Revised translation of the Chahár maqála : ("Four discourses") of Nizámí-i-ʼArúdí of Samarqand, followed by an abridged translation of Mírzá Muhammad's notes to the Persian text / by Edward G. Browne.

  • Nizami Aruzi
Date:
1921
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Revised translation of the Chahár maqála : ("Four discourses") of Nizámí-i-ʼArúdí of Samarqand, followed by an abridged translation of Mírzá Muhammad's notes to the Persian text / by Edward G. Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    words, the discussion will be protracted, and the writer will be stigmatised as prolix, and “He who is prolix is a babbler Now the words of the Secretary will not attain to this elevation until he acquires some knowledge of every science, obtains some hint from every master, hears some aphorism from every philo¬ sopher, and borrows some elegance from every man of letters. Therefore he must accustom himself to peruse the Scripture of the Lord of Glory, the Traditions of Muhammad the Chosen One, the Memoirs of the Companions, the proverbial sayings of the Arabs, and the wise words of the Persians ; and to read the books of the ancients, and to study the writings of their successors, such as the Correspondence of the Sahib [Isma‘i'1, ibn ‘Abbadp, Sabi and Qabus3; the compositions of Hamadi, Imamf and Qudama4 ibn Ja‘far; the Gests of Badi‘[u’z-Zaman al-Hamadanf]5, al-Harm5 and al-Hami'di'6; the Rescripts of al-Bal‘amf7, Ahmad- i-Hasan8 and Abu Nasr Kunduri9; the Letters of Muhammad ‘Abduh, ‘Abdu’l-Hamfd, and the Sayyidu’r-Ru’asa; the Seances of Muhammad-i-Mansur10, Ibn ‘Abbadf1 11 and Ibnu’n-Nassaba the descendant of ‘All; and, of the poetical works of the Arabs, the Dlwdns of Mutanabbf12, AbfwardP3 and Ghazzi'14; and, amongst the Persian poets, the poems of Rudagi15, the Epic of Firdawsl16, and the panegyrics of ‘Unsun17; since each one of these works which I have enumerated was, after its kind, the incomparable and unique product of its time ; and every writer who hath these books and doth not fail to read them, stimulates his mind, 1 ‘jtjyc jULolt ✓ 2 See the Yatimatu’’d-Dahr (ed. Damascus), vol. iii, pp. 31-112 ; de Slane’s Ibn Khallikdn, vol. i, pp. 212-217, and Note III at the end. L. omits Sabi. 3 The Tarassul, or Correspondence, of Qabus ibn Washmgir, the Ziyarid Prince of Tabaristan, who was killed in 403/1012-13. See p. 95 of the Persian notes. 4 See von Kremer’s Cultnrgesch., i, pp. 269-270. 5 See von Kremer’s Cultnrgesch., ii, pp. 470-476; Brockelmann’s Gesch. d. Arab. Litt., i, pp. 93-94 and 276-278. 6 See Rieu’s Persian Catalogue, vol. ii, pp. 747-748, where a very fine old MS. of the Maqdmat-i-Hamidi is described, written in the 13th cent, of our era. 7 Abu ‘Ali Muhammad al-Bal‘ami (d. 386/996). 8 The Ghaznawi minister, Ahmad ibn Hasan of Maymand (d. 424/1033). 9 See de Slane’s Ibn Khallikdn, vol. iii, pp. 290-295. 10 Probably Muhammad ibn Mansur al-Haddad. See LL. Kh., No. 1729. 11 Abu ‘Asim Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-‘Abbadi (see Rieu’s Arabic Supply p. 755), who died in 458/1066, is probably intended. 12 See von Kremer’s Cultnrgesch., ii, pp. 380-381; Brockelmann’s Gesch. d. Arab. Litt., i, pp. 86-89. 13 See Brockelmann’s Gesch. d. Arab. Litt., i, p. 253; and the Yatima, vol. iv, pp. 25 and 62-64, where mention is made of this well-known Abiwardi (whose Dtwan has been printed at Beyrout) and another. Ml 14 Brockelmann, op. cit., i, p. 253. A., however, reads 15 See Ethe’s monograph and also his article s.v. in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 16 See especially Noldeke’s Das Iranische Nationalepos in vol. ii (pp. 130-211) of Geiger and Kuhn’s Grundriss der Lranischen Philologie. 17 See Ethe in the same Grundriss, pp. 224-225.
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