Šāh-nāmah - The Šahnama of Firdausi, Volume 6

Sikandar led his troops toward Bábil;
The air was hidden by their dust. He marched,
He and his host, a month; they saw no rest-place.
At length they reached a mount whose top was
hidden.
A black cloud rested on it; thou hadst said:—
“'Twas near to Saturn.” They could find no road,
And Sháh and army halted in dismay.
They scaled laboriously the craggy height,
And even light-armed troops were overworn.
When they were all exhausted by the march
A deep sea showed upon the farther side.
The host rejoiced to view sea, plain, and road.
They marched toward that deep sea, and praised the
Maker.
The place was full of beasts; the army lived
On game. Far off a savage showed all hairy,

The Sháh asked: “What is that amid the water
Out yonder toward the rising of the sun?”
“O Sháh!” he said, “for ever live renowned.
There is a city there like Paradise,
And not, thou wouldest say, compact of earth.
Thou wilt not look on palace there or house
Whose outside is not made throughout of bones,
And, brighter than the sun, within the halls
Are limned the visage of Afrásiyáb,
And that of Kai Khusrau, the combative,
His greatness, manliness, and enterprises.
All these are painted on the bones of fish;
Thou wilt see nowhere any dust or earth;
The people live on fish and naught besides.^177a

Myself I will escort the army thither
If the famed Sháh shall bid.”

Sikandar said

To him with ears: “Go to, fetch me a native
That I may look upon a novelty.”
So Gúsh-bistar set forth at once and made
All speed to go to city and to folk,
And gave them Cæsar's message, saying: “The Sháh,
That famed one, calleth for you.”

Of that city,

When young and old and high and low heard this,
There went across the water seventy men,
Possessed of wisdom or advanced in years,
And clad in silks, and some were young, some old.
The old and famed bare each a golden cup
A-brim with pearls, the young bare each a crown.
They came to Cæsar, bowed, and reverenced him;
They held long talk with him and said: “The trea-sures
Of Kai Khusrau are in our custody,
And would befit a new Sháh like thyself.”
Thereat Sikandar hurried o'er the water
Toward their city, viewed it all—its marts,
And streets—and visited the treasure-house.
The hoard was all of crowns and thrones of gold,
With coronets and necklaces and girdles.
None knew its worth for none could reckon it.

Sikandar marched thence to Bábil; the earth
Was hidden by his host. He knew that death
Was near and that his day was overcast,
And thought to leave none of the royal race
To lead an army to make war on Rúm,
And set his foot upon that prosperous land.
When this thought gat possession of his brain
He wrote a letter to Arastálís,
And said: “It is my purpose not to leave
One of the royal seed. I have been round
The seven climes and taken many princes.
In sooth my death is nigh, so day hath darkened.”
He bade that every one of Kaian seed
Should make him ready to appear at court,
Not dreaming of foul play. Now when they bare
The letter to the sage his heart was riven.
He answered instantly and, thou hadst said,
Made of the lashes of his eye his pen-point:—¹⁷⁹

“The letter of the world's king hath arrived.
Thou must withhold thy hand from evil-doing,
Abandon this ill purpose, expiate
The thought by giving alms, restrain thyself,
Commit thyself to God and in the world
Sow only seed of good. We live for death,
For die we must past help. None hath borne off
The kingship with him, but hath gone and left
His greatness to another. So be ware,
Shed not the blood of princes else a curse
Will be upon thee till the Resurrection.
Again, when for the Íránian troops no Sháh
Shall sit upon the throne hosts will arrive
From Turkistán and Hind, Sakláb and Chín,
Arrive from all sides, and 'twill be no marvel
If they that take Írán shall war with Rúm.
Not e'en a breath must harm the Kaian-born.
Convoke the Rúman and Íránian chiefs
To merrymake, feast, conference, and banquet.

When Sikandar

Received this answer he made haste to change
His purpose and bade summon to his court
The Rúman and Íránian notables
That were possessed of valour, ranked them duly,
And drew the patents so that none should seek
The least addition to the share assigned him.
To these renowned and independent princes
They gave the name of “Tribal Kings.”

The night

Whereon Sikandar reached Bábil, and saw
The chiefs right glad to look on him again,
A woman bare a child that filled beholders
With wonderment. It had a lion's head
With hoofs for feet, an ox's tail, the breast
And shoulders of a man. The monster died
At birth but, though such things are best forgotten,
They bare it to the Sháh forthwith who gazed
Thereon with horror, held it ominous,
And said: “Let this be hidden by the dust.”
He summoned many readers of the stars,
And held discourse at large of that dead child.
In great dismay they veiled their views thereon
From that fair-fortuned Sháh who raged, and said:—
“If aught be hid forthwith I will behead you,
And naught but lions' maws shall be your shroud!”
The Sháh being wroth, they told him: “Famous king!
That thou wast born beneath the Sign of Leo
Was patent both to archmage and to chief.
Thou seest the lion-like head on this dead child;
So will the head of thine own empire droop.
All thine astrologers have said as much
Already and adduced the signs.”

Sikandar,

On hearing this, was grieved; his wits and counsel
Failed, and he said: “Death is past cure. My heart
Is not concerned thereat. No longer life
Is mine. Our period waxeth not nor waneth.”
He sickened at Bábil that very day,
Knew that calamity was near and called
A veteran scribe before him to impart
The dispositions that he had at heart.

He sealed and closed

The letter, and bade men on speedy steeds
Convey these tidings from Bábil to Rúm:—
“The Grace of king of kingship is bedimmed!”
Now when the army was aware thereof
The world was darkened to the chiefs, who set
Their faces toward the throne of majesty,
And all the world was full of hue and cry.

On hearing how the army was bestead,
And knowing that his time was near, Sikandar
Bade carry from the palace to the field
His throne. The troops bewailed his malady
When they beheld the Sháh's pale face. The plain
Was one great cry; they seethed as on quick fire.
All said: “What misadventure for the Rúmans
To lose their king! Ill fortune is upon us,
And field and fell henceforth are desolate;
Our foes have won their wish and gained their goal;
The world becometh bitter to us now;
In public and in private we shall wail!”
With failing voice said Cæsar: “Be devout,
Wise, modest, and heed all my last requests,
If ye would prosper both in soul and body.

Like mountain-sheep

They hurried to the wood that he called Khurm,
They asked their question and this answer came:—
“Why long delay the coffin of the Sháh?
Iskandaríya, which he built in life,
Is destined to contain Sikandar's dust.”
The soldiers heard the voice and bare away
The coffin from the wood without delay.

Another said:—

“Soon shall we be as thou art, thou that wast
An uncut gem.”

Another said: “The Master,

On seeing thee, will teach thee things forgotten.”
Another said: “Since he hath been death-smitten
We should not clutch at self-aggrandisement.”
Another said: “O higher than moon and sun!
Why hidest thou from all thy goodly face?”
Another said: “A man of many parts
Is fain to cover him face-deep in gold,
But now, O man of such accomplishment,
And brave! the yellow gold hath whelméd thee!”
Another said: “Thou hast put on brocade,
And veiled to us therewith thy lovely looks.
Now lift thy head therefrom, for crown and armlet,
And ivory throne, of thee are all in quest.”
“Thou hast been severed from thy moon-faced
youths,”
Another said, “and thralls of Chín and Rúm,
And huggest gold to thee. Oh! deal not thus,
'Tis not kings' usage, with brocade and gold.”

Another said: “Thy day

Is over-passed, thy tongue hath ceased to parle.
Now wilt thou see a mighty Court—a world
Wherein the sheep is parted from the wolf.¹⁸⁷

The observer of thy throne and crown should turn
His reins from greatness for, as 'tis with thee,
It will abide with none. The tree of greatness
Should not be planted!”

Said another: “Thy deeds

Are turned to wind, the chiefs' heads quit of thee.”
Another said: “Why in this Wayside Inn
Laboriously didst thou employ thyself,
Since this is all that thou hast gained by toil?
A narrow coffin is thine only wealth.
Thou seekest not the trumpet-call but choosest
The bondage of a bier?”

Another said:—

“What time thy troops depart thou wilt remain
All by thyself on this wide waste, good sooth!
With longing eyes pursue them as they go,
And mourn thine own lost life with boundless woe.”

Then came Sikandar's mother hurrying,
And long while pressed her visage over him.
She said: “O thou illustrious king of kings,
Lord of the world, star-favoured, and devout!
Near as thou art, thou art yet far from me,
Far from thy host, thy kingdom, and thy people.
May my soul wait on thine, and be their hearts
Plucked out that joy hereat.”

Then Rúshanak

Came full of anguish, saying: “Noble Sháh!
Where are Dárá, son of Dáráb, the master
And up-stay of the world,¹⁸⁸

and all the kings
Whose head the blast sent dustward on the day
Of battle? Like a fierce cloud charged with hail
Wast thou and safe, I would have said, from death.
With so much warfare, combating, and bloodshed
In single action and in stricken field,
I would have said that fate had given thee
Safe conduct, and thou keepest from thy men
The secret, yet hast thou, when thou hadst voided
The world of chiefs, cast off the imperial crown,

The ancient Hostel's wont is still the same;
Sikandar went, but left behind him fame.
Though able six and thirty kings to slay
Where is his portion in the world to-day?
Ten cities were erected 'neath his sway,
All splendid, but ten thorn-brakes now are they.
He sought what no man ever sought before,
And wide-spread fame is left him but no more,
Yet fame is good for fame will not decay
Like some old dwelling weather-worn away.
The barrier of Sikandar we have past,
May all be well and of auspicious cast,
And may the monarch of the world¹⁸⁹

be still
Of joyous heart and free from every ill.

High-springing arch of heaven! Oh! why dost thou,
When eld is on me, keep me thus forlorn?
Thou madest much of me in youth but now
Thou passest my decrepitude with scorn.
The pampered blossoms take a sallow hue,
The pictured silk is cheapened by much stress,
The dainty cypress-tree is bent in two
Within the garth, the bright lamp lustreless,
The mountain-top once black is capped with snow,
The soldiers mark the Sháh's deficiencies:
Thou wast a mother to me long ago,
Who needs shed blood-drops at thy tyrannies.
I find no wisdom or good faith in thee;
Thy dark proceedings aggravate my lot:
Oh! would that thou hadst never nurtured me,
Or, having nurtured, persecuted not!
Whene'er I quit this gloom I will arraign
This tyranny of thine before the Just,
Of thee before the All Holy One complain
With clamourings and head bestrewn with dust.

THE poet praises Sultán Mahmúd and then, having no subject-matter in connexion with this dynasty, proceeds to narrate the story of the rise of the race of Sásán in the person of Ardshír Pápakán and of his triumph over Ardawán, the last of the Ashkánians. He then goes on to tell of Ardshír's campaign against the Kurds, and of the strange case of Haftwád and the Worm.

The abridgment of the epoch of the Ashkánians to 200 years is more drastic even than that of other Oriental writers. Mas'údí's curious explanation of this matter will be found later on.¹⁹³

In one respect at least the Sháhnáma presents a remarkable analogy to the land of its origin: the central portion of both is a barron waste. Of the five centuries and more that intervened between the day of the death of Sikandar (Alexander the Great) and that on which Ardshír Pápakán (Artaxerxes I.) was acclaimed King of kings by his victorious troops on the battle-field of Hurmuzdagán,^193a

that is to say between June 13th B.C. 323 and September 26th A.D. 226, Firdausí knew absolutely nothing save a few names and the semi-mythical circumstances attendant on the coming into being of the second Persian or Sásánian Empire. Consequently, for convenience sake, the period covered by the Ashkánian dynasty has come to be regarded merely as a single reign—the twenty-first in the long series of the fifty Sháhs. After all, however, this dearth of subject-matter in the core of the poem is not so complete as it seems. Firdausí took his authorities as he found them, and long before his days Íránian tradition already had assigned all of heroic or noteworthy that had remained in memory of Ashkánian times to the mythical epochs of the Pishdádian and Kaiánian dynasties. He spoke of the ancient tongue (Pahlaví) and of the paladins (Pahlaváns), he told at large the gests of Káran, Gúdarz, Gív, Bízhan, and others, but had no notion that he was dealing with words, names, personalities, and subject-matter, that had originated in a period dismissed by him in a few couplets as a legendary blank.¹⁹⁴

Again, apart from those heroes of secondary importance, there can be little doubt but that to the invasion of the Sacæ, which took place in Parthian times,^194a

we owe the Personification of that warrior-race, Rustam himself, the great paladin of paladins. The importance of the Ashkánian dynasty in the provenance of the subject-matter of the Sháhnáma therefore is much greater than superficially is apparent, and if all the legendary material of the poem could be replaced in its proper setting there would be no longer such discrepancies in length and interest between this and the two preceding dynasties. Historically of course it synchronises with one of the most important periods in the world's history, that of the successors of Alexander the Great, of the Parthian dynasty, and of the dominance of Rome. No one, least of all a translator, would wish that the Sháhnáma were longer, but one may regret that the misplaced material, which so inordinately prolongs the Kaiánian dynasty, was not kept in its proper connexion in the Ashkánian. As things stand the latter is a mere prelude to the Sásánian dynasty, and is concerned with the rise to power of Ardshír Pápakán, its founder, between which and that of Cyrus the Great there is a remarkable resemblance. In both cases there had been a previous incursion of nomads which had resulted in the establishment of their supremacy in western Írán. In the first case it was the Manda who, being confounded with the Madá or true Medes,^194b

brought about the establishment of the so-called Median Empire under which the dynasty of the Achæmenids occupied a subordinate position in Elam and Párs till the successful rebellion of Cyrus, king of Elam, against his over-lord Astyages, and his other conquests, reduced all western Asia underneath his rule. In the second case it was the Parthians, also nomads, who established a like empire over the same regions, and under whom the rulers of the house of Pápak or Sásán similarly occupied a subordinate position in Párs. As in the case of Cyrus, so Ardshír, the son of Pápak, successfully rebelled against his over-lord, and founded a great Persian empire. Again, the rise to power of Cyrus and Ardshír was embellished in each case by legend. In that of Cyrus two distinct accounts have come down to us, from Herodotus and Ctesias respectively. The former is that given, mutatis mutandis, by Firdausí in his story of the early years of Kai Khusrau,¹⁹⁵

the latter was transferred in Íránian legend from Cyrus to Ardshír as Gutschmid pointed out, who says, speaking of the fable that forms the kernel of the story:—“The hero is a Persian shepherd's son; from dreams shared by his parents the dream-interpreters predicted his future greatness; in his youth he came to the Median Court and there, through a strange fatality, has to do hard service; the crisis comes at last, and with it the flight of the hero to his home in Persis. Directly he has fled the astrologers declare that unless he be brought back in a given time he certainly will gain the kingdom, which comes to pass. This in a short sketch is the story of Ardshír; it is, however, exactly that of Cyrus, translated by Median hands but founded on Persian national sagas as given by Ctesias. The resemblance extends even to trifles; from the stable, where he has to do the most menial work, Ardshír starts on the flight which is to end in his gaining the sovereignty; at the moment when Cyrus resolves to break with Astyages he is met by a Persian slave, Hoibaras, carrying horse's dung in a basket, and that is interpreted as a good omen, horse's dung signifying riches and might (Nicolaus of Damascus, fr. 66, by Müller, iii. p. 400). So great a similarity certainly is not accidental, rather we recognise in it an old national saga transferred from the founder of the old Persian kingdom to the founder of the new.”^195a

The Íránian version of this legend, as applied to Ardshír, is extant in the Sháhnáma and in a Pahlaví text very similar in provenance and character to the Yátkár-i-Zarírán with which we were concerned in the previous volume of this translation.^195b

The work in question begins, after an invocation to Urmuzd, thus:—“In the history of Ardshír, son of Pápak, the following is written.” The word for “history” in the original is “kárnámak,” which is used now as the title of the extant work, and not of the one, now lost, from which it was taken. Our extant Kárnámak appears to date from the seventh century A.D., and is separable into portions each of which once, in all probability, formed an independent legend. Thus we have

1. The adapted Cyrus legend.

2. Ardshír's war with the Kurds.

3. The story of the Worm.

4. The two stories of Shápúr.

These are strung loosely together as illustrations, each in its degree, of the process that led to the restoration of Íránian unity at the hands of Ardshír Pápakán and his immediate successors. The subject-matter of the Kárnámak corresponds with §§ 3-16 of the Ashkánians, and with §§ 1-6 of Ardshír Pápakán, but, like the Yátkár-i-Zarírán in Dakíkí's case, it is not the actual authority followed by the poet but a collateral one. This is clear from the fact that it omits a very important passage given by Firdausí,¹⁹⁶

while it contains a somewhat touching episode which is not in the Sháhnáma, though it seems incredible that the poet should have made no use of it had he known it.^196a

The episodes of the self-mutilation of Ardshír's minister,^196b

and of the game of polo, whereby the Sháh recognised his son, also are lacking in the Kárnámak, though the polo-episode is found there in another connexion.^196c

Other differences are due to Firdausí's more poetical and artistic way of looking at things, and to the toning down of the somewhat pronounced Zoroastrianism that appears in the Pahlaví original, but he may have found this already done in the version that he followed, which was, in all probability, that contained in the modern Persian tenth century prose Sháhnáma.^196d

The compilers of that work seem, however, on the whole to have preferred, or at all events for the most part to have followed, the Arabic versions, and this preference is reflected in the poem.

Wherever in the following notes a comparison is instituted between the Kárnámak and Firdausí the former will be referred to as K and the latter as F.

§ 1. In the text of C this forms the concluding portion of § 40 of the previous reign. We follow the arrangement in P.

For Nasr, who is referred to again under the title of Abú'l Muzaffar just below, see Vol. i. p. 100.

At first sight there seems to be a chance here of our being able to determine at what date this passage was written, owing to Firdausí's reference to some occasion on which Mahmúd remitted a year's land-tax, but the fatality which attends all matters of date in the poem is operative even here, and there appears to be no account of this remission elsewhere.^196e

§ 2. As to who the thane (dihkán) of Chách was nothing more seems to be known.

It is the fashion of Íránian legend to connect the dynasties by means of fictitious genealogies. Accordingly the Ashkánians are represented as being descended from Kai Árash, the second son of Kai Kubád, the words Ashk and Árash being sufficiently alike to have suggested the connexion. Ashk is a word expressive of kingly virtues such as “wise,” “pure,” “holy.” In the West it took the form of Arsaces. In the Oriental lists of the kings of the Ashkánian dynasty the other names here mentioned by Firdausí occur, sometimes more than once. There are two Ashks, one Shápúr, several of the name of Gúdarz, one or two Bízhans, two or three Narsís, one or two of the name of Urmuzd or Hurmuz, no Árash, who perhaps is inserted in the Sháhnáma to keep up the nominal connexion with the second son of Kai Kubád, and three or four Ardawáns.^196f

The one here mentioned by Firdausí is the last of that name, and the poet, it appears, considered that his real name was Bahrám, but in the lists there is only one so called, and he is placed much earlier. Some account of Bahrám, Gúdarz, and Bízhan, in this connexion, has been given already.^196g

In the last reign we had Firdausí's story of the establishment by Sikandar of the system of Part or Tribal Kings and his motives in so doing.^196h

Though Sikandar's share in the matter is of course wholly unhistorical, the view taken in Íránian legend of the political system that obtained after his death is, broadly speaking, fairly correct. Írán never again was organised under one supreme head, as it had been in the days of the first Persian empire, till the establishment of the second empire five and a half centuries later. The death of Alexander was followed by long wars due to the rival ambitions of his generals and their descendants. Later on came wars with Rome and the rise of the Parthian power, which remained for centuries the great bulwark of the East against Roman aggression. The system of Parthian rule, however, was a nomad one. It originated in the victories of a nomad tribe, and it was to the nomads that the Parthian kings turned for succour in their hours of need. They called themselves indeed by the title of King of kings, as the Achæmenids did before them, and some of them at all events professed the same religion, but national Íránian tradition never recognised their right to use the ancient Persian title of supreme ruler though, in a sense, it was more applicable to them than to their predecessors. With the Achæmenids it was a claim to universal sovereignty, with the Arsacids a claim to the suzerainty of Írán. The geographical extent of the lands ruled by themselves, or by their governors on their behalf, was not very great, and the remainder of their empire consisted of kingdoms that retained at least a semi-independence under native rulers. Such, for instance, were the kingdoms of Osroene, Gordyene, and Atropatane (Azarbáiján) in the north, Elymais (Elam) and Párs in the south, and Sístán and Bactria in the east. Further, in the case of Párs, as we learn from Tabarí, and, we may presume, elsewhere also, these Part or Tribal Kings had under them small local kings or princes. In the days of Firdausí's Ardawán, the last Parthian Great King, there seem to have been four such rulers in Párs, one of whom was Pápak, under his immediate over-lord, the Part or Tribal King who ruled at Istakhr. Thus in Parthian times Írán was split into two great divisions, one under the Parthian Great King and organised into eighteen provinces administered by satraps directly responsible to him; the other under semi-independent potentates who held the same position with reference to their regal underlings as he held towards them. According to the Kárnámak there were in all 240 kings, according to Arab authorities there were 90,¹⁹⁸

so the Parthian over-lord was entitled to describe himself as King of kings.

§§ 3-9. Tabarí's account of the rise of the Sásánian dynasty is briefly as follows:—Ardshír was the son of Pápak, king of Khír, and was born at a village named Tírúdih in the same neighbourhood. His grandfather, Sásán, was the superintendent of a Fire-temple in Istakhr. His grandmother, Sásán's wife, was of the royal house of the Bázrangí, and was named Rámbihisht. Pápak succeeded his father, and to him was born Ardshír. The king of Istakhr at that time was of the race of the Bázrangí, and his name was Gúzihr. He had a eunuch called Tírí whom he made commandant of Dárábgird. When Ardshír was seven years old his father Pápak took him to see Gúzihr, who lived at Baidá,^198a

and asked him to allow Tírí to bring up Ardshír, who ultimately was to succeed Tírí at Dárábgird. Gúzihr assented, and Ardshír in course of time succeeded Tírí as had been arranged. For a while he remained free from ambition till it was roused in him by the predictions of astrologers and the announcement to him by an angel¹⁹⁹

in a dream, that he was destined to rule Írán. Thereupon he began to assert himself by attacking and slaying three local kings in Párs, and setting up adherents of his own in their stead. He then wrote to his father Pápak, urging him to rise against Gúzihr at Baidá. Pápak did so, slew Gúzihr, and took his crown. Then Pápak wrote to Ardawán for permission to crown his (Pápak's) son, Shápúr, with the crown of Gúzihr. Ardawán replied that Pápak and Ardshír had acted as rebels. Pápak died, his son Shápúr became king and summoned his brother Ardshír to court. Ardshír refused to come, Shápúr marched against him, but on the way to Dárábgird was killed by the fall of part of one of the buildings of Humái.^199a

On this Ardshír went to Istakhr and, with the assent of his other brothers, became king. However, on the pretext, or in consequence, of a conspiracy on their part against him, he put many of them to death later on. He then reduced Dárábgird, where the people had taken the opportunity of his absence to rebel against him. Next he conquered the king of Kirmán, and annexed that district, of which he made one of his own sons governor. After this he slew Astawadh, a king on the coast of the Persian sea. Next he conquered Mihrak, a king in the district of Ardshír-Khurra, where he founded the town of Gúr, and, while thus engaged, received a hostile letter from Ardawán, which he answered in a similar tone, and returned to Istakhr. After this he made three distinct expeditions from Párs. In the first he subdued Ispahán, Ahwáz, a district on the small Tigris,^199b

and other places. In the second he went to Ahwáz by way of Girih and Kázirún and on to Maishán where he built the town of Karakh-Maishán. In the third he encountered Ardawán at Hurmuzdagán, slew him, and the same day was hailed King of kings. The date of this battle seems to have been September 26th, A.D. 226, but the actual site, according to Professor Nöldeke, is unknown, and he is of the opinion that the three expeditions of Ardshír from Párs, mentioned above, correspond with the three battles that, according to Western writers, took place before Ardawán was disposed of for good and all.^199c

The plain of Rám Hurmuz, south of Shúshtar, has been suggested as the probable scene of the decisive battle.^199d

§ 3. In the Sháhnáma the Sásánian dynasty is connected with the Kaiánian by a double genealogy, one already given under the reign of Bahman,²⁰⁰

the other here. Both are fictitious, Tabarí's account making it clear with regard to the latter that Ardshír was the son, not the grandson on the female side only, of Pápak.^200a

In Tabarí also two genealogies are given, both of which serve to connect the line of Pápak with the Kaiánians. They run as follow:—^200b

Two similar genealogies, tracing back the line of Ardshír to Luhrásp, are given by Mas'údí.^200c

Neither he nor Tabarí credits the legends, found in the Kárnámak and in the Sháhnáma, that Sásán was a shepherd in the employment of Pápak, who adopted him and gave him a daughter in marriage. In Firdausí Pápak is called the son of Rúdyáb, but as the poet makes that name a rhyme-word it is open to suspicion apart from the fact that it does not appear in any of the above-mentioned genealogies. The same reason, probably, led Firdausí (F) to put the visit of the master of the herds (ramah) to Pápak in the winter-season (damah)—a touch not found in the Kárnámak (K). In K Pápak has three dreams. The first of them, in which he sees the sun illuminating the whole world from the head of Sásán, is not in F. In K too the three Fires are Frúbá, representing the priestly class, Gushasp, the warrior-class, and Mihr Barzin, the agricultural.²⁰¹

The sending of Sásán to the bath, doubtlessly a very necessary preliminary, is not in the more primitive K.

§ 4. Ardawán, the Artabanus III. or IV. of Western writers, the last ruler of the Parthian dynasty, was regarded in Persian historical tradition as being himself the chief Tribal or Part King, the primus inter pares, not as the general suzerain, and as having Media Magna as his territory. Hence F assigns him Rai as his capital.^201a

K adds chess to the accomplishments learnt by Ardshír at Court, but F tells us further on, under the reign of Núshírwán, the story of its introduction into Persia.

The present of money that accompanied Pápak's reply to Ardshír is not mentioned in K.

§ 5. The details of the slave-girl's descent by means of a lasso in order to visit Ardshír, and her name, are not in K, which omits too the mention of Pápak's death and Ardawán's appointment of a successor, and makes Ardawán the Part King over Ispahán, Párs, and the neighbouring lands, and Pápak himself the prince of Párs.^201b

The account of the astrologers working out their calculations in the house of the slave-girl, and her over-hearing them, is lacking in K, which gives no reason for her knowledge in the matter. On the other hand the pronouncements of the astrologers are more elaborate and technical in K, where also they state that the servant who escapes from his master in the course of the next three days will supplant him.^201c

§ 6. In K the fugitives arrive at a village, where they are afraid to stop, and are met by two women who tell Ardshír to fear not, and to hasten to the sea where he will be safe. In F the fugitives reach a pool where they want to drink and rest, but are warned by two young men to hasten on. In K Ardawán thrice in the course of his pursuit inquires of those whom he meets as to how far the fugitives are ahead. On the third occasion it is a caravan that he comes upon. F omits the caravan passage.

For the mountain-sheep see Vol. i. p. 374.

§ 7. F is more detailed here. In K the corresponding passage runs thus:—“Then he (Ardawán) sent an equipped army to Párs, under his own son, to take Ardshír prisoner.²⁰²

In the meanwhile Ardshír went his way to the coast. As he proceeded, some of the men of Párs, who were hostile to Ardawán, handed over to him goods and chattels and their own persons, and promised him fealty and obedience.”^202a

The city founded by Ardshír was called Rív-Ardshír.^202b

§ 8. In K we have Banák of Ispahán with six sons for the Tabák of Jahram with seven sons of F. The Persian for “seven” comes in handily as a rhyme-word; hence the change. In K it is stated that Ardshír called the district where he first met Banák “Rámishn-i-Ardshír,” i.e. “Joy of Ardshír,” and founded a city there of the same name and also known as “Rám Ardshír,” i.e. “Happy Ardshír.”^202c

It was natural that he should, or be thought to, have founded a Fire-temple there, and this may be the origin of F's Rám in that connexion.

The account of Ardshír's battle with Bahman, son of Ardawán, is not in K.

§ 9. Firdausí's description of this battle is in his usual style. The corresponding passage in K may be read to indicate three battles or campaigns.^202d

It runs as follows:—“Then he (Ardshír) began war with Ardawán, slaughtered his whole army, and took from him his goods and chattels, houses, and property. Then he settled in Istakhr, and assembled from Kirmán, Makrán, Ispahán, and the different regions of Párs, a very great host. Then he began another war with Ardawán. For four months there were daily much fighting and slaughter. Ardawán collected from various regions—Rai, Damáwand, Dílamán,^202e

and Patash-wárgar ^202f—

armies and horses; but as the Majesty of the Kaiánians had descended on Ardshír he was successful, killed Ardawán, and all his possessions came into Ardshír's hands. He took Ardawán's daughter to wife and went back to Pars.”^202g

§§ 10, 11. Here we have the account of an “unfortunate incident,” and shall meet, later on, with others that befell Ardshír after his triumph over Ardawán. He still had to fight hard to make good the title of “King of kings” conferred on him by his troops on the field of Hurmuzdagán.^202h

Naturally this would be so. A dynasty that had endured for centuries could not fail to have many adherents and dependants; Ardawán had left sons; Chosroes, the king of Armenia, was either his brother or at all events had been set on the throne by him; the Part Kings too had everything to lose by Ardshír's success, for it was manifest that he had no intention of leaving them in the semi-independent position that they had enjoyed under Parthian suzerainty; his view with regard to them was, as we have seen already, that “stone dead hath no fellow.”²⁰³

Ardshír followed up his success over Ardawán by striking at the heart of that king's power which, according to Íránian tradition, lay in Media, and here is recorded for us in the account of his expedition against the Kurds, by whom the people of Media are meant, for in K the name of the Kurd king is Mádík, which simply means “the Mede.”^203a

These, so far as Media Magna was concerned, Ardshír seems to have conquered, but Tabarí's statement that he subdued Ázarbáiján and Armenia appears to be an exaggeration. The case of Ázarbáijan is doubtful, but Armenia, whither some of the Arsacid princes had fled for refuge, succeeded with the help of Rome in maintaining its independence.^203b

§§ 12-16. To the exegesis of this strange story, as Firdausí calls it, three great authorities—Mohl, Darmesteter, and Nöldeke— have contributed. The two latter see reason to connect it with other more ancient Indo-European myths of dragons, such as Indra with Vritra, Apollo with the Python, &c., and Darmesteter quotes an interesting Scandinavian parallel which he considers more primitive and unaffected by industrialism:—“Le comte Herraudr a donné à sa fille, la belle Thora, un serpent qu'il a trouvé dans un œuf de vautour. Le serpent plaît à Thora qui lui fait un lit d'or dans un coffret. Le serpent grandit, l'or grandit avec lui, le coffre devient trop étroit pour lui, et même la maison de la jeune fille qu'il enveloppe de son corps. Il était méchant et malicieux: nul n'osait l'approcher que l'homme qui lui apportait chaque jour sa nourriture, consistant en un bœuf entier. Le comte promet sa fille et l'or à qui tuera le dragon. Ragnar, âgé de quinze ans, se fait un vêtement garni de poix (pour se garder du poison du serpent), surprend le monstre et le tue de la pointe de son épieu qu'il lui laisse dans la gueule. Il se retire sans dire son nom et plus tard se fait reconnaître publiquement au manche de son épieu: il reçoit Thora en mariage.”^203c

Still more to the point are Mohl's explanation and illustration, which are as follow:—“Je suis disposé à croire que ce conte est un vague souvenir de l'introduction du ver à soie en Perse et de la prospérité que cette nouvelle industrie devait avoir répandue. On me permettra peut-être de citer à l'appui de cette supposition un conte analogue et presque aussi étrange, qui date de nos jours. Je me rappelle avoir vu, il y a une trentaine d'années, au ministère du commerce, un rapport du préfet d'un des départements de la Bretagne au sujet de la détresse que répandait dans la campagne l'introduction du fil de lin produit par les machines, et de la difficulté que les fileuses à la main trouvaient à lutter contre cette concurrence. Le préfet raconte, à cette occasion, que ces pauvres femmes avaient fini par composer une légende, selon laquelle il y avait une fée, appelé Machine, qui avait sept doigts d'acier et pouvait ainsi filer plus et plus vite qu'elles ne pouvaient le faire avec leurs cinq doigts humains.”²⁰⁴

The full process of silk manufacture from the worm (Bombyx mori) to the finished fabric was known in China from time immemorial, and the secret was guarded very carefully. Long before the Christian era the raw silk had begun to be imported into Europe, and a famous manufactory for weaving it was established in the island of Cos in the Ægean Sea. The secret of the method of the production of the raw material itself was kept till much later times, sufficiently, at all events, for the maintenance of the Chinese monopoly, though Aristotle in his History of Animals, Bk. V., ch. xvii., sec. 6, ed. Schneider, speaks of a certain great worm with horns, as it were, which produces bom-bycina or cocoons which the women use in weaving. Aristotle's knowledge probably came to him as one of the results of Alexander's expedition to the East. The silk-worm itself, of which the secret had spread during the fourth century A.D. through India to Írán and the West, was brought for the first time into Europe by two Persian monks, at the special request of the Emperor Justinian, in A.D. 550. They smuggled the eggs from China in the hollow of a bamboo, and thus founded the Western silk industry. Justinian's object was to break the monopoly of the silk-trade then, by land and sea alike, in Persian hands.^204a

Two reasons may be suggested why the scene of our story was laid on the shores of the Persian sea. One is that a Part King of that region, e.g. of Hurmuz (Ormus), may have grown rapidly rich in the latter days of the Parthian dynasty by means of the silk or cotton trade of the Persian Gulf, and suffered for his prosperity at the hands of Ardshír Pápakán. The other is to be found in the popular etymology of the word Kirmán—a region more famous for its date (khurmá) than for its silk. In Persian, however, it so happens that “kirm” means “worm,” and in fact is the same word. Kirmán was supposed to mean “The Land of the Worm,” and thus to be a suitable scene for some ancient Dragon-myth,²⁰⁵

or a story may have been invented to account for the name. Both in K and F, it should be noted, Ardshír, after killing the Worm, proceeds to conquer Kirmán, so that we have the romantic and historic accounts of the same event put side by side, the former given at large and the latter very shortly. In Tabarí too we have the historic version and two brief rationalised versions of the romantic side of the story. He informs us that Ardshír subdued Kirmán, slew its king Balásh (Vologeses, an Arsacid), and made his own son ruler. This is represented as taking place before the war with Ardawán. Then (here begins one of the romantic versions) he went against a king named Astawadh, who lived on the coast of the Persian sea, and to whom divine honours were paid, killed him, cut him in two with his sword, slew also his retinue, and brought out from his treasure-house, and carried off, much treasure that was stored there.^205a

Astawadh, Professor Nöldeke notes, is a corruption by misreading of the Pahlaví name,^205b

which becomes Haftwád in the Sháhnáma. According to the other account there was in Alár, a village in the province of Kujárán, which belonged to the coast-land of Ardshír-Khurra (Gúr), a queen who enjoyed divine honours and possessed great wealth and many soldiers. Ardshír, toward the end of his reign, killed the queen and captured much gold and treasure which she had.^205c

In these accounts divine honours are transferred, in the first, from the dragon to Haftwád and, in the second, to his daughter.

§ 12. This passage is not found elsewhere, but there is no reason to assume that the poet invented, though very likely he embellished, it. From what we can gather of Firdausí's literary methods, he would not have introduced such a string of incidents without authority for so doing. When “gravelled for lack of matter,” he does not “take occasion to” invent, but passes on as we see in the case of the present dynasty, where he had an unequalled opportunity for the exercise of his imagination had he been disposed to avail himself of it. The absence of the passage in the Kárnámak and in the Arabic may be accounted for easily. In the former, Haftwád (Haftánbúkht) is introduced quite abruptly,^205d

and the story of his rise to power was omitted not because it was well known or unknown, but because it was foreign to the purpose in hand, which was to show by what steps Ardshír rose to supreme power, effected the unification of Írán, and founded a new dynasty. From this point of view the destruction of Haftwád and the Worm was of importance, but not their genesis. In the latter we have a much more drastic system of lopping in the interests, apparently, of rationalism. In the second of Tabarí's versions we get a hint that it was the one which, in its unrationalised state, Firdausí followed. The queen there is the daughter here.

The name of Ardshír's opponent in K—Haftánbúkht, which does not scan—becomes Haftwád in F, as it may be so read in the Pahlaví if the central letters are omitted. Haftánbúkht, according to Professor Nöldeke, means “The Seven have redeemed” with reference to the seven planets which, as creations of Áhriman²⁰⁶

might be expected, from the orthodox Zoroastrian point of view, to watch over the fortunes of Haftánbúkht and the Worm. In Professor Darmesteter's opinion, however, Fir-dausí's etymology is correct, though based on a misapprehension. The word “wád” was due to a misreading of the Pahlaví, but the word “búkht” does mean “son,” and the seven sons are the sevenfold coils, or the seven heads, of the dragon. Both agree that in the original form of the story Haftánbúkht was the dragon.^206a

According to K, Haftánbúkht's seat was at Gulár in Kujárán. In Tabarí, Haftánbúkht becomes Astawadh, and Gulár, in the version which substitutes a queen for a king, becomes Alár.^206b

The situation of Kujárán is unknown.

In K the food of the dragon is the blood of sheep and bullocks,^206c

not rice, milk, and honey, as in F.

§ 13. In K the army of Haftánbúkht is represented as the aggressor. The forces of Ardshír, who is not present, are attacked after his return from his victory over the Kurds. This preliminary engagement is omitted by F. Haftwád's son crossed over from Arabia to help his father.^206d

The water behind Ardshír was probably the sea, but the Persian word is a vague one.

§ 14. In K the older form Mithrak is preserved. According to Tabarí, who places Ardshír's war with him before the defeat of Ardawán, he lived in a district of Ardshír-Khurra.”^206e

§ 15. In K Ardshír, after his defeat by Haftánbúkht, reaches the shore of the sea quite alone and almost abandoned by the divine Grace, but then it stood in front of him and led him out of danger to the village where the two brothers, named Burjak and Burjátur, dwelt.²⁰⁷

In K Ardshír gets admitted into the castle with the two young men of the village only. In F he takes seven men with him. Seven is a favourite number in Persian story, and if, as we have seen above, one of the legends told of Cyrus the Great could be transferred to Ardshír, there seems no reason why a fragment of the legend of the Seven, who made the famous expedition against the stronghold of the mage Gaumata—the false Smerdis—in the days of Darius Hystaspis, should not be transferred here in like manner.^207a

In K Ardshír appoints, for some reason not clear to us, the 27th day of the month as the one for decisive action, and Haftánbúkht appears to have perished in the fight, not afterwards by formal execution as in F.^207b

Now be the monarch of the world our theme
As one in feast and fight and lore supreme—
The great Mahmúd; much prosperous rede hath he
And doth uphold the fame of majesty,
A king, Abú'l Kásim! most sage and wise
Beyond e'en wisdom in his policies.
Glad be his heart for evermore and free
From toil and trouble. King of kings is he
Both of Írán and of Zábulistán,
And from Kannúj^207c

up to Kábulistán.
On him, upon the troops of his command,
On his allies, his kindred, and his land,
On that world-lord and chief, Nasr the amír,
A source of joyance to time's circling sphere,
Be praise, while o'er the moon the army's head
Ascendeth by Abú'l Muzaffar led;
By fortune and by name victorious he,
Whose arrows in their flight out-top the tree.
Oh! may the Sháh live scathless evermore,
And be his seat upon his treasury's store,
And may his general be happy too,
In heart illumed, in treasure well to do.
Thus while revolving heaven maintain its place
Ne'er may its love be severed from this race,
But be it ever a victorious one,
And crowned from sire to sire and son to son.
Upon this day, the fourteenth of Shawwál,
May benediction on our sovereign fall

For ever may this family, endued
With worth, with wisdom, and with rectitude,
Continue. Lasting foothold here hath none,
But his good name will last when he is gone.
Where now are Farídún, Zahhák, Jamshíd,
The chiefs of Arab and of Persian breed?
Where are the great of the Sásánians,
Those of Bahrám's race, and the Ashkánians?
Zahhák the Sháh was most reviled, for he
Was all injustice and impurity,
While glorious Farídún approval won;
He died, and his renown still liveth on.
In this world fame is our memorial—
A better thing than gems imperial!
The man unjust, whose joyance was in throne
And treasure, never hath made praise his own;
His reputation in the world is naught,
And none is fain to pleasure him in aught.
Because of our foe-quelling king's decree
May he still throne it in felicity.
Forth from their homes the people plain-ward hied,
With praise transcending heaven, and thus they cried:—
“Aye may he live, the crowned head of our state,
And may time's course to him prove fortunate;
Here may he look on naught save what doth please,
His name be graven on the palaces,
And may our benisons withal embrace
His kin, host, land, his royal form, and face.”

the Great
Because he kept the wolf's claws from the sheep.
He governed in Shíráz and Ispahán,
Which scholars call the “Marches of the princes.”
He set up in Istakhr Pápak²¹¹

as ruler,
Whose thumb-stall used to make the monsters^211a

yell.
How all these princes perished, root and branch,
Their time-worn chronicle narrateth not.
Naught have I heard of them except the name,
And in the Book of Kings seen but the same.

Bright as Sol, Mars, and Venus; all blazed up
Before Sásán, their fuel aloe-wood.
Pápak awoke, his soul and heart possessed
By care. Those skilled in dreams and in that lore
Puissant, magnates, sages, counsellors,
Assembled in the palace of Pápak,
And as he set forth what had chanced, and told
His dreams to them at large, the adviser mused,
The interpreter gave ear, and in the end
Said: “O exalted king! this must be scanned,

Pápak rejoiced on hearing,

Rewarded each according to his rank,
Then bade his master-shepherd to forsake
The flock and come. It was a winter's day.
Wrapped in his cloak, its wool was thick with snow,
His heart with fears, he came in haste. Pápak
Dismissed all strangers, slave and counsellor
Went, and he graciously received Sásán,
Assigning him a seat beside his lord,
And asked him of his quality and birth.
The herd, through terror of him, answered not,
But said at last: “O prince! if thou wilt give
A promise to respect thy shepherd's life
I will inform thee of my quality
When thou shalt grasp my hand and pledge thyself
To harm me not in public or in private.”
Pápak, on hearing this, loosed his own tongue,
Invoked the Giver of all good, and said:—
“I will not harm but make thee glad and honoured,”
Then spake the youth: “I am, O paladin!
Son of Sásán and sprung from Sháh Ardshír,
Whom chroniclers call by the name Bahman,
The great son of the brave Asfandiyár,
Who was Gushtásp's memorial.”

Pápak

Wept from those shrewd eyes that had seen the dream,
Then brought the raiment of a paladin,
And steed with royal trappings, saying thus:—
“Go to the bath what while they fetch fresh raiment.”
He raised Sásán o'er that chief shepherdship,
Prepared for him a noble residence,
And, having lodged him there, provided slaves,
Both boys and girls, to wait on him, bestowed
Addition by all means, set him past need
Of wealth, then gave the Crown on his own brows—
A daughter well beloved—to him as spouse.

When nine months had elapsed the beauteous dame
Brought forth an infant like the radiant sun,
The image of illustrious Ardshír,
A growing, glorious, heart-delighting child.

They taught him all accomplishment, wherein
He bettered e'en the promise of his birth.
He was so wise and goodly that the sky,
Thou wouldst have said, was luminous through him.
News of the youth's intelligence and knowledge
Reached Ardawán: “He is a savage Lion
In fight,” it ran, “and like Náhíd in feast.”
The king wrote to that famous paladin,
Pápak, and said: “O counsellor of mine,
Wise, trusty, eloquent, and good! thy son,
Ardshír, is, I have heard, a cavalier
Of eloquence and heed. On reading this
Be pleased to send him unto us forthwith.
I will supply his every want, advance him
Among the chiefs and, when he is associate
With mine own sons, deny him not my kinship.”
Pápak, on reading this, wept tears of blood;
He bade a writer, and that rising youth,
Ardshír, attend, and said: “Peruse this letter
Of Ardawán's and let thy clear mind scan it;
Behold, I write an answer to the king,
And send it by some friend to this effect:—
‘Lo! I have sent to thee a gallant youth,
One much approved, who is my heart and eyes,
And whom I have advised. When he shall come
To thy high court treat him right royally,
And suffer not the blast to blow upon him.’”
Then swift as wind he oped the treasury-doors,
And gratified the youth with various gifts
Of golden harness, swords, and iron maces;
There was not aught that he refused the boy.
The treasurer brought forth brocade, dínárs,
Steeds, slaves, with stuffs of Chín and cloth of gold,
Such as kings wear, and gave them to the youth
What time he went to wait on Ardawán.
The favoured youth, departing from his grandsire,
Went to the court of Ardawán at Rai,
Who, hearing of his coming, graciously
Received him, spake at large about Pápak,

One day

It happened that the escort of the king,
And his own sons, were scattered in the chase.
Ardshír himself attended Ardawán,
Who found that gallant youth acceptable.
Now Ardawán had four sons of his own,
Each king-like. Onager had come in sight,
And that great company was all astir.
They urged their wind-foot steeds and mixed the dust
With sweat. Ardshír pressed on in front and, nearing
The quarry, placed an arrow on his bow,
And struck an onager upon the haunch.
The arrow-point and feather went right through.
Anon came Ardawán who, when he saw
The strength of that young archer, cried: “May he
That shot possess a soul to match his hand.”
Ardshír replied: “I shot the onager.”
A son said: “It was I that brought it down,
And I am looking out for one to match it.”
Ardshír retorted: “Well the plain is broad,
And there are onagers and arrows too.
By that same token slay another such:
It is a sin for noble men to lie.”
Now Ardawán was angry with Ardshír
Thereat and roared at him: “Mine is the blame,
Because this bringing up is all mine own.
Why should I have thee in my company,
Both in the banquet and the hunting-field,
In order that thou mayst surpass my sons,
And show off thine address and excellence?
Begone. See to mine Arab steeds and choose

Ardshír in tears

Went to be keeper of the Arab steeds,
And in his wretchedness and discontent
Wrote to his grandsire thus: “In what a way
Hath Ardawán dealt with us! Anguish take
His body, care his soul.”

He told the matter,

And why king Ardawán was wroth with him.
Pápak was troubled when the letter came,
But held his peace, and from his treasury
Dispatched ten thousand to his son in gold
By camel and by cavalier, commanded
A scribe to come, and wrote: “O foolish boy!
When thou wast hunting game with Ardawán
Why didst thou pass his sons although thou art
His servant, not his kin? He wronged thee not
In malice; 'twas thine own insensate deed.
Now strive to make him pleased and satisfied,
And do his will in all. I have dispatched thee
Gold and this letter of advice withal.
When thou hast spent the money ask for more
Until the times shall change.”

The dromedary

Sped with the ancient veteran to Ardshír,
Who when he read the letter was content,
And plotted and dissembled, chose a lodging
Near to his steeds, though one not worthy of him,
Provided it with carpets, food, and raiment,
And spent his days and nights in revelry,
Companioning with wine and minstrelsy.²¹⁷

Now Ardawán possessed a lofty palace,
Wherein there dwelt a favourite slave of his.
She was a Moon-face hight Gulnár^217a—

a picture
All jewelry and colour and perfume.
She ministered to Ardawán and kept
His treasury. He loved her more than life,
And joyed and smiled to look on her.^217b

One day,

she saw Ardshír;
His lips were smiling, and he won her heart.
She waited till the eve or rather night,
Then tied a lasso to the battlements
With many a knot. She proved it with her hand,^217d

And then, invoking Him who giveth good,
Descended boldly. When in all her gems,
And savouring musk and other spicery,
She reached Ardshír she raised his head, which lay
Upon the pillow of brocade, and clasped him,
When he was wakened, tightly to her breast.
The young man marked that lovely one, her face,
Her hair, and scented bravery, and said:—
“Whence hast thou sprung to grace my troubled heart?”
“A slave am I and love thee, heart and soul,”
She answered. “I am Ardawán's beloved,
His treasurer, his darling, and delight,
But, if thou wilt accept me, thy slave now
To live but in thy sight and visit thee,
Whene'er thou wilt, and brighten thy dark days.”
A while passed thus and then mishap befell
Ardshír's inspirer. Veteran, shrewd Pápak
Died and resigned this ancient home to others.
When news reached Ardawán he sorrowed much;
His soul grew dark. The chiefs all asked for Párs,
But he bestowed it on his eldest son,²¹⁸

Bade bring the drums and march forth to the waste.
As for Ardshír the world gloomed to his heart
For his protector's sake, old, shrewd Pápak.
He loathed his service under Ardawán,
And, when those tidings came, formed new designs,
For he was rash through grief and fain to flee.
Anon king Ardawán brought to his court
Some shrewd men of the readers of the stars
To learn his future, to direct his course,
And find whom fortune would inspire thereafter.

The damsel,

When all was black as pitch, went to Ardshír.
That youth was troubled like the sea and could not
Rest for one day because of Ardawán.
She told him what those shrewd men had apprised
The famous king, whereat Ardshír grew calm
And silent yet his heart was moved thereat.
He thought of flight and asked: “If I quit Rai
And seek Írán, the country of the brave,
Consider whether thou wilt go with me,
Or tarry with the king. If thou wilt go
Thou shalt be great, the Crown of all the realm.”
She said with many a sigh and bitter tears:—
“Thy slave am I, and death alone shall part us.”
Ardshír replied: “We must escape to-morrow,”
And she went back resolved to risk her all.
As soon as earth was gilded by the sun,
And dark night had been taken in the noose,
She oped the treasury and made her choice
Among the royal gems, took what dínárs
She needed, went back to her home, and there

Now Ardawán

Was never happy either day or night
Without the fair Gulnár and would not quit
His couch unless in her auspicious presence.
When it was time to rise and have the throne
Draped with brocade, and still the damsel came not,
He was both angry and aggrieved at her.
The guards were posted at the gate without,
Throne, crown, and palace were in readiness
While from the court-gate rose the chamberlain,
Approached the famous king, and said: “There wait
The chief men of the kingdom at the gate.”

The monarch asked the slaves: “Why doth Gulnár
Neglect the rule and come not to my pillow?
Is she offended with me?”

Thereupon

The chief scribe entered, saying: “Yesternight
Ardshír went off incontinent and took
A grey steed and a black steed from the stables—
The riding horses of the illustrious king—
Companioned by thy well-loved treasuress.”
The warrior-king much moved bestrode his bay,
Escorted by a host of gallant horsemen:
Thou wouldst have said: “He gooth over fire.”
Upon the road he saw a place of note
With many men and cattle, and inquired:—

Ardawán

Said to his minister: “Why ever went
The mountain-sheep with them?”

He made reply:—

“It is his Grace—the wings that will exalt him
To kingship through the favour of the stars.
If this sheep followeth him our task is lengthened.”
There Ardawán dismounted, ate, and rested,
Then hurried on. They followed up Ardshír,
And Ardawán in person led the way
With his wazír. Swift as a blast the youth
Rode with the damsel with no moment's pause,
But he who hath high heaven for his ally
Will take no harm from any enemy.
Ardshír at length, exhausted by the ride,
Beheld a pool of water from the height,
And as he rode said to Gulnár: “Since we
Have wedded toil, dismount we by this pool,
For steed and rider are alike fordone.
Repose we here and drink and start refreshed.”
Now when the twain had drawn anigh the water
Their visages as yellow as the sun,
And when Ardshír was fain to light him down,
He saw beside the watering-place two youths,
Who called out quickly: “There is need to ply
The reins and stirrup still for thou hast 'scaped
Thus far the breath and gullet of the Dragon,
And to drink water now will cost thee dear,
Yea even thy life.”

Ardshír, on hearing this,

Said to Gulnár: “Attend to what they say.”
He pressed his stirrups, gave his steed the reins,
And laid his glittering spear upon his shoulder.
Behind them Ardawán like rushing wind
Continued the pursuit with soul all gloom.
When half the day had passed, and while the
orb—
The lustre of the world—still paced the sky,
He saw a city—one in goodly case—
Whence many flocked to meet him, and he asked
The archimages: “When passed two on horse-back?”
Their leader said: “O prosperous, prudent king!
Just as the sun was growing pale, and night
Spread out the cloak of lapis-lazuli,

Now Ardawán,

On hearing this, knew that it was too late,
And so alighting at that city prayed
To God—the Giver of all good—for aid.

At dawn the monarch bade the host return,
And pale as reeds re-entered Rai by night.
He wrote a letter to his son and said:—
Deceit hath taken action, and Ardshír
Hath left me quicker than the shaft the bow,
And gone to Párs. Seek for him privily,
But say no word to any.”

For his part

Ardshír approached the water and thus prayed:—
“O Thou who art our Helper! Thou hast saved
Me from my foeman: never may he prosper.”
Now when he had reposed he called a boatman,
And spake much of the past. The shrewd, old sailor
Observed Ardshír's high stature, mien, and breast,
Knew: “He can be but of the Kaian stock,”
Rejoicing in his Grace and Majesty,
Then hasting to the water sent his boats
To every part. At news of famed Ardshír
A host assembled by the water-side,
While in Istakhr the kindred of Pápak
All gloried at those tidings of the Sháh,
While those too of Dárá, who dwelt resigned
About the realm, exulted and grew young
Of heart though old, while troop on troop the folk
Flocked to the youth from mountain and from sea,

wrought
Upon the world, slew all mine ancestors,
And laid his hand on it unrighteously.
Now I am one sprung from Asfandiyár,
Yet Ardawán is king! We may not speak
Or think of this as just. If ye will help me
I will not yield the crown and lofty throne
To any. What have ye to say hereto?
Give me a fair reply.”

Then all the assembly,

Both warriors and counsellors, stood up,
And, speaking from their hearts, made answer thus:—
“All we that are the kindred of Pápak
Rejoice to see thy face, and we that are
Descendants of Sásán will gird ourselves
For vengeance. We are thine both soul and body,
Our joys and griefs, our less and more, are thine.
Thy quality from father and from mother
Surpasseth ours, the sovereignty and sway
Are thine of right, and we at thy command
Will turn the hills to plains, and with our swords
Make streams run blood.”

Ardshír's head, when he heard

That answer, rose o'er Mercury and Venus;
He blessed the chiefs and mused upon revenge.
He founded by the water-side a city
To be his seat of power. An archimage
Said: “Well-starred Sháh who winneth over hearts!
Thou fram'st anew the head of sovereignty,
But must clear Párs of Weeds and afterward
Make war on Ardawán, whilst thou and fortune
Are young, because in treasure he surpasseth
The other Tribal Kings; 'twill tax thy strength
To fight with him, but when thou hast cast down
His throne none else will hold his own with thee.”
Whenas the illustrious Ardshír heard this
The words approved themselves and pleased his heart,
And when the sun rose from the mountain-tops
He set forth from the water toward Istakhr.
News reached Bahman, the son of Ardawán,
And filled him, heart and soul, with grief and gloom.
He tarried not upon the throne of might,
But gathered troops and weapons for the fight.

Thereupon Ardshír

Began to estimate him differently,
And treat him like a sire, appointing him
Chief of the men of name, ceased to suspect,
Went to the temples of Kharrád and Rám,
And prayed to God to guide him to all good,
To give him all success and make his tree
Of majesty bear fruit, then sought his tent
Where both the counsellors and muster-master
Appeared before him, and he numbered all
The host, both horse and foot, and ascertained
Who were the leaders and the warriors,
Became acquaint with each, inquired his name,
And was rejoiced at such a mighty host.

When news reached Ardawán fear filled his heart,
And gloom his mind. He said: “A lord of counsel
Told me this secret of the lofty sky,²²⁷

But can one 'scape by pains unthought of ills?
I did not fancy that Ardshír would prove
To be ambitious and a lion-taker.”
He oped his treasury, gave rations out,
Bound on the baggage, and led forth the host;
Contingents came from Gíl and from Dílam:
The army's dust rose moon-ward while the Sháh^227a

Led forth a host that barred the wind. Two bow-shots
Divided power from power; snakes found no rest,
Such was the din of drum and clarion,
The clangour of the gongs and Indian bells.
The armies shouted and the banners waved,
While blue steel falchions scattered heads around.
The battle lasted thus for forty days,
The world was straitened to the common folk,

So did the deathsman:

That famous monarch vanished from the world.
Such is the usage of the ancient sky!
The lot of Ardawán Ardshír too found;
Him whom it raiseth to the stars on high
It giveth likewise to the sorry ground!
Two sons of him by whom Árash's seed
Thus had been brought to shame were taken too.
The noble Sháh Ardshír imprisoned them
With fetters on their feet. Two elder sons
Succeeded in escaping from the fight,
And were not taken in the net of bale.
They went in tears to Hindústán, and thou
Mayst well narrate a tale concerning them.²²⁹

The battle-field was full of reins and girdles,
The weapons of the host, and gold and silver,
Which were collected by the Sháh's command,
And given to the troops. Among the chiefs
Tabák was most concerned to cleanse the corpse
Of Ardawán from blood, lamenting while
He washed away the dust of fight, and built
A charnel as the royal custom was.
He robed the wounded bosom in brocade,
He placed a crown of camphor on the head,
And none of all the troops that went to Rai
Might tread the palace-dust of Ardawán.^229a

Tabák thereafter came before Ardshír,
And said: “O Sháh who seekest after wisdom!

doth speak thereof
As Khurra-i-Ardshír.^229c

Within, a spring
That never failed gave water for canals.
Beside it he set up a Fane of Fire,
Revived the feasts of Sada²³⁰

and Mihrgán,^230a

And round it splendid edifices raised,
With pleasances and parks and palaces.
(When that wise Sháh of Grace and might was dead
The border-chieftain named the city Zúr).
He founded villages all round about,
And there he settled folk when all was ready.
He saw within one quarter a deep lake,
But needs must pierce a height that intervened.
They brought picks and artificers, and clove
The mountain with a hundred water-ways.
He led them thence to Zúr. It was a seat
Abounding both in dwellings and in neat.

Then Sháh Ardshír led from Istakhr a host
Innumerable to war against the Kurds,
Who, when he came anear, encountered him
In numbers numberless. What seemed a trifle
Became of moment, for the country round
All sided with the Kurds who both outnumbered
And hemmed the Sháh's host in. All day till night
The fight raged, then the world-lord's forces fled,
The field was straitened by the killed and wounded.
No man of name survived except the Sháh,
And some few troops whose tongues were cracked with
thirst
Through blazing sunshine and the clouds of dust.
When night had reared its flag, and ended strife
And stir, the Sháh marked on a mountain-side
A fire, and went toward it with his men.

The chief herd said:—

“Thou wilt not find a habitable place,
Without a guide, but wilt, with one to lead thee,
Discover such, four leagues away, and thence
The villages, each with a well-known chief,
Are frequent.”

So he took old herds as guides.

When he arrived the head man of the village
Came out at once to meet him. He sent horsemen,
Both young and old, to Khurra-i-Ardshír;
The host at news of him set forth rejoicing.
He sent men also to spy out the Kurds.
These men went forth, returned, and said: “They all
Are boasting of their deeds and making merry;
None recketh of the Sháh, regarding him
As out-worn in Istakhr with ageing fortune.”
The Sháh rejoiced and deemed the past mere wind
Chose from his famous host three thousand horsemen
With scimitars, and took in company
A thousand archers with artillery.

The warriors fell to eating,

But when their waists had rested from their girdles
Ardshír devised new warfare. Mind it well,
This tale, when thou shalt hear, of what befell.

Now mark this strange, eventful history
Of Kujárán, a city on the sea
Of Párs, told by a rustic bard for he
Hath dealt at large with Persian legendry.
There was a city strait but full of men,
Who all must work to eat, and many girls
Therein were poor and earned their bread withal.
On one side was a mountain near at hand
Whereto the damsels all were wont to fare,
Each with her distaff-case of poplar-wood,
And with her weighed-out stint of unspun cotton.
They used to gather at the city-gate

A man of cheerful turn but indigent.
He had too one dear daughter and no more,
But daughters he esteemed of no account.
One day it happened that the troop of girls
Sat at their spinning on the mountain-side.
They clubbed together all the food they had,
And during meal-time laid their distaffs by.
'Twas then it happened that this lucky girl
Beheld a windfall lying on the path,
An apple which she picked up hastily.
Now list to this strange tale. When that fair maid
Had bitten the fruit she saw a worm inside.
She picked it from the apple and then gently
Transferred it to her distaff-case, and said,
As she resumed her spinning: “In the name
Of God who hath no partner and no peer,
I'll show you wondrous spinning done to-day
All through the good luck of an apple-worm!”
The girls grew merry and began to laugh,
Grew blithe of blee and showed their silver teeth.
That day she spun a double quantity,
And marked the sum thereof upon the ground,
Then hurried home like smoke and showed her mother
The yarn. Her mother praised her fondly, saying:—
“Thou hast done well, thou Moon with sunlike face!”
Next morning, having measured off the twist,
She took a double stint, and all agog,
Heart, soul, and body, on her spinning, joined
That busy band and told those fair-famed girls:—
“Ye moon-faced and well favoured by the stars!
By this worm's fortune I have spun so much
That never I shall want!”

She spun that stint,

And might have dealt with more. She carried home
What she had spun, whereat her mother's heart
Became like jocund Paradise. Each morning
The pretty damsel gave the worm some apple,
And spun off all the cotton howsoever
The tale might be increased, the little witch!
One day the parents asked their worthy daughter:—
“Hast thou obtained a fairy for thy sister
That thou dost spin so much, thou goodly one?”

and, when
The air had dried it, tenderly disposed
The Worm within. Each day at dawn its keeper
Would hurry from Haftwád to dress its food—
A cauldronful of rice. The growing Worm
Consumed it all. Years passed; its neck and limbs

his own bright daughter
Became the guardian of the Worm, and he
The leader of its troops. Wazír and scribe
Attended it; it fed on rice, milk, honey,
While at its door Haftwád, the chieftain, stood
To answer for it both in bad and good.^236a

Now when Ardshír heard of Haftwád the news
Displeased him, and he sent against that chief
A host of valiant, high-starred warriors.
Haftwád, on hearing of them, took it lightly.
He set an ambush in a mountain-coign,
And went himself to combat with his troops.
Now when the battle raged, and while the soldiers
Plied mace and battle-ax, the force in ambush
Advanced, earth gloomed to those Íránians,
For none knew head from foot, and thou hadst said:—
“Earth manacled their hands.” Such were the slain
On desert, dale, and mountain that the victors
Tired of the slaughter. The survivors sped
Back to the Sháh. Now when renowned Ardshír
Heard of the fight, the slaughter, and the plunder,
He sorrowed, summoned to him all his host,
And hasted to distribute arms and pay.
He set forth wrathfully against Haftwád;
The head of that base-born one rose to heaven;
He brought forth arms and treasure from the hold,
Misprizing both that army and the war.
Now when his eldest son, then far away,
Heard that his father was engaged in strife
He left ease, feasting, and repose, and crossed
The water in a boat. That atheling,

Lived at Jahram a man of low degree²³⁷—

Mihrak son of Núshzád—who, when he heard
About the expedition of Ardshír,
His tarrying by the sea, and how his host
Was starving, with communications barred,
Marched on the palace of the Sháh, assembled
Troops past all count, and sacked it, lavishing
No stint of crowns and purses on his soldiers.
The Sháh received the tidings by the sea,
And said in grief: “Why did I leave my home
Defenceless and attack an alien foe?”
Called all the chiefs, spake of Mihrak at large,

They cried: “O Sháh!

Ne'er may thine eyes behold ill-luck. Why take
Things ill because Mihrak hath proved thy foe
In secret? Thou hast greatness, and the world
Is thine. Thy slaves are we; 'tis thine to bid.”
He gave command to have the tables set;
They called for wine and cups and minstrelsy.
They served up divers lambs²³⁸

upon the board,
And all the guests disposed themselves to eat,
But when Ardshír himself took bread there came
A pointed shaft and deeply lodged itself
Within the dainty plumpness of a lamb,
Whereat those brave, wise chiefs forbore to eat.
All sorely grieved. One drew the arrow forth.
They saw that there was writing on the shaft;
Those that were clerkly of the magnates read it;
The writing on the arrow was old Persian,
And thus it ran: “If thou wilt hear, wise Sháh!
This issued from the hold's top which is safe
Through the luck of the Worm. Had I directed it
Against Ardshír the feathers would have pierced him.
No monarch, such as he is, in our days
Can overthrow the Worm.”

Then to the archmages

The Sháh read out the script on that sharp arrow.
The hold was two leagues off! The nobles' hearts
Were straitened, but they all evoked upon
The Glory of earth's king God's benison.

The Sháh mused much that night about the Worm
And, when the sun displaced the moon, set forth
With all his army from the sea and hurried
Toward Párs. The foe pursued him, seized the roads,
And slaughtered all the chieftains, but the Sháh
Escaped with his own meiny while behind him
The foe cried: “May the Worm's luck light its throne.”

Have passed away, have left an evil name,
And not attained to jocund Paradise.
'Twill be thus with Haftwád; that miscreant
Will writhe at last.”

The Sháh's heart at their words

Became as fresh as roses in the spring.
The speech of those two gracious ones consoled him,
He told his secret, and, declared himself.
“I am,” he said, “Ardshír, son of Sásán,
And am in need of comforting advice.
How deal we with this Worm and with Haftwád?
May both his name and lineage cease on earth.”
Thereat the two young men did homage, saying:—
“All hail! Be ill's hand ever far from thee.
Be we thy bond-slaves both in soul and body,
And thou confirmed in spirit evermore.
As for the matter that thou askest us
We will advise thee well that thou mayst use
Craft from the first. In battle with the Worm,
And with Haftwád, thou wilt not be approved
Unless thou shalt adopt the proper course.
They have their seat upon the mountain-peak;
Within it are the Worm, the troops, and treasure;

Made happy by their words

He fared triumphant and with heart all justice,
And, when he left, the youths companioned him.
He went with ardent heart and full of heed,
With head held high to Khurra-i-Ardshír.
Troops, magnates, men of lore, and counsellors
Flocked to the Sháh, who rested for a while,
Gave out supplies, then marched against Mihrak,
Son of Núshzád, to whom the world grew dark
And strait because he dared not fight; that traitor
Hid when the great king drew anear Jahram.
The great king's heart was wrathful. He abode
Until Mihrak was taken, then smote through
His neck with Indian scimitar, consigned
The headless body to the flames, and put
All captives of his kindred to the sword.
Howbeit one daughter was concealed despite
The hue and cry for her throughout the city.
Thence he departed to attack the Worm,
As all his host desired, and took with him
Twelve thousand horsemen proved and veteran.
When he had concentrated all his troops
He led them to a spot between two mountains.
A prudent man, Shahrgír by name, commanded
The host of Sháh Ardshír, who said to him:—
“Remain here on the watch with outposts, set
Both day and night, shrewd cavaliers and guides,
And furthermore both day and night employ
Patrols and sentries to safe-guard the host.
For my part I shall use a stratagém,
As did mine ancestor Asfandiyár,²⁴²

And if the watch should see a smoke by day,
Or in the night a blazing like the sun,
Know ye that all is over with the Worm,
Its luck and traffic gone.”

All brave and Lions on the day of battle,
Among his chiefs. Those in his confidence
Ne'er breathed a word. He chose too many a gem
Out of his hoards, brocade, dínárs, and goods
Of every kind, and wisely spared not wealth.
He packed two boxes full of lead and solder,
And added to the load a brazen pot,
Because he was a master of his craft.
When all the baggage was in readiness
He ordered his chief equerry to bring
Ten asses, put a driver's blanket on,
And chose the gold and silver as his load.
When anxiously they started for the hold
He took with him the two young country-folk,
Who had received him on a former day,
As friends and counsellors. When near at hand
They rested on the mountain and drew breath.
The servants of the Worm were sixty men,
And every one was busy at his work.
One saw the company and called to them:—
“What is there in these packs?”

The Sháh replied:—

“All sorts of goods—clothes, gold and silver, trinkets,
Brocade, dínárs, silk stuffs, and jewelry.
I am a merchantman of Khurásán,
And have no rest from toil, am well to do
By favour of the Worm and now have come
Rejoicing to its seat. It blesseth me,
And, if I may but serve it, all is well.”
Thereat the servants of the Worm flung back
The castle-gate. When they had brought the loads
Inside, the noble Sháh took charge, undid
A pack forthwith, and made the needful gifts.
He spread before the attendants of the Worm
The leathern table of the traveller,
And stood as slaves are wont, unlocked the chests,
Brought and filled cups with wine, but those whose
turn
It was to feed the Worm with milk and rice
Refused to drink; their duty kept them sober.
Now as they sat Ardshír sprang up and said:—
“Abundance both of rice and milk have I
And, if the Worm's chief servitor permitteth,
Will gladly feed it for three days myself;
Fame may ensue, and I shall share its luck.

Brought forth the metal and the brazen pot,
And lit a fire by daylight. When 'twas time
To feed the Worm its food was of boiling lead.
He bore the molten metal to the tank,
Whence that tame creature raised its head. They saw
Its tongue thrust out, just like an Arab cymbal,
As when it used to eat the rice. The youths
Poured down the molten stuff and quelled the Worm.
There came a rumble from its maw and shook
The tank and ground. Came like the wind Ardshír
With those two youths; they plied sword, mace, and
shaft,
And none among those drunken servitors
Escaped their hands with life. Ardshír sent up
A black smoke from the castle-roof to tell
The exploit to the captain of the host,
To whom the look-out hurried to announce:—
“Ardshír hath won!”

Shahrgír made no delay,

But marched to meet the Sháh with his array.

Now when Haftwád was ware thereof his heart
Grew full of anguish and his head of sighs.
He came to repossess the hold. The king
Ascended to the walls in haste. Haftwád
Strove but to small result, for on the ramparts
There was a Lion's foot.²⁴⁴

The Íránian host
Came mountain-like, but halted seared and sore.^244a

Then Sháh Ardshír cried from the battlements:—
“O valiant lion-catcher!^244b

fall upon them,
For if Haftwád escapeth from our midst
Thou wilt have naught in hand but toil and wind.
I have given the molten metal to the Worm;
Gone is its luck, its fierce career abated.”
The troops all heard the Sháh's words, donned their

crown, throne, and province,
And thence departing, triumphing and glad,
Spread justice over Párs. When man and beast
Had rested he led on his host to Zúr,
Sent to Kirmán an army, and a man
Fit for the crown and throne, proceeded thence
To Taisafún and brought his foe's throne down.
Of this our whirling world it is the way
To keep concealed from thee its mystery.
Conform to it, 'twill not conform to thee,
Because its favour changeth every day.

The poet, in this the concluding dynasty of the Sháhnáma, tells of the rise, progress, and fall of the Sásánian empire from the days of its founder, Ardshír Pápakán, to those of Yazdagird, the last Sháh of the dynasty. He commemorates the reigns of its twenty-nine Sháhs, for the most part very briefly, but in some instances at great length, as in the cases of Bahrám Gúr, Núshír-wán, and Khusrau Parwíz. He records, so far as Íránian tradition kept such things in memory, the foreign relations of the empire with other kings, races, and peoples, its internal administration and domestic concerns, the adventures that befell and the wisdom that was uttered, the invention of chess and the coming of the Gipsies. He then describes the conquest of Írán by the Arabs and ends with a short passage of personal reminiscence.

Having passed, as Firdausí says, “Sikandar's barrier”²⁴⁹

and the great historic void of five centuries and more, peopled for us in the Sháhnáma by a few shades of names only, we alight at length on the authentic but unstable soil of the Sásánian dynasty; for even here the information presented to us is by no means consonant with modern Western canons of accuracy. The names are historic, and so are many of the events recorded, but there are no dates, and often what is historic is misplaced chronologically and attributed to the wrong actors and the wrong causes, sometimes very trivial ones—those, for instance, assigned by the street story-teller. Of many of the Sháhs only the facts of their accession, the length, often wrongly given, of their reigns, their inaugural speeches, and deaths are recorded. The occurrence, more than once, of a whole series of such reigns has a somewhat depressing effect on the reader and gives an appearance of truth to Atkinson's view that the interest of the Sháhnáma ends with the reign of Sikandar.²⁵⁰

From this it might be thought that the poet, weary with his long labours and soured by hope deferred, had hurried over or scamped the concluding portion of his vast undertaking. It might be thought that even in the places where material is abundant his version of it had not the technique and attractiveness found in the earlier dynasties. In the opinion of the present writer such views are not justified by the facts of the case. It is true that here the visions of the childhood of the world fade into the light of common day, and the superhuman gives place to the human, but there is a measure of compensation in that very fact, and the study of the history of a whole epoch as it was conceived, interpreted, and handed down by popular tradition, cannot fail of interest and instruction. It must be remembered too that no other great poet ever imposed such strict limitations on himself, or so sternly adhered to them, as did Firdausí. He puts himself at the merey of his authorities, and where they fail him, as they do sometimes in this portion of the Sháhnáma, he makes no attempt to invent incidents, but leaves a blank and passes on. This is a proceeding for which the poet should be praised rather than blamed. He was engaged in a high task, no doubt believed in the tales that he retold, just as his countrymen believe in them still, and he refused to add to the sacred story of his race as he found it in tradition. In cases, however, where his authorities offered him an opportunity he shows no falling off in vigour, as the reign of Bahrám Gúr, which will be found in the next volume, is in itself sufficient to prove. In it we seem to discern the soil and the seed whence sprang in after ages the well-beloved Nights called Arabian, but certainly of Persian origin, for we have the Sháh roaming disguised, or at least unrecognised, among his subjects of all classes, the freaks of despotic power, the humorous exaggerations, the Rabelaisian tale, and the clash of the cymbals of the Brides of the Treasure. Finally, in the story of Bahrám Chubína, which Macan admired so much,^250a

the Sásánian dynasty possesses a historical romance both admirable in itself and admirably set forth by the poet. It remains to call attention to a few other points in connexion with this dynasty.

Ardshír Pápakán laid it down as a fundamental principle of government, if Íránian tradition may be credited, that the Throne and the Faith were interdependent. The Faith could not exist without the Throne, nor the Throne without the Faith. The two were brothers; they wore one cloak; they were two pieces of brocade interwoven; the slanderer of the Throne and the persecutor of the Faith were alike impious.²⁵¹

Whether Ardshír really spoke to this effect or not matters little. If he did not say so in word his deeds said it for him, and most of his successors followed his example. Later ages, noting this marked feature of the dynasty—the close union between the Throne and the Faith—naturally may have attributed corresponding sentiments to its founder. Accordingly the religion of Zoroaster, as represented by its official priesthood and supported by the throne, obtained during Sásánian times a position of influence and dignity such as it never previously had enjoyed, at all events since the semi-mythical epoch of Gushtásp and of Asfandiyár. Even with all its official advantages, however, the priesthood had much ado to maintain itself, amid the religious ferment of those centuries, alike against the antagonism of rival Faiths without and heresy within.^251a

Orthodox Zoroastrianism was more than once almost in the position of an Athanasius contra mundum.^251b

The Sásánian Sháhs, for the most part, seem to have done their best to support the priesthood, and the latter showed its gratitude by a deep and loyal devotion to the House of Sásán. This loyalty to the throne, coupled with aversion from all that was heterodox or unorthodox, was reflected in the national tradition as handed down by the chroniclers of the time, who for the most part were Zoroastrian priests themselves. Consequently in this part of the Sháhnáma the reader will find a strong legitimist feeling, expressed by occasional remarks or asides, running like a thread through the poem. This feeling takes the form of devotion to the House of Sásán as a whole, with the exception of Yazdagird, son of Shápúr, “The Wicked,” and to the interests of the supposed rightful Sháh or heir for the time being as against usurpers or other claimants of the throne. These little outbursts certainly are not expressions of the poet's own personal views on such matters; he found them in his authorities and reproduced them. This remark also applies to passages of religious polemics. The poet's own views on such matters probably may be found in the parable of the kerchief.^251c

These polemics represent the devotion of the Zoroastrian priesthood to orthodoxy, as they understood it, just as their legitimist outbursts expressed their loyalty to the throne, provided that it was occupied by rightful and orthodox Sháhs of the House of Sásán.

A curious instance of this close union between Church and State in Sásánian times is given by Mas'údí in his “Book of Indication and Revision,” but a few words may be said by way of preface. According to Zoroastrianism there are to be twelve millennia, at the expiration of the last of which—the present one—will come the Restoration of all things. Now the tenth millennium began on the day when the Revelation came to Zarduhsht,²⁵²

and in the Dínkard we find a prophecy, after the event, that the last two centuries of that particular millennium would be periods of great misery and wretchedness.^252a

The Dínkard was compiled during the ninth century A.D., and Mas'údí flourished during the first half of the tenth. This is what he tells us:—“There is a great difference between the opinion of the Persians and that of other people with reference to the epoch of Alexander, which most folk have not noticed. It is one of the secrets of the religion and royal policy of the Persians and is known only to the most erudite among the priests, as we have seen for ourselves in the province of Párs, Kirmán, and other countries where the Persians rule. It is not found in any of the books on Persian history or in any chronicle or annals. It is this. Zoroaster … in the Avasta—the book revealed to him—announces that in three centuries the empire of the Persians will experience a great revolution, without destruction to the religion, but that at the end of a thousand years, starting from the same epoch, that of Zoroaster, the empire and the religion will perish together. Now between Zoroaster and Alexander there is about three hundred years, for Zoroaster appeared in the time of Gushtásp … Ardshír, son of Pápak, possessed himself of the empire … about five hundred years after Alexander. We see then that there remained not more than two hundred years or thereabouts before the completion of the thousand years of the prophecy. Ardshír wished to augment by two hundred years this space of time … because he feared that when a hundred years should have elapsed after him men would refuse aid to the king, and to repulse his enemies, owing to their belief in the truth of the tradition relating to the future ruin of the empire. To obviate this he retrenched about half the time that had elapsed between Alexander and himself, and accordingly only made mention of a certain number of the Part Kings, who had occupied this period, and suppressed the remainder. Then he took pains to disseminate in his empire that he had made his appearance and possessed himself of the rule two hundred and sixty years after Alexander. Consequently this period was recognised and spread among men. For this reason there is a difference between the Persians and other nations with respect to the era of Alexander, aud this is why confusion has been imported into the annals of the Part Kings.”²⁵³

Whatever we may think with regard to the historical value of this explanation the fact remains that the duration of the epoch between Alexander the Great and Ardshír Pápakán is reduced by Oriental historians generally. Its standard length may be put, as given by them, at 266 years. The above account makes Ardshír strike out 288 years of the actual historical number of 548 years.

In the notes to the various reigns of this dynasty no attempt will be made to present a complete historical sketch of the Persian history of the period by adding details and filling up the frequent lacunæ from other sources. Such history as the poem offers will be dealt with, but such as it ignores, e.g. many of the wars with the Eastern Roman empire, will be passed over in silence save where reference to some omitted historical event is needed for the better understanding of what has been included but misrepresented. Readers that desire to supplement the Sháhnáma will find ample material in the late Professor Rawlinson's “Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy,” and in the Bibliography appended thereto, especially if they add Professor Nöldeke's “Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit des Sasaniden,” which was published three years later and is invaluable.

The form of the names of the various Sháhs, taken from Professor Rawlinson, and the duration of their respective reigns, as calculated by Professor Nöldeke, are given between brackets.

A genealogical table of the Sásánians, according to the Sháhnáma, will be found at the beginning of the volume.

Ardshír, having become King of kings, marries the daughter of Ardawán, who attempts to poison him and is saved by Ardshír's minister. Shápúr is born and recognised by his father Ardshír. Ardshír consults Kaid about the future. Kaid's reply. The adventure of Shápúr with the daughter of Mihrak. The birth of Urmuzd, who is acknowledged by Ardshír as his grandson. Account of Ardshír's administration. He counsels Shápúr and dies. The poet ends the reign with praises of Mahmúd.

§ 1. The forty years and two months assigned by Firdausí to the reign of Ardshír (Artaxerxes I., A.D. 226-241) is much too long. Tabarí makes it, from the fall of Ardawán, fourteen years or, according to some of his authorities, ten months longer.²⁵⁴

No doubt Ardshír was a king, with his seat of government at Párs, from soon after the death of his father Pápak.^254a

Probably he served, and won his spurs, in Ardawán's war against the Romans which was ended by the peace of Nisibis in A.D. 217. Nine eventful years followed and he became King of kings in A.D. 226. Firdausí, according to the text of C, makes him seventy-eight, according to the text of P sixty-eight, at the time of his death.^254b

There had been a city of Baghdád in Babylonian times, but the Arab city of that name was not founded till the days of the Khalífa Al Mansúr in A.D. 762. The city here meant is Bih-Ardshír, the Seleucia newly founded by Ardshír.^254c

We have two accounts of the assumption of the title “King of kings” by Ardshír. For the other see p. 273. From Firdausí's wording it might be held that the former was the popular, the latter the official, ascription of the title. For its import in connexion with Ardshír see p. 197. Cf. too p. 199.

§§ 2, 3. Firdausí's account agrees partly with the Kárnámak and partly with the Arabic versions, showing clearly that the former was not his direct authority. According to K two of Ardawán's sons had fled to Kábul and thence incited Ardawán's daughter, whose name is given as Zijának, to poison Ardshír, her husband. One day accordingly, on his return from the chase, she presents to him a cup of roast meal and milk with which she has mingled the poison. As he was about to drink, the sacred Fire, Frúbá, descended on the cup and it fell from his hand. A cat and dog ate the spilt food and died on the spot. Ardshír at once ordered the high priest (the chief múbid) to have Zijának put to death. Instead of so doing, however, he concealed her in his own house, where she gave birth to a son whom she called Shápúr, i.e. son of the king, and brought him up till he was seven years old. The story of the self-mutilation by the high priest is omitted.²⁵⁵

One day Ardshír went to the chase and followed a female onager, whereupon the male came towards Ardshír and exposed himself to death in her stead. Ardshír spared him and rode after the colt, whereat the female onager came up and offered herself to be slain in her young one's place. Ardshír, reflecting on his own conduct to his wife, whom he knew to have been with child at the time when he ordered her to execution, wept. The high priest seized the opportunity to tell Ardshír the real state of the case, and Shápúr is presented to him. Ardshír in great joy bounteously rewards the high priest and founds the city of Rás-Shápúr and a sacred Fire in commemoration of the occasion.^255a

According to Tabarí, when Ardshír had obtained the sovereignty he destroyed utterly, in accordance to an oath sworn by his grandsire, the elder Sásán, the royal race of the Arsacids^255b

with the exception of one girl, Ardawán's daughter, whom he found in the royal palace. She was very beautiful, and, as she gave herself out to be merely the handmaid of one of Ardawán's wives, he married her. Later on, thinking herself secure, as she was with child by him, she told him who she was. On this he ordered his minister, an aged man, to put her to death,²⁵⁶

and then follows the rest of the story as told in the Sháhnáma. All these accounts make Shápúr much too young. According to Tabarí he was present at the battle of Hurmuzdagán and slew with his own hand Ardawán's secretary.^256a

Tabarí thus appears to contradict himself, but the reader should bear in mind that it is the custom of Oriental historians to give several versions, derived from different sources, of the same event or person, not to digest such versions, as a Western writer would do, into a single narrative.

A similar account of the rewards bestowed by the grateful Ardshír on his faithful minister is given by Dínawarí and in some versions of the Persian translation of Tabarí, but there is no evidence that the statement that Ardshír had his minister's head engraved and stamped on the coinage is historically correct. It is true that another head besides Ardshír's appears on his earliest and some of his latest coins, but the heads are those of Pápak and and of Shápúr respectively.^256b

The Jund-i-Shápúr of F appears to be the equivalent of the Rás-Shápúr of K.^256c

§§ 4-6. This is both in K and in the Arabic versions. In F the wise Indian king of the days of Sikandar—Kaid, the Kait of K— reappears, takes the place held by the astrologers in Tabarí, and, in K, declares that only two races can hold sway in Írán—that of Ardshír and that of Mibrak.^256d

F more poetically puts it that the Sháh can only find peace by the union of his family with that of Mihrak. On this Ardshír, aware that one daughter of Mihrak had escaped the previous massacre, tries in vain to find her. It seems worth suggesting that, in the primitive form of the legend, Ardawán, Mihrak, and Máhdik were one and the same personality. Mihrak is Mithrak in K, a very Parthian name, and Mádik or Máhdik is the king of the Kurds. Máhdik merely means “the Mede” and thus symbolises the Parthian power which, according to Íránian tradition, had its headquarters in Media Magna. In this view Ardshír's expeditions against the Kurds and Mihrak would be mere variants of his advance into, and conquest of, Media after the decisive battle of Hurmuzdagán when doubtlessly he put to death all that he could find of his late rival's family. That he wittingly spared any of them, male or female, is most unlikely, and a legend given in Tabarí^256e

had to be invented to explain how it came about that he married Ardawán's daughter, the story of this marriage being a later device, as here in Shápúr's case, to connect the Sásánians with their predecessors. It is worth noting too that in the Arabic historian Hamza the daughter of Mihrak is called Kurdzád, i.e. “the child of the Kurds.”²⁵⁷

This explains the words of Kait's prophecy in K and, what is hard to understand otherwise, why such great importance should be attached to Mihrak and his family in the various versions of the legends unless we regard them as all originating from a single historical incident in Ardshír Pápakán's career. F's insight in varying the form of Kaid's prophecy brings out the historical truth that Írán could be restored to internal peace only by the voluntary union of the old and new political dispensations.

The scene at the well between Shápúr and the daughter of Mihrak is not found in the Arabic versions. In Tabarí the girl takes refuge with shepherds and provides Shápúr with water one day when he is hunting. He falls in love with her and takes her in marriage, after which she tells him of her parentage. The Arabic versions, both in this case and that of Ardshír, represent the marriage into the enemy's family as having been made through ignorance.^257a

The recognition scene on the polo-ground, which we have had already in connexion with Shápúr,^257b

here occurs, as in K, in its proper place. F adds the touch of Ardshír's unexpected return from the chase and consequent discovery. In Tabarí it is brought about by a sudden visit paid to his son's palace by Ardshír who thus encounters Urmuzd.^257c

At this point K, after giving a brief and exaggerated account of the reign of Urmuzd, comes to an end.

§§ 7, 8, 10. In addition to K there was once in existence a Pahlaví work known as the “Ahdnámak” or “Andarznámak” i.e. “Book of the Exhortations” sc. of Ardshír. In all probability its contents much resembled the subject-matter found in these sections.^257d

Tabarí states that Ardshír himself crowned his son Shápúr,^257e

and the incident seems to be recorded in a bas-relief of Ardshír's at Takht-i-Bústán and in some of his later coins.^257f

Mas'údí says that Ardshír became a religious recluse.^257g

The duration of the Sásánian dynasty was 425 years—A.D. 226-651. Cf. with Ardshír's prophecy the account of Mas'údí on p. 251, and for the length of his reign p. 254. Tabarí^257h

credits him with the foundation of eight cities.

Now at Baghdád Ardshír assumed his seat
Upon the ivory throne and donned the crown
That maketh glad the heart, with girdle girt,
The sceptre of the Sháhs in hand, the palace
Prepared. Thenceforth folk called him “King of
kings,”²⁵⁸

And no one knew him from Gushtásp. Whenas

Now when the Sháh slew Ardawán, thus winning
The world, he took to wife the slain king's daughter
To tell him where her father's hoards were hidden.
There were two sons of Ardawán in Hind,
Companions in distress, and two in ward
With full hearts and with weeping eyes. The eldest
Of these—Bahman—who was in Hindústán,
Perceiving that the realm was lost to him,
Chose a discreet and prudent messenger,
A youth who was possessed of ears to hear,
Gave him some poison secretly, and said:—
“Go to my sister, tell her: ‘Seek not thou
Our foe's affections, for in Hindústán
Thou hast two brothers, exiles both, and two
Bound in the prison-house of Sháh Ardshír.
Our sire is slain, his sons are pierced, by arrows,
And thou, as it would seem, hast ceased to love us!
How can the Maker of the sky commend it?
As thou wouldst queen it in Írán, and win
In this world the approval of the brave,
Take thou this mortal Indian bane and use it
Forthwith upon Ardshír.’”

The envoy came

At eve and gave the noble girl that message.

The archimage

Went out behind the queen, who quaked convicted,
But said: “O sage! my day and thine will pass.
I cannot say thee nay if thou wilt slay me,
But—I am now with child, and by Ardshír;
So if 'tis right to cause my blood to flow,
And gibbet me on high, wait till my babe
Be born, then carry out the Sháh's behest.”
The shrewd archmage returned and told his master,
But he made answer: “Hearken not to her,
But do my bidding.”

The archimage reflected, “when such orders
Come from the Sháh! We all, both young and old,
Must die, and he is sonless! Though he live
To count unnumbered years yet when he dieth
A foe will have his throne. Well may I dare
To substitute high policy for such
A feckless action. I will save her life.
I may induce him to repent or else
Can do his bidding when her child is born.”
He got apartments ready in his palace
That he might tend her as his soul and body,
And told his wife: “I would not have a breath
Of air behold her.”

Then “I have,” he thought,

“Foes and to spare, and doubts for good or ill
Attach to every one, so I will take
Such order that no slanderer shall foul
My stream.”

He went his way and gelt himself,

Used cautery and drugs and bandages,
Then put his genitals in salt forthwith,
As swift as smoke enclosed them in a casket,
And sealed it up. With pallid face and groaning
He came before the lofty throne, laid down
The casket closed and sealed, and said: “Now let
The Sháh entrust this to his treasurer
With an inscription thereupon to state
The matters appertaining and the date.”