A literary history of Persia

DOWN TO A.D. 1000 467* / ventured to glance from afar at thy face, and Behold !'Twos sufficient a wound to inflict on thy countenance sweet;By thy glance in return was my heart smitten sore, for of old'Tis the Law of Atonement that 'wounding for wounding ismeet.' " *This verse was put into Arabic by the bilingual poet, Abu'l-Fath of Bust, while another Persian verse by the poet Abu^Abdt'llah Muhammad b. Salih al-Walwalajl was similarlyArabicised by Abu'l-Qasim,the son of the wazlr Abu'l-4Abbas. Abu Muhammad al-Bad? of Balkh composed versesin praise of the Chighanf Amfr Abu Yahya Tahir b. Fadl ofthe kind known as mulamma 1 or " patch-work," /.*.,halfPersian, half Arabic. Abul-Mudhaffar Nasr al-Istighnd'i ofNfshapiir known is to us now only by the two followingcouplets :" Like to the Moon would she be, were it not for her raven locks;Like unto Venus, save for her beauty-spot, fragrant as musk :Her cheeks to the Sun I would liken, save that, unlike the Sun,She needs not to fear an eclipse, she needs not to shrink from thedusk."Abu l Abd?llah Muhammad al-Junaydl was another of theAbu Mamur 'Umdra of Merv flourishedSahib's bilingual poets.under the last king of the House of Sdman and the first of theHouse of Ghazna, and excelled in brief and picturesque descriptionsof the spring season, wine, and the like. His is thefollowing admonition to those who seek worldly success :" Though the world should hold thee in honour, let that not fill theewith pride:Many the world hath honoured and soon hath cast aside.For the world is a venomous serpent : its seeker a charmer ofsnakes :And one day on the serpent-charmer the serpent its vengeancetakes."Qur'an, v, 49.