.A DISTICH بیت كاروان رفت و تو در خواب و بیابان در پیش كجا روي ره زكه پرسي چكني چون باشي The caravan is departed, and thou fleepest; the defert lies before thee whither wilt thou go? of whom wilt thou ask the way? what wilt thou do? how wilt thou exift ? At the time that the dawn appears, doft thou know for what reafon the bird of the morning complains? He fays, that it is shown in the mirror of the day, that a whole night of thy life is paffed, while thou art loft in indolence. Another. W خواهي که نباشي بغم ورنج ترین بشنو سخن پاکتر از در ثمین از دشمن آزرده تغافل منهاي و زصاحب کبر و کینه ایمن منشین Doft 237 Doft thou defire to be free from forrow and pain? hear a maxim more valuable than a precious gem: Despise not thine enemy, though he be distressed; and trust not thy friend, if he be proud and malevolent. In all the Perfian elegies and odes the two first hemistichs have the fame rhyme, which is continued through the whole poem at the end of every diftich. diftich. A short piece of poetry, in which the two first lines do not rhyme together, is called as a fragment; as this elegant fable of Sadi on the advantages of good company : گلی خوشبوي در حمام روزي رسید از دست محبوبي بدستم بدو گفتم که مشکي يا عنبري که از بوي دلاویز تو مستم گل ناچیز بودم يكفنا من وليكن مدتي با گل نشستم کمال همنشین در من اثر کرد وكر نه من همان خاکم که هستم One day, as I was in the bath, a friend of mine put into my hand a piece of fcented clay*. I took it, and faid to it, ،، Art thou mulk or ambergris? for I am charmed with thy delightful scent.” It an swered, "I was a despicable piece of clay; but I was some time in "the company of the rofe; the sweet quality of my companion was ghili khombai, a kind of mauous clay, which the Perfians perfume witr گل خوشبوي * effence of rofes, and ufe in the baths instead of foap. ،، com. "communicated to me; otherwise I should have been only a piece "of earth, as I appear to be." When both lines of each couplet rhyme together through a whole composition, it is called as in the following examples : چنین است آیین کردنده دهر نه لطغش بود پایدار و نه قهر نه پرورد کس را که آخر نکشت که در مهر نرم است و درکین درشت Such is the nature of inconftant fortune, neither her mildness nor her violence are of long duration : fhe exalts no one whom she does not at last oppress; for fhe is light in her affection, but most harsh in her hatred. فریدون فرخ فرشته نبود زمشک و زعنبر سرشته نبود بداد و دهش يافت آن نيکويي تو داد و دهش کن فریدون توبي The happy * Feridún was not an angel; he was not formed of musk or ambergris. He gained his reputation by justice and liberality: be thou just and liberal, and thou wilt be a Feridún. w. * An ancient king of Perfia, highly celebrated for his eminent virtues. The learned and excel lent d'Herbelot has made a mistake in his tranflation of these lines (see the article Farrakh in his Bibliotheque Orientale) for not recollecting the sense of HAPPY, he made a proper name of it, and tells us that Farrakh was a man whom the Perfians confider as a perfect model of justice and magnanimity. جواني There was an affectionate and amiable youth, who was betrothed to a beautiful girl. I have read, that as they were failing in the great sea, they fell together into a whirlpool. When a mariner went to the young man that he might catch his hand, and save him from perishing in that unhappy juncture; he called aloud, and pointed to his mistress from the midft of the waves; "Leave me, and take the "hand of my beloved." The whole world admired him for that speech; and when he was expiring he was heard to say; "Learn "not the tale of love from that wretch who forgets his beloved in "the hour of danger." These examples will, I hope, be fufficient to undeceive those who think that the Afiatick poetry confifts merely in lofty figures and flowery defcriptions. defcriptions. There is scarce a leffon of morality or a tender fentiment in any European language, to which a parallel may not be brought from the poets of Afia. The verses of eleven fyllables, which are used in the reat Perfian poems, always rhyme together in couplets. It is unneceffary in this section to give an example of the Perfian oor elegy, as it differs only in its length from the Js or ode, except that the Casfideh often turns upon lofty subjects, and the Gazal comprises for the most part the praises of love and merriment, like the lighter odes of Horace and Anacreon. The most elegant compofers of these odes are ↳ Jâmi and Lil Hafiz, each of whom has left an ample collection of his lyrick poems. I may confidently affirm that few odes of the Greeks or Romans upon fimilar fubjects are more finely polished than the songs of these Perfian poets: they want only a reader that can see them in their original dress, and feel their beauties without the disadvantage of a tranflation. I shall transcribe the first ode of Hafiz that offers itself, out of near three hundred that I have paraphrased: when the learner is able to understand the images and allufions in the Persian poems, he will fee a reason in every line why they cannot be translated literally into any European language. |