possible to be an observing Mohammedan in the flesh, whilst the mind wandered in the realms of pure fantasy and speculation. While enjoying Hбfiz, then, and bathing in his wealth of picture, one is at a loss to tell whether the bodies he describes are of flesh and blood, or incorporeal ones with a mystic background; whether the wine of which he sings really runs red, and the love he describes is really centred upon a mortal being. Yet, when he says of himself, "Open my grave when I am dead, and thou shalt see a cloud of smoke rising out from it; then shalt thou know that the fire still burns in my dead heart—yea, it has set my very winding-sheet alight," there is a ring of reality in the substance which pierces through the extravagant imagery. This the Persians themselves have always felt; and they will not be far from the truth in regarding Hбfiz with a very peculiar affection as the writer who, better than anyone else, is the poet of their gay moments and the boon companion of their feasts.

Firdusi, Omar, Sa'di, Hбfiz, are names of which any literature may be proud. None like unto them rose again in Persia, if we except the great Jami. At the courts of Shбh Abbas the Great (1588-1629) and of Akbar of India (1556-1605), an attempt to revive Persian letters was indeed made. But nothing came that could in any measure equal the heyday of the great poets. The political downfall of Persia has effectually prevented the coming of another spring and summer. The pride of the land of the Shбh must now rest in its past.

[Illustration: (Signature of Richard Gottheil)]

Columbia University, June 11, 1900.

CONTENTS

THE SHБH NБMEH

  Introduction
  Kaiъmers
  Hъsheng
  Tahъmers
  Jemshнd
  Mirtбs-Tбzн, and His Son Zohбk
  Kavah, the Blacksmith
  Feridъn
  Feridъn and His Three Sons
  Minъchihr
  Zбl, the Son of Sбm
  The Dream of Sбm
  Rъdбbeh
  Death of Minъchihr
  Nauder
  Afrбsiyбb Marches against Nauder
  Afrбsiyбb
  Zau
  Garshбsp
  Kai-Kobбd
  Kai-Kбъs
  The Seven Labors of Rustem
  Invasion of Irбn by Afrбsiyбb
  The Return of Kai-Kбъs
  Story of Sohrбb
  The Story of Saiбwush
  Kai-Khosrбu
  Akwбn Dнw
  The Story of Byzun and Manнjeh
  Barzъ, and His Conflict with Rustem
  Sъsen and Afrбsiyбb
  The Expedition of Gъdarz
  The Death of Afrбsiyбb
  The Death of Kai-Khosrбu
  Lohurбsp
  Gushtбsp, and the Faith of Zerdusht
  The Heft-Khan of Isfendiyбr
  Capture of the Brazen Fortress
  The Death of Isfendiyбr
  The Death of Rustem
  Bahman
  Hъmaн and the Birth of Dбrбb
  Dбrбb and Dбrб
  Sikander
  Firdusi's Invocation
  Firdusi's Satire on Mahmud

THE RUBБIYБT

  Introduction
  Omar Khayyбm
  The Rubбiyбt

THE DIVAN

  Introduction
  Fragment by Hбfiz
  The Divan

THE SHБH NБMEH

by

FIRDUSI

(Abul Kasim Mansur)

[Translated into English by James Atkinson]

The system of Sir William Jones in the printing of Oriental words has been kept in view in the following work, viz.: The letter a represents the short vowel as in bat, б with an accent the broad sound of a in hall, i as in lily, н with an accent as in police, u as in bull, ъ with an accent as in rude, у with an accent as o in pole, the diphthong ai as in aisle, au as in the German word kraut or ou in house.

INTRODUCTION

When Sir John Lubbock, in the list of a hundred books which he published, in the year 1886, as containing the best hundred worth reading, mentioned the "Shбh Nбmeh" or "Book of Kings," written by the Persian poet Firdusi, it is doubtful whether many of his readers had even heard of such a poem or of its author. Yet Firdusi, "The Poet of Paradise" (for such is the meaning of this pen-name), is as much the national poet of Persia as Dante is of Italy or Shakespeare of England. Abul Kasim Mansur is indeed a genuine epic poet, and for this reason his work is of genuine interest to the lovers of Homer, Vergil, and Dante. The qualities that go to make up an epic poem are all to be found in this work of the Persian bard. In the first place, the "Shбh Nбmeh" is written by an enthusiastic patriot, who glorifies his country, and by that means has become recognized as the national poet of Persia. In the second place, the poem presents us with a complete view of a certain definite phase, and complete era of civilization; in other words, it is a transcript from the life; a portrait-gallery of distinct and unique individuals; a description of what was once an actual society. We find in it delineated the Persia of the heroic age, an age of chivalry, eclipsing, in romantic emotion, deeds of daring, scenes of love and violence, even the mediaeval chivalry of France and Spain. Again, this poem deals principally with the adventures of one man. For all other parts of the work are but accessories to the single figure of Rustem, the heroic personage whose superhuman strength, dignity, and beauty make him to be a veritable Persian Achilles. But when we regard the details of this work we see how deeply the literary posterity of Homer are indebted to the Father of European Poetry. The fantastic crowd of demons, peris, and necromancers that appear as the supernatural machinery of the Shбh Nбmeh, such grotesque fancies as the serpents that grew from the shoulders of King Zohбk, or the ladder of Zerdusht, on which he mounted from earth to heaven—all these and a hundred other fancies compare unfavorably with the reserve of Homer, in his use of such a personage as Circe, and the human grace and dignity which he lends to that genial circle on Olympus, whose inextinguishable laughter is called forth by the halting wine-bearer a god like themselves. While we read the "Shбh Nбmeh" with keen interest, because from its study the mind is enlarged and stimulated by new scenes, new ideas and unprecedented situations, we feel grateful that the battle of Salamis stopped the Persian invasion of Europe, which would doubtless have resulted in changing the current of literature from that orderly and stately course which it had taken from its fountain in a Greek Parnassus, and diverted it into the thousand brawling rills of Persian fancy and exaggeration.

It is a hundred years ago that a certain physician in the employment of the East India Company, who then represented British supremacy in Bengal and Calcutta, published the "Story of Sohrab," a poem in heroic couplets, being a translation of the most pathetic episode in the "Shбh Nбmeh." If we compare this English poem with Jules Mohl's literal translation of the Persian epic into French, we find that James Atkinson stands very much in the same relation to Firdusi as Pope does to Homer. It would be indeed absurd for an English writer to attempt to conform, in an English version, to the vagaries of Persian idiom, or even to attempt a literal rendering of the Persian trope. The manner of a poet can never be faithfully reproduced in a translation, but all that is really valuable, really affecting, in an epic poem will survive transfusion into the frank and natural idiom of another tongue. We say epic poem, because one of the distinguishing features in this form of literary