§ 9 How Dárá told his last Wishes to Sikandar and died

The ministers came to Sikandar, saying:—
“O Sháh victorious and endowed with knowledge!

V. 1801
We have surprised and slain thine enemy;
The crown and throne of chiefs are his no more.”
Sikandar, having heard Jánúsiyár,
Said thus to Máhiyár: “Where is the foe
Whom thou hast overthrown? Show me the way.”
The two led on. The Rúman's heart and soul
Were filled with rage and grief. On drawing nigh
He gazed upon Dárá and saw his breast
All blood, his countenance like fenugreek,
Gave orders to alight and set a guard
O'er those two ministers, and then, dismounting
As swift as wind himself, took on his lap
The wounded monarch's head and, tarrying
Until the stricken should begin to speak,
Chafed with his hands the visage of Dárá,
Removing from the head the royal crown,
Unclasping from the breast the warrior's mail,
While showering tears on him because no leech
Was then at hand to tend upon the wounded,
And saying: “All yet shall be well with thee:
It is thy foemen's hearts that shall be wrung.
Arise and seat thee on this golden litter,
Or, if thou hast the strength, mount on thy steed.
I will have leeches brought to thee from Hind
And Rúm, and mourn thy pain with tears of blood.
I will resign to thee the realm and throne.
When thou art better we will pack and go,
But these that thus have wronged thee will I hang
Head-downward from two gibbets presently.
When yesterday these two old men informed me
My heart flowed over, and I cried aloud,
Because we twain are of one root and piece:
Why for ambition should we wreck our race?”
Dárá, on hearing this, began to speak,
And said: “May wisdom alway be thy mate.
Sure am I that thou wilt be recompensed
By God, the all-holy Judge, for these thy words;
But as for what thou said'st: ‘Irán is thine,
Thine are the crown and throne's seat of the brave,’
Death is much nearer to me than the throne;
V. 1802
'Tis quit of ruined men. High heaven so willeth,
Whose joy is travail and whose profit loss.
Beware of saying: ‘I by mine own might
Prevailed o'er this famed people.’ Know that good
And ill are both of God, and while thou livest
Give Him the praise. I illustrate my words,
And am a sign to all. What majesty,
Kingship, and wealth were mine! I injured none.
What arms, what troops withal, what noble steeds,
What thrones and crowns, what children, what allies!
Allies! My brand was burnt upon their hearts!
Then earth and time were bondslaves in my presence,
And thus it was while fortune proved my friend.
Then by this token I grew quit of good,
And captive in the hands of murderers;
I had no hope in children or in kin,
The world was darkened and mine eyes were glazed.
Of all my kindred there is none to help me;
My sole hope is in Him who giveth all.
Thus stricken am I lying in the dust;
The world hath got me in the net of ruin.
Such is the custom of this turning sky
Alike with monarch and with paladin:
All kingship too departeth in the end;
It is the quarry and the hunter death.”
Sikandar wept blood-drops upon the Sháh,
Thus stricken in the dust, who at the sight
Of all that heart-felt grief and tears o'erflowing
His pallid cheeks, said: “Weep not, tears are vain,
The smother is my portion of the fire.
He that bestowed so much on me, and fortune
That so illumed me, have apportioned this.
Now give thine ear to this my last request,
Receive and keep it wisely in thy heart.”
Sikandar said to him: “'Tis thine to bid:
Say what thou wilt; I pledge to thee my word.”
V. 1803
Dárá spake quickly and recounted all
His last requests, beginning thus: “O chief!
Fear thou the almighty Ruler of the world,
For He created the heaven, the earth, and time,
The mighty and the weak. Protect my children,
My kindred, and the consorts that I love;
Ask me for my chaste daughter as thy wife,
And let her share thy throne in happiness.
Her mother used to call her Rúshanak,
And made the world both glad and fair to her.
Thou wilt have no reproaches from my child,
Nor any jibings from the ill-disposed,
For kings have nurtured her, and she is fit
In rede to be the crown upon the noble.
Thou mayst see born to her a youthful prince
Who will revive the name Asfandiyár,
Relume the altar of Zarduhsht, take up
The Zandavasta, heed the presages,
The feast of Sada and the Fanes of Fire,
With glorious Naurúz, Urmuzd, and Mihr,
And lave his soul and face in wisdom's stream,
Restore the customs of Luhrásp and follow
The doctrine of Gushtásp, maintain both high
And low in their degree, illume the Faith,
And see good days.”

Sikandar made reply:—

“O monarch of kind heart and honest speech!
I do accept thy rede and last requests,
And I will tarry in thy borders only
To compass these good matters, and herein
Take wisdom for my guide.”

The world-lord grasped

Sikandar's hand, began to wail, then pressed
The palm upon his mouth, and said: “Be God
Thy refuge. I resign my place to thee,
Depart to dust, and give my soul to Him.”

V. 1804
He spake, his soul passed, and folk wept him sorely.
Sikandar rent his garments and strewed dust
Upon the Kaian throne. Then for Dárá,
According to the custom of his race,
And honouring his Glory and his Faith,
Sikandar built a charnel-house. They washed
The monarch's blood away with clear rose-water,
Now that the time of endless sleep was come,
And draped him in brocade of Rúm; the pattern
Was all in jewelry, the ground was gold.
The corpse was hid by camphor; none beheld
Dárá's face more. They set within the charnel
A golden throne, o'erhead a crown of musk,
And laid him out upon a golden bier,
While every eye rained blood, then lifting it
They passed it on from hand to hand. Sikandar
Preceded it afoot, went too the nobles,
Their eyes all charged with blood, and thus he fared
Until the rites were o'er, and thou hadst said:—
“His very skin hath burst!”

When he had placed

The Sháh's bier on the throne, had gone the way
Of royal precedent, left that grand charnel,
And made the lofty portals fast without,
He set a gibbet for Jánúsiyár,
With one for Máhiyár of equal size,
And hung those miscreants alive thereon—
Those regicides—head downward. From the host
Came warriors with stone in hand and slew them
Upon the gibbet all despiteously:
So perish every slayer of a king!
Now when the Íránians saw how much Sikandar
Was troubled for the Sháh—that noble man—
They all of them began to laud his worth,
And hailed him as the ruler of the earth.