134
FIRDUSI
And scorn and insult all my recompense?
Must I be galled by his capricious mood?
I, who have still his firmest champion stood?
But all is past, to heaven alone resigned,
No human cares shall more disturb my mind!”
Then Gúdarz thus (consummate art inspired
His prudent tongue, with all that zeal required);
“When Rustem dreads Sohráb’s resistless power,
Well may inferiors fly the trying hour!
The dire suspicion now pervades us all,
Thus, unavenged, shall beauteous Persia fall!
Yet, generous still, avert the lasting shame,
O, still preserve thy country’s glorious fame!
Or wilt thou, deaf to all our fears excite,
Forsake thy friends, and shun the pending fight?
And worse, O grief! in thy declining days,
Forfeit the honours of thy country’s praise?
This artful censure set his soul on fire,
But patriot firmness calm’d his burning ire;
And thus he said—“Inured to war’s alarms,
Did ever Rustem shun the din of arms?
Though frowns from Káús I disdain to bear,
My threaten’d country claims a warrior’s care.”
He ceased, and prudent joined the circling throng,
And in the public good forgot the private wrong.
Must I be galled by his capricious mood?
I, who have still his firmest champion stood?
But all is past, to heaven alone resigned,
No human cares shall more disturb my mind!”
Then Gúdarz thus (consummate art inspired
His prudent tongue, with all that zeal required);
“When Rustem dreads Sohráb’s resistless power,
Well may inferiors fly the trying hour!
The dire suspicion now pervades us all,
Thus, unavenged, shall beauteous Persia fall!
Yet, generous still, avert the lasting shame,
O, still preserve thy country’s glorious fame!
Or wilt thou, deaf to all our fears excite,
Forsake thy friends, and shun the pending fight?
And worse, O grief! in thy declining days,
Forfeit the honours of thy country’s praise?
This artful censure set his soul on fire,
But patriot firmness calm’d his burning ire;
And thus he said—“Inured to war’s alarms,
Did ever Rustem shun the din of arms?
Though frowns from Káús I disdain to bear,
My threaten’d country claims a warrior’s care.”
He ceased, and prudent joined the circling throng,
And in the public good forgot the private wrong.
From far the King the generous Champion viewed,
And rising, mildly thus his speech pursued:—
“Since various tempers govern all mankind,
Me, nature fashioned of a froward mind;[1]
And what the heavens spontaneously bestow,
Sown by their bounty must for ever grow.
The fit of wrath which burst within me, soon
Shrunk up my heart as thin as the new moon;[2]
Else had I deemed thee still my army’s boast,
Source of my regal power, beloved the most,
Unequalled. Every day, remembering thee,
I drain the wine cup, thou art all to me;
I wished thee to perform that lofty part,
Claimed by thy valour, sanctioned by my heart;
Hence thy delay my better thoughts supprest,
And boisterous passions revelled in my breast;
But when I saw thee from my Court retire
In wrath, repentance quenched my burning ire.
O, let me now my keen contrition prove,
And rising, mildly thus his speech pursued:—
“Since various tempers govern all mankind,
Me, nature fashioned of a froward mind;[1]
And what the heavens spontaneously bestow,
Sown by their bounty must for ever grow.
The fit of wrath which burst within me, soon
Shrunk up my heart as thin as the new moon;[2]
Else had I deemed thee still my army’s boast,
Source of my regal power, beloved the most,
Unequalled. Every day, remembering thee,
I drain the wine cup, thou art all to me;
I wished thee to perform that lofty part,
Claimed by thy valour, sanctioned by my heart;
Hence thy delay my better thoughts supprest,
And boisterous passions revelled in my breast;
But when I saw thee from my Court retire
In wrath, repentance quenched my burning ire.
O, let me now my keen contrition prove,
- ↑ Káús, in acknowledging the violence of his disposition, uses a singular phrase: “When you departed in anger, O Champion! I repented; ashes fell into my mouth.” A similar metaphor is used in Hindústaní: If a person falls under the displeasure of his friend, he says, “Ashes have fallen into my meat”: meaning, that his happiness is gone.
- ↑ This is one of Firdusi’s favorite similes.
“My heart became as slender as the new moon.”
