§ 13 How Fúr answered the Letter of Sikandar

C. 1305
Bold Fúr, when he had read the letter, raged
Against that famous magnate and forthwith
Wrote fiercely in reply, and set a tree
Within the garth of vengeance. He began:—
“'Tis ours to fear and reverence holy God.
We will not speak so many empty words;
The boaster is a man without resource.
Art thou so shameless as to summon me?
Is wisdom to thy mind so light a thing?
If Failakús on this wise wrote to Fúr
Do thou begin too and provoke a quarrel!
But 'tis Dárá who thus hath heartened thee,
Because of him revolving heaven was weary,
And when good fortune goeth from a race
They heed not the advice of counsellors.
Thy strife with Kaid was but a merry-make;
Thou thinkest kings thy prey. No such address
Or words proceeded from the ancient Kaians.
Fúr am I and the son of Fúr. We take
No thought of Cæsars. When Dárá asked help,
And I perceived his heart and fortune failing,
I sent him mighty elephants and gave him
Words of encouragement. When he was slain
By that slave's hand the Íránians' fortunes fell,
And when earth's face was franchised from Dárá
That trenchant bane became thine antidote.
Why lose thy head because bad ministers
Ill-treated him? Talk not of war so proudly,
Because with me it is another story.
Thou shalt behold my mighty elephants
And host, which bar the wind, confronting thee.
Thy whole aim is supremacy, thy nature
One rust with Áhriman. Do not thou sow
The seed of harshness in the world, but be
In fear of misadventure and the ills
Of fortune. In this letter 'twas my part
To seek thy welfare and instruct thy heart.”