Departing thence the Sháh led on his troops,
And left Áráyish-i-Rúm in his rear.
One came and told him: “Cæsar hath dispatched
A host and lo! it draweth nigh.”

On hearing

Of that great power's approach—all spears and mail—
The Sháh proclaimed the tidings to the troops
That all the host might be prepared. They marched
As 'twere an iron mountain; battle-cries
Ascended and the blast of clarions.
A courier with tidings from the scouts
Appeared before the monarch of the world,
And told him: “Cæsar hath dispatched an army
Formed of his famous men and warriors.
Their leader is a mighty paladin,
Whose name in Rúman is Farfúriyús—
A haughty cavalier with trump and drum—
And all his troops long for the fight like wolves.”
While thus he spake before the watchful Sháh
The dust-clouds of the advancing host appeared.
He smiled and answered thus the messenger:—
“The thing is not unknown to us, for we
Already have prepared the host for battle:
Such thoughts ne'er have been absent from our minds.’
Then with his lips afoam he gave command
That all the army should draw up in line.

So host with host confronted, and the air
Was hindered in its passage by the dust.
It was a glorious gathering of troops,
Proud chiefs and wielders of the scimitar,
All with loins tightly girded for the fray—
The great, the sages, and the seed of kings.
The swords of all were reeking with fresh blood,
And trenchant of the clouds. The enemy
Had no more respite than the quarry hath
From leopard springing. Rúman slain lay heaped
On all sides while the wounded turned from fight.
Farfúriyús himself thus stricken fled
The field with banner rent and drums o'erthrown.
The horsemen of Írán like pards, when they
Clutch on the waste the mountain-sheep, pursued
The Rúmans, sweeping them from dale and desert.
The Sháh marched on again equipped for war,
The soldiers all with mace and sword in hand.
He led his army on along a plain
Until another lofty hold appeared—
A citadel with soldiers, trump, and drum,
And hight Kálíniyús. The eagle saw not
Its battlements, a full moat girdled it,
And all around it stretched a fair domain
Of halls and gardens, grounds and palaces.
'Twas strongly garrisoned by Rúman troops—
All famous men and eager for the fight.
The Sháh encamped his powers two leagues away,
Earth blackened with the dust-clouds of the host,
And war-cries went up from Kálíniyús—
A clamour that bedwarfed the tymbals' din.
The Sháh marked well that city whereunto
His troops for ever thronged increasingly;
They battled at the gates and showered down
Their shafts and hand-grenades, and when bright Sol
'Gan pale, and half revolving heaven was dark,
No portion of the castle-walls remained:
That city was all level with the ground.
Then from the Sháh's gate proclamation issued:—
“Ye famous men of the Íránian host!
Come from the city, every man, and pass
The night upon the plain. If any cry
Shall rise from women and from agéd folk,*

Or any sound of pillage, rioting,
And combating, shall reach mine ears at night,
So that but one complain of evil usage,
As soon as such appealeth ye shall see
The skin of the offender stuffed with hay.”*

When Sol was stretching out its hand from Cancer,
Had put away fatigue and banished sleep,
The tymbals sounded at the monarch's gate,
Those that were highest in esteem set forth,

And from that hold and seat the men and women
Assembled at the gate of Núshírwán:
“No cavalier of all our warriors
Is left,” they said, “or magnate in this city;
They all, though guiltless, have been slain or wounded,
And it is time for pardon from the Sháh,
Because God's justice never will approve
That women, babes, and elders should be captive.
The citadel and city's walls are such
That henceforth thou wilt see but thorn-brakes here.
Since Cæsar was the offender how are we—
The people of Kálíniyús—to blame?”
The Sháh gave pardon to those Rúmans: both
The guilty and the innocent escaped.
He left with them an ample store of wealth,
And marched his army with all speed away;
But all the folk that he saw fit for arms
They bound on elephants and carried off.
Then news to Antákiya came: “The Sháh
Is on his way with elephants and troops.”
Now at that city was a boundless host
Of Rúman warriors and mighty men.
The Sháh accorded to them three days' grace
That he might war not on them wrongfully,
But on the fourth his host came mountain-like—
The warriors of Írán in close array—
While for the sake of women, children, land,
And wealth the cavaliers of Rúm advanced.
They fought three mighty battles in three days,
But on the fourth day when the sun arose
The marches of that prosperous land lay open,
The Íránians saw no Rúman cavaliers,
The soldiers took possession of the place,
And filled it till there was no room to stand.
The great men that had thrones and coronets,
And those that were the treasurers of Cæsar,
Gave up the treasure to the Sháh—the world-lord—
The treasure unto him that bare the toil.
The Íránians set in bonds on elephants
All that were warriors among that folk.
The Sháh dispatched to Madá'in the captives,
And all the wealth of Cæsar, then went round
The city and beheld a country-side
More brilliant than the orbéd moon. The gardens,
The parks, and streams, restored old age to freshness
And youth. The king addressed his nobles thus:—
“Can this be Antákiya or young spring?
Whoe'er hath seen not jocund Paradise
Whereof the soil is musk, the bricks are gold,
Whose waters are rose-water and trees jewels,
Whose country is the sky, whose heaven the sun,
Should look on this fresh land, and may it be—
This land of Rúm—in full prosperity.”