting forward such things,” and adds a pious
hope that, in consideration of a few serious and penitential
poems composed in old age, God may pardon the erring poet.
His pen-name, Súzaní, is stated by 'Awfí to have been adopted
by, or given to, him in consequence of an attachment which
he formed to the apprentice of a manufacturer of needles
(súzan). One of his rivals, between whom and himself many
a duel of words seems to have been waged, was, according to
'Awfí (vol. ii, pp. 208-9), Ḥamídu'd-Dín al-Jawharí. Dawlat-