As has been already observed, Arabic continued during the whole of the period which we are now discussing to be the chief literary medium in Persia, not only for prose but for verse. Nevertheless Persian again begins, under those semi-independent dynasties, the Ṣaffárids and Sámánids, and even under the earlier Ṭáhirids, to be employed as a literary language: more, indeed, for verse than prose, but to some extent for both. In this chapter we shall have to consider chiefly the poets of Persian nationality, first those who used their mother-tongue, and secondly those who employed the Arabic language.

Our authorities for the latter are fuller, though, with one exception, not much more accessible, than for the former; and Authorities for the Arabic­writing poets. (i) The Yatíma of ath-Tha'álibí. the chief one is the Yatímatu'd-Dahr (or “Unique Pearl of the Age”) of Abú Manṣúr 'Abdu'l-Malik b. Muḥammad b. Isma'íl ath-Tha'álibí* of Níshá-púr in Khurásán, who, according to Ibn Khallikán, was born in A.D. 961 and died in A.D. 1038. This valuable anthology of Arabic verse was published at Damascus in A.D. 1885 and following years in four volumes; of which the first deals in ten chapters (pp. 536) with the poets of Syria (including the “Circle of Sayfu'd-Dawla,” Abú Firás, the House of Ḥamdán and al-Mutanabbí), Egypt, the Maghrib and Mosul; the second, in ten chapters (pp. 316), with the poets of Baghdad and Arabian 'Iráq who flourished under the patronage of the noble House of Buwayh; the third, in ten chapters (pp. 290), with the poets of Persia (except Khurásán), who were patronised by the Buwayhids of Persia and their ministers (notably the Ṣáḥib Isma'íl b. 'Abbad), and the rulers of Ṭabar-istán, especially the Ziyárid Qábús b. Washmgír, a glowing encomium of whose virtues and talents concludes the volume; and the fourth and last, also in ten chapters (pp. 332), with the poets of Khurásán and Khwárazm, who flourished under the protection of the House of Sámán. This work is a perfect treasury of information as to the literary condition of Persia in this period (circ. A.H. 350-403 = A.D. 961-1012), and gives us an extraordinary idea of the extent to which the Arabic language was cultivated throughout Persia, even as far as Khwárazm, at this time; for here we find Persian poets addressing their Persian patrons in excellent Arabic verse, occasionally extemporised on the spur of the moment; so that it would seem that at this epoch Arabic must have been as well understood in Persia by persons of education as English is in Wales at the present time; and that there were eloquent Persians then who could wield the Arabic language as skilfully and successfully as several Welsh orators can the English language in this our day. This is certainly a far closer analogy than that afforded by the Greek and Latin verses now produced in England by classical scholars, which, however good they may be, are the outcome of much thought and labour, and lack, I imagine, the quality of spontaneity. In order to ascertain the effect produced by these Arabic verses composed by Persian poets on one whose native language was Arabic, and who knew no Persian, though deeply learned in his own tongue and its literature, I seized the occasion of a visit paid to me at Cambridge two or three summers ago by Shaykh Abu'n-Naṣr, formerly répétiteur of Arabic at the admirably organised École des Langues Orientales Vivantes of Paris, to read with him some thirty pages of the last volume of the Yatíma, dealing with the poets of Khurásán; and he assured me that the verses were excellent Arabic, and, as a rule, so far as the language went, showed no trace of foreign origin. The lack of Persian verse produced at this epoch does not, then, arise from any lack either of talent or of literary ability, but simply from the fact that it was still the fashion to use Arabic instead of the native speech for literary purposes; and I cannot help feeling astonished that those who concern themselves with Persian literature (unless they regard literature as merely expressing the speech and not at all the genius of a people) should have hitherto ignored almost entirely this rich field of study, with which those scholars whose interest lies primarily with the Arabs and other Semitic peoples are more naturally disinclined to trouble them­selves. Indeed the only considerable study of the Yatíma (in so far as it concerns Persia) with which I am acquainted is M. Barbier de Meynard's interesting series of articles in the Journal Asiatique for 1853 (pp. 169-239), and 1854 (pp. 291-361), entitled Tableau Littéraire du Khorassan et de la Transoxiane au IV^e siècle de l'Hégire, which contains a translation of pp. 2-114 or the fourth volume of the Yatíma. If we are entitled to look for the Celtic genius in the poems of Moore, Yeats, or Lewis Morris, surely we may expect to discover some characteristics of the Persian mind in these poets, who, though Arabic in speech (at least for literary purposes), were Íránian by race.

With the precursors of the Yatíma (such as the Ḥamásas; the “Classes,” or Ṭabaqát, of Ibn Qutayba and Abú 'Abdi'lláh Supplement to the Yatíma. Muḥammad b. Sallám al-Jumaḥí; the Kitábu'l-Aghání , &c.),* we need not here further concern ourselves, but a few words must be said concerning its supplements, which, unfortunately, since they exist only in rare manuscripts, I have not been able at present to read or examine at leisure. Two only need be mentioned, of which The Dumyatu 'l-Qaṣr. the first and most important is the Dumyatu 'l-Qaṣr of al-Ḥusayn b. 'Alí al-Bákharzí († A.D. 1074-5). Of this work the British Museum possesses at least two manuscripts (Add. 9994 and Add. 22,374), and its contents are fully described at pp. 265-271 of the old Arabic Catalogue. It comprises seven chapters, of which the first treats of the poets of the Arabian Desert and Ḥijáz (27 notices); the second of the poets of Syria, Diyár Bakr, Mesopotamia, Ádharbayján, and other lands west of Persia proper (70 notices); the third of the poets of 'Iráq (64 notices); the fourth of the poets of Ray, al-Jibál, Isfahán, Párs, and Kirmán (72 notices); the fifth of the poets of Jurján, Astarábád, Qúmis, Dihistán, and Khwárazm (55 notices); the sixth of the poets of Khurásán, Kúhistán Bust, Sístán, and Ghazna (225 notices); and the seventh of eminent literary men who were not poets (20 notices). In this work one is struck not only by the very large number of natives of Persia who appear as the authors of Arabic verse, but by the essentially Persian names or titles of many of them. Some were recent converts from Zoroastrianism (perhaps in some cases actual Zoroastrians), such as Ibn Mahabzud (i.e., Máh-afzúd) “the Magian” (al-Majúsí), and Mahyár b. Marzúya of Daylam, who was converted to Islám in A.D. 1003-4 by the Sharíf ar-Raḍí, a much more famous poet than himself;* others have names, such as Khusraw Fírúz, Durustúya, and Faná-Khusraw (for Panáh-Khusraw), or titles, such as Dihkhudá, Dív-dádí, so essentially Persian that no doubt as to their origin is possible. Other later works of the same class are the Zaynatu'z-Zamán of Shamsu'd-Dín Muḥammad of Andakhúd, the Kharídatu'l-Qaṣr of 'Imádu'd-Dín al-Kátib al-Iṣfahání, &c.

For the Persian-writing poets of Persia the chief primary authorities now extant are the Chahár Maqála, or “Four Primary sources for Persian­writing poets of this period. Discourses” of the Ghúrid court-poet Nidhámí-i-'Arúḍí of Samarqand (written about A.D. 1155), and the Lubábu'l Albáb of Muḥammad 'Awfí (written in the first half of the thirteenth cen­tury). Of the former I published in the J. R. A. S. for 1899 The Chahár Maqála. a complete translation (obtainable also as a tirage-à-part ), based on the Tihrán lithographed edition (A.H. 1305 = A.D. 1887-8) and the two British Museum manuscripts (Or. 2,956 and Or. 3507); while 'Awfí's Lubáb. the latter, based on the Elliot Codex described by N. Bland in the J. R. A. S., vol. ix, pp. 112 et seqq., and the Berlin Codex (Sprenger 318 = No. 637 of Pertsch's Catalogue), will form the next volume of my Persian Historical Text Series.* Another important work (unfor- Abú Ṭáhir al-Khátúní. tunately, as it would appear, no longer extant) was the Manáqibu'sh-Shu'ará (“Traits of the Poets”) of Abú Ṭáhir al-Khátúní,* a well-known poet and writer of the Seljúq period. All these authorities were used directly and indirectly by Dawlatsháh (wrote in A.D. 1487), and by the later compilers of Tadhkiras (“Memoirs”) of the Persian poets; and 'Awfí in par­ticular is extensively cited by Riḍa-qulí Khán, the author of one of the most modern and most complete works of this Asadí's Lughat-i­Furs. nature, the Majma'u'l-Fuṣahá (2 vols., lith. Tihrán, A.H. 1295 = A.D. 1878). Another ancient though somewhat scanty source of in­formation, which at least serves to show us how many Persian-writing poets flourished before the middle of the eleventh century of our era, is the Lughat-i-Furs, or Persian Lexicon, of Asadí of Ṭús, composed about A.D. 1060, and edited from the old Vatican MS. (Pers. XXII), transcribed in A.D. 1332, by Dr. Paul Horn (Strassburg, 1897).* In this most valuable work verses of some seventy-eight poets, many of them other­wise unknown or scarcely known even by name, are cited.