A literary history of Persia

468 THE LITERATURE OF PERSIASeven more poets whose patrons are unknown conclude'Awfi's list of these early pre-Ghaznawi singers, of whom inall thirty-one are noticed. These seven are : fldql ;Abul-Mathal of Bukhard ; Abul-Muayyad of Balkh ;his namesakeof Bukhara, also called Rawnaql ;Ma'nawl of Bukhara;Khabbdzi of Nishdpur, and Siplhri of Transoxiana.Leaving these poets by profession, we turn now to two royalpoets of this period.The first of these was the Samdnid King Mansur II b.Nuh (A.D. 997-9), whom 'Awfi calls the last of his line,though his brother, 'Abdu'l-Malik is generally reckoned tohave succeeded him." Though he was young," says *Awff,"yet the dynasty had grown old, and no order (sdmdn} was leftin the affairs of the House of Saman, while the life of theRoyal House had sunk to a mere spark. He lived at thebeginning of the reign of Sultan Mahmud Yamlnud-Dawla.Many times did he fall a captive into the hands of his enemies,and again recovered his freedom :greatlydid he strive torecover his father's kingdom, but human effort avails naughto * oagainst the Decree of Heaven and the Fate preordained byGod, as saith God Almighty, " None can avert His Decree andnone can postpone His command ; God doth what He pleaseth andordereth as He will" Of him alone amongst the Kings of theHouse of Saman isany verse recorded. His verses are bothspontaneous and kingly. Whilst he sat on the throne ofsovereignty in Bukhdrd, enemies rose up against him on allsides,and all his nobles were disaffected, so that night and dayxhe was on horseback, clad in a Zandanljl coat, while most ofhis life was passed in flight and fight. One day some of hiscompanions said to him, " O King, whydost thou not getthyself fine clothes, or amuse thyself with those distractions"which are one of the perquisites of royalty?Thereupon he1Zandaniji or Zand-ptchi (see Vullers's Lexicon, vol. iii, p. 151) is aloose white garment made of very thick and strong material, probably toafford some protection against sword-cuts