How Hosts gathered from all Sides against Hurmuzd, and how he took Counsel with his Wazírs
When he had reigned for ten years righteously
The voice of foemen rose from every realm,
King Sáwa marched upon him from Harát
With drums and treasure, elephants and troops.
If thou wouldst take the number of that host
Go count four hundred o'er a thousand times.
There were twelve hundred elephants of war;
Thou wouldst have said: “Earth hath no room
for them.”
The desert from Harát to the Marvrúd
*
Was thick as warp and woof with soldiery,
And as he led them on to Marv the earth
Was hidden by the dust-clouds of the host.
On reading this
The king turned pale at all that countless host.
Then from another quarter Cæsar came,
And over-ran the land with his array—
A force of Rúmans five score thousand strong,
Courageous and redoubted cavaliers.
The cities ta'en by Núshírwán, whose name
Still frighted him, he took back with the sword:
All were again obedient unto Cæsar.
*
A host came from the side of the Khazars,
And all the fields and fells were black with them.
A warrior of experience and possessed
Of troops and treasure of his own was leader,
And from Armenia their companies
Extended to the gate of Ardabíl.
Then from the waste of spear-armed cavaliers
An army came past count. 'Abbás and 'Amr,
Two horsemen youthful and illustrious,
Led them. They gave to havoc land and crop
Because Hurmuzd demanded tribute of them.
That host reached the Farát, and in that land
No place for grass was left. When fortune loured
News reached Hurmuzd, and that successful Sháh
Grew all amort at his informants' words,
And he repented slaying those archmages,
And alienating wise men from his court.
He saw no counsellor, and he had need
Of wise advisers, so he sent and summoned
The Íránians to full session in the palace,
And made discovery of all the matter,
Addressing thus those nobles of the land:—
“A greater host than any can recall
Is marching on Írán.”
Then all the marchlords
Approached him with suggestions, saying thus:—
“Advised and prudent Sháh! hear us herein.
Thou art a wise Sháh; we are subjects merely,
And count ourselves as less than one archmage.
Thy scribes and thine archmages hast thou slain,
Departing from both faith and precedent.
Think what to do and who shall guard our land.”
Then said an archimage who was wazír:—
“O sage and knowledge-seeking Sháh! if now
Hurmuzd,
For he was seeking for a policy,
Said to that archimage: “How shall we now
Bear us toward king Sáwa?”
He replied:—
“Put thine own soldiers into war-array,
For troops exalt a monarch. Summon too
The muster-master that he may account
The number fit for service.”
With the roll
The muster-master came before the Sháh,
Whose army numbered five score thousand men,
The more part mounted, many were on foot.
The archmage said: “With such a host as this
We well may be defeated by king Sáwa
Unless thou actest boldly and uprightly,
Dismissing all ideas of fraud and falsehood;
Then thou wilt free thy subjects' heads from bonds
As well becometh kingship. Thou hast heard
The mighty tale of ill done to Gushtásp,
And to Luhrásp all for religion's sake
By great Arjásp, that brave old Wolf, and all
The cavaliers of Chín, the woe of Balkh,
And how life was embittered in that land
Until Asfandiyár was set at large,
And pressed the war amain.*
Unless the king
Of earth will be advised he will behold
Much trouble from the Turks of Chín, but though
I pass the king in years I pass him not
In thought.”
The king said: “Cæsar shall not fight
With us. I will restore the cities taken
By Núshírwán, and then he will withdraw.”
He chose a scribe—a warrior—as envoy,
A wise, a prudent, and observant man,
And sent him unto Cæsar with this message:—
“I want no Rúman cities; be that land
Thine; but withal set foot not on our coasts
If thou wouldst be both great and prosperous.”
The envoy came to Cæsar and delivered
The message of Hurmuzd. The lord of Rúm
Withdrew and did no scath upon Írán.
The king, when Cæsar had withdrawn, prepared
To war with the Khazars. He formed a host,