"That which thou dost on other's wants bestow, is thine,
While that thou hoardest is all lost to thee."
The ideas of love expressed by Rustaveli are partly of the Ovidian
type, without any of the indelicacy of the Latin poet. But he had
not studied Plato for nought, and we see in his work traces of those
metaphysical theories which S. Bonaventura, Dante, and many of their
contemporaries and successors found in Christianity.
In the last strophe we have a prophecy, conscious or unconscious,
of the evil days that were about to dawn.
"Their deeds are ended, like a dream at night.
With them their golden age has ended too.
Far other days have dawn'd.
Such is that old deceiver Time; he makes
That which at first did everlasting seem
As short as is the twinkling of an eye."
As far as style is concerned, we find that Rustaveli strikingly
resembles the European writers of his own time, to wit the troubadours,
and we can easily imagine that his career was not unlike that of some
of those sweet singers who enjoyed the favour of the noble ladies of
France and Italy. Among the great poets of Europe, Ariosto and Tasso
are, perhaps, the ones who are most akin to Rustaveli. The Platonism
of the latter furnishes another ground of resemblance, in addition
to the similarity of theme.
The poem in its present form consists of about 1600 quatrains. There
are sixteen syllables in each line, and the four lines end with the
same rhyme. The rhythm is due to the accents, as in English verse,
and may be called hexametric, i.e. there are in each line six feet,
divided into two sets of three by means of the cæsura; the fourth
line invariably begins with the particle i, which does not count as
a syllable.
As far as I know, the poem has not been translated into any European
language; although fragments and abstracts of it have been published in
Russian and Polish magazines, and I have seen the name of "Rostavvelo"
quoted in one of Gioberti's works. By the publication of a carefully
collated text, about a year ago, Georgian critics have prepared
the way for those who may wish to make the national epic known to
European readers.