The two revilers of my honor, while I did not revile them, and the threateners of my blood, when I did not see them.

There is no wonder should they do so, for I left their father a prey for the wild beasts and every large old vulture.

of 'Abs and Fazárah, wherein the latter were defeated with great loss. Harim and Husain, the two sons of Zamzam, were killed shortly afterward.

THE POEM OF ZUHAIR 1

"Does the blackened ruin, situated in the stony ground between Durraj and Mutathallam, which did not speak to me, when addressed, belong to the abode of Ummi Awfa?

"And is it her dwelling at the two stony meadows, seeming as though they were the renewed tattoo marks in the sinews of the wrist?

"The wild cows and the white deer are wandering about there, one herd behind the other, while their young are springing up from every lying-down place.

"I stood again near it, (the encampment of the tribe of Awfa,) after an absence of twenty years, and with some efforts, I know her abode again after thinking awhile.

"I recognized the three stones blackened by fire at the place where the kettle used to be placed at night, and the trench round the encampment, which had not burst, like the source of a pool.

"And when I recognized the encampment I said to its site, 'Now good morning, oh spot; may you be safe from dangers.'

"Look, oh my friend! do you see any women traveling on camels, going over the high ground above the stream of Jurthum ? 2

"They have covered their howdahs with coverlets of high value, and with a thin screen, the fringes of which are red, resembling blood.

"And they inclined toward the valley of Soobán, ascending the center of it, and in their faces were the fascinating

1 This poem begins, as do most Arab poems, with love longings, but soon drifts into praise of two peacemakers and the story of the feud between two tribes which preceded the peace. From this field the poem soon wanders to the philosophic maxims of the author. Zuhair is above all a philosopher.

2 He fancies he sees the women again whom he saw twenty years previously, and he appeals to his companion to know if what he sees is real.

looks of a soft-bodied person brought up in easy circum

stances.

"They arose early in the morning and got up at dawn, and they went straight to the valley of Rass as the hand goes unswervingly to the mouth, when eating.

"And amongst them is a place of amusement for the farsighted one, and a pleasant sight for the eye of the looker who looks attentively.

"As if the pieces of dyed wool which they left in every place in which they halted, were the seeds of night-shade which have not been crushed.

"When they arrived at the water, the mass of which was blue from intense purity, they laid down their walking sticks, (i.e., took their lodging there,) like the dweller who has pitched his tents.

They kept the hill of Qanan and the rough ground about it on their hand; while there are many, dwelling in Qanan, the shedding of whose blood is lawful and unlawful.3

"They came out from the valley of Soobán, then they crossed it, riding in every Qainian howdah new and widened. "Then I swear by the temple, round which walk the men who built it from the tribes of Quraish and Jurhum.*

"An oath, that you are verily two excellent chiefs, who are found worthy of honor in every condition, between ease and distress.5

"The two endeavorers from the tribe of Ghaiz bin Murrah strove in making peace after the connection between the tribes had become broken, on account of the shedding of blood.

"You repaired with peace the condition of the tribes of 'Abs and Zubyán, after they had fought with one another, and ground up the perfume of Manshim between them."

3 There are many enemies and many friends dwelling there.

4 This refers to the temple at Mecca which was built by Ismail, son of Abraham, ancestor of the tribe of Quraish, who married a woman of Jurhum, an old tribe of Yaman, who were the keepers of the temple before Quraish.

5 The theme changes here abruptly, to praise of two peacemakers. • Some Arabs, making a league to be revenged against their enemies,

"And indeed you said, 'if we bring about peace perfectly by the spending of money and the conferring of benefits, and by good words, we shall be safe from the danger of the two tribes, destroying each other.'

"You occupied by reason of this the best of positions, and became far from the reproach of being undutiful and sinful.

"And you became great in the high nobility of Ma'add; may you be guided in the right way; and he who spends his treasure of glory will become great.

"The memory of the wounds is obliterated by the hundreds of camels, and he, who commenced paying off the blood money by instalments, was not guilty of it (i.e., of making war).

"One tribe pays it to another tribe as an indemnity, while they who gave the indemnity did not shed blood sufficient for the filling of a cupping glass.

"Then there was being driven to them from the property you inherited, a booty of various sorts from young camels with slit ears.

"Now, convey from me to the tribe of Zubyán and their allies a message, verily you have sworn by every sort of oath to keep the peace.'

"Do not conceal from God what is in your breast that it may be hidden; whatever is concealed, God knows all about

it.

"Either it will be put off and placed recorded in a book, and preserved there until the judgment day; or the punishment be hastened and so he will take revenge.

"And war is not but what you have learnt it to be, and what you have experienced, and what is said concerning it, is not a story based on suppositions.

"When you stir it up, you will stir it up as an accursed thing, and it will become greedy when you excite its greed and it will rage fiercely.

took oath with their hands plunged in a certain perfume, made by Manshim, as a sign of their coalition. They fought until they were slain to the last of them. Hence the proverb, "More unlucky than the perfume of Manshim."

"Then it will grind you as the grinding of the upper millstone against the lower, and it will conceive immediately after one birth and it will produce twins.7

"By my life I swear, how good a tribe it is upon whom Husain Bin Zamzam brought an injury by committing a crime which did not please them.8

"And he had concealed his hatred, and did not display it, and did not proceed to carry out his intention until he got a good opportunity.

"And he said, "I will perform my object of avenging myself, and I will guard myself from my enemy with a thousand bridled horses behind me.'

"Then he attacked his victim from 'Abs, but did not cause fear to the people of the many houses, near which death had thrown down his baggage."

"They allowed their animals to graze until when the interval between the hours of drinking was finished, they took them to the deep pool, which is divided by weapons and by shedding of blood. 10

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They accomplished their object amongst themselves, then they led the animals back to the pasture of unwholesome indigestible grass.

"I have grown weary of the troubles of life; and he, who lives eighty years will, mayest thou have no father if thou doubt 11 grow weary.

"And I know what has happened to-day and yesterday,

7 The misfortunes arising from war are double.

8 Husain Bin Zamzam's father was killed during the war between the Bent Zubyán and the Bent 'Abs. When peace was concluded between the tribes, he made a vow secretly that he would kill one of the tribe of 'Abs out of the revenge for his father. This he did, but when the Benf 'Abs came to take revenge on him, Hárith Ibn 'Awf offered them one hundred camels as blood money or his own son to kill. The 'Absioms took the camels and spared his son. The poet is now prais ing them for their act.

He killed no one while the peace was in force except the one person on whom he meant to take revenge.

10 By the deep pool is meant war, and the meaning of the lines is that the tribes refrained from war for a certain time, after which they again had recourse to arms.

11 A common term of imprecation.