I have made mention of Núshzád. Take heed
That thou quit not the path of equity.
If heaven possessed a father then indeed
He would resemble Núshírwán, so why
Should his own son quit the paternal way,
And seek the royal dignity and throne?

Accord thine ear to all that I shall say,
And I will keep back nothing, O my son!
I have well ordered that I did receive
From rustic bard, and by that token too
Am fain some memory of myself to leave,
So be the honour unto whom 'tis due.
This is my wish that after I am dead
My fame as poet evermore shall last.
On this wise spake a Persian bard whose head
A hundred years and twenty had o'erpast:—
“He that is hostile to the world's great king
Not of man's stock but Áhriman's must be.”
Now of Núshzád they tell that very thing
As handed down by ancient legendry.
Whenas the son of Núshírwán had heard:—
“The throne of that right royal Tree is void,”
He oped his palace-door, and from all quarters
Troops gathered unto him—all that had 'scaped
From wisdom's bonds and had been put in ward
By Núshírwán. Núshzád unchained the mad,
And all the city was in consternation;
But he assembled of the citizens
All that were Christians, whether priests or prelates,
Assembled many haughty cavaliers
And swordsmen, while his mother gave him wealth—
The treasures lavished on her by the Sháh.
There gathered to him thirty thousand men,
All famous and prepared to fight. He took
The cities round; his fame was noised abroad.
He wrote a letter to his kinsman*

Cæsar,
Made known his dark designs, and said: “Arise
O king! for thou art lord, friend, of one Faith
With me, and Cæsar. As 'twere Rúm, Írán,
Its worship and its settlements, are thine,
My father hath been sick and now is dead,
His wakeful fortune hath been overthrown.”
The tidings reached the towns of Madá'in
Of what the son of Núshírwán had done,
Whereat the warden of that march dispatched
To Núshírwán a cavalier to whom
He told what he had heard and what was secret.
The messenger went like a rapid stream,
And came to Núshírwán to whom he gave
The letter, telling all that he had heard,
And of the overt actions of Núshzád.
The Sháh, when he had listened and had read
The letter, grieved thereat and was confounded,
Held session with the noble archimages,
Debating much with them in privacy,
And, when the consultation reached its end
In resolution, bade a scribe attend.