(CALLED "OF MERAGHAH," OR "THE DIVERSIFIED")[20]
Al Harith, son of Hammam, related: I was present in the Court of
Supervision at Meraghah when the talk ran of eloquence. Then agreed
all who were there of the knights of the pen, and the lords of genius,
that there remained no one who could select his diction, or use himself
freely in it as he willed: and that since the men of old were gone,
there was none now left who could originate a brilliant method, or
open a virgin style. And that even one marvelous among the writers
of this age, and holding in his grasp the cords of eloquence, is but
a dependent on the ancients, even though he possess the fluency of
Sahban Wa'il. Now there was in the assembly an elderly man, sitting on
the outskirts, in the places of the attendants: and as often as the
company overran in their career, and scattered fruit, good and bad,
from their store, the side-glance of his eye and the up-turning of
his nose showed that he was one silent to spring, one crouching who
would extend his stride: that he was a twanger of the bow who shapes
his arrows, one who sits in wait desiring the conflict. But when the
quivers were empty, and quiet returned; when the storms had fallen, and
the disputer was stayed, he turned to the company and said, Ye have
uttered a grievous thing; ye have wandered much from the way: for ye
have magnified moldering bones; ye have been excessive in your leaning
to those who are gone; ye have contemned your generation, among whom
ye were born, and with whom your friendships are established. Have ye
forgotten, ye skilful in testing, ye sages of loosing and binding,
how much new springs have given forth; how the colt has surpassed the
full-grown steed; in refined expressions, and delightful metaphors,
and ornate addresses, and admired cadences? And, if any one here will
look diligently, is there in the ancients aught but ideas whose paths
are worn, whose ranges are restricted; which have been handed down from
them through the priority of their birth, not from any superiority in
him who draws first at the well over him who comes after? Now truly
know I one who, when he composes, colors richly; and when he expresses,
embellishes; and when he is lengthy, finds golden thoughts; and when he
is brief, baffles his imitator; and when he improvises, astonishes; and
when he creates, cuts the envious.
Then said to him the President of the Court, the Eye of those Eyes:
"Who is it that strikes on this rock, that is the hero of these
qualities?" He said, "It is the adversary of this thy skirmish, the
partner of thy disputation: Now, if thou wilt, rein a good steed, call
forth one who will answer, so shalt thou see a wonder." He said to
him, "Stranger, the chough in our land is not taken for an eagle, and
with us it is easy to discern between silver and shingle. Rare is he
who exposes himself to the conflict, and then escapes the mortal hurt;
or who stirs up the dust of trial, and then catches not the mote of
contempt. So offer not thy honor to shame, turn not from the counsel
of the counselor." He answered, "Each man knows best the mark of his
arrow, and be sure the night shall disclose its morn."
Then whispered the company as to how his well should be fathomed, and
his proving undertaken. Said one of them, "Leave him to my share, that
I may pelt him with the stone of my story; for it is the tightest of
knots, the touchstone of testing." Then they invested him with the
command in this business as the Rebels invested Abu Na'ameh. Whereupon
he turned to the elder and said, Know that I am attached to this
Governor and maintain my condition by ornamental eloquence. Now, in
my country, I could rely for the straightening of my crookedness on
the sufficiency of my means, coupled with the smallness of my family.
But when my back was weighted, and my thin rain failed, I repaired to
him from my home with hope, and besought him to restore my comeliness
and my competence. And he looked pleasantly on my coming, and was
gracious, and served me morn and even. But when I sought permission
from him to depart to my abode, on the shoulder of cheerfulness, he
said, "I have determined that I will not provide thee with supplies,
I will bring together for thee no scattered means, unless, before thy
departure, thou compose an address, setting in it an exposition of thy
state; such, that the letters of one of every two words shall all have
dots, while the letters of the other shall not be pointed at all." And
now have I waited for my eloquence a twelvemonth, but it has returned
me not a word; and I have roused my wit for a year, but only my
sluggishness has increased. And I have sought aid among the gathering
of the scribes, but each of them has frowned and drawn back. Now, if
thou hast disclosed thy character with accuracy, _Come with a sign if
thou be of the truthful._
Then answered the elder, "Thou hast put a good steed to the pace; thou
hast sought water at a full stream; thou hast given the bow to him
who fashioned it; thou hast lodged in the house him who built it."
And he thought a while till he had let his flow of wit collect, his
milch-camel fill her udder: and then he said: Wool thy ink-flask, and
take thy implements and write:
"Generosity (may God establish the host of thy successes) adorns; but
meanness (may fortune cast down the eyelid of thy enviers) dishonors;
the noble rewards, but the base disappoints; the princely entertains,
but the niggard frights away; the liberal nourishes, but the churl
pains; giving relieves, but deferring torments; blessing protects,
and praise purifies; the honorable repays, for repudiation abases; the
rejection of him who should be respected is error; a denial to the
sons of hope is outrage; and none is miserly but the fool, and none is
foolish but the miser; and none hoards but the wretched; for the pious
clenches not his palms.
"But thy promise ceases not to fulfil; thy sentiments cease not to
relieve; nor thy clemency to indulge; nor thy new moon to illumine; nor
thy bounty to enrich; nor thy enemies to praise thee; nor thy blade
to destroy; nor thy princeship to build up; nor thy suitor to gain;
nor thy praiser to win; nor thy kindness to succor; nor thy heaven to
rain; nor thy milk-flow to abound; nor thy refusal to be rare. Now he
who hopes in thee is an old man like a shadow, one to whom nothing
remains. He seeks thee with a persuasion whose eagerness leaps onward;
he praises thee in choice phrases, which merit their dowries. His
demand is a light one, his claims are clear; his praise is striven
for, his blame is shunned. And behind him is a household whom misery
has touched, whom wrong has stripped, whom squalor involves. And he is
ever in tears that come at call, and trouble that melts him, and care
that is as a guest, and growing sadness: on account of hope that has
disappointed him, and loss that has made him hoary, and the enemy that
has fixed tooth in him, and the quiet that is gone. And yet his love
has not swerved, that there should be anger at him; nor is his wood
rotten, that he should be lopped away; nor has his breast spit foulness
that he should be shaken off; nor has his intercourse been froward
that he should be hated. Now thy honor admits not the rejection of his
claim, so whiten his hope by the lightening of his distress: then will
he publish thy praise throughout the world. So mayest thou live to
avert misfortune, and to bestow wealth; to heal grief and to care for
the aged: attended by affluence and fresh joyousness; as long as the
hall of the rich is visited, or the delusion of the selfish is feared.
And so Peace."
Now when he had ceased from the dictation of his address, and showed
forth his prowess in the strife of eloquence, the company gratified him
both by word and deed, and made large to him their courtesy and their
bounty. Then was he asked from what tribe was his origin, and in what
valley was his lair; and he answered:
Ghassan is my noble kindred, and Seruj my ancient land:
There my home was like the sun in splendor and mighty rank;
And my dwelling was as paradise in sweetness and pleasantness and
worth.
Oh, excellent were the life I led there and the plenteous delights,
In the day that I drew my broidered robe in its meadow, sharp of
purpose,
I walked proudly in the mantle of youth and looked upon goodly
pleasures;
Fearing not the visitations of time and its evil haps.
Now if grief could kill, surely I should perish from my abiding griefs;
Or if past life could be redeemed my good heart's blood should redeem
it.
For death is better for a man than to live the life of a beast.
When the ring of subjection leads him to mighty trouble and outrage,
And he sees lions whom the paws of assailing hyenas seize.
But the fault is in the time: but for its ill luck character would not
miss its place:
If the time were upright, then would the conditions of men be upright
in it.
After this his story reached the Governor, who filled his mouth with
pearls, and bade him join himself to his followers, and preside
over his court of public writing. But the gifts sufficed him, and
unwillingness restrained him from office. Said the narrator: Now I
had recognized the wood of his tree before the ripening of his fruit:
And I had nigh roused the people to the loftiness of his worth before
that his full moon shone forth. But he hinted to me by a twinkle of
his eyelid that I should not bare his sword from its sheath. And when
he was going forth, full of purse, and parting from us, having gotten
victory, I escorted him, performing the duty of respect, and chiding
him for his refusal of office. But he turned away with a smile and
recited with a chant:
Sure to traverse the lands in poverty is dearer to me than rank:
For in rulers there is caprice and fault-finding, oh what
fault-finding!
There is none of them who completes his good work, or who builds up
where has laid foundation.
So let not the glare of the mirage beguile thee; undertake not that
which is doubtful:
For how many a dreamer has his dream made joyful; but fear has come
upon him when he waked.