A Literary History of the Arabs Part 48

[193] See p. 81 _supra_.

[194] Stuttgart, 1819, p. 253 sqq. The other renderings in verse with which I am acquainted are those of Ruckert (_Hamasa_, vol. i, p. 299) and Sir Charles Lyall (_Ancient Arabian Poetry_, p. 48). I have adopted Sir Charles Lyall's arrangement of the poem, and have closely followed his masterly interpretation, from which I have also borrowed some turns of phrase that could not be altered except for the worse.

[195] The Arabic text will be found in the _Hamasa_, p. 382 sqq.

[196] This and the following verse are generally taken to be a description not of the poet himself, but of his nephew. The interpretation given above does no violence to the language, and greatly enhances the dramatic effect.

[197] In the original this and the preceding verse are transposed.

[198] Although the poet's uncle was killed in this onslaught, the surprised party suffered severely. "The two clans" belonged to the great tribe of Hudhayl, which is mentioned in the penultimate verse.

[199] It was customary for the avenger to take a solemn vow that he would drink no wine before accomplis.h.i.+ng his vengeance.

[200] _?amasa_, 679.

[201] _Cf._ the lines translated below from the _Mu'allaqa_ of ?arith.

[202] The best edition of the _Mu'allaqat_ is Sir Charles Lyall's (_A Commentary on Ten Ancient Arabic Poems_, Calcutta, 1894), which contains in addition to the seven _Mu'allaqat_ three odes by A'sha, Nabigha, and 'Abid b. al-Abra?. Noldeke has translated five Mu'allaqas (omitting those of Imru' u' l-Qays and ?arafa) with a German commentary, _Sitzungsberichte der Kais. Akad. der Wissenschaften in Wien_, _Phil.-Histor. Kla.s.se_, vols. 140-144 (1899-1901); this is by far the best translation for students. No satisfactory version in English prose has. .h.i.therto appeared, but I may call attention to the fine and original, though somewhat free, rendering into English verse by Lady Anne Blunt and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (_The Seven Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia_, London, 1903).

[203] _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, Introduction, p. xliv. Many other interpretations have been suggested--_e.g._, 'The Poems written down from oral dictation' (Von Kremer), 'The richly bejewelled' (Ahlwardt), 'The Pendants,' as though they were pearls strung on a necklace (A.

Muller).

[204] The belief that the _Mu'allaqat_ were written in letters of gold seems to have arisen from a misunderstanding of the name _Mudhhabat_ or _Mudhahhabat_ (_i.e._, the Gilded Poems) which is sometimes given to them in token of their excellence, just as the Greeks gave the t.i.tle ???sea ?p? to a poem falsely attributed to Pythagoras. That some of the _Mu'allaqat_ were recited at 'Uka? is probable enough and is definitely affirmed in the case of 'Amr b. Kulthum (_Aghani_, ix, 182).

[205] The legend first appears in the _'Iqd al-Farid_ (ed. of Cairo, 1293 A.H., vol. iii, p. 116 seq.) of Ibn 'Abdi Rabbihi, who died in 940 A.D.

[206] See the Introduction to Noldeke's _Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber_ (Hannover, 1864), p. xvii sqq., and his article Mo'alla?at' in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_.

[207] It is well known that the order of the verses in the _Mu'allaqat_, as they have come down to us, is frequently confused, and that the number of various readings is very large. I have generally followed the text and arrangement adopted by Noldeke in his German translation.

[208] See p. 42 _supra_.

[209] _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, p. 105.

[210] See the account of his life (according to the _Kitabu' l-Aghani_) in _Le Diwan d'Amro'lkas_, edited with translation and notes by Baron MacGuckin de Slane (Paris, 1837), pp. 1-51; and in _Amrilkais, der Dichter und Konig_ by Friedrich Ruckert (Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1843).

[211] That he was not, however, the inventor of the Arabian _qa?ida_ as described above (p. 76 sqq.) appears from the fact that he mentions in one of his verses a certain Ibn ?umam or Ibn Khidham who introduced, or at least made fas.h.i.+onable, the prelude with which almost every ode begins: a lament over the deserted camping-ground (Ibn Qutayba, _K. al-s.h.i.+'r wa-'l-Shu'ara_, p. 52).

[212] The following lines are translated from Arnold's edition of the _Mu'allaqat_ (Leipsic, 1850), p. 9 sqq., vv. 18-35.

[213] The native commentators are probably right in attributing this and the three preceding verses (48-51 in Arnold's edition) to the brigand-poet, Ta'abba?a Sharran.

[214] We have already (p. 39) referred to the culture of the Christian Arabs of ?ira.

[215] Vv. 54-59 (Lyall); 56-61 (Arnold).

[216] See Noldeke, _Funf Mu'allaqat_, i, p. 51 seq. According to the traditional version (_Aghani_, ix, 179), a band of Taghlibites went raiding, lost their way in the desert, and perished of thirst, having been refused water by a sept of the Banu Bakr. Thereupon Taghlib appealed to King 'Amr to enforce payment of the blood-money which they claimed, and chose 'Amr b. Kulthum to plead their cause at ?ira. So 'Amr recited his _Mu'allaqa_ before the king, and was answered by ?arith on behalf of Bakr.

[217] Freytag, _Arab.u.m Proverbia_, vol. ii, p. 233.

[218] _Aghani_, ix, 182.

[219] Vv. 1-8 (Arnold); in Lyall's edition the penultimate verse is omitted.

[220] Vv. 15-18 (Lyall); 19-22 (Arnold).

[221] The Arabs use the term _kunya_ to denote this familiar style of address in which a person is called, not by his own name, but 'father of So-and-so' (either a son or, as in the present instance, a daughter).

[222] _I.e._, even the _jinn_ (genies) stand in awe of us.

[223] Here Ma'add signifies the Arabs in general.

[224] Vv. 20-30 (Lyall), omitting vv. 22, 27, 28.

[225] This is a figurative way of saying that Taghlib has never been subdued.

[226] Vv. 46-51 (Lyall), omitting v. 48.

[227] _I.e._, we will show our enemies that they cannot defy us with impunity. This verse, the 93rd in Lyall's edition, is omitted by Arnold.

[228] Vv. 94-104 (Arnold), omitting vv. 100 and 101. If the last words are anything more than a poetic fiction, 'the sea' must refer to the River Euphrates.

[229] Vv. 16-18.

[230] Vv. 23-26.

[231] A place in the neighbourhood of Mecca.

[232] Vv. 40-42 (Lyall); 65-67 (Arnold).

[233] See _'Antarah, ein vorislamischer Dichter_, by H. Thorbecke (Leipzig, 1867).

[234] I have taken some liberties in this rendering, as the reader may see by referring to the verses (44 and 47-52 in Lyall's edition) on which it is based.

[235] Ghay? b. Murra was a descendant of Dhubyan and the ancestor of Harim and ?arith.

[236] The Ka'ba.

[237] This refers to the religious circ.u.mambulation (_?awaf_).

[238] Vv. 16-19 (Lyall).

[239] There is no reason to doubt the genuineness of this pa.s.sage, which affords evidence of the diffusion of Jewish and Christian ideas in pagan Arabia. Ibn Qutayba observes that these verses indicate the poet's belief in the Resurrection (_K. al-s.h.i.+'r wa-'l-Shu'ara_, p. 58, l. 12).

[240] Vv. 27-31.

[241] The order of these verses in Lyall's edition is as follows: 56, 57, 54, 50, 55, 53, 49, 47, 48, 52, 58.

[242] Reference has been made above to the old Arabian belief that poets owed their inspiration to the _jinn_ (genii), who are sometimes called _shayatin_ (satans). See Goldziher, _Abhand. zur arab. Philologie_, Part I, pp. 1-14.