I behold the world full of the desire of the desirer;
One (has his desire) towards the sea, the other towards
the pearl.
I found the world full of the pleasures or of the lusts of the envious. One inclines to the sea, the other to the pearl, for the sake of acquiring eatables (makúl) and potables (mashrúb).
At this time I seen none
Whose desire is towards the teacher (Nizámí).
For a nightingale (of the garden of philosophy) like me is
no choice
That I should become corner-taker (avoider) of these
corner-takers (from the path of truth).
In the exercise of the note of this melody (of lustrous
verse),
I may become free from the labour (of the seekers) of sea
and river (worldly ones).
Sometimes when I leap forth from the corner of the garden
(of retirement),
An orange (of lustrous speech) like the luminous lamp in
my hand.
Of the wise and foolish (of the world), I behold none
To whose hand one can give that orange (of lustrous
speech).
Again from the hand (power) of these (apparent) friends,
I fly towards this garden (of retirement):
Enjoy this heart-alluring garden (of retirement):
Make my heart happy with it.
Otherwise:—
4For a nightingale (the seeker of God) like me is no choice,
That I should become corner-taker (avoider) of these corner-takers (shunners of God).
In this book Niámí has set forth Divine mysteries as well as tales. For he gives exhortation at the beginning of each tale, and makes mention of the Sáḳí at the end. See canto vii. couplet 68; xiv. 47; lxxi. 42.
6“Hoshiyárán va” may signify—the sage and the ignorant one; the seeker of God and the seeker of the world; the holy traveller and the imperfect one.
The representer (Nizámí) of the workshop of speech (tale
of Sikandar),
From (the authority of) those old wise men (historians,
fire-worshippers) relates in this way,
That, when from the assault of Zang the king of Rúm
(Sikandar)
Rested; and the object came to his grasp,
He became an accepter of ease and sleep,
Passed the pure wine over his hand (circulated the wine
in the assembly):
Sate and drank wine on the feast of Nau-roz.
Listened to the song of the singers.
Until the time of sleep, far from the king would not be
The musician, nor the cup-bearer, nor music and wine.
He kept no account—save of his own pleasure;
And better than that, none possessed life.
“Shab-khún” signifies—a night attack; but as Sikandar delivered no night attack, it relates to the blackness (night-colour) of the men of Zang.
Plutarch relates that, before the battle of Arbela (B.C. 329), Sikandar, on being advised to make a night assault, said:—“I will not steal a victory.”
11“Pazíra” signifies—ḳabúl kunanda; istiḳbál namáyanda. See canto xviii. couplet 37.
12The Nau-roz, the first of the month Farwardín (March) when the sun is in Aries, is a festival instituted by the fire-worshippers, lasting from three to six days.
It is said that on this day:—
(a) Jamshíd (B.C. 800) entered the palace of Persepolis (Takht-i-
(b) God began the Creation and ordered the planets to move in their orbits.
On this day the king, attended by his nobles and by the army, marches out of his capital, reviews the army, receives tribute and presents, and gives dresses of honour to the chief nobles. See canto xxxix. couplet 1.
15The world-possessor, sphere-illuminating, seated,
Brought in prosperousness night to day:
Around him the philosophers of the age
Gave the share of equity and liberality to the world.
Aristo with the bowl; Flátún with the cup;
Pourers of pure wine, like pure blood.
The musician—to the sound of music, the singer,
Of a song (of victory) of new modulation, on the king's
Nau-roz (festival),
Saying:—“O fortune-shelter! be young (prosperous)
in fortune:
“Be every year possessed of diadem and throne!
“Pledge (drink) the cup for everlasting life;
“Make the pure wine the pledge-taker.
“Give the joy of the red-coloured wine;
“Prepare pleasure and give justice to youth (enjoy it).
“When thou hast youth, and fortune is (present),
“?? is proper to sit joyous, with song and with wine.
“Since thou completedst the sword's work (war),
“Prepare the assembly for the arranging of the wine-cup.
Ariso and Afláún here signify—wise men.
The poet describes the perfection of enjoyment when such wise men performed such duties as pouring out wine, etc.
“Khún-khám” here signifies—that which has not ripened, and whose colour is consequently bright and clear; it is opposed to that which, when ripened, turns to blackness; or, if burned, becomes black.
In pledging, four things are necessary:—
| (a) the pledger | Sikandar |
| (b) the thing pledged | jám, the cup |
| (c) the pledge-taker | báda,e-khám, raw wine |
| (d) the thing by which a lot is cast | 'amr-i-abad, everlasting life |
Place the cup near to (in front of) the wine (or, pledge the cup to the wine), and from it acquire everlasting life.
“Take the (seven climes of the) world within the shadow of
thy crown and throne;
“The world holds not this work (of world-seizing) difficult
to thee.
“Thou tookest blackness (the country of Zang), now take
whiteness (other countries);
“Such a piebald colour (the whole world) is necessary for
thee.
“Pitch the standard (of sovereignty) on the sky, for the
world is thine;
“Cling to sovereignty, for that also is thine.”
The king, from the conquest of Egypt and the plunder of
Zang,
Had brought lustre and colour to the jewel (himself):
Seized easily the weak neck of the enemy (Dárá and
others):
Took calculation (thought) of the tribute of Khurásán.
In weight (of majesty) equal to himself—in Rúm and
Syria,
None came fully to his scale.
Whatever he first gave, he gave not (now) to Dárá;
Verily, from him he sought out (tried to recollect) that
given.
For the reason that the season of youth was his,
The lust of territory-seizing was his.
He made the girdle of the men of Irán weak;
He tightened his belt for Irán-seizing.
Blackness may signify the west, and whiteness the east.
29“El shám” signifies—the country to the left of Makka; El Yaman, that to the right.
30Dárá signifies—dáranda, one absolute—either a king, or God.
—That tree which brings forth its head loftily
Brings injury to other trees.—
One happy day the king went a-hunting;
Happy was his temperament, happy also the day.
Game overthrowing, he traversed the plains;
Kept pursuing the wild game over mountain and plain:
Went, head full of pomp, sky-like,
Sometimes towards the plain, sometimes towards the mountain:
Passed, by the order of destiny, over a mountainous
country,
In which were many kinds of prey:
Saw, on a stony place, two mountain-partridges
In battle, according to the habit of fighting partridges.
This couplet is uttered by Niámí. See couplet 19.
34“Kash” signifies—khúsh.
38The historian Plutarch (A.D. 66) relates:—
Alexander, having subdued all on this side the Euphrates, began his march against Darius, who had taken the field with 1,000,000 men.
During this march one of his friends mentioned to him, as a matter that might divert him, that the servants of the army had divided themselves into two bands, and that each had chosen a chief, one called Alexander and the other Darius.
They began to skirmish with clods, and afterwards fought with their fists, and at last, heated with a desire of victory, many of them came to stones and sticks, insomuch that they could hardly be parted. The king, upon this report, ordered the two chiefs to fight in single combat, and armed “Alexander” with his own hands, while Philotas did the same for “Darius.” The whole army stood and looked on, considering the event of this combat as a presage of the issue of the war. The two champions fought with great fury; but he who bore the name of Alexander proved victorious. He was rewarded with a present of twelve villages, and allowed to wear a Persian robe, as Eratosthenes tells the tale.
This occurred before the battle of Arbela (or Gaugemala) which was fought on the 1st of October, B.C. 329.
Sometimes this one wounded with his beak the other's
head,
Sometimes that one broke with his claws this one's wing.
The king urged his steed towards that contest,
And kept being a spectator as to both birds.
From the fierceness with which the partridges grappled
together,
They fled not at the sight of the king.
The monarch remained astonied at that matter,
Saying:—“How is this malice in the brain of birds!”
Of this one—he made the name his own name;
Established on it the omen of his own end (the issue of the
battle with Dárá):
Of the other bird—he made the name Dárá;
Placed his eyes open on that lot (-casting).
The two bold birds in that contest
Made battle for awhile.
In the end, became victorious that very bird
On which the monarch had cast the omen of his own
name.
When he beheld the state victorious, like that,
He regarded that omen, the proof of victory.
The partridge, strutting, victory-gained,
Flew from the partridge defeat suffered.
Flew towards the knoll of a mountain;
An eagle came and split his head.
When the mountain-partridge was overcome by that eagle,
The king grieved, but became not angry.
The fact of not being enraged is wisdom; for the end of all is to die.
From joy at his own victory,
Verily, grief of life and body was not his.
He knew that fortune would give assistance;
Would give him success over Dárá.
But in that victorious time
His life would not be long lasting.
I have heard that in that hard (stone) mountain was
A lofty vaulted turret, of firmament grandeur.
From which, with their own voices, inquirers
Used to seek news of their own mystery (of life):
Used to hear a sound (an echo) from that (vaulted turret
in the) hard (stone) mountain
In such a way that it used to be the type of fortune.
The king ordered that a certain wise one
Should seek out news from the lofty mountain.
Namely—how the shedding of blood in the world might
be?
How the end of his (Sikandar's) fortune might be?
The inquirer of happy omen asked,
Saying:—“How shows the vaulted turret the end of
(Sikandar's) state?
“Sikandar becomes the conqueror of the world?
“Brings defeat to the possessor of fortune (Dárá)?”
“Khárá koh” signifies—a mountain (of) stone.
55They used to cast a lot regarding the result of their work.
60In some copies, dárá,e dárá occurs. The first dárá signifies—dáranda,e daulat; and the second, Dárá the king.
In Persian, the intonation of the voice often decides whether a question is being put, or an assertion made.
By poetical license the vaulted turret (echo) is in reply supposed to suppress the interrogative intonation of the inquirer.
The (vaulted turret of the) mountain from the hidden
brought forth a sound (an echo),
Exactly as he (the inquirer) had spoken, it repeated.
From that omen the Khusrau's heart
Gathered strength, like a strong mountain.
He returned with heartiness from that quarter;
Came towards the banquet-place from the mountain and
plain:
Sate for deliberation in the council,
Like a straight cypress in the midst of the parterre:
Spoke within limit of his action (in not sending tribute to
Dárá);
Of the prosperousness of peace (with Dárá) and of his own
war.
“How may I give tribute to usury-devourers (men like
Dárá)?
“How may I put on myself such meanness?
“When, by the power of the World-shelterer (God), I
“Cause my crown to reach the revolving sphere,
“Why is it necessary to give tribute to Dárá,
“Than who I have not (anything) less,—neither of jewels
(treasury) nor of crown (sovereign-sway)?
“If he possess the crown,—the sword is mine;
“When the sword is mine,—the crown comes to my
power.
“Pusht-i-ḳawí” signifies—taḳwiyat.
66“Gazíd” signifies—kharáj; báj; gazít; jaziya.
By Dárá's religion usury (ribá) was lawful; by Sikandar's, unlawful.
“Gazíd-i-ribá-khwár” is the tax (jaziya) paid by infidels to the King of Muslims.
In the Shara', usury (ribá, súd, mál) is unlawful. The mark of the infidel is on him who takes it.
See canto xxxii. couplet 10; xl. 3; xlix. 8.
70“If he bring an army for contest with me,
“The Protector (God) is my protector.
“Mine is the gain of Divine victory;
“For strong is my judgment; one of heart, my army.
“Two hearts become one will shatter the mountain (the
strong enemy);
“Will bring confusion upon the host.
“My hope of this kind—by fortune's power,
“That I may take crown and throne from enemies.
“Why is it necessary to be Dárá's place of taxing?
“To be conspicuous for tribute-giving?
“By way of assistance,—ye intelligent persons,
“What say ye—how this matter should be?
“What clear proof (of withholding tribute) is mine as to
Dárá?
“Make evident to me the hidden (counsel as to withholding
tribute).”
Those knowing the conclusion of affairs (the sages)
Renewed their prayers for the monarch.
Saying;—“While the revolving sphere and stars exist,
“—And from these two is the mixture of the jewel (of the
four elements):—
This couplet has many Sufíistic meanings.
74“Rasad-gah” signifies—mahal-i-báj; báj-gáh.
78From the aspect of the sky and constellations is the governing of the essence of the existence of created beings of this, the lower world. For, in the opinion of the sages and the astrologers, the creating of the essence of humanity, the mingling of the four elements, and the balancing of the temperament of the essence of the body, are by reason of the appearance of the constellations and by the effects of the twelve houses (of the Zodiac).
In the “Pall Mall Budget,” March 15, 1879, Mr. Jenkins, F.R.A.S., wrote to the following effect:—
To the intense prejudice of educated people—confounding the astrology of the ancients and of the scientific men of the middle ages with the nonsense of the gipsies—we are indebted for our ignorance of the origin of epidemics. As Hecker remarks:—“Of the astral influence, which was considered to have originated ‘the great mortality,’ physicians and learned men were as completely convinced as of the fact of its reality.” The error was in supposing that the influence was due to the conjunction of the planets instead of to the position of the planets in their orbits. People do not believe in planetary influence, because it is held to betoken ignorance and superstition, and because they cannot imagine how such tiny objects can affect their great globe, forgetting that our earth, among the planets, is as a marble among cannon-balls.
“May the jewel (the four elements of existence of) the
king be the lamp of the world!
“May the king's countenance be more resplendent than
the moon!
From a long study of great terrestrial phenomena and of the movements of the large planets, I can come to no other conclusion than that they are intimately connected.
I spent months accumulating information on cholera throughout the world, from 1816 to 1871. Tabulating my results and throwing them into the form of a curve, I was surprised to find that there had occurred a great outbreak about every seventeen years, alternately at maxima and minima of sun-spots. Before the Royal Historical (?) Society I suggested that the cause would probably be found in the influence of the planets, and in their approach to the sun. In “Nature,” May, 1872, I stated that, as there had been great outbreaks in 1816-17, 1832-34, 1848-50, 1865-67, we might expect the next in 1883-84.
I found that the average period for sun-spots, for magnetic storms, and for auroræ, was 11.9 years, the period of Jupiter's anomalistic year; and that these phenomena were least when Jupiter was nearest the sun. I found that the compass-needle follows the movements of a strong magnetic pole, which Sir James Ross found in 1830 in Boothia, but which has now (I hold) travelled west to Prince Albert Land, and at such a rate that it will complete its revolution round the pole of the earth in five hundred years. On examining the dip of the needle, I found that the magnetic pole must be in the atmosphere over the place where it appears in the earth.
I found that the number of deaths during the last forty years in England was greatest, on an average, over the whole period every six years. Throwing the numbers into a curve, and placing under it the curve of Jupiter's orbit during the same period, I found that whenever Jupiter was at two points equally distant from his nearest point to the sun (September and March) the deaths in England were greatest. If this is true for England it should be true for the death rate of the world. On examining the curve for cholera over the world, from 1816 to 1871, I found that this held good.
80“Thou art that one that in (dependent on) thee is the
power of vision (of creation):
“In (dependent on) thee is the prosperity of creation.
“Wherever thou art—be Lord!
“With the seed (the heart's desire) that thou scatterest,—
be fruitful!
“Since with happy judgment thou inquiredst of us,
“We will pronounce how fortune will become (thy) guide.
“With true judgment permission is of this kind,
“That the king should not exercise haste against the
enemy.
I examined a magnetic chart of the world and found that lines of no declination (lines indicating where the needle points to true north, and, therefore, the lines in which the greatest magnetic power is manifested) are advancing west at the average rate of one-seventh of a degree annually over the regions epidemic-stricken—Russia, Persia, the United States, Brazil, and western China. As the magnetic poles advance these lines advance, and epidemics on man and beast accompany them.
I find that this line, now passing over Russia, must have passed over it five hundred years ago, or in the fourteenth century, when the “Black Death” raged. The plague devastated Europe for the next two centuries, culminating in the great plague of London, in 1665, just when a line of no declination was advancing over England.
On examining the movements of Neptune, I found that those of the needle varied with those of the planet; while it makes three revolutions the magnetic poles make an eccentric circle round the earth's pole; this eccentricity (I found) was true to some influence at a maximum of eight years. On examining the movements of Uranus, I found that they were such as to account for the anomaly.
I have fully detailed the subject in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society.
Within the next seven years there will happen that which has not happened for hundreds of years—all the planets will be at (or near) their nearest points to the sun at the same time.
Of the earth, it is true that its magnetic intensity is greatest when it is near the sun; the same is probably true of all the planets. We may expect extraordinary magnetic phenomena during the next seven years, and great plagues, which will manifest themselves in all their intensity when Jupiter is three years from his perihelion, in 1883.
“Sit thou (tranquil); if he wage war against thee,
“Thy sword may bring a difficult matter to him.
“On thy part,—once to uplift the sword;
“On the enemy's part,—to leave head and sword.
“That stag which sports with the lion,
“Its place of sacrifice, the earth makes fit for prayer
(clean).
“From Dárá come only the reed (playing) and wine
(carousing),
“If he come against thee (in battle) his blood will come
into agitation (in death throes).
“Thou (art) greater than he in army-arranging;
“One can ask tribute (only) from the weak.
“Thy assault,—even to the (broad) desert of Zang;
“His pleasure,—to the narrow bed-chamber.
“Thou art religion-cherisher; the enemy is malice-
“Angel is one (Sikandar); Ahriman is the other (Dárá).
The angel is more powerful than Ahriman.
Arrian says:—
Alexander, in his fifteenth year (B.C. 342), was placed under the immediate tuition of Aristotle, who left him not until the invasion of Asia. The master was worthy of his pupil, the pupil of his master. Alexander was gifted with great quickness of apprehension, an insatiable desire of knowledge, and an ambition not to be satisfied with the second place in any pursuit.
Plutarch says:—
He was very temperate in eating. Ada—whom he had restored to her position as Queen of Karia, of which the capital was Halicarnassus —sent him at Alinda every day a number of excellent dishes and a handsome dessert, and on his departing presented him with some of her best cooks and bakers. But he refused, saying, he had been supplied with better cooks by his governor, Leonidas –a march before day to season his dinner, and a light dinner to prepare his supper. Leonidas used to examine the chests in which his clothes were put, lest something of luxury should be introduced by his mother, Olympias. His age was was then twenty-two years (B.C. 334).
“Thou art sword seizer; he wine-cup seizer:
“Thou sittest on the enemy's head; he on the throne (of
ease).
Nor was he so much addicted to wine as is thought. The time at table was spent in talking rather than in drinking, every cup introducing some long discourse. He never made these long meals but when he had abundance of leisure. When business called, he was not to be detained by wine, sleep, pleasure, honourable love, or the most entertaining spectacle. His life confirms this assertion, for, though short, he performed in it innumerable actions.
As soon as he was risen he sacrificed to the gods; then he took his dinner. The rest of the day he spent in hunting, deciding cases, or in reading and writing.
On the march he would exercise himself in shooting and darting the javelin, or in mounting and alighting from a chariot at full speed.
On retiring to his quarters to be refreshed with the bath and oil, he inquired of the stewards whether they had prepared everything in a handsome manner for supper.
When night came on he ate this meal in a recumbent posture. He was very attentive to his guests; his conversation was more agreeable than those of most princes, for he was not deficient in the graces of society.
He had so little regard for delicacies that, when the choicest fruit and fish were brought him from distant countries, he would send some to his friends and often leave none for himself.
His table expenses rose with his fortune, till they reached the sum of ten thousand drachmas for one entertainment. He did not allow those who invited him to exceed that sum.
During the first years of his reign, when capital causes were brought before him, he used to stop one of his ears with his hand while the plaintiff opened the indictment, that he might reserve it unprejudiced for hearing the defendant.
But subsequently the many false informations, dressed to appear like the truth, broke his temper. In cases of aspersions on his own character reason forsook him, and he became extremely severe, preferring reputation to life and empire.
In Malcolm's “History of Persia,” 1829, vol. i. p. 55, we have:—
Persian authors say that Dárá (Dáráb-i-așghar, or Darius Codomannus) was deformed in body and depraved in mind, and that his bad administration paved the way for Sikandar's success.
See Shea's translation of the Early Kings of Persia, by Mirkhond (born A.D. 1432, died A.D. 1498), p. 361; the “Five Great Monarchies of the East,” by G. Rawlinson, vol. iii. pp. 515-539; and canto xv. couplet 16.
91The second line may mean:—
Thou sittest on the steed, he on the throne (of ease).
“Thou art possessed of justice; he is a tyrant;
“Thou the balance of power (powerful); he, the balance of
gold (wealthy but miserly).
“Thou art vigilant; he, displays senselessness (by carousing);
“Thou doest good; he does evil.
“On account of which evil,—of all cities and armies,
“Of the good men,—he has none well-wishing.
“Thou wilt see that one day, verily, his tyranny
“Will bring great dulness into his market (of sovereignty).
“Thy charming favours
“Will exalt thy name to the seventh heaven.
“From enmity to truth how long (makes he) vain
conflicts?
“Behold how falsehood (in the end) flies from truth.
“Bind thy loins (for battle) and behold the vigilance of
(thy) fortune;
“Display crown-possessing; sit on the summit of (Dárá's)
throne.
The second line describes—the hardness of Sikandar's arm, and the softness of Dárá's.
97The first line may mean:—
(a) From an enemy of truth (Dárá) how long (arise) vain conflicts?
(b) With the God-worshipper (Sikandar), an enemy of false religion (Dárá)—conflict how long?
The couplet may mean:—
With so many enemies to truth, vain conflict
Make not; for the false flies from truth.
The Ḳurán says:—
O Muhammad! thou saidst:—Truth came and falsehood disappeared; for falsehood is a thing that must disappear.
Sikandar (B.C. 329), at the age of twenty-seven years, laying claim to the honour of the prostration of the person (after the fashion of the Persian court), was adjudged to have laid claim to divine honours.
See pp. 217-22 of “Life of Alexander the Great,” by John Williams, 1829.
“It is not proper that this fancy should bind thee (from
battle with Dárá);
“For empire lies in country; and victory, in wealth.—
“Lordship-exercising over man is by manliness;
“Otherwise, every individual man is man.
“Not every man displays chieftainship:
“That one becomes chief who practises man-cherishing.
“Of rapacious and non-rapacious beasts, the lion is king
for that reason,
“That he is the guest-cherisher in the prey-place.
“The (wealth of the) world is not pleasant, for the reason
that thou mayst acquire it;
“(That) thou mayst make it foot-bound with chain and
padlock.
“Thou givest to it the mark (title) of pleasant ease at that
time
“When thou takest it from this one (the undeserving) and
givest it to that (the deserving).
“The generous one is always possessed of a friend;
“None is for him who is worthless.
“To that one whose dough (nature) is crude (ungenerous)
“Everyone gives baked bread (at the time of famine) by
loan (not as a gift).
“Thou hast manliness; liberality is thine;
“The treasure of the evil one is with dragons (profitless).
The lion cherishes other animals with the remains of the prey which he has made.
106This couplet explains couplet 105. Men respect him from whom advantage to themselves is in prospect.
“If he comes (in majesty) as thunder, thou art (with the
sword of anger) the lightning;
“If he be treasure-holder, thou art treasure-giver.
“Though thy father was endowed with lion-force,
“He was for malice-seeking (with Dárá) of gentle sword.
“Thou art that lion-seizer that in battle-time
“The hard stone becomes blood (destroyed) by thy sword!
“In battle with the black men of Zang nature,
“Who were like the demon, malignant and bad (outwardly
and inwardly),
“When they displayed arrogance against thy sword,
“Save the head (in submission)—what cast they at thy
feet?
“Since, like the mountain, thou movedst not through
those torren s (of Zang warriors),
“Thou wilt not be distressed by these drops (Dárá's
army).
“That crocodile that pursues the elephant,—
“When makes he submission on account of the fawn?
“When becomes the ravening lion the prey of the wild
ass?
“When turns the (deadly) black snake its face from the
(weak) ant?
“That eagle that practises prey-making,—
“Sports he (in battle) with chickens?
Thunder-noise, a sign of the want of rain, possesses nothing but sound, awe-inspiring.
The lightning-flash indicates rain, burns, and gives to the wind whatever it strikes.
109The gentle sword signifies—a slow-mover and delay-maker.
111“Duzh-khím” signifies—dush (ugly) and khím (disposition).
113The second line gives encouragement to Sikandar, for Dárá's army was exceedingly great. See canto xxiv. couplet 109.
116“Dast yazí” signifies—jang namúdan. See canto vii. couplet 39.
“Moreover,—since the stars (the seven planets) are thy
well-wishers,
“All creatures of the dust (men) are the dust of thy path
(obedient).
“The example of world-conquering is thine;
“Injuring (weakness) is the enemy's; the preserving substance
(order) thine!
“With so many victorious signs,
“How may not disaster reach the enemy?
“By that lot which one can calculate from the star
“Thou hast pre-excellence in this contest.
“Verily, in the figures of the arithmetical diagram (of the
conqueror and conquered),
“Thou appearest more powerful when thou arrivest
against him.
“As to Palangar, who was the Zang army leader,
“At the time when he was possessed of battle-power,
“When we hastened to (the diagram of the) conqueror
and conquered,
“We found thee conqueror in that war (with Zang).
“Since by lot that showing was victorious,
“By this lot also the (last) state can be victorious (as to
Dárá).”
With (the omen of) victory of his own path-showers (councillors),
the king
Performed a calculation as to world-seizing.
Wherever he took the sword (for war) or the wine-cup (for
peace),
He took (found) the star-omen for good fortune:
See canto xvi. couplet 44.
126Couplets 126-130 are uttered by Niámí.
Cast the lot month and year (constantly) with auspiciousness;
For happy is the state happy by omen.
Cast not a bad lot that brings evil state;
Be none who casts the evil lot!
Come, cup-bearer! that pure ruby (the wine of senselessness)
Bring; wash this one grief-stained (for God).
The ruby, the illuminator, that the flower (pleasure) of the
garden
May kindle its own lamp from its lamp.
Niámí says this to everybody, especially to Nașratu-d-dín.
Perhaps ḳál should be read for the first fál, or hál, in the second line.
Who utters the happy word in regard to himself,—his lot is happy.
If the first fál (meaning, end of work) be retained, we have:—
The end of the work of the man of happy lot is happy.
“Fál zadan” here signifies—uttering good speech that gives the fruit of goodness.
130“Rihán” here signifies—the tulip, the red rose, or the sweet basil, the joy exciter of the heart and soul.
In the second line—from the cradle of the ruby (wine of senselessness).