Page:Persian Literature (1900), vol. 1.djvu/169

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THE SHÁH NÁMEH

135

Again enjoy thy fellowship and love:And while to thee my gratitude is known,Still be the pride and glory of my throne.”

Rustem, thus answering said:—“Thou art the King,Source of command, pure honour’s sacred spring;And here I stand to follow thy behest,Obedient ever—be thy will expressed,And services required—Old age shall seeMy loins still bound in fealty to thee.”

To this the King:—“Rejoice we then to-day,And on the morrow marshal our array.”The monarch quick commands the feast of joy,And social cares his buoyant mind employ,Within a bower, beside a crystal spring,^[1]Where opening flowers, refreshing odours fling,Cheerful he sits, and forms the banquet scene,In regal splendour on the crowded green;And as around he greets his valiant bands,Showers golden presents from his bounteous hands;^[2]Voluptuous damsels trill the sportive lay,Whose sparkling glances beam celestial day;Fill’d with delight the heroes closer join,And quaff till midnight cups of generous wine.

Soon as the Sun had pierced the veil of night,And o’er the prospect shed his earliest light,Káús, impatient, bids the clarions sound,The sprightly notes from hills and rocks rebound;His treasure gates are opened:—and to allA largess given; obedient to the call,His subjects gathering crowd the mountain’s brow,And following thousands shade the vales below;With shields, in armor, numerous legions bend;And troops of horse the threatening lines extend.Beneath the tread of heroes fierce and strong,By war’s tumultuous fury borne along,

↑ The beautiful arbors referred to in the text are often included within the walls of Eastern palaces. They are fancifully fitted up, and supplied with reservoirs, fountains, and flower-trees. These romantic garden-pavilions are called Kiosks in Turkey, and are generally situated upon an eminence near a running stream.
↑ Milton alludes to this custom in Paradise Lost:
Where the gorgeous east with richest handShowers on her Kings barbaric pearl and gold.

In the note on this passage by Warburton, it is said to have been an eastern ceremony, at the coronation of their Kings, to powder them with gold-dust and seed-pearl. The expression in Firdusi is, “he showered or scattered gems.” It was usual at festivals, and the custom still exists, to throw money amongst the people. In Hafiz, the term used is nisar, which is of the same import. Clarke, in the second volume of his Travels, speaks of the four principal Sultanas of the Seraglio at Constantinople being powdered with diamonds: “Long spangled robes, open in front, with pantaloons embroidered in gold and silver, and covered by a profusion of pearls and precious stones, displayed their persons to great advantage. Their hair hung in loose and very thick tresses on each side of their cheeks, falling quite down to the waist, and covering their shoulders behind. Those tresses were quite powdered with diamonds, not displayed according to any studied arrangement, but as if carelessly scattered, by handfuls, among their flowing locks.”—Vol. ii. p. 14.

[1] The beautiful arbors referred to in the text are often included within the walls of Eastern palaces. They are fancifully fitted up, and supplied with reservoirs, fountains, and flower-trees. These romantic garden-pavilions are called Kiosks in Turkey, and are generally situated upon an eminence near a running stream.

[2] Milton alludes to this custom in Paradise Lost:
Where the gorgeous east with richest handShowers on her Kings barbaric pearl and gold.

In the note on this passage by Warburton, it is said to have been an eastern ceremony, at the coronation of their Kings, to powder them with gold-dust and seed-pearl. The expression in Firdusi is, “he showered or scattered gems.” It was usual at festivals, and the custom still exists, to throw money amongst the people. In Hafiz, the term used is nisar, which is of the same import. Clarke, in the second volume of his Travels, speaks of the four principal Sultanas of the Seraglio at Constantinople being powdered with diamonds: “Long spangled robes, open in front, with pantaloons embroidered in gold and silver, and covered by a profusion of pearls and precious stones, displayed their persons to great advantage. Their hair hung in loose and very thick tresses on each side of their cheeks, falling quite down to the waist, and covering their shoulders behind. Those tresses were quite powdered with diamonds, not displayed according to any studied arrangement, but as if carelessly scattered, by handfuls, among their flowing locks.”—Vol. ii. p. 14.

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