In a Morgenl. Gesellschaft, Leipzig, 1869 (pp. 375-433). short article published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July, 1902, an effort was made to elicit from Persian scholars some opinion as to the connection between the Georgian text here translated and the modern Persian poem; the request met with no response, and subsequent endeavours to obtain information on the matter were equally unsuccessful. Not only has the book a value as literature of high quality and as an undoubted antique, but there is reason to believe that it may have had a good deal to do with that development of European romanticism which finds utterance in the songs of the Minnesinger, the lays of the Troubadours, and the letters of Heloisa. In N. Ethe's Essays und Studien, Berlin, 1872 (pp. 295-301), a comparison is drawn between Vis and Ramin and Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan und Isolt. Reference may also be made to the monograph published in Moscow, in 1896, by Baron R. R. Stackelberg: Бар. Р. Р. Штакельбергъ: Нѣсколько словъ о персидскомъ эпосѣ,, Виса и Раминъ“ (Moscow Archæological Society). The subject of the relation between medieval romance in Europe and similar literature in the East is worth more investigation than it has yet received. The text used for this translation is ვისრამიანი - რედაქტო-რო-ბით ილ. ჭავჭაგაძის, ალ. სარაჯიშვილის და პეტ. უმივაშვილის. ტფილისი ექვთიმე სელაძის სტამბა 1884. With such editors as Ilia Chavchavadze, Al. Saradjishvili, and P. Umicashvili, and with Ilia Dehqonia as proof-reader, it is no wonder that the volume is one of the best ever printed in Georgia, and singularly free from errors. With the exception of a short extract in D. Chubinov's Chresto mathy (St. Petersburg, 1863), there is no other printed Georgian text. An article on the book appeared at Tiflis in June, 1896, in the Journal Əsədŋ, No. 6, part ii., p. 70. It is an unfortunate circumstance that none of the MSS. used for the 1884 edition is of an earlier date than the seventeenth century. The Catholicos Antony, in the eighteenth century, no doubt destroyed all the copies he could seize, and it is a subject for congratulation and surprise that any escaped the fury of an ecclesiastic who regarded even Rust'haveli as an immoral writer. Tradition says that Visramiani was translated into Georgian by Sargis T'hmogveli, in the reign of Queen T'hamara. It was certainly known to Rust'haveli, for he refers to it in quatrains 182, 1058, 1519 of The Man in the Panther's Skin (Oriental Translation Fund, New Series, vol. xxi., London, 1912), and several parallel passages are noted in this volume after the Index. References in the notes are marked "R." The writers of the Odes of that period (N. Marr's Tексты, vol. iv.; Odes v. 22 and 32, 1) make two allusions to Vis and Ramin. In the notes "M" indicates Prof. Marr's works. It will be apparent to readers that the text has suffered corruption; some references to the Christian religion and some tiresome tirades have been added by scribes. In spite of the numerous Persian words and locutions, the style is singularly limpid, and full of the genius of the Georgian language. The English translation is published chiefly with the object of aiding students of classical Georgian literature. An endeavour has been made to render the meaning of the text as closely as possible, even at the cost of lucidity and elegance. A beginner who works through the text of Visramiani with this translation should be fairly well equipped for the study of Rust'haveli. The footnotes are mostly devoted to the tracing through the book of words, especially words which seem to be of foreign origin; but it would be rash to suppose that in every case where a Georgian word is identical with a word in another language it is necessarily borrowed therefrom. The references are invariably to the pages of the original, as indicated in the margin of the translation. Arabic words are marked "A," Persian words "P." The translator must express his gratitude to M. Michel Tseret'heli, of Heidelberg, who explained many difficult passages in the text, and to M. Th. Sakhokia, of Brussels, who has read through the proof-sheets. Their zeal to make the rendering as exact as possible has been untiring. CONTENTS PAGE V 1 4 8 · 11 13 V. IN WHICH THEY BRING VIS FROM KHUZISTAN INTO THE VI. HERE IS THE WEDDING OF VIS AND HER BROTHER VIRO VIII. HERE IS THE GREAT BATTLE BETWEEN MOABAD AND VIRO 82 XXX. MOABAD COMES TO MARAV AND LEARNS TIDINGS OF VIS |