Ever since . . . . my pen sputtered.—The most obvious explanation of this phrase is that it means: Since I knew how to write, but the word qalam, pen, is also used metaphorically for ẕakar, membrum virile, when the idiom allows of the interpretation, “since I had reached puberty.”

I clutched his stirrup with both my hands, in allusion to the proverb, ushdud yadaika fî gharzi-hi, tighten thy hands on his stirrup, mean­ing, cling to one who has the power to benefit thee, or stick to an undertaking unflaggingly (see Ar. Prov., i. 660).

In applying the pitch to the places where the scab begins to show, again proverbial (Ar. Prov., iii., P. 1, p. 541), for being well grounded in a matter, and knowing how to treat or mend it.

Swifter than the moon in her changes, the last word being in Arabic nuqal, plural of nuqlah, her movement from one sign of the Zodiac to the next, which is performed in about two days and eight hours. Another reading is fî ’l-nufal, during her second three nights (the first three being called ghurar), when her swiftness means her earli­ness of setting during those nights. The preceding expression, to wander abroad faster than the proverb, refers to the phrase al-mas̤alu ’l-sâ’ir, the current proverb.

Which is part of man’s chastisement (or torment), allusion to a tradi­tion which is recorded, in the following words, in the Muwat̤t̤â, one of the oldest collections of the Ḥadîs̤, compiled by the Imâm Mâlik (†A.H., 179): “Travel is a portion of man’s punishment, it de­prives you of sleep and drink and food; so when one of you has obtained his object in undertaking it, let him return to his people in all haste.”

So at a time when I had strayed to Merv, and no wonder.—Merv, in Arabic Marw, an imperfectly declined noun, whence the oblique case Marwa, is a large and celebrated town of Khorasan, called the mother of that country. As the people of Khorasan were renowned for their stinginess, it is not surprising that the inhabitants of the mother-town were said to excel in it all the rest of the world. Witness the story, related in Sadî’s Gulistân, if I remember well, of the merchant of Merv, who would not allow his son to eat cheese, but made him rub his bread against the glass cover under which it was kept. In the title of this Assembly, Ḥarîri uses the regular form of the noun of relation marwî, in preference to the more usual marwazî, probably for marghazî, derived from marghaz, an older name of Merv (compare my Persian Dictionary, p. 1217). The words in the text, no wonder, in Arabic la gharwa, are, of course, thrown in to rhyme with marwa, but they are not entirely irrele­vant, as the fame and importance of the city may naturally enough induce a traveller to visit it.

Nor saw I any trace or dust of him, in the original lâ ará la-hu as̤ar-an wa lâ ‘is̤yar-an, which final word means dust raised by his foot in walking, and seems more appropriate than the reading ‘ais̤ar-an of some MSS., the meaning of which, “a slight and feeble trace,” would appear pleonastic after as̤ar-an.

And clings to the people commanding respect, as one clings to his wife and his close relations.—The text of this passage, wa ’ltazama li-ahli ’l-ḥurami ka-mâ yultazamu li ’l-ahli wa’l-ḥurami, contains a play on the double meaning of the words ahl and ḥuram. The latter is the plural of ḥurmah, which may be synonymous with iḥtirâm, honour­ing, paying respect, revering, and if in connection with it, ahl is taken in the sense of people, the expression ahlu’l-ḥuram signifies “people of respects,” i.e., to whom respects are due. But the plural of ḥurmah has also the special meaning of close relatives, comprising the relations of a man by consanguinity, affinity, or fosterage, with whom marriage is unlawful, while al-ahl, with the article, stands for his household or more in particular for his wife. The reading which I have adopted is that of my own MS. and of the native editions. De Sacy has al-ḥaram for the second al-ḥuram, but the former, in the sense of “harem,” would be almost identical with al-ahl, as his own definition in his commentary shows.

For Allah’s grace upon thee has been great—quotation from Koran, iv. 113: “And God hath caused the Book and the Wisdom to descend upon thee, and what thou knewest not He hath caused thee to know; and the grace of God towards thee hath been great.”

Who grovels in the dust after he had rolled in riches, in Arabic tariba ba‘da ’l-itrâbi. The verb tariba means he has become poor, as though he were bent to the dust (turâb) by dint of his poverty, and itrâb, infinitive of the fourth form of the same verb, signifies being wealthy, as though a man’s riches were plentiful, like dust.

And hopefulness is the best means of propitiation of him who begs, and the best gift of him who gives.—The commentators say in explanation of this: “The trusting hopefulness with which you represent your need to the generous on approaching him, gains his favour for you more effectually than the intercession of a third person, and it is a source of even greater pleasure and gratification to him than the gift itself, which he may be prevailed upon to bestow on you.”

And deal me fair as Allah has dealt fair with thee.—Taken from Koran, xxviii. 77: “But seek, by means of what God hath given thee, to attain the future Mansion; and neglect not thy part in this world, but be bounteous to others; as God has been bounteous to thee.”

Then he stopped short, to wait for the fruit of his planting (ukla gharsi-hi).—Ukl , lit., that which is eaten, occurs in the sense of fruit, Koran, xviii. 31: “Now set forth to them as a parable two men; on one of whom We had bestowed two gardens of grape-vines, and surrounded both with palm-trees, and placed corn-fields between them; Each of the gardens did yield its fruit (ukl), and failed not thereof at all.”

Mayst thou forfend a curse, i.e., mayst thou guard thyself or refrain from doing anything that would bring a curse upon thee, a formula of greeting, implying a prayer, addressed to kings in the times of the Ignorance. Jauharî quotes the following verse, which he attri­butes to Zohayr bin Janab al-Kalbî, a warrior poet, on whom see Caussin de Percival’s “Essai,” i. 116; ii. 174:

“For sooth, I have obtained all that man may obtain, except the salute,”

where the word “salute,” in Arabic at-taḥaiyah, is explained by al-mulk, i.e., royal power and dignity.

And when he began with a bounty, follows it up with another; in the text, wa in bada’ bi-‘â’idat-in ‘âda. The verb ‘aud means to come back, to return, to repeat. Hence the feminine participle ‘â’idah, that which returns, stands like the English word “return” for profit, advantage, gain, which, when conferred upon somebody else, becomes a benefit. ‘Âda has then its usual sense: he comes back to it, repeats it again and again.

And never meet stinginess and praise, so that one would think a lizard this, that a fish, etc.—An Arab proverb says, “I shall never do this until the lizard goes to the water” (Ar. Prov., i. 574), and of two things or persons utterly incompatible with each other it is said “they are as far asunder as the lizard and the fish,” because the former avoids that which is the element of the latter (comp. vol. i., p. 431).

Made him alight on the seat of the circumciser (maq‘adu ’l-khâtini), a popular expression for closest proximity, as mazjaru ’l-kalb, the place to which a frightened dog is driven, stands for a great distance. Synonymous with the former idiom are maq‘adu ’l-qâbilati and maq‘adu ’l-izâri, seat of the midwife, place of the waistband, respectively, and a more emphatic form of expressing remoteness is manât̤u ’l-‘uyûq (s̤-s̤uraiyâ), the suspension place of Capella (of the Pleiades).

That which announced to him length of skirt and shortness of night.— Length of skirt is a metaphor for wealth and luxury, for which compare the following passage in the twenty-sixth Assembly, vol. i., p. 264: “Until when his gifts had overwhelmed me, and his gold had lengthened my skirt, I contrived to depart in the fair condition thou seest.” In similar manner, shortness of night means a life of pleasure, since the night is short only for him who passes it in delight and enjoyment, while, as the poet says, the shortest night becomes long in sorrow and grief. Many conceits of the poets turn on this subject, amongst others the following play of Abû ’l-Kâsim as-Sâlimî on the consonance of sound between lailî, my night, and lailá, name of a mistress:

“My night and Lailá are alike in contrariness, making of me a proverb in love-matters,

My night is lavish of its length (t̤ûl) whenever Lailá stints me her favour (t̤aul), and when she is lavish thereof it is my night that stints me.”

That my earnings are due to worth, not to meddling, and my station to power of speech, not to kings’ grace.—To this the commentators quote Mutenebbî’s line:

“Not through my people have I attained to greatness, they are great through me,

By my own self have I risen, not by my ancestors.”