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their kingdoms, they were sovereign, they increased their might.
1571. They poured down mercy like snow on all alike, they enriched orphans and widows and the poor did not beg,[1] they terrified evil-doers; the ewes could not suckle the lambs, within their territories the goat and the wolf fed together.
1572. Their tale is ended like a dream of the night. They are passed away, gone beyond the world. Behold the treachery of time; to him who thinks it long, even for him it is of a moment. I a certain Meskhian[2] bard of the borough of Rust'havi,[3] I write (this).[4]
1573. For the god (goddess—i.e., king, queen, T'hamara) of the Georgians, whom David[5] the sun serves in his course, I have put this story into verse, for her (pl. maj.) entertainment who strikes terror from East to West, consuming those who are traitors to her, strengthening those who are loyal.[6]
1574. How shall I sing to David's harp,[7] attuned and loud-sounding, these wondrous (rare) tales of strange, foreign monarchs! Old-time customs and deeds, praises (eulogies) of those kings, have I found and done into verse. Thus have we chattered![8]
- ↑ 784, 785.
- ↑ Meskhet'hi, the south-west province of ancient Georgia; the Meshech of the Bible (Gen. x. 2; Ps. cxx. 5; Ezek. xxvii. 13, xxxii. 26).
- ↑ Rust'havi—cf. Wakhoucht, "Description Géographique," translated by M. Brosset—near Akhaltzikhe.
- ↑ Professor Marr's rendering (Teksty, xii. 10): 01. "The story of our heroes is finished like a dream of night; they suffered and went out of the world. Look at the treachery of time! Time is fleeting even for him to whom it seems long. I a certain Meskhian poet from the village of Rust'havi write."
- ↑ David Soslan, prince consort of T'hamara.
- ↑ Professor Marr's rendering (Teksty, xii. 10): 02. "I have transferred this story into verse for the amusement of the goddess of the Georgians—her whom, a sun, David serves as a wandering moon—her who strikes terror in East and West—her who burns up traitors, aids those who are devoted to her." According to Professor Marr this is the last quatrain of the poem, and the rest are spurious additions.
- ↑ David the Psalmist.
- ↑ Vilaqp'het'hani. Ch. gives laqboba, laqap'hi, chatter, nonsense, lies. Car. quotes from T'heimuraz, "praise, panegyric," as the meaning; he also gives "to tell a long story." Professor Marr renders this
